DERUSHA’S GUIDE TO MIAMI

Welcome to Miami! What a city - I loved the hedonistic, cultural, exotic, international, beautiful feeling in Miami. Is it superficial? Sure. Is it a party city? Also yes. Can you get stuck in tourism-ville and not experience the city? You’re reading my blog so you know better than that.

DESTINATIONS

Miami Beach/South Beach: this is where we stayed, there’s terrific public beach access. This area feels in transition - a lot of the retail is run down old surf-shop while most of the hotels are high end luxury.

Little Havana: I wanted this neighborhood to be more defined or have more of a center of the action - Calle Ocho is the main drag, the live music and energy is fun.

Design District: Miami’s version of Beverly Hills but it feels more like a neighborhood. Every luxury retailer you can imagine - so much fun to walk around and dream.

Wynwood: This is Miami’s version of what Uptown used to be - edgy, indie, street art and graffiti art on all the buildings. Wynwood was our favorite neighborhood (skip the Wynwood Walls art museum - it’s fine but save your money because you can just walk around and enjoy the real deal).

Everglades: We took a short 40 minute drive to take an airboat tour of the Everglades - and it was awesome. We saw 4 alligators - I expected to see zero. Very cool experience - there are tons of spots, we went to Coopertown Airboat Tours, they often have Groupons.

RESTAURANTS

My initial list has a larger curated group of Miami options, but here’s where we went:

Boia De Restaurant

Boia De (Little Haiti) - Chefs used to work at NoMad in NYC and opened up a truly glorious, tiny narrow restaurant in a strip mall next to a laundromat. This is a tough reservation so get on it early. Home made pasta was fabulous, the tartare, we ate almost everything on the menu and loved it all.

ZAK the Baker (Wynwood): Loved this Jewish bakery so much we came back twice. Zak Stern is James Beard-nominated, his restaurant is a Michelin guide Bib Gourmand. The za’atar olive bread loaf was transcendent, the bagels were perfect NY-style, the guava and cheese pastelito as well.

Sanguich (Little Havana & Various): Another Bib Gourmand selection, this Cuban sandwich is sheer perfection. The Little Haiti spot is take-out only.

Versailles (Little Havana): Versailles bills itself as the most famous Cuban restaurant in the world - it gave me Mancini’s vibes. Classic, iconic, tasty and affordable - this is where you experience the full Cuban diaspora. There’s a bakery attached for Cuban coffee and guava pastries too.

Mandolin Aegean Bistro (Design District): Incredible surrounding, Mandolin is an open-air restaurant that transports you to Greece and Turkey. It’s expensive but fabulous. We loved the Greek salad (reminded me of The Naughty Greek’s), the zucchini chips and we got a whole fish that was juicy with a nice char on the skin.

BARS

Cafe La Trova (Little Havana): I can’t overstate how much I loved Cafe La Trova. This is the center of the American Cantinero movement - Cuban bartenders bringing their style and culture with precise and beautiful cocktails. Live music accented by the bartenders playing instruments - just an energy and a feeling that was uniquely Miami. It’s often been listed in the World’s 50 Best Bars and 50 Best Bars in North America. One of the partners is a Saint Paul native, David Martinez.

Ball & Chain (Little Havana): We didn’t drink here but we did walk by in the afternoon where live music was pumping. Another Miami classic.

Sweet Liberty Drinks & Supply (Miami Beach): Many of the same people involved in La Trova built Sweet Liberty - we brought our 17-year-old for dinner and really loved the food. Excellent cauliflower nachos and we had a fish of the day that was perfect as well.

Champagne Bar at Four Seasons Surf Club (Surfside) : Stunner in the Four Seasons Hotel north of Miami Beach in Surfside. Martini cart, expensive, but worth it for the inside view and the porch overlooking the ocean.

COFFEE SHOPS

Panther (Miami Beach + Wynwood): The beach spot was inside the Betsy Hotel, the Wynwood is a stand-alone. This is a great roaster and a fantastic coffee shop.

La Colada Gourmet (Wynwood) - They bill themselves as “The House of Cuban coffee” - creative coffee drinks with a lot of sweetness. Tres Leche coffee was cool, 305 Café had guava and was also delicious.

BigFace (Design District): Former Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler’s coffee shop is one of the coolest coffee shops I’ve ever been in, and with a veteran of Intelligentsia running the coffee side, Bigface Coffee is legit.