A few weeks back, my husband was invited with some of his colleagues for a few days of mostly fun in the sun in South Beach, a section of famed Miami Beach in south Florida. I was invited as his plus-one so we were excited because we had talked about going to South Beach many times but had never actually visited. While there a few scheduled meetings for my husband, most of the time was meant for relaxing or exploring all the fun things going on in South Beach and greater Miami.
Unbeknown to me, my husband needed to register for one of our activities. Our options were a round of golf, a cruise on a catamaran or a food tour of South Beach. You’ll never guess which option he chose 🙂
Our tour was conducted by Miami Culinary Tours and our group was small, 9 or so of us and our fabulous guide, Gina who is pictured here…
Gina has been living in Miami for about 20 years and is originally from New York. She has an extensive culinary background including owning a restaurant in New York and a catering business in Miami. She is the mother of four young boys that keep her busy when she isn’t conducting tours. I can’t say enough about her professionalism, depth of information and how personable she was in between stops. Her full bio is on the MCT website under the tab About and you can ask for her if you decide to plan a tour.
Now, this may sound incredibly naive, but I thought our tour would mostly involve Cuban food given the area’s big Cuban population. However, Gina was quick to tell us that Miami has become a melting pot of Latin cultures and while the Cuban culture remains a strong component of the city, there are big populations of Colombians, Venezuelans, Argentinians, Uruguayans and Haitians who make Miami home. All of these cultures are reflected in the culinary landscape of the city and would be reflected on our food tour. As a side note, MCT conducts two additional tours of Little Havana and of the Wynwood Art District that look really interesting as well.
The tour was conducted on foot which was nice because it gave us some breathing room between our five stops! As we walked along Ocean Drive, Gina was also able to provide information about the area’s architectural history.
Our first stop was at Manolo’s, a combination Argentinian-Uruguayan restaurant where we were offered a “snack” to walk with as we got underway…
Our snack was a churro which is essentially fried choux pastry that is enhanced with a salty-sugary coating Argentinian style…
and filled with a creamy dulce de leche. They were warm and waiting for us upon our arrival and easy to walk with as we started our tour. A delicious “snack” indeed!
Gina mentioned that the stops on our tour would be places that MCT truly feels have something authentic to offer its clients as opposed to popular tourist traps. Our next stop, Bolivar did not disappoint! Gina described the restaurant as a place to go for Latin comfort food. Live music is played on Friday and Saturday nights and if you’re interested in salsa lessons, they are offered on Wednesday nights!
Although it was mid-day, the restaurant was fairly quiet and tends to be busier on the later side for lunch and late night for dinner. At our table were glasses of Refajo, a popular Colombian cocktail made from a mixture of beer (Aguila in this case) and Colombiana, a Colombian cream soda. The ratios of beer-to-soda can vary according to taste but the ones we tasted were 1 beer mixed with 1/2 can of the soda. Light and refreshing and very tasty!
We were chatting so much that I took a bite before I snapped a picture of our dishes. The flavors of Peru and Colombia were on display with a Peruvian ceviche consisting of Swai fish, passion fruit juice and unpopped corn for a little texture. Really tasty. Also on the plate was a Colombian empanada, distinguished by the use of yellow corn in the empanada dough. Filled with beef and smoked potatoes, it was served with a fiery hot ahi sauce flavored with habaneros and jalapenos. We all loved this dish…
The South Beach culinary tour also offers highlights of the area’s Art Deco district which is largely along famed Ocean Drive. This area is protected by the Miami Design Preservation League and no changes can be made to the exterior of any of the buildings, including what they were historically named. There were three styles of architecture in this district, traditional Art Deco, Miami Modern or MiMo and Mediterranean Revival.
This hotel front look like a Hollywood marquees right?
Since no major changes could be made to the footprints of these buildings, thus was born the roof-top pool…
All along Ocean Drive are restaurants serving the most comically sized beverages. Two women allowed us to take a picture of their freshly served drinks so you can appreciate how large they are! Can you say Spring break?
Our third stop was at Gloria and Emilio Estefan’s restaurant, Lario’s on the beach for traditional Cuban fare. If you can see, the building still maintains its original name of Shore Park Hotel even though it is now just the restaurant and offices…
The restaurant is quite beautiful inside and I imagine it is even more chic in the evening. In the entrance/bar area there is a sculpture hanging from the ceiling that consist of items that are important to Cuban culture such as a muddler, coffee pot, transistor radio, and even a paddle…
Gloria evidently comes from a long line of chefs, her great grandmother having been a chef to 3 Cuban presidents. We were served Ropa Vieja which translated means old clothes because the beef is slowly cooked and essentially served shredded. The generous serving came with traditional plantains and a mojo dipping sauce…
Gina told us the traditional way of eating Ropa Vieja was to break off a piece of the plantain, dip it in the garlicky mojo sauce, top it with some of the meat and enjoy. I have to say, this might have been my favorite dish of the tour. It was full of flavor and I liked the interplay of the crunchy plantain with the tender meat. Some of our group ordered Lario’s signature mojito, served with a big piece of sugarcane and topped with a little Cuban flag. Everyone seemed to enjoy them!
Below is a picture of the outside of the famed Versace Mansion, the 3rd most photographed home in the U.S. after the White House and Graceland. Ocean Drive’s only private residence at one time, the mansion is 23,000 square feet and had 10 bedrooms and 11 baths while owned by the legendary designer who, you may remember, was shot in broad daylight outside of his home. The mansion is now a hotel and has a restaurant aptly named, Gianni…
Our next stop was at The Tides hotel. The lobby area is completely done up in gold and we were able to see one of the secret rooms that used to exist in many of these hotels for drinking during prohibition, gambling and other scandalous activities…
Below is an example of one of these rooms in The Tides. Who knows what those walls have seen and heard…
The Tides restaurant serves a variety of dishes, but the chef is originally from Haiti and MCT arranged for us to sample a traditional dish from his country. We were served a tasty chicken creole consisting of chicken, onions, peppers and tomatoes stewed in a complex and spicy sauce…
Served alongside the chicken were tostones, fried plantains…
It was very impressive how our meals were promptly served hot at each location. There was almost no waiting around and as soon as we had finished and chatted for a few minutes, we were up and moving to the next location. The entire tour lasted about 3 hours and there was plenty of walking time between courses.
Our last stop on Ocean Drive was at The Betsy, a lovely hotel and example of Florida Georgian architecture. All of these hotels have websites if you want to take a look inside…
I had to stand in the middle of the street walking away from Ocean Drive to take this picture. Gina had mentioned that some of the Art Deco buildings were built to look like cruise ships. I think this is one of the best examples, right?
Our last stop took us to Espanola Way, a pedestrian street just a couple of blocks away from Ocean Drive. Dotted with fun restaurants, this was the location of our last stop for dessert at Milani Gelateria…
All of Milani’s gelato is made in-house, in this machine which makes continuous revolutions as you try to decide what to order…
Of course, I got the chocolate…
And then we skipped the quick bus ride back and sauntered back to our hotel before taking a little siesta!
Spending 3 hours learning about the area’s rich cultural, design and culinary history was so much fun and I am really appreciative for the experience and to learn more about this little slice of south Florida.
We checked out a few other fun places while we were in and around Miami but I will have to save that for a future blog post. If you go, think about Miami Culinary Tours as a fun way to explore the city!
Until next week…
We also did this tour and I loved it! The food was incredible and I cannot believe how full I was after.
Read while sitting in the Miami Airport…another awesome post!
Thanks, Marte and how ironic! I hope you had a great vacation!!! xoxo