Best for Celebrating a Big Deal:
The Forge Restaurant on Miami Beach (tel. 305/538-8533) is a multichambered, ornately decorated (and priced) monument known for its decadent wines, steak, and fish.
Best Romantic Restaurant:
La Vieille Maison, in Boca Raton (tel. 561/391-6701), is housed in a 1920s-era structure, with a stunning courtyard, superlative haute French cuisine, and intimate, private dining rooms.
Best Waterfront Dining:
It’s a tossup between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, but whichever you prefer, there are two restaurants that provide front-row seats to both. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel’s global fusion restaurant, Azul (tel. 305/913-8258), faces the Miami skyline and beautiful, tranquil Biscayne Bay, while the Ritz Carlton Key Biscayne’s Aria (tel. 305/365-4500) faces the Atlantic, but its Mediterranean cuisine could have you thinking you’re floating off the coast of, say, Spain. Tough decisions, but both are winners. Louie’s Backyard in Key West (tel. 305/294-1061) offers Caribbean cuisine and one of the best views of the gulf you’ll ever have.
Best Restaurant Worth the Wait for a Table:
The legendary South Florida institution known as Joe’s Stone Crab Restaurant, in Miami Beach (tel. 305/673-0365), refuses to take reservations, but that doesn’t stop people from clawing their way into the restaurant for a table–despite a wait that’s often in excess of 3 hours.
Best Cuban Restaurant:
There’s always a debate on who has the best, most authentic Cuban cuisine, but for those of you who have never been to Havana, Miami’s Versailles, in Little Havana (tel. 305/444-0240), is the quintessential Cuban diner, featuring enormo us portions at paltry prices.
Best Steak House:
Boca Raton’s New York Prime (tel. 561/998-3881) may be part of a South Carolina-based chain, but its steaks are a cut above the rest. The only problem may be scoring a reservation.
In addition to the Forge Restaurant, Christy’s, in Coral Gables (tel. 305/446-1400), is the Miami carnivore’s choice, with superb steaks and famous Caesar salads.
Best New World Cuisine:
It’s a tossup between the restaurants of the original founders of the palate-pleasing fusion of Florida and Caribbean (Floribbean) ingredients: Norman’s, in Coral Gables (tel. 305/446-6767), owned by James Beard chef Norman van Aken, and Chef Allen’s, in Aventura (tel. 305/935-2900), owned by chef Allen Susser. Whichever chef’s cuisine you choose, they both do wonders with mangoes.
Sexiest Restaurant:
Tantra, in Miami Beach (tel. 305/672-4765), brings a bit of exotic Marrakesh to South Beach with an aphrodisiac-inspired menu, grass-lined floors, and an equally sultry crowd that isn’t afraid of getting in touch with its sensual side.
Best Scene:
Rumi, in Miami Beach (tel. 305/672-4353), is a sexy, cacophonous global-fusion restaurant/lounge whose gorgeously prepared dishes are enough to rival the beautiful and sometimes famous people who convene here. Joia, also in Miami Beach (tel. 305/674-8871), exemplifies South Beach’s spin on La Dolce Vita with its fine Italian cuisine, celebrity clientele, and requisite paparazzi hiding nearby in the bushes.
Best Sunday Brunch:
Nemo, on Miami Beach (tel. 305/532-4550), turns its open kitchen into a help-yourself-to-anything, calorie-busting Sunday brunch of gourmet fare and insanely good desserts. Boca Raton’s Mizner Park (tel. 561/395-0770) features a gourmet all-you-can-eat $19 brunch–an unheard-of value in swanky Mizner Park.
Best View:
Big Fish, in Miami (tel. 305/373-1770), is all about gritty-chic, located on the Miami River, where tugboats and cargo ships slink by as you indulge in fresh fish and sip good Italian wine under the glow of the brilliant downtown skyline hovering above. Red Fish Grill (tel. 305/668-8788) is ensconced in Coral Gables’ Matheson Hammock Park and located on the edge of a saltwater lagoon, a setting so blissfully distracting, you may forget to pay attention to what’s on your plate.
Best Haute Cuisine:
Mark’s Las Olas, in Fort Lauderdale (tel. 954/463-1000), and Miami Beach’s Mark’s South Beach (tel. 305/604-9050) are both owned by celebrity chef Mark Militello, whose New American cuisine restores the faith of gourmands whose palates once belonged to the Pan-Asian Fusion movement.
Best People-Watching:
The News Café, in South Beach (tel. 305/538-6397), practically invented the sport of people-watching, encouraging its customers to sit at an outdoor table all day if they want, lingering over the passing parades of people while sipping a cappuccino. The Delano Hotel’s pricey Blue Door restaurant (tel. 305/674-6400), in Miami Beach, provides a front-row seat to the hordes of hipsters who flock there.
Best Comfort Food:
Big Pink, in Miami Beach (tel. 305/532-4700), serves kitsch in large doses, featuring TV dinners served in trays. Fun and funky, and the food’s pretty good, too.
Best Italian Food:
Miami Beach’s Macaluso’s (tel. 305/604-1811) would make Tony Soprano very proud of his Italian heritage, thanks to Chef Michael’s expertly prepared Staten Island-meets-SoHo cuisine. Tuscan Today Trattoria, in Fort Lauderdale (tel. 954/566-1716), churns out primo Tuscan fare in its imported-from-Italy wood-burning brick oven.
Best Mexican:
The fresh, authentic Mexican fare at El Rancho Grande, in Miami Beach (tel. 305/673-0480), will have you swearing off Taco Bell forever.
Best Star-Studded Sushi Restaurant:
Nobu, at the Shore Club Hotel in Miami Beach (tel. 305/695-3100), is known for its star sushi chef and owner, the legendary Nobu Matsuhisa, but the raw facts about this restaurant are as simple as its stellar clientele (which includes Madonna, among others): It’s unquestionably the best sushi in town. For fabulous sushi minus the Hollywood vibe, Miami Beach’s Shoji Sushi (tel. 305/532-4245) is at the top of the A-list.
Best Seafood:
Grillfish, in South Beach (tel. 305/538-9908), is simple, unpretentious, and consistently serves the freshest fish in town–any which way you desire.
Best Late-Night Dining:
In addition to the 24-hour News Café (see above and) and Big Pink (see above and), Ft. Lauderdale’s Lester’s Diner (tel. 954/525-5641) is a 24-hour institution, serving classic greasy-spoon fare at ridiculously cheap prices. The Floridian, also in Fort Lauderdale (tel. 954/463-4041), serves everything from eggs to steaks, 24 hours a day, but the vantage point for people-watching rates higher than the food.
Kitschiest Dining:
Wolfie Cohen’s Rascal House (tel. 305/947-4581) is a must for those looking for a retro-fabulous North Miami Beach experience, with a wait staff as old as the vinyl booths and the best corned beef on rye south of the Lower East Side. Green Turtle Inn, on Islamorada (tel. 305/664-9031), is an old-fashioned Florida Keys institution since 1947, featuring moderately priced steaks, stone crabs, and, yes, turtle, to the tune of campy pianist Tina Martin.
