A whirlwind trip and some difficult choices for three dinners. Finally, I settled on a couple of old places as well as a new one. Joe’s Stone Crab is the kind of restaurant I shouldn’t like, but I just can’t help myself. It’s a factory and the quality (bread plate, a lot of the apps) isn’t always there, but I love the old school vibe of Joe’s, one of the oldest restaurants in the U.S. Half of the waiters are lifers who can turn on the charm and can also tell you stories about when J. Edgar Hoover’s used to eat here. And Joe’s does some very simple things very well, namely the eponymous crab claws, fried green tomatoes and key lime pie. To me, a trip to Miami wouldn’t be the same without going to Joe’s.

I also went back to Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in the Design District, which was the best of the bunch the last time I ate my way through Miami. Some quality again, especially in the apps. Top marks for the braised beef tongue, sliced thin and served with a spicy heirloom tomato salsa, avocado and croutons. Top marks as well for the tiny wood oven roasted eggplant served with mixed greens, tomato, raisins, pinenuts and Greek yogurt. The wood oven roasted rib steak was clumsy compared to Kitchen Galerie’s offering, but that was the only low point.

The new restaurant I had to try was Sugarcane, located just south of the Design District in midtown Miami. The crowd was younger and loud and when I hear the term “international tapas” I usually get a little queasy, but the majority of the dishes at Sugarcane were well thought out and prepared. The exception was the sushi, which everyone else loved but which was probably the most extreme Americanized sushi I have ever tried (so obviously I hated it). I loved the crudos we tried: yellowfin with grapefruit, avocado and coarse red lava salt as well as scallop with apple, black truffle, lime and jalapeno.  I could definitely go back here.

Somewhat inadvertently, I also hit a couple of high profile South Florida burger joints. Charm City Burgers in Deerfield Beach, makes big homestyle burgers and fries and has a big range of microbrews. It maintains a Mom and Pop vibe and I would rate it higher than the more well known Le Tub in Hollywood. I also stumbled into the new Shake Shack outlet in Miami Beach. Maybe it was all the hype, but I was expecting more from Shake Shack. I think the disintegrating McDonald’s style bun is the downer here, but I have to say that the patty has a great beefy/fatty taste that most burger places would be lucky to be able to replicate.

Next time, less eating. I feel like a python.

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