Welcome to Miami

While New York City food is definitely what I know best, I sometimes travel outside of the city and when I do, I love to write about the food I find. A few weeks ago I traveled to South Beach with Jill, Stevie and Jen for a quick girl trip getaway. I knew most of our daytime meals would be eaten next to the pool, I was intent on finding us some awesome dinner spots for our Friday and Saturday night dinners. We had originally planned to go to Barton G. and Wish, but once we got down there and talked to a few locals, we changed our minds and made brand new reservations. More on that later.

As I expected, we ate lunch every day at our hotel, The Loews, by the pool. The restaurant was called The Nautilus and we actually had some very good meals there. For our first meal, I had a Turkey Wrap with bacon and avocado.

Jen and I shared it, and they served each half of the wrap with a hearty portion of fresh fruit. Yum! My favorite thing I had poolside though were the fresh fish tacos and I had them several times over the few days we were there.

Light, flaky fish was paired with fresh veggies to create the perfect taste of the sea. I also had a great Shrimp Cesar salad that was not too heavy, which was great since I was eating it while wearing a bathing suit.

Maybe everything tasted better because we were in sunny South Beach, but we all really enjoyed sitting in the sun and eating these fresh dishes.

The stand-out meals were definitely our Friday and Saturday night dinners. Friday night we ended up at Red the Steakhouse at the recommendation of the bartender at Emeril’s (who made a mean blue-cheese stuffed olive dirty martini!) I had heard Prime 112 couldn’t be missed, but he assured us that the food at Red was just as good and the service was much better. We headed to the restaurant with our stomachs growling and boy was I happy I brought my appetite!

We started with 8 oz. of Buratta Cheese that was absolutely divine.

Rich, creamy and nutty in flavor, the cheese was perfectly balanced with the ripe tomatoes and sharp balsamic drizzled over the top. Heaven! Since Jill eats her steak charred (don’t worry, I’m working on it), Stevie, Jen and I decided to share the Surf & Turf between the 3 of us because it was a ton of food and because all 3 of us eat our steak bloody. The steak came with a heaping portion of crab leg meat and it worked out perfectly because I mostly wanted steak, Jen mostly wanted seafood and Stevie wanted a little of both. The portion was enormous, as was the price tag, but when the 3 of us split it it made sense.

The steak was cooked to our liking and the buttery crab meat was so tender you could cut it with a spoon.

I got Jill to try a piece of our steak and even she admitted it was pretty good.

We ordered some sides to go with our main courses and those were fabulous as well. The dish that really blew me away was the Potatoes au Gratin. Soft potatoes covered in ooey gooey cheese made for a decadent dish. I wanted to lick the plate clean!

We also got a side of broccoli and spinach and while there was nothing too spectacular about them, they were also quite yummy.

We sipped both white and red wine and enjoyed a leisurely 3-hour meal before retiring to the bar to claim our free round of drinks (thank you FourSquare!) My friends may make fun of me for being a Social Media nerd, but free drinks? I didn’t hear any complaints.

Saturday during the day we stopped by SushiSamba for happy hour and to munch on some sushi. The drinks were chilly and refreshing and the sushi was fresh and flavorful. Between the 4 of us we shared a Seaweed Salad and several rolls. We sat around, people-watched (something Manhattanites LOVE to do), sipped our cocktails and enjoyed each other's company. It was lovely.

We made the call to have our Saturday night dinner at Philippe Chow's Philippe because the menu looked absolutely incredible. I was still craving Peking Duck after my Adventure in Chinatown with Patrick, and I was determined to have some. We had a round of drinks at the Gansevoort's STK before our late 10:30pm reservation. A few of us were craving cucumber drinks, so as soon as we sat down at our table we ordered some Cucumber Martinis which were downright yummy. Then we ordered a few more, and a few more. But who's counting? We're on vacation!

We decided to share the famous Chicken Satays prepared in Chef Chow's Famous Cream Sauce per Stevie's recommendation and the Pork Soup Dumplings (my fave). I admit I was expecting the satays to be nothing spectacular but boy was I wrong! Stevie, I'm sorry for doubting you. They were fantastic! The sauce was like nothing I had ever tasted before. The chicken was hot and tender. If you find yourself at Philippe, GET THE SATAYS!

The Pork Soup Dumplings had a very nice flavor and the dumplings themselves were the perfect consistency. I don't like when the outer layer is too thick, and these were great. Soup dumplings are just so good!

We then got the Chilean Sea Bass with black bean and garlic, also good. I would say this was my least favorite part of the meal, but not because it was bad. It was just something I thought I'd be able to get anywhere else. The fish was very fresh and flaked apart easily but I wouldn't recommend the fish if you're dining there.

Now, on to the Peking Duck! I was so happy we all decided to order it because I really wanted to experience the chef slicing it up table-side. And what an experience it was! He brought out the full duck and it was just beautiful.

He then began to slice it up to create a plate of the most succulent meat I have ever tasted. He cut the duck with a masterful precision and I found the whole process to be fascinating.

And then, we tasted the duck!

Served with pancakes and hoison sauce, this duck was absolutely out of this world. Savory, packed with rich flavor, tender... everything it should be. We ended up having to order more pancakes because we couldn't stop eating! We polished off every last piece of the bird and were absolutely stuffed.

If you are at all interested in Peking Duck, I highly recommend you order it. My mouth is watering just remembering it! I will definitely have it again soon.

We had a great trip, and the food was definitely memorable. Do you have any favorite places in South Beach? Where do you like to travel?

Thanks to the girls for making the trip so great!

Let's Eat!
-The Fabulous Foodie