Miami Remembered

Jaime and I spent 5 wonderful sunny days in Miami. We booked a condo on the beach and it was Jaime's first time there. We ate, we partied, and we ate some more. Besides gaining 3 pounds in a week, it was a blast. We mostly partied with my friend Vic, who was a self-appointed host, for us every night. I had no idea how hooked up he was with the scene and restaurants. He and Jaime got along super well.

First the food highlights
- Smith and Wollenskey was delicious. Vic apparently knows everyone there. We sat outside at the bar, got free drinks and ate rib eye, mac and cheese, creamed spinach, split pea soup. Their portions were huge
- De Rodriguez ocean - a little on the quiet side but food was yummy. WE had the ceviche platter, grilled octopus, 10 grilled marlin tacos, and bacalao dip. There was so much food that we had enough left over for late night snack
- taco joint name T-Mex on 14th between washington and collins. We went there twice at around 3 or 4 am. Chicken tacos were great at that hour. There is also a sandwich place next door that is supposed to be good. We never made it.
- Vita restaurant - I went here with the girls during my last trip and wanted to take Jaime here. It's a gorgeous setting in the back gardens. Very European feel. We had the hand-made Gnocchi and the seafood risotto. Both really delicious.
- La Moon restaurant - downtown. Vic took us here on Sat after visiting a new club downtown. It was a columbia hot dog place. They put sausage and bacon and 3 different sauces in their hot dog on top of the hot dog itself (a basic heart attack on a plate) Delicious but way too heavy. WE also had the burger with the cornmeal bun (like having pupusa as your bun for a burger). Again super heavy. now you see why we gained weight.
- Latin Cafe - also downtown near Vic's condo. We went there on our last night on Tuesday. The portion were HUGE (see photos). Vic had the whole snapper, I had Grouper sauteed with olive oil, tomatoes and onion and Jaime had the Oxtail. all really big plates and flavorful. Making me hungry just thinking about it.

Partying highlights.
- Our best time was at Cozy near 1 Washington Ave. The Gypsy Kings showed up randomly and did a set. We were literally about 5 feet way from there. It was unreal.
- Smith and Wollensky. We stayed there for about 5 hours. met a sales person who works and travels with Tony robbins and a couple who moved to Miami from SF. People at the bar there were just super friendly
- Prime 112 bar had bacon snacks to accompany your drinks instead of nuts. It tasted great. Again contributing to our weight gain
- Love Hate was this little bar with some heavy hip hop. Sunday night it was so packed we just stayed for 10 min.
- Clevelander - I partied a lot there on my last trip. This time, we just got the tour from Vic as it was a bit cold to be outside. I had no idea they have a rooftop club and another club on the 3rd floor. Good thing we didn't come in the spring or we would have never slept
- Mango cafe - wow can they entertain! We saw many beautiful girls with serious buttie dancing merengue and salsa. They had a Michael Jackson dance show and all the time a live band. I also didn't know but Mango cafe has two other clubs upstairs. They were not open since we went on a Monday but the downstairs were rocking
- Best part of all, we never paid cover or stood in line anywhere. Vic only took us to places where he knew people so we were VIP all the way. Thanks Vic

Other Highlights.
- Weather was pretty good the whole time - last day I laid out for 3 hours and the temperature was a perfect 78 degrees. got a nice tan
- after some mishap initially with one condo, we ended up moving to a condo right on ocean drive. everything was walking distance.

I think Jaime and I just found our new Hawaii - Miami has both the weather and the nightlife and we were able to fly there for $290 each direct. All in all a great trip!

Lei