One night in Miami for discerning food explorer - moved from Florida board

[adrian]

Hello all. It's rare that I reach out, but I've found myself in Florida, and will be in Miami for a night this weekend. As I'm both a concierge in a bigtime hotel in Paris and food writer/blogger for a number of glossies, my criterea are: nothing too French based (I can get the best back home). Other than that I'm totally open without much of a price point problem. I will also be with my little girl (12) who has sophisticated tastes and loves Thai, Indian, Japanese. We're not averse to "trendy' places either (although Hakkasan looks a bit over the top). Any thoughts?

[Frodnesor]

NAOE - now more kid-friendly with a 6:30 seating time (reservation only thru OpenTable). Completely omakase-style Japanese, bento box with about 4-5+ items, then nigiri. Ask in advance and they will do ishi-yaki (cook on hot stones) for your daughter - my kids loved it.

Several other candidates depending on how your tastes run ->

Michael's Genuine Food & Drink - one of the best restaurants in town, farm-to-table type place, very good cooking with great local-focused ingredients.

Michy's / Sra. Martinez - both Michelle Bernstein restaurants. I like both, preference depends on what kind of mood you're in and which menu appeals more: Michy's is more upscale comfort foods, available in 1/2 plate format to do tasting menu style; Sra. Martinez is styled as a Spanish tapas bar with some Latin American and other influences.

Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill - robata, sushi, but the best stuff is in the small plates section of the menu which is more global than Japanese. Sounds like a hodge-podge, but it mostly works really well.

Pubbelly - styles itself an Asian-influenced gastropub, which is mostly on target, though I sense a strong Spanish influence too. Very pork-centric.

Hakkasan is not particularly over-the-top - it is a gorgeous restaurant that has something of an opium den feel to it, but it's a perfectly comfortable place to bring kids. The food is well-executed, the dumplings in particular, but very pricey (and that is not coming from someone who thinks Chinese food necessarily is supposed to be cheap).

Miami is not the place to be looking for "straight" Thai or Indian food.

You can find more info about most of these places on this board or here ->
www.foodforthoughtmiami.com

-----
Michy's
6927 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33138

Sra. Martinez
4000 NE 2nd Ave., Miami, FL 33137

NAOE
175 Sunny Isles Boulevard, Sunny Isles Beach, FL 33160

Hakkasan
Miami Beach, FL, Miami Beach, FL

[Fineas]

All good choices there. I'd add Gigi to the list, as it fits in well with Pubbelly, Sugarcane, etc. Zuma is also good (but pricey) and is a bit different from the "typical" Japanese.

[Old E.]

A friend just told me about a place called Pubbelly. I have never been, but I'm dying to go.
http://pubbelly.com/

[CFishman]

Adrian, you probably want to post on the other Florida board that covers Miami. Do some research and you will eat very well down there. Yeah, Old E, I am excited about Pubbelly, too. I gotta get down there.

[askdrtodd]

Make that three for me, I'm going to Pubbelly in a couple weeks when I head to Miami. My current list is:

Micheal's Genuine Food & Drink - Brunch
NAOE - amazing Omakase dinner
Xixon - Tapas
SushiSamba - Brazilian/Sushi crazyness
Pubbelly - Pork awesomeness
Sustain - Snack

[tpigeon]

I would do sugarcane over sushi samba