NYC'er spending two nights in Miami. Recommendations?

[JackHuang]

Three of us are staying in Miami, one night before a Caribbean family cruise, and a day-and-a-half after the cruise. First stay is in the Mandarin Oriental (Brickell). We're looking to grab dinner within a short cab ride of the place, breakfast within walking distance. Second stay is in the Doubletree (Miami bayside, next to the Venetian Causeway)--looking for brunch, dinner, next-day breakfast and lunch.

For the Mandarin, I'd prefer breakfast at an authentic Cuban place (maybe someplace dive-ish?), and dinner can be at someplace fairly pricey (<$70/person unless it's a truly standout menu, though). I've heard a few people mention Azul favorably?

For the second stay, everyone seems to rave about Joe's Stone Crab, so I'm open to heading over to South Beach for the day. But, I also see Sra. Martinez and Michael's highly lauded, and they're close to the hotel. Beyond that, the following names floating around similar recommendation threads sound interesting:

Alta Mare
Michy's
de Rodriguez
Ola
The Forge

I'm completely in the dark regarding good breakfast and lunch options, though.
Generally, I'm looking for something I can't get in NYC, I'd like to avoid Japanese and Italian, and I'd like to avoid regular good ol' breakfast/brunch fare. Recommend away!

[tpigeon]

Michaels Genuine and Sustain are great brunch places and are pretty close to the doubletree. I have never been to Sra. Martinez for brunch, but you may want to look into it.

If you have a car, you should go to Pappo Llega y Pon and El Mago de las Fritas pork sandwiches and fritas respectively that you wont find better in NYC.

I would do Michael's. Sustain and Michy's if I were you, but Joe's is a good choice if you want to head to the beach. If you go to Joes get the select size stone crab claws and eat them with mustard. If you want to splurge, get the killer king crab claws steamed with butter and get the key lime pie for dessert.

[mattstolz]

for michaels and sra martinez you have to pay attention to what day it is for brunch/lunch, because theyre not open every day. (namely, michaels doesnt do lunch on saturday, and sra martinez only does weekend brunch, no lunches, and is closed on mondays)

right beside sustain is sugarcane, which also has a delicious brunch menu.

[JackHuang]

Wow, Sugarcane's brunch menu looks exciting.

The Doubletree stay is next Saturday-Sunday (Feb 25-26), so I'm thinking Sugarcane for Sat. brunch, Michael's Genuine or Joe's for Sat. dinner, then Sra. Martinez for Sun. brunch.

We won't have a car, but are willing to take a cab over to Papo Llega y Pon from the Mandarin. That said, how's the cab situation for the ride back? Is it hard to hail a cab from Papo?

Also, any dinner recs around the Mandarin?

[tpigeon]

Don't go to papo if you don't have a car.