Eric Barton

If supporting minority-owned businesses is your thing—and why shouldn't it be?—then we’ve got some options for you. Dining at Miami’s Black-owned restaurants isn’t going to just make you feel good about doing the right thing, because the spots on this list also happen to be some of Miami's best restaurants too. These places range from the tried-and-true Overtown soul food to Caribbean imports in the heart of South Beach, to one of the city’s best sit-down dining establishments. Doing something to uplift and support a local business while also eating well? Yeah, that sounds like a great plan.  

Omakase in Miami seemingly exploded overnight. In the last year alone, our city has gone from maybe a handful of spots to a variety of Miami sushi restaurants offering the Japanese dining style, in which guests leave themselves in the hands of a trained chef and experience an elegant meal sans menu. The nature of omakase renders it pricey as ingredients are mostly seasonal and fish is caught fresh, but that doesn’t mean it all has to be expensive. We’re blessed with options that, while not quite one of Miami’s best cheap eats, are still affordable for a casual dinner. Though if you’re looking for a fine-dining experience, Miami’s got those too. Below we’ve rounded up our favorite Miami omakase, where the fish is just-caught, the rice rolled tight and leaving it up to the chef is the best decision you’ll make all night. RECOMMENDED: The best Japanese restaurants in Miami

If your Uber driver accidentally drops you off on some random street corner in Miami tonight, there’s a good chance you’ll be standing in front of what might be considered one of the most swoon-worthy dining destinations in any other city. Yeah, our restaurants really know how to do the whole candlelit dinner thing, the long, drawn-out-date-in-a-secluded-booth thing, the boozy-dinner-with-your-favorite-person thing. From Miami's rooftop bars with stunning skyline views to waterfront gems where the sunsets reign supreme, this city is full of charming spots perfect for dazzling your next date. So why not give your old go-to a little break this time and opt for somewhere more special, somewhere downright memorable, somewhere like one of the places on this list? These are Miami’s most romantic restaurants—in a beautiful city where romance is always on the menu. RECOMMENDED: The best date ideas in Miami

Going out to a restaurant for Valentine’s Day is like the Super Bowl, but both teams have been replaced with people who’ve never even seen the sport. It’s a night when people who don’t go out any other night of the year suddenly need a table at one of Miami's most romantic restaurants. Yes, it can be a novice day. Then again, are you prepared to tell your already-special someone that you didn’t make any plans this year? That Valentine’s Day is a Hallmark hoax? Whether or not that's your stance, if you want to survive a shot from cupid’s arrow, you’d best get to clicking confirm on that hot Valentine's reservation, and never underestimate the power of chocolates and flowers. RECOMMENDED: Find more Valentine’s Day ideas in Miami

Whether you’re five or 95, we don’t need to tell you why chocolate is hands-down the universe’s best dessert. It’s the thing every trick-or-treater hopes is waiting at a stranger’s door, the surprise tucked under a new boyfriend’s arm, the thing mom gave us to help us forget a terrible day—because most anything can be improved with a peanut butter cup.  But there are many tiers of chocolate perfection. We won’t disparage anyone for sticking their open mouths under a milk chocolate fountain at that baby shower. But if you seek the real deal stuff, crafted from cacao beans sourced from some Indiana Jones-like purveyor, or simply want solid ideas for getting romantic with your boo, look no further. These stand-out chocolatiers, some of them located inside Miami’s best bakeries, are producing truly exceptional chocolate. RECOMMENDED: The best flower shops in Miami for fresh blooms

If Miami had an official drink—let’s be honest, it’d be a shot. In particular, a shot of questionable origin and neon hue, handed out on a crowded dancefloor in a Twinkie-shaped vial. But Miami’s official cocktail? That’s undoubtedly made with rum, a liquor as ingrained in the city as Art Deco hotels or cocaine cowboys. The history of Miami is littered with rum-soaked pirates, rum runners and pioneers who stilled the stuff in bathtubs. And while those dollar shots on the dancefloor do serve a purpose, we’ve admittedly outgrown them (or at least, we tell ourselves we have). These days, we prefer our rum cocktails expertly swizzled or shaken and worked over by a true artist. Especially on those crisp Miami winter days, there’s nothing that warms from the inside out quite like an expertly crafted rum concoction. We’ve got lots of fantastic cocktail bars in Miami doling out damn good rum cocktails, and you’ll find the best of them here.

There comes a time, in the life of a vegetarian or vegan, when it’s your turn to pick. This night out won’t be about having one choice on the menu, some lonely pasta primavera that looks pitiful compared to the meaty dishes on the other plates. You’ll need a restaurant with dishes you want to eat and a vegan dish that’ll downright impress that meat eater you’re dating or that friend who inexplicably can’t live without a steak for a day or two. After this meal perhaps, if everything goes right, maybe you’ll be picking the restaurant every single time. Where to go? Luckily, vegetarians and vegans in Miami are well-covered, from simple order-at-the-counter quick spots to Michelin-quality spots that put vegetables above all else. Finally—these are the best vegan restaurants in Miami. RECOMMENDED: The best restaurants in Miami

The venerable New York Times recently dedicated some serious ink and online space to explain something we locals already know: Miami’s bakery scene is on fire. The headline accurately calls our bakeries “eclectic,” which we’re of course embracing as high praise. It goes on to note that “artisan bread-baking thrives” here in Miami. So true, NYT! You can find world-class bakers in all corners of Miami-Dade these days, from family-run Cuban spots that (almost) make us want to move to Doral, to pandemic pop-up success stories reinventing how we define sourdough and sweet treats. What Miami’s best coffee shops do for our productivity, these bakeries do for our souls—and there’s no calorie count too high to keep us from that satisfaction.

We’re not here to judge anyone whose idea of Chinese food consists of greasy takeout noodles meant to soak up mistakes made at happy hour. No doubt, we’ve done that ourselves. We’re also not here to cast aspersions on those who define Chinese cuisine by three-figure duck dishes put out at swanky hotel restaurants. Because we like to eat that, too. The truth is, the range of Chinese spots represented on this list covers all of those bases, from ultra-luxe Brickell dim sum that’ll make you question whether you should’ve dressed nicer, to tried-and-true strip mall staples serving up the kind of takeout fried rice we all need in a pinch. Whether you’re seeking out somewhere delicious for Christmas Day in Miami, Lunar New Year or any old Sunday, these are the best spots to find Chinese food in Miami. RECOMMENDED: The best cheap eats in Miami

Where can you find a beautiful bowl of ramen in Miami? Or a tray of trustworthy sushi? These questions were a lot tougher to answer just a couple of years ago. Once upon a time, any half-decent ramen in Miami was still wildly overpriced, and most of our sushi came home in plastic containers from the counter at Publix. Now, there's a great omakase restaurant in almost every corner of this metro. Sushi counters produce rice bowls and slices of sashimi to rival actual restaurants in Japan. And some places are daring enough to combine Japanese flavors and techniques with everything from Texas barbecue to Peruvian sauces—to legendary effect. Find the freshest fish, tender meat sizzling on robata grills and noodles being slurped mercilessly at the best Japanese restaurants in Miami. RECOMMENDED: The best sushi in Miami 

Inflation sucks. So much so that several dishes on this list saw hefty price increases or had to be cut entirely. It’s understandable: Restaurants already operate on razor-thin margins, and this wild economy hasn't helped. Luckily, we’ve still got a whole lot of delicious dishes in Miami that clock in at $10 or just a few cents over. These aren’t the sort of cheap eats we’d avoid mentioning to our friends—there will be no items with “supreme” in the name, Crunchwrap or otherwise. Instead, we’ve assembled not just some of the city’s most affordable food, but also some of its most objectively delicious food, including a few of the best sandwiches in Miami. And we promise you won’t have to wait in line at a drive-through to get it. RECOMMENDED: A definitive guide to the best pizza in Miami

December 2022: Now that the dust is settling post-Art Basel, it’s time to take stock of all the fantastic new restaurants that have opened in Miami leading up to high season. From an elevated comfort-food brunch under the shade of Banyan trees to yet another upscale Italian restaurant from Major Food Group (it’s great, we promise), Miami’s best new restaurants are really serving the heat this winter. It’s a great time to dine out and here's where you should start. You rule the city’s food scene: You’ve wined and dined at the best restaurants in Miami and best bars in South Beach, and if someone wants to know where to get brunch in Miami, you’re their go-to Benedict boss, mimosa master, pancake prince—well, you get the idea. The coffee shops in Miami? They know your name, they know your order and they know you mean business. But there’s always something fresh to discover, and new to learn—that’s part of the reason you love the Magic City so much. Stay up to date—and keep your in-the-know status—with our guide to the best new restaurants Miami is welcoming to town right now.

For some restaurants, it’s all about the views, or the historic vibes, or the fact that you’re in the middle of Coconut Grove. At MaryGold’s, you go for the chef. It’s not that Brad Kilgore is a celebrity, at least not as defined in this era of chefs who get famous beating Bobby Flay or trading f-bombs with that potty-mouthed British guy. Kilgore is famous for cooking and, mostly, for doing things on a plate that nobody else would dare try. And that’s exactly what he’s trying again at MaryGold’s. Photograph: Courtesy MaryGold's Headlining the new Arlo Hotel in Wynwood, MaryGold’s is a stunning space to behold, serving a few dishes that are downright memorable, and it’s almost certainly going to become a favorite of many people. It’s not all perfect, but, and stick with us here, that might be part of its magic. Before MaryGold’s, Kilgore made a name for himself as head chef of Alter, the Wynwood fine-dining spot that got so much attention before the pandemic murdered it. At MaryGold’s, he’s teamed up with Bar Lab, the folks who have served stellar cocktails for years at the Broken Shaker, among other spots. Photograph: Courtesy MaryGold's The space they created at the Arlo is so pretty it’s already earned the place accolades. Designed by Meyer Davis and MaD Artistic, it’s got an old-school Florida peachy vibe with a massive, gorgeous Calacatta marble bar. Big leafy plants hang down between hourglass and geometric-shaped light fixtures, and all those things hanging down fro

The first trip to New Orleans, for most people, includes double-fisting cans of Dixie Beer and Slurpee-sized hurricanes while stumbling down Bourbon Street. Hopefully, you’ve made a second trip with a few more years in the rearview mirror, staying maybe in a B&B under the oak trees in the Garden District and discovering a restaurant scene that knew long ago about the benefits of fresh, local ingredients served slowly in a meal that might, with a few rounds of cocktails, gloriously take all night. It’s that kind of New Orleans that’s channeled by Joliet, a seafood house with a slight Cajun theme and the charm of a well-established restaurant off Magazine Street. The restaurant group behind it, Lost Boy Co., knows how to channel nostalgia. It began with its namesake bar downtown that looks like a haberdashery and serves up some of the finest classic cocktails in town. At Fox’s Lounge, the Lost Boy folks went all-in on sentimentality, bringing back a half-century-old restaurant exactly how it had always been, right down to the french dip and martinis that come with a sidecar to refill halfway through. Photograph: Patrick Michael Chin With Joliet, they took a corner of a hostel-like hotel lobby next to Sunset Harbour and closed it off into a space that’s both modern and feels like a place that’s been a neighborhood staple since the Nixon administration. There are the walls of mismatched art, the Moroccan-ish tile floors, the gold trim here and there on light fixtures and the sh

Oori is putting out long-ferment sourdough bread, oozy brown butter chocolate chip cookies and fluffy Japanese milk bread loaves in Little River. There are also lots of quite-original creations, like cognac-infused custard pies, red bean and dark chocolate shoku-buns and jet-black charcoal parker house rolls topped in everything seasoning, the irresistible Wednesday Addams of the dinner table.

For a time, Sushi by Bou operated in a memorable spot: from a six-seat counter set up in Gianni Versace’s former bedroom in his infamous Miami Beach mansion. With that temporary setup in the rearview mirror, New York’s Sushi by Bou opened the 13th location of its speakeasy-style omakase theme in the SLS Brickell. Sushi by Bou’s chefs hit all the notes that have made omakase popular, blowtorching their wagyu nigiri and handing guests single-servings of well-sourced sushi from an intimate, 650-square-foot space with just 12 seats. Choose between a 12-course $60 experience or a 17-course affair for $100—both of which will end promptly at a one-hour cutoff, making this a breezy, sometimes-rushed and also much-loved omakase experience.

Technically, if we were to check a clock, it’s lunchtime. And, theoretically, the sun is shining outside—though we can’t be sure. Because at Dirty French, Miami’s trendiest windowless basement, it’s as if closing time is perpetually imminent and the world is forever set to late-night party mode. At the next table, a gentleman already on his second martini fumbles the olive skewer he’s been twirling and tipsily shrugs off the clank, just audible over the disco soundtrack. It’s safe to assume he’s not due back at the office—or, if he is, the accounting department is going to have to audit this afternoon’s numbers. Photograph: Courtesy Major Food Group Don’t assume this scene on a random Friday is unique. This is, after all, the whole point of Dirty French, a restaurant designed to feel like the sort of place a baller, 1980s banker would blow through on a legendary bender. Dirty French arrived in Brickell courtesy of Major Food Group, the folks behind many of Miami’s hottest restaurants right now, like Carbone and Contessa. While there’s a Dirty French in New York, the oiled wood-clad Lower East Side version evokes a French brasserie theme. In Miami, the Dirty French is very decisively a steakhouse, one where designer Ken Fulk massaged the old Morton’s into a time capsule of the Sex Pistols era. Photograph: Kris Tamburello A hard right turn through a comparatively sedate, dark hallway reveals a lounge that’s a cacophony of colors and patterns. A tray ceiling as bright as gol

You’ve probably been by the Pérez Art Museum Miami or maybe you just live in one of the countless buildings constructed by Jorge M. Pérez. But, chances are, you’ve never taken a tour of the billionaire developer’s private art collection. Now you can at Pérez's El Espacio 23 in the Allapattah neighborhood. The museum houses, oh, a few thousand personal pieces as well as the works of many others. Plus, a lineup of artists in residence and special event programming is coming soon.

Since its arrival as an order-online-only pop-up during the pandemic, Miami Slice has been the hottest debutante at the ball, written up often as the best new pizza spot in Miami and Instagrammed by those who have become famous for eating pizza. But Miami Slice also brings up a fundamental question: What would you put up with for something delicious? You might think the chaotic setup at Miami Slice is totally worth it if you’re the type who chased Ted’s Burgers and LuchaDough donuts to various locations around town, or dealt with the often-difficult ordering process in the early days of Old Greg’s, or drove to a North Miami front yard for ribs from the Drinking Pig. There are also those of you who would rather just walk into Eleventh Street or Stanzione 87 and order an incredible pizza without a hint of drama. In that case, Miami Slice may not be your friend. If the Miami Slice website and ordering system and Instagram page left you confused, apparently you’re not alone. Here’s how it works: Their massive, New York-style pizzas become available a few days in advance and without warning. If you see that the pies say “Sold Out” (as they almost always do), you’ve missed your chance. There’s also a dine-in option for slices that might make ordering easier. But not always. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Miami Slice (@miamislicepizza) When we arrived 15 minutes before the 5pm opening, only a couple of small groups were already waiting. Looking unsure

Once upon a time in Miami, great new restaurants arrived occasionally, thanks to the vision of some legendary local chef. Michael Schwartz, José Mendín, Michelle Bernstein, Cesar Zapata, Michael Beltran—they were the knights of the kitchen in this golden era of, like, 2009 to 2019. Then, a great darkness blanketed the country, otherwise known as Covid-19 lockdowns, prompting hordes of Northerners to flock to friendly Florida, where the weather was warm and the land was lawless. This included the likes of famed NYC restaurateurs Major Food Group (MFG), who swiftly opened Miami outposts of its household names like Carbone on Miami Beach, Sadelle’s in Coconut Grove and Dirty French in Brickell. Photograph: Michael StavaridisContessa Miami Suddenly, gone were the days of local hero chefs cooking their hearts out in the back of the house. And it seemed MFG would rather not place any emphasis on who exactly is running the kitchens in its well-bred concepts. But that’s not to imply they’re the antagonist in this restaurant fairytale. MFG restaurants are undeniably good—albeit quite expensive and notoriously hard to get into. And the latest of them, Contessa in the Design District, just might be the best of them yet. The refined, modern Italian concept is great, actually, and may represent a new era in Miami’s food scene, one in which great restaurants needn’t all be helmed by star chefs. MFG first introduced the Contessa concept to Boston in 2021, and that restaurant’s website tou

Bayshore Club is an expansive open-air restaurant right smack on the water in Coconut Grove with views and a vibe that’ll likely earn it loyal customers forever and ever. All of that’s so true it probably doesn’t matter what anyone says about the food.  Without a doubt, Bayshore Club is a worthy stop for a boozy sunset happy hour before moving on to any of the other excellent spots nearby. It happened to land in the midst of a Coconut Grove restaurant revolution that’s brought with it a handful of Michelin stars and the most authentic Mexican dishes this side of the Rio Grande.  Bayshore Club is situated on the historic site known as Dinner Key, on land that once held Miami’s first seaplane port, which explains fun cocktail names like Come Fly with Me and Tropical Paper Plane. Its next life was as Scotty’s Landing, a longtime locals’ joint beloved for its beer and burgers with a view. Today, the 300-seat Bayshore Club inhabits a dramatic modern structure whose design nods to a bygone era of glamorous Pan Am stewardesses and Mad Men decadence.  Photograph: Courtesy Bayshore Club A massive, Jetsons-style curved roof propped up by spindly columns stretches over the elevated outdoor dining space and large circular bar, where a three-piece jazz band often plays. Down by the marina, there’s seating around fire pits, a free-standing bar and an inviting swath of artificial turf dotted with cabanas. It all amounts to the kind of place you’d instinctively take your out-of-towner frie

The omakase experience arrived in Miami not that long ago, thanks to quite excellent restaurants like Hiden, Hiyakawa and The Den at Azabu. They were, and still are, serious affairs, where table talk is largely whispered as the often stone-cold silent chefs wield very sharp knives close by. You’ll eat some great sushi at traditional omakase, but it’s also sort of like auditing an upper-level college class on Japanese sushi-making. Now we’re in the second wave of Miami omakase led by Mr. Omakase, a far simpler, in-and-out affair that’s really just about good bites of sushi. Austin’s Sushi by Scratch came next, upending any pre-existing idea of what could be placed atop a bit of rice and called sushi. And now it’s another Austin export, Sushi | Bar Miami, drowning all the droll pomp and ancient rules around omakase in a vat of very good sake. Sushi | Bar set up shop in a tourist-trod area of South Beach, hidden inside the boutique Esmé Hotel at the Washington Avenue end of Española Way. Dodge the menu-wielding staff luring tourists with fishbowl cocktails on your way into a lobby that feels like a member of the Rat Pack could have slept one off in the corner back in the day. You’ll know you’ve arrived once you step inside a pink-and-white-tiled, tassel-draped lounge that looks designed by Willy Wonka. Here, a fruity pre-dinner yuzu and sake cocktail preps the palate for what’s ahead. A host leads the way down an open-air cavern not unlike the shadowy alleys of Barcelona into a

The Clevelander Hotel on South Beach is known as a place for pouring shots down the caverns of well-bronzed bodies; where drunk revelers slide into the pool with their phones in their pockets and absolutely could not care less. It’s a bounty of bouncers and DJs pumping music in four-four time; of bikinis flashing neon through mesh cover-ups and tribal bicep tats bulging out of homemade tanktops. But eating there? Like, actually ordering a meal? No, no. It’s definitely not that—at least, not until Kush arrived. As you may know, Kush is a locally grown chain of pub restaurants serving up city-best burgers, stellar fritas and frog legs with the power to possibly change your mind about frog legs. For its latest trick, Kush has taken up residence in the Clevelander, marrying two opposing yet quintessentially Miami things, sort of like if A-Rod and Andy Garcia got hitched. But this seemingly odd union might just be a perfect match. Just imagine the untold numbers of juicy, Kush-branded burgers being fed into the hungry baby-bird mouths of South Beach’s buzzed masses.  Kush at Clevelander holds down a sliver of a spot behind the pool, a bright-even-at-night space that feels like it could flip into a full-on rager at the drop of a hat. It’s comprised of a long bar with a few high-tops and booths where larger groups can congregate around sustenance and (more) drinks after all that poolside liquor. Like other Kush spots, Clevelander gets the Miami-fied kitsch treatment. The focal point

There was a time, not long ago, when for many of us, all we knew of Israeli food was what we heard second-hand. A friend would return from a birthright trip or vacation with tales of eggplant dishes and the creamiest of hummus and the freshest of grilled fishes. That changed for Miamians in the past few years when all of a sudden Israeli cuisine became a serious thing. It started perhaps with Michael Solomonov when he opened a restaurant that soon perished thanks to the never-ending Wynwood construction and continues now with the much-liked Abbalé Telavivian Kitchen. Those restaurants provided an overview of Israeli dishes—baba ganoush and shakshuka and all the stars we needed to know. But now we have Neya, a Surfside restaurant making us rethink Israeli food all over again. Photograph: Courtesy Neya Restaurant Thanks to Israel-born chef Ben Siman Tov, the menu at Neya draws inspiration from the dishes of his home country and takes them to new places, adding non-typical ingredients and techniques in ways that just work. These are Israeli or, maybe more broadly, Mediterranean dishes that are downright original and quite good. Neya came to be thanks to the team from Novikov Miami, which includes Philippe Moullet, former global managing director for Zuma. They brought Siman Tov directly from Israel to head the kitchen at Neya, and they say his dishes blend Israeli food with Spanish, North African and Levantine cuisines. This happens in an unassuming storefront a couple of bloc

Most people know Carolina Isabela as Caro the Tour Guide, a personality she took on for social media to boast about all the cool things in Miami. But when we spoke, she had just returned home from Amsterdam and couldn’t stop gushing about all the epic bike rides there.  “It was the best.” And then drawing out words in a way that’s become something of her signature, she said: “ It was amaaaaazing.” She biked everywhere, slowly so she could take in the view of the Rijksmuseum and look for street food, stroopwafels especially. “Oh, my god. Amaaaaazing. I’m so mad I didn’t bring any back.” Considering how much Isabela likes to bike, it’d be easy to assume she’d be wistful about Amsterdam now that she’s back in Miami. But when asked about whether the Magic City could ever compare to bike-friendly Amsterdam, she’s nothing but optimistic. “Can Miami do it? Yeah, of course. Miami is only 126 years old. We’re babies!” she says. “Amsterdam has been designing their city for millennia. We’re just getting started.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Miami’s Tour Guide - Carolina (@carothetourguide) Is Miami a bike-friendly city? Not all bike advocates share Isabela’s hopefulness, but Miami has certainly made progress in becoming a bike-friendly city. Thanks in part to efforts by the Transit Alliance Miami and local organizers, we recently gained bike path protectors along the Venetian Causeway as well as three new miles of Downtown bike lanes, with plans for even

Congratulations, you’ve booked a week’s vacation in Miami, the Magic City, a subtropical subparadise known for its sandy beaches and pumping nightclubs. Now forget everything you think you know. Ignore the online guides and the recommendations from the concierge (who gets paid to tell you to do the touristy things). On this list, we’re sending you elsewhere and warning you of the things in Miami you need to ignore. Don’t worry—there will still be croquetas and cafecito. 1. The food scene is legendary Call us biased, but with tons of celebrity chef-run restaurants and imported cuisines from everywhere in the world, Miami isn’t just having a moment. It’s downright one of the best restaurant cities anywhere. 2. Enriqueta's over Versailles Presidents have dined at Versailles, it’s true. And yes, it’s been there forever. If you want big plates of Abuela-quality Cuban food and don’t want to wait in line with cruise ship types, head instead to Enriqueta’s and squeeze in between construction workers and lunching lawyers at the tight counter. Jonathan P.Ellgen" data-width-class="" data-image-id="105807692" /> Photograph: Courtesy CC/Flickr/Jonathan P.Ellgen 3. Airboats are loud AF Riding on an airboat is proof that it’s a good rule to avoid any kind of trip into nature that requires earplugs. 4. Nobody rides the bus There’s nothing sadder than seeing a public-transportation-reliant European waiting for those tubes of human misery provided by Metrobus. Photograph: Shutterstock 5. Al

There’s an old saying that the best thing about Miami is that it’s so close to the United States. It’s true for the fact that this is a place that often feels very European, South American and Caribbean. It’s also true for the fact that Miami exists as a place different from anywhere else in this country, a Bermuda Triangle of weirdness, where the rules on what to wear and where to go and how to act just might change depending on your dance partner for the evening. How do you live in such a place? Here below is a guide on how to navigate America’s most delightfully foreign city. 1. The dress code is whatever It doesn’t matter if it’s the fanciest brunch spot in town or the jankiest corner deli. Look around the room and you might see a dude in a tank top and jellies next to a woman wearing a sparkling evening gown. If you want to wear it, you’ll probably be fine. 2. About that dress code, tho Even though you can wear whatever to pretty much everywhere, you’ll also walk into clubs and bars and restaurants where every single person looks dressed by their own personal shopper. ChrisGoldNY" data-width-class="" data-image-id="105877750" /> Photograph: Courtesy CC/Flickr/ChrisGoldNY 3. Nudity is a thing Out on the sand of South Beach, topless is normal, and up at Haulover, it’s all coming off. Just try not to make eye contact. 4. If it requires a trip on I-95... ... the restaurant is almost surely not worth it. 5. It’s raining iguanas When it gets cold, giant reptiles just might st

We don’t know why you’ve gotten to this point. Perhaps your favorite Miami restaurant just took that amazing burger off the menu (legit problems). Or working from home means your only coworker is that long-neglected philodendron in the corner (have you considered a dog?). Or maybe it’s just time for a good soul-renewing sob to remind you of all the good that’s in the world—somewhere. Either way, it’s time to weep like Forrest just learned Jenny’s not going to make it. Here then is where you can bust out a good cry in public in Miami, places where your uncontrollable emotional breakdown will fit right in. NiteOwl Drive-In Nobody’s going to judge if you were to weep during the showing of a tear-jerker on an outdoor screen at this makeshift drive-in that’s smack in the middle of downtown (with a second location coming soon, perhaps?). We suggest you might wait for the breakup scene. Photograph: Shutterstock Shark Valley The Everglades is a wide expanse of nature that’s perfect for dumping a body and/or getting far, far away from anyone else. Here at Shark Valley, you can walk or bike a seven-mile paved trail, giving you plenty of space to let out all that’s pent up and see nobody else aside from a few judgment-free gators. Photograph: Shutterstock Hard Rock Stadium The Dolphins and Hurricanes play here. Must we say more? MGoBlog" data-width-class="" data-image-id="105591069" /> Photograph: Courtesy CC/Flickr/MGoBlog Freedom Tower From 1962 to 1974, what may be Miami’s most

It’s after 2 o’clock in the afternoon when we hook up with Brittany Brave, and she’s just finishing up breakfast at Mamey in Coral Gables. She polished off a coffee, a mimosa, coconut water, tuna tostones, and grilled cheese bites—all with the desperate hope of beating the hangover. Having just barely answered the phone, she’s already apologizing profusely for sleeping through multiple alarms and jumping on the call late. “I don’t know what I was thinking scheduling a 10am Monday phone call.” You can’t blame her. The night before, 31-year-old Brave had headlined the Miami Improv for the first time, all part of what seems to be a major moment for this homegrown comedienne. In the past year, Brave has racked up headlining spots and accolades including being named by the Miami New Times as the city’s best comedian. Is this officially a thing? “Um, yeah, I am afraid—well, first off thank you for saying that—but I’m afraid to use language like that,” Brave says. “You never want to jinx it, and you never want to think you’re ahead of where you are.” Up until recently, she was a starving artist. “Sometimes literally starving,” she says. And as such, she doesn't want to ruin things. Brave grew up in west Kendall, the only child of a cosmetologist mom and sales manager dad. Her parents remain the funniest people she knows, she says, and she figured out early on that she loved making them laugh. Some of her earliest memories are of standing in the middle of the room at get-togethers an

Being short on cash and with a big date looming, you’ve got some choices to make. There’s always figuring out which of your cards isn’t going to get cut up by the waiter. Or there’s heading midday to COTE Miami. Go there for dinner, and it’ll cost you a couple of hundred bucks. But there’s a lunch menu you can actually, maybe, afford—and still impress your date with your great expensive taste. On it is the “shicken” sandwich that costs $28, and yes, you’re probably laughing now at a sandwich that costs $28. But it’s huge, as in too-big-to-eat-on-your-own sized. It looks utterly charming too, like a beautiful remake of McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish. There’s the big, fluffy La Provence Bakery bun, the tartar sauce dripping out the sides, and the slice of melty American cheese. The patty in the center is as thick as a butcher’s block, and inside there’s something quite unique: layers of pounded chicken and diced shrimp, layered together and then panko battered and fried golden. They split the sandwich back in the kitchen, providing both a cheese-stretching cross-section and also an ideal setup for proposing to your date that you split it. This thing is so huge I guess we don’t need to order anything else, you’ll say. Two tap glasses of your finest tap water, please, and a killer chicken-shrimp sandwich, and you just took your date to one of the nicest places in Miami for $14 per person. Well done, you cheap bastard. Photograph: Eric Barton

Back when Brickell was just a quiet neighborhood south of super-sketch downtown, and the beach was all shuffleboarding old people and strung-out coke heads, the rules of Miami were decidedly different. Those days Miami was a sub-tropical sub-paradise. The sleeves of sports coats were pushed up to elbows, the pole-thin South Beach models looked like they needed a cheeseburger, and everybody wanted a gator on their Sonny Crockett sailboats. OK, some of that is still true. But now that Miami has become America’s Coolest Ciudad (trademark pending), we need a new operating manual. Here then are some things you should know to avoid being a Miami shit. 1. Be not on time It’s not easy to know what time something starts in Miami. Generally, be on time for restaurant reservations and the theater. Show up a bit late to dinner parties, because the host isn’t expecting you yet. Be fashionably late to the club. Be very late to the concert with opening acts. For weddings, it’s likely they’ve told Miamians to show up an hour before the thing starts. Whatever you do, embrace that you’re in a place where being late is the norm, not the exception. 2. One colada per person Every afternoon, from Doral to Hialeah and all the way down to Kendall, somebody’s walking around offices with a little tray full of thimble-sized paper cups with a Cuban coffee called a colada, which could fuel all the rockets of all the billionaires. You take one, you say “thank you” in your best Spanglish, and you raise you

There may come a time in your life when suddenly that sweet print of the Eiffel Tower you scored from Z Gallerie starts to not exactly look your age. Then there’s that questionable painting from the art fair, and, oh yeah, the paint-by-numbers thing you muddled through after two (or was it three?) glasses of wine. Now that you’ve realized you must, how do you step up what decorates your walls? If you’re clueless about the next steps to become an actual art collector, it turns out you’re not alone: A Miami nonprofit called Commissioner is working with a small group of people who are new to collecting. The goal is to teach them how to take the first steps into the world of original art. Commissioner came about after a conversation in 2017 between friends Dejha Carrington and Rebekah Monson. Carrington recalls: “She asked me one day how someone like her could learn more about collecting, and it was really that question that was personal to her that helped identify that there was a greater need in the community.” The two of them started imagining a model that would use a pool of money from a group of people to commission original art. It’s a bit like a community-supported agriculture program, where a bunch of people chip in to support and buy produce from local farmers. It’s also, Carrington says, inspired by a Caribbean susu, a tradition where women chip in money to do community projects. Their idea was good enough to score a couple of grants, including $90,000 from the Knight F

If you’ve taken a selfie beneath Sun Stories in Coral Gables—hey, you’re not the only one—then you’re familiar with Jessy Nite. The local artist is known for her massive projects that use light and shadow to dramatic effect. Her next canvas? The windows that encircle Time Out Market Miami, where her piece One of Everything debuts on December 2. We spoke with Nite just before the installation process began. What’s the concept of your piece for Time Out Market Miami?The Time Out Market is such a great canvas. There are so many windows, and they wrap around this really great corner of the beach. I wanted to do something bright and colorful. I’m going to be playing with a lot of my geometric work, including some of the more recent illustrations that I’ve been doing. So, I’m merging two styles to make something really fun. What’s it like to handle commissions from brands such as Nike, Instagram and Red Bull?We’re at this amazing time right now when brands aren’t asking artists to do stuff that the brands want. They’re asking artists to do what the artist wants to do. I’m really lucky that all the brands that I’ve worked with are just trying to lift up my practice and give me the opportunity to do bigger things and execute larger ideas. What is your takeaway from exhibiting in far-flung cities like Vienna and Bangkok?All of my pieces, whether they’re the shadow works or the new, larger-scale sun-scape pieces that I’m doing, are really supposed to be narrated by nature—the environm