When I moved to Miami, I thought my food adventures would center mostly around Cuban cuisine. I quickly realized how wrong I was!
Cuban food happens to be one of my least favorite and most infrequently tapped into cuisines here in Miami. Instead, I’ve satiated my foodie desires through this pandemic with a vast diversity of not only Latine foods but cultures from all over the world.
Being in a big city means I can still find some of my favorite types of food as well as some of my all time favorites for a tropical climate with a huge Latine and Caribbean population. In this post, I introduce all of my favorites, as well as giving some honorable mentions and acknowledgements to the Miami standards.
Farm and Fruit Stands
When in a tropical climate, what is more quintessential than tropical fruit? Miami benefits from the rich farmlands in its surrounding area, particularly the Homestead region to the south. There, many farms grow fresh fruit of many varieties. But fruit trees like papaya and mangos are found all over Miami and are super common right in people’s back yards.
I have really enjoyed exploring new fruit down here in Miami since my arrival in 2019. I think my most favorite discovery is Mamey Sapote, native to Mexico and Central America. I can get it right in the local supermarket and, when ripe, it has the most unexpected texture and flavor! I had no idea that a fruit could taste like a baked pie—so sweet and creamy!
Another love from the local farm is the little Fresh Home Made breads made locally in Homestead, FL.
As I wrote in in my recent agritourism post about the farms of Miami, I am obsessed with these little breads. My favorites are the mango bread, chocolate banana, and coconut.
My mouth is watering just thinking about how good they are. The best part is they freeze well so I can stock up and enjoy them over a long period. At $7 each, you gotta make these little breads go a long way!
Cuban
This wouldn’t be a Miami food post without at least mentioning Cuban cuisine. Cuban people and Cuban culture is baked into almost every corner of Miami. But I am actually not a big fan of Cuban food!
I love me some sweet plantains as a side. But that’s the only part of Cuban cuisine that has become any consistent part of my diet down here in South Florida. It’s just a lot of rice and beans and meat—all of which I am not wild about to begin with. I also find Cuban food to be very dry.
Alas, I decided to include it in here because I believe its important to experience local culture through its cuisine. So, the two big hitter restaurants are Versailles and La Carreta. Both are considered necessary stops on a tour of Miami and are local favorites.
Quintessential menu items are Vaca Frita, Cuban Sandwiches, Ropa Vieja, and croquettes with sides like sweet plantains and rice and beans, which usually come with any order. Flan is also a dessert favorite, which I write more about below.
Peruvian and Ceviche
Can I just tell you that before I came to Miami I had yet to live as far as food goes? It’s because of ceviche. I never had ceviche before I moved next door to one of the best Peruvian ceviche restaurants in Miami—Pisco y Nazca.
I fucking love this place.
I ordered takeout from Pisco like 3 times during the pandemic (yes only 5 because it is actually a little pricey). And I’ve brought just about every friend who visits me there.
Even the little salted and toasted chulpe corn they serve as a snack and garnish was something new for me and that I now love and crave often!
My favorite appetizers, though, are the Tostones and the Crocante. The Tostones has pulled pork on top that is just the best!
A quarantine take home meal of tostones (bottom) and ceviche (top)
The ceviches that I love there are Callejero (octopus, fsh, shrimp, calamari, cancha, rocoto, crispy plantains) and Mixto (fish, shrimp, octopus, fried calamari, rocoto leche de tigre, cancha, sweet potato).
Out at Pisco y Nazco pre-pandemic with Mixto (left) and Callejero (center)
Honorable mentions also go to Dr. Limon—another excellent Peruvian place. Also CVI.CHE 105 is great and gets a +1 for decor from me.
Inside CVI.CHE 105 with its awesome interior decor
Ceviche sampler from CVI.CHE 105
Colombian
I have a new obsession now and it comes in the form of bread and cheese. No surprise there, right? Cachapas are a Colombian craving food—great for late nights after some heavy drinking.
Cachapas is a corn cake patty with cheese and creamy cheesy syrup. Sometimes there’s also shredded meat like chicken or beef or even striped of ham baked into the cheese.
I had it with shredded chicken. The sweet corn and salty cheese fulfills both my savory tooth and sweet tooth. I tried it once a few weeks ago and I’ve been craving it ever since. Hold, please, while I text my friend to meet me there after I post this…
My friends at the table also ordered some yummy snacks from Los Verdes, including a pulled pork slider with cheese and Salchipapa Criolla. I didn’t try the slider since I don’t eat red meat but my friend could vouch for it. The Salchipapa Criolla, on the other hand, seemed so simple—it’s cocktail weiners and fried yellow potatoes. When I popped one of those potatoes in my mouth I was so pleasantly surprised had how tasty they were.
Taco Genius
This place gets its own heading just because I love it so much. It truly saved me during the height of the pandemic. I just checked my app and I ordered from there 7 times in 1 year.
Although Miami is not really known for its Mexican food, this Black-owned restaurant does it in the best way I’ve ever experienced. I don’t know what they do to their chips and tortilla shells but they remain crisp and fresh even a day or two after living inside a to-go container in my fridge.
My favorite combination of items from Taco Genius are their quesadilla, guac and chips, and their taco bowl with chicken and added cabbage.
An honorable mention here goes to Tacos & Tattoos. I really love their soft tacos with interchangeable topping sauces. You can “build your own” but they always recommend the best combinations. Two of my favorites are the chicken taco with house topping and carnitas taco with pastoreado topping.
Mediterranean
I love me some good Middle Eastern-Mediterranean. It’s probably because I used to hit up the NYC food trucks parked outside of work all the time (soooo many lunch time falafel platters!). It brings me right back.
Anyway, Miami is not really known for this type of cuisine but I have managed to find 2 really great restaurants that give me my fix: Aladdin and Alamazar.
Aladdin is my go-to take-out restaurant. This was also a favorite of mine throughout the pandemic. I love their grape leaves, tabouleh salad, baba ganoush, hummus and pita.
Asian Fusion
I absolutely love Asian food but Miami, once again, is not super well known for it. Nevertheless, there are 2 spots that I am so satisfied with here in Miami—Imperial Tea and Good Chef.
I originally got into Imperial Tea because I wanted some good bubble/boba tea and didn’t know where to go in Miami. My friend Kim recommended Imperial Tea and from there a slippery slope I slid.
The most recent time I visited Imperial Tea, Kim convinced me to go in with her on the huge, multi-course duck feast. It was outstanding—definitely a top 5 meal for me.
When I found Good Chef, I was looking for any place that could satisfy my bao bun craving. I managed to do just that—and more! I really landed the jackpot with this tiny hole in the wall. You’d almost miss it in this plaza off of 107th in Miami.
My favorites are their dumplings and scallion pancake—oh my, so good!
The most unexpected part is that Good Chef has a little Asian market attached to it so I can stock up on my favorite mochi desserts and gai lan vegetables while I’m there.
Vegan & Plant-Based
While I do eat most meat and especially seafood, I am actually closer to being vegetarian or even vegan in between other days. So when there’s a good vegan or plant-based spot to eat, I am usually super content to eat there because I know I’ll enjoy any of it.
My first vegan spot in Miami was Love Life Cafe. I visited with a couple of new friends when I first got here. They were vegan so they picked it for having the “Best Veggie Burger in America.” I tried it and, from what I remember, it was definitely the best I’d every had! And with their side of roasted sweet potatoes. It was love, not like.
Next up is SpecialTEA. This awesome little hole in the wall has not only great bubble tea and amazing salads (my favorite is their coco curry bowl). They also have the most amazingly delicious vegan cookies I’ve ever had! They must cheat to make them taste so good. They may honestly be better than regular cookies to me.
More recently, I found out that I have an amazing plant-based spot right in my neighborhood—Aguacate Sancuary of Love is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an entire experience, not just a food stop. They have a food-truck style walk up menu with all outdoor seating in a garden-Zen-like atmosphere.
On the menu are smoothies and acai bowls, juices, breakfast items, lunch entrees and desserts.
When I went, I had a sweet tooth so I go their Awakened Monkey which had Banana, Coffee, Peanut Butter, Organic Sweet Coconut Water, Raw Cacao, and Cinnamon. YUM!
There’s hand painted motivational quotes, buddha statues, and local brightly colored artwork. Across from the seating area is a little plant shop with some of the most unique house plants I’ve seen in Miami for sale.
There’s also a little farm with farm animals nearby which makes me a little sad but these are people who love and care for animals, so I am giving it a pass!
Miami Spice
Like Restaurant Week in New York and other cities around the USA, Miami has “Miami Spice.” Only it doesn’t just last one week here, Miami Spice lasts 2 whole months from August 1 to September 30.
Participating restaurants (usually mid to upper tier) create a special, multicourse menu of their house favorites for a fixed price. It’s usually an amazing deal and you have the opportunity to eat like royalty affordably.
In 2019, I participated in Miami Spice at Pisco y Nazca. In 2021, I experienced Miami Spice at Peacock Garden Resto Bar and Grill with some friends. We had just emerged unscathed from the summer post-vaccination.
This was definitely an amazing restaurant experience after not being able to go out for so long. Open air and full of greenery, I love the aesthetic of this restaurant. But it was the food that sent it over.
I had the fried artichoke and organic half chicken. Everything tasted amazing, was cooked to perfection, and tasted rich—in flavor and expense.
Flan
Flan, or flan de leche or flan Cubano, in Miami is very much a part of Cuban culture and cuisine. Both times I’ve had flan in Miami was at Versailles and La Carreta.
Flan is basically a caramel custard with very few ingredients. What makes Cuban flan different from other flans?—it’s smooth and creamy crust!
To be honest, I’m not a big flan fan (ha! try saying that one 10x fast!). But I don’t think a Miami food tour would be complete without ordering it at least once.
Fancy Tropical Drinks
I mean, when you’re in a tropical climate what other kind of drink even is there?
Shout out to these cuties, my buddies Dasha (left) and Helen (right) with coconut drinks
As you can see from the many photos I’ve taken of such beverages—I am clearly an alcoholic. No no, I kid.
Honestly, these are the one-off drinks I’ve been fortunate enough to have either pre-pandemic or while outdoors in the last 2 years. And when I’m having just one drink with a friend, why not make it fancy and refreshing especially when it’s hot!
Miami Baked Cookies
Right near where I live is a cookie truck that pulls up into a parking lot. It’s called Miami Baked and they have tons of delicious sweets. Their crown jewel, in my opinion, is there huge, warm, chocolate chip cookies. You have to order 4 of them when you go—so prepare to share (or hoard them all to yourself, why not!).
But these are like crack cookies. The are insanely good especially for not being those SpecialTEA vegan cookies I love so much!
What makes these extra special is their size!
Ice Cream
I almost didn’t put this in here because I am not a huge ice cream fan. But I decided to anyway just so I could talk about this ONE ice cream place that is literally just called Cream Parlor. It looks like an old fashioned ice cream shop on the inside! There’s both indoor and outdoor seating in a cute garden patio in the back.
But the decor is not even the thing I wanted to mention. What I wanted to share is the variety of unique ice cream flavors they have, like Cheeseberry Strawcake, Death by Dulce, Purple Rain, and Red Velvet.
My favorite one, however, is their flavor called Unicorn Poop.
Yes. Unicorn Poop!
They literally sprinkle edible glitter on top of it and will put a little edible unicorn on it too (if you ask!). It’s delightful—and actually quote tastey as a vanilla, cotton candy base.
In Conclusion
Miami is a foodie heaven! While Cuban is definitely the most commonly found and infused cuisine, there are so many different Latine cultures to experience—my favorites being Colombian and Peruvian. And you certainly do not have to eat only Latine cuisine to have good food. I’ve found amazing Asian food, Mediterranean, desserts, and more.
I can’t wait to keep discovering more of Miami food culture especially as we continue to move into this new, more open phase of the pandemic!
