Miami Favorites

I have barely set foot in my house these last few months… you have “witnessed” from my posts from Mexico (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3) to my whole series on Paris from a vegetarian perspective.  Right after returning from Paris, I went for a week to Miami to visit my family and to take care of some business at the same time…

I’ve been sooooooo many times to Miami that I never do any of the touristy stuff…  I rent a car and do regular stuff with my family and go through a list of places to go and things to do, usually shopping and eating at places not available in Puerto Rico. 

CRACKER BARREL

My sister took me the first time to a Cracker Barrel when she was living in Texas.  I looooooove breakfast foods.  I could eat breakfast foods at any time of the day every day.  Cracker Barrel is a restaurant that serves breakfast foods all day long. 

Every time I go to Miami/Ft. Lauderdale I make it a point to grab breakfast at least once there.  My mom, sister and brother-in-law are also fans.  We always order the same: Buttermilk pancakes, pecan pancakes, and our favorite Hash Brown Casserole.  This is a cheesy potato dish we ALL love… we may share in the pancakes, but we all order a personal serving of hash browns.  It’s that good…

CHICHARRITAS DE PLÁTANO

I already talked to you about Chicharritas de Plátano… also called mariquitas or as we call them in Puerto Rico, platanutres.  But I wanted to show you how they serve them at the restaurants in Miami.  You will find them usually in the appetizer section, although my aunt usually considers them as a side dish or a snack.

The best thing about ordering them in a restaurant… the garlic/lemon mojito they’re served with.  I used to go to this restaurant in Hialeah called Las Delicias, especially because they make their chicharritas super thin, but also because they served the mojito already on top the chicharritas.  Now, they serve the mojito on the side.  Oh well, it’s not the same thing but it’s still good…           

WHOLE FOODS                                                                                            

Every time I visit Miami, my mom and I need to make a pit stop at Whole Foods.  We wish we had one in Puerto Rico…  we usually buy stuff we have no access to here and to bring some treats to my sister’s house. 

This time around my mom was craving a cheese she used to buy at Costco with cranberries inside… the closest thing I could find at the cheese counter was this goat cheese covered with almonds, walnuts and cranberries – excellent.  I also bought a small piece of gruyere to snack with these whole grain water crackers.  This was the first time my brother-in-law tasted gruyere… he liked it.

SHOP @ TARGET

We do not have Target stores in Puerto Rico YET (I hope the operative word in that statement is the YET). So every time I travel to where there’s a Target, we usually stop to at least walk the store.  We usually like to go by the house wares department to check out the kitchen and bath stuff and the FOOD/Supermarket section to buy my favorite risotto mixtures.  A new addition to my shopping cart – couscous mixes.  Really good when you’re hungry right NOW…

EATING PIZZA @ LINCOLN ROAD

I love eating pizza and in Lincoln Road there’s a pizzeria that makes pizza on whole wheat crust any time of day – Pizza Rustica.  In Puerto Rico, whole wheat crusts are not very common and the place we go to, only makes pizza on Friday nights.  So it’s a real treat for us to eat pizza for lunch when we travel.

We ordered a whole pie divided into 2 flavors – Margherita (with fresh tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and basil leaves) and a roasted eggplant and goat cheese varieties.

The pizza was delicious… but what surprised me the most was that 1) I could find Orangina on the menu 2) and that it was double the size as the ones I had had in Paris and at half the price.  I paid 5€ (which is about $7USD) for a 8ox Orangina at the Deux Maggots in Paris.  I know Lincoln Road is not Paris, but the difference was astounding…

Tags: miami