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Thursday, July 8, 2010

Miami is Rotund.

All I can say is, Miami Beach is rotund. Everything seemed overpriced, over-sized and unbearably hot. I took this week long trip towards the beginning of June when the brunt of the heat hadn't even hit yet. Walking from the cool air-conditioned airport across the threshold and into the 95 degree weather was a slap in the face. Not that I didn't get used to it after awhile, but I was very aware of my pale, freckle-y redheaded self in that summer heat and trying not to get burned became my main goal.

We were starving once we finally got to our very mod decor hotel, the Sagamore. It was very fitting for my artsy-aware family. Decorated in mostly white colored furniture, walls, ceilings, and floors, and plenty of black and white photography, it was accented with black accent pillows and splashes of color here and there that drew your eye to them. This including a photograph of the Sagamore's pool filled corner-to-corner with naked women floating face down forming a kind of pool cover, their butts lined up for all to see.

So as I said we were starving by this point, although it was around 4:00, a very awkward time between lunch and dinner. So we decided to stroll along the beach until we hit a strip of restaurants that my mom remembered to be there, and to stop and have some appetizers at one of them. What was a strip of restaurants turned out to be a bunch of haggling door people, yelling at you to come to their restaurant which I hate because all you want to do is rush past them, keeping your eyes averted. We ended up sitting down in one of these restaurants (which we tried to pick out later as we were driving along this strip, but couldn't because they all look the same) and were promptly informed it was happy hour with two for one drinks.

So we all ordered a drink to sip on while we waited for our appetizers which I can't even remember now except that one was a small pizza. What we didn't know was that the drinks were going to be our appetizers. I don't even know how they all fit on one tray they were so huge. If you were to imagine a large soup (family sized) from a Chinese restaurant and then balance that bowl on a 5 inch glass pole, that's how these drinks looked. They were margarita glasses for small giants. You can picture how big our eyes got as these were set down, one in front of each of us. The funny part is they weren't even that good. We also didn't know how overpriced each of these drinks were going to be. Let's just say that our bill was the same price as a semi-nice restaurant's bill would have been for four people. You can imagine how thankful my family was to me for making them take the cheap commuter bus over to Miami Beach other than an expensive cab ride.

So long story short, Miami proved itself to be a little over the top. Most of our meals, although we didn't make the mistake again to walk into a restaurant like that, were less than excellent and charged high. We did manage to go to a very authentic Cuban restaurant which was affordable and really good, but gave most of my family a hard time for the next day or so, if you know what I mean. I however, have always said I have a stomach of steel and can take most food-oriented beatings.

There was one night however, that stood far among the rest. D. Rodriquez Cuba at the Astor Hotel was recommended by our concierge for it's fun music on thursday evenings. So we dressed up a little in preparation for a good time and took a short cab ride over to the hotel where the restaurant would be. Upon sitting down in the very wonderful outside space decorated with metal and glass lanterns and candles, we were graced with amazing service, the best service, I think I have ever gotten at a restaurant. And. The. FOOD! It was so wonderful on so many levels. Not only were the combination of flavors unusually creative and an adventure for the taste buds, but the presentation and portions and everything were so perfect and appealing. While their prices range from about $8 for appetizers and $29 for their most expensive seafood dish, the food was extremely worth it. Oh and if you're planning on going for any reason, try the Yerba Mate Soda they serve called Materva. It's very refreshing, not to mention fresh. You can view their menu, which I think is updated quite frequently at: http://www.drodriguezcuba.com/menu

So I have decided, apart from that one restaurant, Miami Beach is rotund and overpriced and over-everything and I am over it.

Happy Eating!!

-Kristin

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