Villa Paula and the Ghosts of Little Haiti Guerrilla Gardeners

Transcription

April 2008
Serving the communities along the Biscayne Boulevard Corridor, including Arch Creek East, Baypoint, Bayside, Biscayne Park, Belle
Meade, Buena Vista, Davis Harbor, Design District, Edgewater, El Portal, Keystone Point, Magnolia Park, Miami Shores, Morningside,
North Bay Island, North Miami, Oakland Grove, Omni, Palm Grove, Sans Souci, Shorecrest, Wynwood, and Venetian Islands
www.BiscayneTimes.com
Volume 6, Issue 2
Guerrilla Gardeners
Villa Paula and the
Ghosts of Little Haiti
coffee on the white-columned front
porch in rural tranquility.
All the building materials for the
hen Cliff Ensor bought Villa
mansion, and the workers who built it,
Paula in 1974, the house was
were imported from Cuba. Ten rooms,
in a grave state of disrepair.
two baths, 18-foot-high ceilings, eleVandals had shot out the beautiful
gantly hand-painted floor tiles, and
stained-glass windows, graffiti was
Tuscan columns are just some of the
scrawled across the stucco walls outside,
features Havana architect C. Freira
and the county was
included in the
ready to order its demhome. Almost six
olition. Not to menA few years after Cuban con- decades later, in
tion, the ghost of a
1983, the City of
sul Domingo Milord moved
one-legged Cuban
Miami officially
into the newly constructed
designated the strucwoman frequented its
home, his wife Paula died
ture historic. A sechallways.
from a leg amputation.
The exquisitely
ond designation, in
designed house at
1987, amended the
5811 N. Miami Ave. in
original to include
Little Haiti catches your eye as you drive the interior and an adjacent lot.
But what really draws attention to
past. It sits among ramshackle homes
Villa
Paula is its reputation as Miami’s
and overcrowded two-story apartment
most
haunted home.
blocks like a misplaced masterpiece. By
A
few
years after Cuban consul
the time you turn your head to get a good
look, though, it’s too late. The adrenaDomingo Milord moved into the newly
line-charged traffic spurs you past it and
constructed home, his wife Paula died in
you barely manage a glimpse of the
one of the bedrooms from complications
whitewashed, neoclassical gem.
related to a leg amputation. The circumWhen the home was built in 1926 to
stances of the amputation and of her premature death are unclear. We know,
house the Cuban consulate to Miami,
however, that despite the effort put into
things were a little different. The neighborhood was still mostly agricultural and construction, Villa Paula ceased to serve
the home’s first occupants likely sipped
Continued on page 12
By Terence Cantarella
Special to BT
W
Dining Guide
Our Correspondents
BT photo by Tiffany Rainey
A classic old mansion, which may be haunted, awaits a
new life — once the lawsuits are settled
Late-night offensives, seed bombs, dig-and-run tactics —
Miami’s underground green thumbs fight blight
By Tiffany Rainey
BT Staff Writer
he parking lot behind a secondhand
clothing store just north of the
Design District buzzes with a
group of twentysomethings, mostly clad
in T-shirts, jeans, and sneakers. On this
recent Friday evening, they are not drinking and carousing but busily loading
shovels, bags of fertilizer, jugs of water,
and an array of plants into the back of a
few parked cars. Some stand nearby chatting, waiting for the caravan to roll. When
T
Community News
Four new
restaurants plus
Argentine wine.
A bullet a day
keeps boredom away.
Miami’s visual
pollution gets
toned down.
Page 48
Page 20
Page 29
the last of the stragglers arrives, the group
sets off for its clandestine destination in
the Wynwood warehouse district.
The coast is clear when the cars pull up
just after dark to a vacant corner lot ripe
with weeds and garbage. After unloading
their gear on the sidewalk, the approximately 15 individuals linger for a few
minutes, strategizing about how they’re
going to transform this orphaned space
into an urban garden oasis. A few break
away, heading to an overgrown corner
with shovels and a small live oak. Others
Kids and the City
The Alice in
Wonderland
you’ve never
seen.
Page 45
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Biscayne Times • www.BiscayneTimes.com
April 2008
April 2008
3
C O M M E N TA R Y : F E E D B A C K
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Biscayne Times •
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
SCOHOL Dazed: Spelling
Is Just a Formality, No?
Waht a graet hoax. Or deos Bicsayne
Buolevrad raelly hvae a “SCOHOL”
pianted on it (“How Embarassing,”
March 2008)? Yuo mihgt ntoice, and tihs
is no defnese, taht in Egnlish, it is not
ncessray to splel corerctly to be cmoprehneded. As lnog as the frist and fnial
lteters remian in palce, it’s sitll radeable.
Tahnks for Stepahnie Placanio’s fun stroy
aynway.
Greg Baker
Port St. Lucie
Editor’s note: For mroe fun, trun to
page 29.
Lawncare? Ain’t My Job,
Ma’am
Yes, as Tiffany Rainey reported, landscaping between NE 104th and NE 123rd
streets might be finished (“Tree Talk,”
March 2008), but have you seen the beautiful grass — I mean weeds — growing
on and around the new bus stops? I can’t
tell you the last time it was cut! Who are
we paying for no grass cutting?
Bonnie Klimetz
Miami
My Neighbors Don’t Know
What’s Coming!
In response to Tiffany Rainey’s
“Riverbank vs. Seawall” article (March
2008), the opposition to El Portal’s
planned seawall design is more involved
than the aesthetics of it. In order to build
this wall on the cheap, it’s being supported by metal tie beams that will connect
the seawall to concrete anchors buried 12
to 15 feet into residents’ yards. These tie
beams will be buried in trenches dug
every four feet.
This kind of cheap seawall construction
is too invasive for an established residential neighborhood. Many of these homes
have elaborate, 200-plus-square-feet concrete landings, with built-in barbecues,
small structures, wood decks, and fences
that will be destroyed. Decades-old palms
and other vegetation will be leveled.
Most of El Portal’s residents don’t
know what’s coming. I see it as eminent
domain without the compensation. I’m
not against seawall replacement, just
poorly thought-out plans. I’d rather not
have 1400 square feet of my backyard
destroyed.
And why is this wall being built in the
first place? According to Evan Skornick,
TABLE
OF
acting service center director for the South
Florida Water Management District, it is
because “people have water coming into
their homes.” That sounds dramatic, but
when we residents have asked at El Portal
council meetings what houses have had
water inside from river flooding, no example has been given. The only flooding to
interiors has been from excessive rainfall,
and this was remedied by an underground
drainage system built a year ago.
Why this wall is being forced on us I
don’t know. I imagine someone is indirectly making some money from it or
wants to add the project to a résumé.
Slade Cole
El Portal
Coppertone Girl: Nice Tale,
but Here’s the Real Story
I hope they will be able to save and
renovate the Coppertone billboard written
about in Margaret Griffis’s article “Get
That Girl in the Picture” (March 2008).
Some of the background you’ve printed
in the past about Coppertone is erroneous,
and I would like to give you the accurate
background. I can do this as I was married for 54 years to Charles E. Clowe’s
Continued on page 6
CONTENTS
COVER STORIES
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
Villa Paula and the Ghosts of Little Haiti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Guerrilla Gardeners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..1
POLICE REPORTS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Biscayne Crime Beat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
COMMENTARY
Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Miami’s King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Word on the Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
NEIGHBORHOOD CORRESPONDENTS
Another Day, Another Barrage of Gunfire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
If We Build It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Eulogy for Nyla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
What Happened to Our Pioneer Spirit? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
COMMUNITY NEWS
Marvin’s Gardens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
What Parking Problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Visual Pollution: Less Clutter, More Cash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
SCOHOL’s Out Forever -- We Think . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Absolute Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
COMMUNITY CONTACTS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
ART & CULTURE
Artificial Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
Art Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Culture Briefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
PARK PATROL
Unchain My Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
COLUMNISTS
Your Garden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Kids and the City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Pawsitively Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
DINING GUIDE
A Market-Fresh Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Restaurant Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Red, White, and You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
April 2008
5
C O M M E N TA R Y : F E E D B A C K
Letters
Continued from page 4
daughter. He was the man who purchased
Coppertone from Ben Green in 1951 and
was responsible for making it the huge
success it is today. He was the president
and had two silent partners, R. Nitchie and
George Robson, both successful men living in Miami. The company was named
Douglas Laboratories by Ben and C.E.
Clowe, who created the Coppertone Co. as
the sales arm. Douglas Labs produced the
product in a building located on NW 27th
Street between 17th and 27th avenues.
Ben made Coppertone in a storefront
space located on NW 36th Street and sold
it mainly to the cabana boys on Miami
Beach and some drugstores. It was an oilbased product and had a photo of a Native
American’s face on the label with the
motto “Don‘t Be a Paleface.” This was
dropped and replaced by the little girl and
the motto “Tan Don’t Burn. Use
Coppertone.” The concept of a child with
a tan line as indicated in the note by my
late wife was fashioned after the idea of
Charlie’s first wife at their pool located at
3811 Alhambra Circle, Coral Gables.
There is much more information of
interest about Charley Clowe, and if you
are interested I can provide some of it. He
died in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1987 at the
age of 83. His son, my brother-in-law, is
still alive and lives in Hawaii and can also
provide accurate information on the
Coppertone Girl.
The following is information my wife
Sophia wrote on the three-by-five-foot
Miami bus advertising card I have in my
den. It has faded over time, and I have made
this copy to preserve her record of events:
In June of 1950, Charles E. Clowe and
his wife Helen moved to Coral Gables
with their children Sophia, Charles Jr., and
Michael. It was their dream to run their
own company.
Coppertone Sun Tan Company was purchased from Benjamin Green, a pharmacist who invented the formula in his
garage. The year was 1951.
The logo at that time was the Indian
Chief — “Don’t Be a Paleface.”
One day at their backyard pool, our
daughter, 18-month-old Deborah, was
playing around the pool in her white training paints. She was as brown as a berry
and her pants had slipped in the rear
showing a white butt contrasted with her
tan body. Mom said to Charles: “Look at
that! It’s adorable. I would rather see that
on a billboard than any sexy girls.” That
was when the little Coppertone Girl was
born. (Note by Louis Martin: This ad first
appeared in 1953. Miami’s Tally Embry
ad agency paid Hialeah artist Peter Porter
for an oil painting of a wholesome little
girl with tan lines and a frisky dog. This
was refined by C. E. Clowe and the ad
agency into the final ad layout. Fire
destroyed the painting in 1955 and the
Ocala artist Joyce Ballantyne was commissioned to redo the painting. She used
stick figures and her daughter to re-create
the painting.)
Within six years from 1951, Coppertone
became an international company. It was
sold to Plough Drug Company in late 1957.
Dad moved to Hawaii in 1961 and was
sought out to help put Tanya, a Hawaiian
Suntan product, on the national market.
He did. It was then sold to Bristol Meyers.
Dad truly was the “great American
dream.”
In Hawaii, after the sale of Tanya,
Charley received a bronzed plaque with a
bottle of Coppertone and a bottle of Tanya
mounted, and the inscription: “TO
CHARLES CLOWE, THE MAN WHO
MADE LIGHTNING STRIKE TWICE.”
— Sophia Jane Clowe Martin
Louis Martin
Miami
Antiquated? ClosedMinded? Could She Mean
Miami Snores?
After reading Jen Karetnick’s column
about Miss Jane Spinney (“Out of Tune,”
February 2008), I am appalled by the antiquated and closed-mindedness of the
Miami Shores Planning and Zoning
Board. I have an office on NE 2nd
Avenue, and this area is starved for people
who think outside of the box. This is an
injustice to small businesses who want to
make a difference. Keep exposing it, BT.
Jackie Baes
Miami Shores
Just Because You’ve Broken
Into Our Homes Doesn’t
Mean You’ll Be Arrested
Editor’s note: For an update on Miss
Jane’s situation, see “What Parking
Problem?” page 28.
Everyone in my neighborhood experienced the same degree of crime Bill Cooke
wrote about in “Guns, Fear, and
Videotape.” Criminals have rushed through
my property and evaded police each of the
five years I’ve lived in the Shorecrest area.
Two years ago the police advised me to get
a shotgun, so I could “shoot through the
door” if I felt threatened.
If the police stopped worrying about
receiving free Lexus SUVs, perhaps we
would get services from the city worth a
fraction of what we pay in taxes.
Name Withheld by Request
Shorecrest
Just Because You’ve Broken
Into Our Homes Doesn’t
Mean You’ve Silenced Us
Lowbrow Art Goes Down in
Flames, Literally and
Figuratively
In “Guns, Fear, and Videotape”
(February 2008), Bill Cooke brings up a
topic that concerns my wife and me a lot
in our residential area. Thank you very
much for it! We live in a house on 90th
Street, east of Biscayne Boulevard, and we
also were victims of a crime. Our house
was broken into in December 2007 and
our television set, among other items, was
stolen. The police took our statement. I
know of at least two other very similar
burglaries in this neighborhood.
We moved to Miami from overseas
eight months ago and are now concerned
about living safely here. I’d like to ask the
BT to continue covering this topic. We
must stand united against this kind of
activity and do what is necessary to make
sure these gangsters are arrested. Media
coverage will help us. I believe we need to
increase the awareness of people living in
the area. Thank you!
Timm Durkopp
Lake Belmar
Thank you, Nina Korman, for writing
about the Harold Golen Gallery fire
and its aftermath (“Up in Smoke,”
February 2008). What a tragedy!
Golen’s positive attitude, in spite of the
huge loss he has suffered, is remarkable
and inspirational to all. While not many
people appreciate the impact of surrealist pop art, his gallery had some of the
best. It feels like a crushing blow to
lose those pieces.
I hope the public someday regards lowbrow art with the same enthusiasm many
of us collectors have for the artists and
their movement. I applaud Golen’s push
to bring this style and artistic perspective
to the public. My heart goes out to him as
he rebuilds his gallery, and I can’t wait to
see what he comes up with next.
Kristin Burke
Hollywood
Feedback: letters@biscaynetimes.com
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6
April 2008
April 2008
7
C O M M E N TA R Y : M I A M I ’ S K I N G
Down the Road, Feeling Bad
All across America, it’s right-wing, neo-Nazi, nutcase radio
we’ll soon get past the point of skin
color mattering in America. Obviously
there are still a lot of scared white
Christian right-wingers out there.
They’re probably the same people who
want constitutional amendments banning gay marriage, abortion, and flagburning. (Incidentally, I’m all for the
flag-burning ban as long as it also
includes a clause prohibiting the display of those oversize flags on usedcar lots.)
Getting back to my trip, though, the
first night I stopped in northwestern
Florida, staying in the small town
where I’d worked some 35 years
before. I would describe it as being, in
those days, “benevolently racist.” For
example, back then you might have
heard the mayor saying, “You know, we
take care of our coloreds. They don’t
have to riot.”
family having dinner. I scanned the
room to find numerous other tables of
both blacks and whites. Nobody
’ve been on the road for the past
seemed to pay any attention. I thought
few months, and always find it
it was wonderful, especially in North
great to get out and see this nation.
Florida, which is often referred to as
There’s so much out there. Another
South Georgia.
advantage of roaming is that I get to
My road trip took me all the way to
listen to the radio for long periods of
California. It was pretty much uneventtime while driving, something I don’t
ful — except for being searched four
get to do while cruising around Miami.
times by Homeland Security, which
I especially enjoy listening to rightwas looking for illegal aliens. I laughed
wing, neo-Nazi nutcase talk radio, pareach time, wondering if there are any
ticularly Rush Limbaugh and Sean
Homeland Security agents in Miami. I
Hannity. Not that I actually like these
sure have never seen any.
guys, but it gives me insight into how
In California a friend invited me over
the fringe is thinking — if you can call
for Easter dinner with her extended
it thinking. They became particularly
family at her father’s house. What a
interesting recently when the news
family it was. Her dad is very Irish.
broke about Barack Obama’s minister,
The rest of her relatives include
Jeremiah Wright.
Hispanic, African-American, and possiNo doubt Wright’s comments scared
bly some Asian kin. It truly was the
the hell out of the white commugreat American party mix. The
nity, and the right-wing pundits
festivities were American in
I began to think that during the dozens
did their best to make sure everyspirit, too: noisy and happy,
of hours I had listened to their drivel,
one heard about it. But as soon as
with constant banter. I sat back,
I never once heard them say one good
Obama backtracked and
drank a beer, and began to feel
thing about Obama or Hillary Clinton.
denounced the comments, the
quite wonderful about these
right-wing media savaged the
United States.
candidate again — this time for
Alas, it was time to attack the
pandering to his white constituency.
Obviously, after 35 years, I saw
asphalt again. Getting back in the car
Then, when he tried to explain his
changes. They seemed to be for the bet- with the right-wing neo-Nazi nutcase
comments, he was skewered for panter. I went to one of the town’s few
talk radio, I settled back in for the long
dering to his black constituency. Leave restaurants. The place was packed,
haul and my depression returned. The
it to right-wing radio to inject race
thanks in no small part to the fact that
nutcases were not calling the Reverend
into every single vein of the presidenit’s the only spot in the county that
Wright racist, but just asking if he was
tial contest.
serves beer. The first thing that caught
a racist — 200 times an hour. That way
It took only a few hours of listening
my eye was a family of five sitting at a
they can say later with a straight face:
to this drivel before I grew really
table in front. The man was black and
“I never called him a racist.”
depressed. I’ve spent quite a few years
the woman white. Nothing stood out
Obama was being smeared again too.
working for racial equality and hoping
about them. They were just a normal
This time someone suggested he had
By Jack King
BT Contributor
I
8
thrown his white grandmother “under
the bus” because he was making up
with the black voters. According to the
radio guys, everything he did had
racist overtones. But they never called
him racist.
Tuning them out for a bit, I began to
think that during the dozens of hours I
had listened to their drivel, I never
once heard them say one good thing
about Obama or Hillary Clinton. Is it
possible that these two people have
gone through their lives and never done
one good thing?
It is sad that the mainstream media
seem to be taking a cue from the mudslingers on both radio and television.
No doubt it’s the easy way. When was
the last time you saw an original story
in the Miami Herald or on local television? Doesn’t happen very often.
I had high hopes for this nation when
the election cycle began. In the beginning, I thought we had a very good
chance for voting in either the first
black president or the first female president. No doubt both are long overdue.
As the campaign has played out,
though, I now see little chance for
either. So unless the United States
wakes up in the next few months, there
is a strong possibility we’ll have — yet
again — a fat old white guy, who thinks
war is a good thing, running the show.
As a psychologist friend once told
me: “If you always do what you’ve
always done, you’ll always get what
you’ve always gotten.”
How sad.
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9
C O M M E N TA R Y : W O R D
ON THE
STREET
What new businesses would you like to see along the Biscayne Corridor?
Compiled by Victor Barrenechea - BT Contributor
Charles Rittlinger
Busboy
Upper Eastside
This neighborhood needs
things for kids. There’s
nothing around here for
children. Something that
would let them go and participate in arts and crafts
with their parents. It’d be
educational. When you have
more family things, the culture of the neighborhood
improves. When you focus
on the family, it’s a blessing
to the community.
10
Jeannie Tully
Waitress/Student
Midtown
I’d like to see a bookstore
open up because I have to
drive all the way to the
Dolphin Mall or Aventura if
I want to get books. A large
corporate bookstore would
be perfect because they
would carry all the books
that I need, but a mom-andpop store would be fine too.
It’s pretty much the only
priority. We already have a
lot of clothing boutiques
and restaurants.
Tracy Hughes
Restaurant Owner
North Miami
I’d like to see more restaurants. If this becomes like a
restaurant row, it would
bring new business. Not
everyone is going to want a
hot dog every day or a burger every day. They want
variety. The more the merrier. I’d want any kind of business that would be friendly
to pedestrians. I think bookstores, coffee shops, or
maybe even an Internet café
would work well.
Terry Pfeifer
Manager
Biscayne Park
I honestly would like to
see a place with bicycle
paths and a scenic walking
tour with sidewalk vendors selling local and specialty cuisine — they have
these in Europe. You
know, it could be little
taco stands and things like
that. I think that would be
cool. I’m a bicycling and
walking kind of person, so
I really wish we had something like this.
Melinda Pullano
Waitress
Downtown
Some new, reasonably
priced clothing stores. The
little boutiques we have are
really nice, but they’re a
little pricey. I’d also like to
see a movie theater because
they don’t have one over
here. It’s in Aventura. A
movie theater is a good
idea. I hope they do that.
There’s already a lot of
everything else.
Joe Stiligato
Business Manager
Upper Eastside
They really don’t have too
many florists on the street. I
would say more restaurants.
There could be a little more
variety. The demographics
here have gotten more multicultural, so I think the restaurants should reflect that. I
know we have the performing arts center, but it would
be nice to have a bunch of
little playhouses. This part of
the Biscayne Corridor has
the potential to be like the
Village in New York.
April 2008
April 2008
11
Villa Paula
in an official capacity for the Cuban government sometime after Paula’s death.
Ensor ascribes the consulate’s closing to
“the troubles in Cuba,” and indeed there
was trouble.
President Gerardo Machado, faced in
the early 1930s with growing opposition,
including a burgeoning Communist movement, morphed from democratic reformer
to repressive despot. Following a series of
violent clashes with opponents, he
resigned. Then, in quick succession, three
different national leaders came and went,
ending with the ascension of military
strongman Fulgencio Batista.
Back in Miami, Villa Paula was shuttered and sold to one Muriel Reardon,
who lived there for around 30 years until
her death in 1960.
Villa Paula continued to change hands
during the next 14 years, even serving as
a senior citizens’ home for a period of
time. By the 1970s, abandoned and
derelict, Villa Paula was near literal collapse, and fortuitously ended up in the
hands of Ensor. He says he and a few
friends immediately set to work on the
place — cleaning, painting, removing
graffiti, landscaping, fixing broken windows, restoring the interior, eventually
returning Villa Paula to a condition close
to its former glory.
Miami news photographer Bill Reinke took this portrait of Villa Paula in March 1976.
BT photo by Terence Cantarella
However, it is also with Ensor that the
strange tales began.
He began relating stories of a blackhaired woman who would float down the
hallways in a long gown, with only one
visible leg. He claimed he would often
smell coffee brewing and the scent of
roses when there were none. He said he
heard piano music, and high heels on the
back porch. His dishes and silverware, he
claimed, were thrown to the floor one day
and a chandelier inexplicably fell from the
ceiling. A back gate would slam shut on
windless days and kill Ensor’s cats —
three of them in total.
Ensor invited mystics
and held séances in the
house. Rev. Emma
Tandarich, a visiting psychic, claimed five separate
spirits haunted the house,
including a young woman
searching for the grave of
her illegitimate baby —
perhaps a servant who had
lived in the house.
The unsettling tales, plus
the publicity Villa Paula
received during the 1980s
(notably a cover story in
the Miami Herald‘s Tropic
magazine), spooked local
Haitians. Many would bless
themselves and cross the
street to avoid walking in
front of the house. Ensor
spent years trying to sell
the place, asking $185,000.
He eventually resorted to
auctioning it in 1985 for
$110,000. Postal worker
Larry Cozart, who won the
A hallway with columned grand arch and
auction, immediately
chandeliers.
12
backed out of the deal when he learned of
the haunting.
Ensor managed to sell the house two
years later to Lucien Albert, a Haitian
pediatrician skeptical of the supernatural
claims. When contacted by telephone in
March of this year, Dr. Albert, who sold
Villa Paula in 2003 and now lives in
Kendall, had no opinion to share on the
matter. He suggested BT call the current
owners. “They can tell you what you need
to know,” he said.
One day, when Garcia was sitting at his
desk, a windowpane fell out of its frame
behind him. When he got up to investigate, a 40-pound chunk of plaster fell from
the ceiling onto the spot where he had
been sitting moments before. “If I hadn’t
moved when I did,” he says, “I would be
dead.” The fortunately timed coincidence
led him to believe if there were ghosts in
the house, “they must have liked me.”
Garcia would often hear thumping on
the wooden ramp that leads up to the back
door, as if someone were walking
on it. The day after he brought
“A professor brought a self-proclaimed
his cat to the house, she disapSatanist to the house and pushed her
peared. “I didn’t find it dead. I
into that room. She began to choke
just never found her at all,” he
as if she were being strangled.”
recounts. A friend of Garcia,
apparently sensitive to the spirit
world, began to cry after entering
Public records list the current owner
the former maid’s quarter. “They used to
as the Villa Paula Restoration Group,
beat the maid,” the friend told him.
LLC. A few clicks of the mouse reveals
Now 81 years old and living in North
this entity has a human face — that of
Carolina, Cliff Ensor, whose experiences
Marc Swedroe, a real estate investor
were the first to be publicized, remains
and son of renowned Miami Beach
resolute to this day. “The house is definitearchitect Robert Swedroe. Marc hasn’t
ly haunted,” he says by phone. “Emma,
spent much time in the house since buy- the medium, used to hold séances in there
ing it in 2003 (sale price: $275,000) and every two weeks. This woman couldn’t
says he hasn’t experienced anything
play the piano at all, but one day she chanunusual. “The house is just very peaceneled a spirit and began to play like a
ful,” he offers. The “restoration” in the
pro.” Ensor, and others, recorded the feat
company name is something Swedroe
on three separate tape recorders. When
and his family are serious about pursuthey played back the tapes later, all three
ing, but legal entanglements concerning were blank. During another séance, she
the property have delayed improvechanneled a stern spirit that admonished,
ments. (See sidebar “Villa Paula Meets
“I don’t like cats in my house!”
Martin Siskind.”)
The daughters of previous owner
Cuban fashion designer Fernando
Reardon, who lived in the house prior to
Garcia, who rented the house for a brief
Ensor, sent him a letter from Alaska when
period until six months ago, had a differthey learned of his experiences. “When we
ent tale to tell: “I don’t believe in ghosts,
were little,” they wrote, “there was one
but strange things happen in that house.”
April 2008
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Villa Paula
room that we were never allowed into.”
Their mother, it turns out, was terrified of
that room.
“A University of Miami professor
brought a self-proclaimed Satanist to the
house once and pushed her into that
room,” Ensor recalls keenly during the
call. “She immediately began to choke as
if she were being strangled.”
Today a lone groundskeeper who
prefers to remain nameless occupies Villa
Paula. “Stuff’s always moving around in
here,” he says. “I’ll put something in one
spot and find it in another later.” Three
bulbs in a bathroom light fixture began to
flicker on and off in random order one
night. That is, until the fearless custodian
told “Paula” to cool it — and she did.
“I’m good with spirits,” he adds nonchalantly. “I got no problem with ’em.’”
He’s not scared. Even though he senses
a presence, Paula has yet to actually make
an appearance for him. “But I’ve only
been in here since December,” he notes.
“Maybe she just needs to get used to me.”
14
Villa Paula Meets Martin Siskind — in Court
By Tristram Korten
Special to BT
illa Paula sprawls across more than
a third of an acre, a porticoed
monument to early twentieth-century grandeur. But this is the 21st Century,
and the former Cuban consulate is showing
signs of age, like a fading belle in a tattered
dress. While its owners have grand visions
for the mansion, the recent downturn in the
economy and a protracted lawsuit mean
changes are not likely anytime soon.
The Villa Paula Restoration Group
LLC, whose principal is Marc Swedroe,
has owned the home since 2003. “We’ve
been maintaining the property and fixing
aspects to maintain its integrity,” says
Swedroe. “I personally have put new
roofs on some of the structures there.”
The house has a caretaker who helps
monitor needed repairs, Swedroe says.
“Structurally it’s intact,” he adds. “The
Cubans knew how to build for this climate.” But more extensive work is on
hold, partially because the home’s future
is uncertain.
V
“I envision Villa Paula as being a community center, or a historical center, something that could be important to Little Haiti
and the Cuban community here,” Swedroe
says. To that end he says he’s tried to
attract interest from the University of
Miami’s School of Architecture to see if it
could become a student project. He says he
is also interested in seeking out grants for
restoring historic buildings. Alternately, he
hopes it might appeal to the private sector.
Swedroe says he’d like to find a “restaurateur or entrepreneur who wants to invest in
it and create a restaurant or Cuban jazz
bar.” He adds wistfully: “I envision a staff
in Panama hats and guayaberas.”
Right now, no plans have been finalized.
“Money’s hard to come by,” Swedroe
says. “The area is being gentrified slowly.
It’s spreading north along Biscayne. But
it’s still maybe five years off.”
Further complicating matters is a fouryear-old lawsuit filed by Swedroe’s former business associate Martin Siskind, a
controversial figure involved in many
lawsuits. Siskind was a partner in an earlier company with the Swedroe family
(father Robert has his own architecture
firm, where another son, Joseph, and
daughter Laurie work). But the partnership disbanded when the Swedroe’s attorney (and brother-in-law), Howard
Weinberg, researched Siskind’s past and
discovered previous arrests in Miami (no
convictions) and news reports of a conviction in England for “obtaining property
by deception.” (Siskind was the subject of
a recent BT cover story, “Artistic Genius
Meets Artful Dodger,” March 2008, that
detailed his relationship with famed outsider artist Purvis Young, a relationship
that ended in court and resulted in Young
losing many of his paintings to Siskind.)
Siskind alleges that the partnership with
Marc Swedroe and his family was improperly dissolved. “I didn’t want money,” he
says. “I wanted to remain in the partnership.” The four-year-old court case has
legally encumbered title to the property and
thus has slowed progress on Villa Paula’s
restoration. “The house is in limbo until we
settle this matter,” Swedroe says. “I’m
hopeful that an amicable resolution
between all parties will be reached shortly.”
April 2008
April 2008
15
C O V E R S TO RY
Guerrilla Gardeners
fan out to collect trash and
debris scattered here and there in
the tall grass. Someone discovers a discarded bookshelf and
table, then sets the wayward furniture aside until a decision
about exactly how to incorporate
it can be made.
The evening’s excursion is the
team’s fifth. This relatively new
covert gardening collective,
whimsically dubbed Tree-0-5, is part of a
worldwide movement of guerrilla gardeners who practice what has been termed
“subversive gardening.” Their mission: to
transform land left fallow by neglectful
governments and absentee landlords into
green spaces the community can enjoy.
“The urban blight in Miami has a negative impact on people’s sense of community,” says Sara Yousuf, a practicing attorney
and occasional guerrilla gardener. “These
gardens create a better sense of community and make the city a nicer place to live
for all residents, not just the rich ones.”
Stephanie Spiegel, who owns the secondhand store where the planters gather,
initiated the outings. The idea came to the
23-year-old entrepreneur on one of her
many commutes through the derelict
neighborhoods surrounding her shop, Rag
Trade Happy Clothing Company. “Just
seeing all of the abandoned lots makes
you want to do something,” she explains.
“I get very frustrated sometimes.” That
frustration inspired her to look into how
she could, literally, lend a hand. “I thought
I came up with this wonderful idea,” she
says. “Then I went online and started
researching, only to find this whole
group.” Soon after, Spiegel joined a community message board on the Londonbased Guerrilla Gardening Website, and
Miami’s insurgent troop was born.
Counterclockwise from top left: Nighttime preparations for Wynwood
assault; hard at work; mission accomplished!
Since July the loosely organized gatherings have scattered their “green graffiti”
across some of the city’s most blighted
canvases — Little Haiti and Wynwood in
particular. “I just wanted to bring that vibe
here,” Spiegel says. “Miami is like a
teenager city in the way that it’s very awkward but can also be very cool.”
Given that the grassroots group doesn’t
have a lot of money to spend, they rely
primarily on donations of native, noninvasive plants to carry out their greening
campaign. Neighbors often provide clippings or unwanted yard plants, and local
nurseries sometimes pitch in bags of fertilizer or mulch. Occasionally they’ll be
lucky enough to get a tree, like the live
oak recently planted in Wynwood. The
rest of the expenses come out of their
own pockets.
A hole in the sidewalk transformed into a Tree-0-5 mini park.
16
“It doesn’t take a lot of money, just
manpower,” says guerrilla gardener
Jonathan Wilson, a local photographer.
Volunteers from the group routinely check
on the new plants and water them during
dry spells.
In addition to donning gloves and digging in, Tree-0-5 explores more creative
routes for sprucing up the city. “We do different techniques,” Spiegel says. One
example she cites: “seed bombs.” The
guerrillas combine mud, water, and flower
seeds to make germinated balls. “We went
to an abandoned field in Wynwood and
just threw them over the fence,” she
boasts. Another tactic: Tree-0-5 members
planted their own “installation” of bright
pink impatiens and mondo grass in the
Design District during this past Art Basel,
the international art event held annually in
December. They even included a sign with
their moniker and the materials used “for
that ‘real’ art feel,” Spiegel says.
Despite the good intentions,
what they’re doing isn’t exactly
legal. Although there are no
laws that prohibit gardening per
se, there are laws against trespassing, which the group does
regularly. According to Spiegel,
police cruisers often drive by
during their digs but rarely stop.
“They have bigger fish to fry,”
she says. And that’s if they even
know the group is breaking the
law. The young professionals
wielding gardening tools look
more like horticulture students
than criminals, making them an unlikely
target for officers more concerned with
drug dealers and prostitutes.
The risks they’re taking may be unnecessary. Delfin Molins, the public information officer for Miami-Dade’s Public
Works Department (PWD), says residents
unhappy with public rights-of-way, medians, and swales maintained by the county
have a few options. “The public can report
dead and/or potentially hazardous trees by
contacting the ‘311’ information center,”
he says. “From there the complaint is routed to the appropriate staff, and remedial
action is taken.” Molins says groups like
Tree-0-5 also can adopt small patches of
land to maintain: “Any party that is interested in enhancing the landscaping of
roadways within their communities can
request a permit from the PWD for the
alteration of the [right-of-way]. Along
with the permit, the applicant will be
required to sign a maintenance agreement
whereby the applicant accepts responsibility for and releases the county from any
and all liability for the maintenance of the
affected [right-of-way].”
But Spiegel and her group place little
faith in the county’s policies and promises.
For her, the proof lies in all the derelict
public land she sees daily. “The county
doesn’t even come here!” she protests.
Though the environmental shenanigans of Tree-0-5 are new to Miami, the
act of subversive gardening has a long
and storied history. Supporters say guerrilla gardening originally began in
April 2008
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17
C O V E R S TO RY
Guerrilla Gardeners
Surrey, England, around 1649 with
Gerrard Winstanely, the leader of a
Christian communal group called the
Diggers. Winstanely and his followers
believed collective land ownership was
dictated in the Bible, and they routinely
seized public land to cultivate their own
crops. John Chapman, America’s fabled
“Johnny Appleseed,” was also said to
have practiced a form of guerrilla gardening when he spread his famous fruit
tree seeds across the unclaimed territory
of the Midwest.
It wasn’t until the 1970s, however, that
the term was first used by environmental
activists in New York. Calling themselves
the Green Guerrillas, founder Liz Christy
and a small band of followers waged a
green war against the city’s fallow, weedfilled lots before finally creating their own
community garden in Manhattan. They are
now a federally recognized nonprofit
organization that has propagated more
than 600 gardens.
This is a trajectory Spiegel hopes her
Miami troop will be able to follow. “My
end goal is to have a community garden
18
that the city would contribute some cash
flow to,” she says, “a place where people
can come to garden and give back to the
earth a little bit.”
But for now, Tree-0-5, whose members
openly admit they know very little about
gardening, is taking it one step at a time.
The most threatening issue at hand seems
to be how to keep their gardens in place
for more than a few weeks. On every dig
so far, the flowers, shrubs, ferns, and trees
they’ve planted have been uprooted.
“People tend to steal the plants,” says
Lauren Reskin, who owns Little Haitibased Sweat Records. “It’s not crackheads.
It’s shady people that want them for their
own property.”
The right-of-way in front of Reskin’s
building was the site of the group’s
October dig, but within a few weeks
everything they planted had vanished.
According to the Guerrilla Gardening
Website (www.guerrillagardening.org),
this is a pretty common occurrence. To
Spiegel, it’s just further evidence the city
and its residents are plant-poor. Even so,
she made sure to include lots of spiky
plants, like cacti, in their last dig. “We
have good efforts, but there are a lot of
factors when it comes to this type of gardening,” Spiegel says.
***
As Miami winds itself up for another
Friday night, Tree-0-5 has successfully
made the Wynwood parcel its own in just
under two hours. The bookshelf now
serves as a makeshift planter filled with
cacti and ferns. The table, placed along the
wall of a neighboring warehouse, has been
dubbed the “altar” and is surrounded by
pink and white impatiens. Both pieces
bear the group’s logo, stenciled in green
spray paint. The remaining perennials
form a delicately protective circle around
the live oak sapling. The guerrilla gardeners proclaim the action a success. “The
area was kind of dead, and it’s nice to see
something growing here now,” observes
gardener and student Leah Weston.
A light rain sprinkles the tired but elated
green thumbs and their newly planted
earth as they pose for a few pictures and
load up the last of the equipment. One gardener, a cartographer, wonders aloud
whether the land they just planted was
public or private. None of the Tree-0-5
volunteers seems to know for sure.
Although they try to plant on public prop-
erty, it’s not always easy for them to find
out who owns the many orphaned properties in the area. BT called adjacent warehouse owner Roberto Sosa to inquire. He
says a couple from the island nation of
Grenada owns the lot and that those working in the area use it for parking.
“Those plants won’t last a day,” Sosa
says. “Sometimes that lot has three or four
rows of cars.”
When alerted that the Tree-0-5 garden
may be in peril, Spiegel doesn’t seem
overly concerned: “These things happen.
At least they’ll see how nice it can look,
and maybe they’ll even decide to keep it,”
she says. She punctuates her optimism
with the notion that the garden may serve
as a welcome respite for those attending
monthly Wynwood gallery walks if it still
exists in the coming months.
At press time, the garden was still intact
and thanks to abundant rain of late, it is
growing rapidly.
For more on the topic of community
gardening, see “Marvin’s Gardens,”
page 28 this issue.
April 2008
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19
NEIGHBORHOOD CORRESPONDENTS: LIBERTY CITY
Another Day, Another Barrage of Gunfire
This can be a intriguing place to live, as long as you don’t take a bullet
By Kathy Glasgow
BT Contributor
f, months ago, I had allowed myself
to contemplate the possibility, I
might not have panicked when it
happened. But ever since we moved
here, I admit I’ve settled into general
denial about the worst aspects of life in
Liberty City. So on the morning I saw
the bullet hole in our bedroom window, I
sort of lost it. I didn’t scream or cry or
even say anything. I just hyperventilated
until my brain became a cotton ball and I
couldn’t move. The gaping bullet wound
in my car, several weeks earlier, had
been bad enough, but now our bedroom.
And I could only imagine what our
neighbors might be dealing with,
because at that time, late February, the
shooting outside seemed to be getting
worse by the day.
After I regained my brain, I called
some friends for feedback and resolved
to attend the monthly Citizens Advisory
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been home that afternoon, we learned
there had been a lot of gunfire on the
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told me she saw two distinct clusters of
about a dozen young men each, spraying
bullets like pesticide and moving west
fast, one group after the other, to NW
22nd Avenue.
In the following days, there would be
more gunplay outside, all of it, we know,
linked to the dope boys who live and do
business in and around a house across
the street from us. (And we do know,
because even if one of them had not told
us, we have observed enough. During
our first year in this house, the block was
peaceful enough, despite the deft daily
midstreet drug deals. And even though I
knew well that guns always accompany
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NEIGHBORHOOD CORRESPONDENTS: LIBERTY CITY
Gunfire
wasn’t as bad on our street.)
One Thursday afternoon when I was
out of town, my husband called to tell
me a gunfight had started up about 45
minutes earlier, right about the time he
was to leave for work. “It looked like
someone got killed or injured,” he said.
“The police had the street blocked off. I
told them, ‘Hey, I’ve got to get to work,’
and they directed me down 21st Avenue
instead of letting me get on 22nd Avenue
the way I always go.”
According to a Miami-Dade Police
report, that melee on our street quickly
set off two other shootouts several
blocks north. The only injury noted on
the report was of a 17-year-old boy shot
in the hand. Not bad considering the
number of casings found at the scenes.
At the March meeting of the Northside
Citizens Advisory Committee a detective
heading a neighborhood narcotics squad
asserted that his officers are aware of the
situation in my area and are investigating. He couldn’t say more. “But we’re
hindered in our investigation,” he added,
“because the residents don’t want to tell
us anything.”
Later I thought about what the detective said, knowing that no police had
questioned me or my husband, or our
neighbor with the bullet-ridden car, who
seems to know a lot about our other
neighbors. I’m not second-guessing,
though; neither we nor she are native to
this neighborhood, we have no blood ties
here, no shared history, and there are
some depths of Liberty City that we
can’t fathom.
Before dawn on March 15, I woke
suddenly to the sound, coming from the
east, of a quick but dense barrage of
semiautomatic fire. I remember looking
at the clock and seeing 4:49. I thought
about calling the police. But unlike most
of our recent outbursts of gunfire, this
one didn’t repeat. So I went back to
sleep. It turned out to be the drive-by on
NW 79th Street that took the lives of
three of the four men traveling west in a
silver SUV.
Looks like that atrocity put a lid on
things for a little while. Just a little,
because blood is going to pay for blood.
Who’s next? The boys across the street?
(One of theirs was killed not long ago.) I
can’t guess, but I’m sure many people in
Liberty City do have the answers; here are
generations of intricately connected roots.
I don’t know much about these wars
that break out in neighborhoods like
mine — neighborhoods that spawn boys
Well, I’m learning. Since I want my husband and I to stay alive and thrive, I have
to know how to defy all the ways Liberty
City can kill. I didn’t want to be learning
this. I still want to be in denial. When the
police came to make a report of the bullet
in our bedroom, the officers immediately
recommended we move out of
this house. Other cops who
A neighbor, whose car took three
responded to an earlier call also
shots, later told me she saw two distinct
told us to leave. “It will only get
clusters of about a dozen young men
worse,” warned one, referring to
each, spraying bullets like pesticide.
the guns and drugs.
Maybe we will be forced out.
Selling is an impossibility right
selling dope or robbing, and girls having
now, but there are other escape routes,
babies — but I’ve seen them run their
all unacceptable to me. I guess it’s the
course until enough people have died or
old American mindset: Nobody’s going
been jailed to create the illusion of
to run me off my land.
peace. Occasionally someone I know
But also I don’t want to be defeated by
will have grown up in an area where a
my bad decision. I’ll always be a forwar is going on and can explain the
eigner here, and it’s a war zone, and we
motives for the killing and who’s doing
never should have invaded in the first
it. If the murders and maimings are outplace. But I’m pretty sure this is far
rageous enough, the mainstream media
more interesting than living in a
take note. Otherwise the cycle continues, McMansion behind barricades. As long
all but invisible to outsiders — outsiders
as you don’t take a bullet.
like me, who look but don’t see with the
eyes of experience.
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April 2008
21
NEIGHBORHOOD CORRESPONDENTS: MIAMI SHORES
If We Build It
Is there room for a synagogue in the Shores?
By Jen Karetnick
BT Contributor
few weeks ago I attended a
mandatory parents’ meeting at
the Temple Israel of Greater
Miami religious school, where I drag my
kids every Sunday. The objective was to
gather some out-of-the-box ideas to
make class time more appealing for the
children, so they wouldn’t feel put-upon
as they learned about their culture and
heritage. To be frank, though, I don’t
know any kids — Jewish, Christian, or
otherwise — who willingly give up a
couple of hours of free time on a weekend to attend more school.
Interestingly, the meeting opened with
questions not about the school but about
the temple itself: What, as a family, had
attracted us? What had prompted us to
join Temple Israel, which is just north of
downtown Miami in a neighborhood that
is restructuring (to put it kindly), as
opposed to another institution in
A
Aventura or Surfside, where Jews not
only congregate but also live?
That hit home, literally. Although Jon
and I joined Temple Israel for its
Reform ethos, liberal policies, and
eclectic congregation (comprising, with
its more stereotypical Jews, mixed-ethnicity families, and same-sex couples),
my first responsive thought was:
“Because Miami Shores doesn’t have a
synagogue.”
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Naturally, this is not a shocker.
Throughout its history, Miami Shores
has had a reputation, via its public leaders and its citizens, for anti-Semitism. Its
former village manager, the late Elly
Johnson, was a notorious Jew-hater. The
Miami Shores Country Club did not
allow Jews to join; my daughter’s elderly
teacher at Temple Israel, in fact, recalls
being one of the first Jews ever invited
onto the property for a party when they
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began to relax the rules lo those years
ago. It’s no surprise that Jewish families,
confronted throughout the decades with
the nearly 20 church properties that are
registered in the village, avoided the
area, choosing to live in more welcoming places.
This is no longer the case. In 2000 the
population of Miami Shores was 10,380,
with nearly 50 percent registered as
white and just over 50 percent divided
between black and Latin, with a smattering of Asian and “other” thrown in,
according to U.S. Census data. There’s
no real way to tell just how many of
these residents are Jewish, so let’s take a
look at it by averages. My extended
block, counting both sides of the square,
has about six “declared” adult Jews, and
maybe a few more who are Jewish by
birth but aren’t obvious about it for
whatever reason — marriage to a partner
outside the faith, for example.
Being generous, I’d say there are ten
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NEIGHBORHOOD CORRESPONDENTS: MIAMI SHORES
Synagogue
Jews for every 100 people. Statistically,
then, Miami Shores could have 1000
possibly practicing Jews living here.
Clearly that’s enough for a temple of
our own.
Indeed if Miami Shores did have a
temple, and if it were Reform, no doubt I
would join. It’s not that I don’t really
like Temple Israel; I do. And it’s not that
I actually crave a place to worship. I’m
not an observant Jew, and I will allow
my kids to decide for themselves
whether they want to continue their education after their bat and bar mitzvahs.
But some common ground would be
nice. I’d relish the opportunity to have
one more reason to become enmeshed in
my chosen community. And from the
various comments of fellow resident
Jews, who at times feel culturally and
religiously alienated in Miami Shores, I
believe they would as well.
So that takes care of the “they will
come” part of the cliché. What I’d like
to know is, will we build it? No way in
the heaven or hell that Jews don’t actually believe in.
April 2008
Of course, this is only a supposition,
based on gut feeling, that an officially
recognized, appropriately zoned, and
legally licensed Jewish temple in Miami
Shores never would be allowed to happen. Again, it’s only my instinct. It has
nothing to do with Miami Shores’s past,
nor the recently released U.S. State
Department report Contemporary Global
Anti-Semitism, that states, in part:
“Today, more than 60 years after the
Holocaust, anti-Semitism is not just a
fact of history, it is a current event.”
But suppose for a second that someone a lot more devout and energetic
than I am decided the time was now for
a synagogue. Any plan would be shot
down immediately by zoning laws,
because to establish a church or school
in the village, you have to secure a minimum plot size of 2.5 acres. At this
point in time, that would probably
require knocking down some houses.
Given that the Miami Shores municipal
code “recognizes the predominantly
one-family residential character of the
village, with all other uses of land either
being incidental and convenient thereto
or, if existing as a result of extraneous
objectionable to some residents, or at
least has been in the not-too-distant past.
Take the very language of the municipal
code (municode.com), for instance.
When you do a search for “religious
institutions,” it refers you to “see assembly,” which in turn refers you to “see
church.” In the entire document, only
churches and schools are mentioned. You
see, Miami Shores doesn’t even allow
for the possibility of a temple
by putting it into print.
Statistically, Miami Shores could have
Perhaps someday, some
1000 possibly practicing Jews living
enterprising Jews — it’s in our
here. Clearly that’s enough for
blood, after all — will come
a temple of our own.
up with a sound appeal that
could be approved by the zoning board. Or a church will
decide to move and we can take over the
Plus, I’ve heard that the village is
property. Then a hometown synagogue
very opposed to installing new schools
will be born, and the Jews of Miami
within the limits. So assuming a temple
Shores (however many of us there are)
wasn’t objectionable, its religious
can have a layered and complex commuschool aspect certainly would be.
nity life just as the Baptists and the
Besides, it’s hard to imagine a booth
Catholics and even the Jehovah’s
representing Village Temple Shalom’s
Witnesses do. But I’m not canceling my
yeshiva sandwiched between the
membership to Temple Israel just yet.
Presbyterian Church Preschool and the
Curly Knights on Unity Day.
But I do think the idea of a temple is
factors, being secondary thereto,” this
couldn’t occur.
But even if you somehow hopped that
little hurdle, there’s the ever-present
parking issue. A building used for an
assembly is required to have “1 space/3
fixed seats plus 1 space/20” lineal bench
seating plus 1 space/25 sq. ft. in assembly room areas (without fixed seats).”
Such compliance would be impossible.
23
N E I G H B O R H O O D C O R R E S P O N D E N T S : B I S C AY N E PA R K
Eulogy for Nyla
A beloved dog remains a noble companion to the end
ast week my husband flew to
upstate New York to attend his
brother’s wedding while I stayed
home and watched my dog die.
It’s true Nyla was sick, but her death
came suddenly, and I was in no way prepared for it.
I’ve written about Nyla here before: A
large, black dog (probably a Belgian shepherd mix) who was adopted from a local
rescue organization into her “forever
home.” The people who adopted her, my
neighbors, didn’t care about her. They left
her outside, for fear of her fleas.
They did not inoculate Nyla against
heartworm or parasites. They didn’t protect her from fleas. She was skinny —
starved of proper nutrition as well as love.
Her coat was dull, her eyes sad. She was
kept tethered, tied to a stake.
When we moved into this rental house
just outside Biscayne Park ten months
BT photo by Wendy Doscher-Smith
By Wendy Doscher-Smith
BT Contributor
L
24
ago, Nyla became my companion. I work
from home, so during the day she would
dig her way under the fence to see me. I
gave her treats and affection, a bandanna
and fresh water. Meanwhile her “family”
left her in their backyard without adequate
shelter during summer’s constant sweltering heat and thunderstorms, and even during the thick Fourth of July fireworks
smoke. The booming noises and lightning
terrified her.
Soon after I took her in, a vet told me
that Nyla would have lived maybe another
month tethered outside.
I wish I could say this part of her story
is unusual, but countless dogs are kept
tied up outside, helpless in the hands of
ignorant or cruel owners. (The MiamiDade County Commission did not help
the situation, refusing to even consider a
tethering ban proposed by Animal
Services back in January.)
But Nyla’s life, unlike those of so many
unwanted dogs, took a turn for the better. I
persuaded the neighbors and my husband
to let me give her a new home. She was
sick from the start and we treated everything — urinary tract and ear infections,
malnutrition, heartworm. The treatment
for the deadly yet highly preventable
heartworm disease is itself a risky series of
painful intramuscular shots, which not all
dogs survive. Nyla prevailed.
She wrestled playfully with our other
dogs and chewed on squeaky toys. Her
coat grew shinier and her eyes more lively.
April 2008
N E I G H B O R H O O D C O R R E S P O N D E N T S : B I S C AY N E PA R K
Nyla
She began to understand the concept of
living as opposed to surviving. I thought
the worst was over.
Then in September, Nyla came down
with a life-threateningly high fever. We
rushed her to an emergency veterinary hospital. After a harrowing week in the ICU (I
was told to prepare for her death), a surgery for spleen removal, organ biopsies,
frantic consults with specialists around the
country, pneumonia and a ten-grand credit
card bill, we remained without a diagnosis.
No matter. Nyla came home, regained
her strength, and proved them all wrong.
To stay healthy, she took prednisone, a
steroid that regulated her body temperature. It also took a toll on her body, weakening her immune system. Right before
she died, she tore her anterior cruciate ligament. Surgery was not an option, so my
husband Jeremy built her a bright blue
Astroturf-covered ramp to enable her to go
outside more easily. The doggy wheelchair
we ordered went to the wrong address
hours before her death.
To the very end, though, Nyla defined
the word “trouper.” Every trial, every new
April 2008
situation, she handled with dignity and
grace. Vets said it; groomers said it. Folks
on the street commented on her
demeanor. She continued to amaze me
with her strength and composure. It
sounds sappy, but she left an impact on
every person she met, even those who
only heard about or saw pictures of her.
She was just that kind of dog.
In this world of mini-pups, where breeders are taking the canine out of the dog to
create pretty petite Frankendogs for shallow owners, noble Nyla stood out. She
was all dog. All big, wonderful dog — a
stunning beauty, with thick black fur, massive paws, and kind amber eyes. Children
would stop me on her walks to ask if she
was a wolf. She certainly had lupine characteristics — she rarely barked and had a
distinctive lope.
And she fit our existing dog pack well.
My beagle/basset cross, Franki-Jo, must
have sensed Nyla’s time was near. For
weeks before Nyla’s death, Franki moped
and would refuse to come inside without
extra prodding. The day she passed, the
girls knew what was up and were on especially good behavior.
However, a few days later, Franki and
Halo, a terripoo — both normally very
well-behaved — clashed in a bloody battle. I tried to break it up. I screamed for
help but nobody came. In the end, we
were all bleeding. Halo had several puncture wounds, I had two bites, and Franki
suffered some bad scratches.
Obviously the girls miss Nyla, too.
They were grieving in their own way, but
they also had dog business to attend to.
They needed to re-establish placement in
the pack.
This loss has been unlike any other I have
experienced. I cry at night because I don’t
hear Nyla padding around. I cry in the
morning because she doesn’t peek her head
around the bedroom door. I cry when I go to
the bathroom because she no longer comes
in to greet me. I cry when I venture into the
living room because there is no grand,
black, furry mass to avoid tripping over. I
cried once when the coffeemaker made a
strange gurgling noise because it sounded
like one of the last noises Nyla made. I
cried as I crawled around on the floor the
other day, picking up any stray Nyla hairs I
could find. I cried when I reread all 100plus pages of her medical reports.
During our seven short months with her,
Nyla had an excellent quality of life. With
every deep, contented sigh she exhaled, I
knew this to be true. When she stretched
out and placed her paw on my hand, I
knew this to be true. When I sat next to
her and listened to her calm, steady heartbeat inside her large, post-surgery, peachfuzzed chest, I knew this to be true.
There is some limited solace in this.
Most important, Nyla understood what
it is to be loved unconditionally before she
died. I wish that for every living being.
She did not die alone in a sweltering backyard. My neighbor’s trash was definitely
my treasure. I wish this could be true for
every dog.
And while I mourn Nyla’s passing, I am
thankful and blessed to have known her.
Many people remarked that she was lucky
to have found us. They are all wrong. We
were lucky to have her in our life. Many
times, when it looked grim for her, I tried
to bargain with God. I wanted to go so she
could stay. But none of us control that.
Today, as I write this, I would give anything to have her back, to stroke her fuzzy
belly once more and to tell her life is good.
25
NEIGHBORHOOD CORRESPONDENTS: BELLE MEADE
What Happened to Our Pioneer Spirit?
A few hours without power and you’d think it was the apocalypse
By Frank Rollason
BT Contributor
hen we experienced a manmade blackout for a few hours
on February 26, you would
have thought the world was coming to an
end. It seems a senior FPL engineer had
somehow managed to turn off a switch
that caused “lights out” repercussions all
along Florida’s east coast. The flub
affected several million people. Sort of a
Horton Hears a Who! in reverse — one
little switch flipped and the world totally
flips out.
At that climatic moment, I was enjoying lunch with fellow workers at the
Village Café in Miami Shores. We
received a typical momentary service
interruption and then the power came
right back on. Then I received a cell
phone call from my wife, who was
enjoying lunch with her compatriots at
Karma, when their power went out and
did not return. I told her I’d give her a
W
26
call when we knew something more.
Sure enough, within five minutes an alert
about the power outage crawled across
the bottom of the TV screen: It spanned
from Daytona Beach south — not clear
how far south.
I called back my wife, Fran, to tell her
the news. “Just relax,” I said. “I’ll monitor the situation, and if needed we’ll
crank up our generator this evening until
the power comes back on.” I finished
lunch and went back to work.
Granted, the Miami Central Senior
High School construction site where I
was working had power, so my afternoon continued uninterrupted. Within a
couple of hours, Fran called again to
tell me our power was back on in Belle
Meade. I felt a bit disappointed about
not having to crank up our generator
and give it a good old-fashioned hammer test — just the fireman in me, I
suppose. Fire stations always have to
hammer-test everything just to be sure
it’ll function when “the moment”
comes — even though we know from
experience that all the testing in the
world can’t guarantee the equipment
will work when it’s needed.
Meanwhile FPL did a great job, in
my opinion, not only restoring power
but also keeping us informed. However,
by the time I sat down to watch the
evening news, I was just dumbstruck at
the stories that dominated the day.
First, there were those who believed
April 2008
NEIGHBORHOOD CORRESPONDENTS: BELLE MEADE
Pioneer
it was a terrorist-generated event, even
after FPL identified the genesis of the
outage from a West Miami power substation. Next, there was the mother who
rushed to her child’s school because
she could not imagine him being without air conditioning for two hours. Her
face appeared fraught with anxiety, as
if she had heard he had been exposed to
some toxic agent and she didn’t know
in what condition she’d find him. Then
there were the offices that shut down
operations and told workers to go home
early because they had no air, no electricity, and no computers. One must
wonder what those in charge could be
thinking to make such a decision. Is it,
“Let’s get the hell out of here just in
case something bad is about to happen”? Is it, “We better all haul ass
home and get our gas cans so we can
run our generators”? (Of course, I don’t
have that problem. Being a Capricorn, I
already have a gas stash that I rotate
regularly from the storage tanks into
my vehicles and then refill so it’s
always fresh.) Or is it as simple as,
“Hey, it’s an afternoon off and I’m out
of here!”
Were there no leaders who thought
this would be a good time to gather
their employees in a conference room
and discuss the work environment — a
little quality time, so to speak, away
from the daily BS that normally keeps
all of us from taking a global look at
how the operation is running? Or
maybe they could have held a discussion about exactly what to do when
faced with this type of situation? Nah,
let’s beat rush hour!
But getting back to the basic issue, as
I see it: How prepared are we to be the
resilient Americans our forefathers
forged in building this great nation? Just
what has happened to our heritage of
character, individualism, self-reliance?
It seems the more we move into the
urban core of our community, the more
we rely on government to take care of
us and tell us what to do. Where is my
ice, my food, my electricity, my water?
When is “someone” going to clear my
street because I can’t get my car out to
get in line for gas so I can go nowhere?
In fact Miami-Dade County and the
don’t own a hammer, much less know
how to use one.
As we have evolved, we have lost a
good bit of that pioneer spirit of selfreliance, which is at the core of who we
are as a people. Depending on others is
just not the American way. Or has it
become the new American way? Do we
literally need Uncle Sam to come to our
rescue at every turn? Come
on, folks! A couple of hours
There was the mother who rushed to
without power and it seems
her child’s school because she could
we just can’t handle it.
not imagine him being without air
Lighten up (pun intended). In
conditioning for two hours.
this age of technology, there
are going to be failures that
inconvenience us. And that is
how these events should be viewed —
hours without someone holding our
inconveniences.
hands. The initial program caused an
No matter how badly you may have
uproar — what gall officials had insinbeen inconvenienced during the FPL
uating we bear some responsibility for
blackout several weeks ago, I guarantee
our own well-being. It was just not the
that you still had a better day than anypolitically correct thing to say!
one in Iraq. So get a grip, and think
Out in our nation’s more rural parts,
about how you’ll handle the next catashowever, you’ll find more of a fendtrophe, minor or major, which surely
for-ourselves mentality. As Hank
Williams, Jr., sings, “A country boy can will come.
survive.” I am continually amazed at
the number of people I meet here who
City of Miami tried to push through a
program that dared to propose to residents: “Depend on You for the First
72.” The gist of the promotion was that
government can’t be expected to
respond to large-scale natural or manmade disasters within minutes.
Moreover, we as individuals should
have the know-how to survive for 72
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27
COMMUNITY NEWS
Marvin’s Gardens
BT photos by Lynn Roberson
Former FIU professor Marvin Dunn cultivates community in Overtown
By Lynn Roberson
BT Contributor
o one would ever think of looking
for a garden on the corner of NW
9th Street and 3rd Avenue, but
there it is, in the heart of historic
Overtown. Rows of ruffled, silvery cabbages; rosettes of collard greens; and
emerald beds of mustard greens are bordered with pots of violet Mexican petunias. A rosemary bush blossoms in a
frothy pink. Bell peppers occupy one plot,
oak leaf lettuces another. Stripes of newly
sown greens peek two new leaves out of
the ground. Tomatoes volunteer to grow
everywhere they are allowed.
Not a soul is stirring at Mount Zion
Baptist Church or at the D.A. Dorsey
House. Overtown’s own millionaire,
D.A. Dorsey once lived on this block
and walked to worship at Mount Zion.
Around the corner and up the street on
NW 2nd Avenue, the Mary Elizabeth
Hotel once hosted touring greats like
Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Cab
Calloway in the 1930s and 1940s. But on
this day the garden sits quiet with its
cabbages and memories of kings. A
mockingbird builds a nest in a newly
planted oak tree, singing a jazzy riff to
mark the territory.
Someone has trucked in rich soil for the
beds. Set in black dirt, they are weeded
and irrigated with aboveground PVC pip-
N
Marvin Dunn amid the bounty of his NW 9th Street garden.
ing. Insects have made lace of many of the
vegetable leaves. Collard stems lay withering in the grass, as if someone has made a
selective harvest.
The mystery is solved when Marvin
Dunn arrives at the two-acre vegetable
garden with his crew. “Okay, gentlemen,
this Saturday we need to get all this cabbage up,” he announces. “We’re going to
dig it, strip it down to the head, and hold a
cabbage give-away from 11:00 a.m. to
2:00 p.m. I want you to put up our signs in
the neighborhood. Don’t forget the donation box.”
Dynamic in a sunshine-yellow shirt,
Dunn demonstrates cabbage stripping to
his five-man team. The author of the wellregarded Black Miami in the 20th Century,
Dunn retired from the FIU psychology
The original 14th Street garden ablaze in color.
department two years ago to concentrate
on his Overtown garden project and Roots
in the City, Inc., the nonprofit foundation
he created to support it.
Have you ever noticed the where I-395
passes over NW 14th Street? It is precisely where Dunn began his original experiment in urban-gardening, this one featuring colorful, blooming trees and shrubs
instead of vegetables. On the north side of
14th, between asphalt and concrete, nestles a year-round extravaganza of deep-red
China roses, electric-blue plumbago,
magenta bougainvillea, fruiting pineapple,
and manicured grass. Back in 1993, Dunn
looked at that dismal two acres and
thought of high school students walking
by there each day. He remembered
Overtown pre-I-95, a close-knit communi-
ty of shotgun houses and gardens. “Then
everybody had porch plants and a yard
where they grew mangoes, oranges, sugar
cane, and collards,” Dunn says. “I asked
the City of Miami and the state transportation department to let me plant the overpass land. Since I-95 ripped Overtown
apart in the 1960s, it seemed right to make
a part of it beautiful again.”
With permission secured, Dunn offered
his psychology students the option of writing a term paper or working in the garden.
“It was a cinch,” he laughs. “In ten years,
I got three term papers and thousands of
hours of free labor. The students and I
cleared up the rubbish and started digging.
In the beginning, we worked with donated
plants, strictly trial and error. We gradually
What Parking Problem?
A Miami Shores music teacher’s new lesson plan advances with some creative thinking
By Tiffany Rainey
BT Staff Writer
hough many choice words have
been used to describe the Miami
Shores Village Planning and Zoning
Board, “impressive” is not among them, at
least not recently. But that’s exactly how
Jane Spinney views the board’s creative
solution to her quandary.
Spinney, a popular local music teacher
Miss Jane Spinney, newly minted
universally known as Miss Jane, was about fan of the Miami Shores Planning
to realize her dream of opening a studio for and Zoning Board.
young students along the Shores’s main
street, NE 2nd Avenue. Then she discovtwice the number of parking spaces for her
ered she had a problem. According to vilbusiness than she had. As she told BT’s Jen
lage zoning codes, she needed almost
Karetnick in February, she was taken by
T
28
surprise: “I’m not a restaurant. Parking
didn’t even occur to me.”
With her dreams on hold, Miss Jane figured her only hope was to request a variance from the volunteer members of the
village’s Planning and Zoning Board — a
distant hope at best, she thought. The board
is notorious for routinely denying such
requests. Miss Jane’s pleasant surprise preceded her late-February appointment to
appear before the board. “They were wellaware that I was on the agenda, so they
came up with a plan,” she says. “I was
very impressed.”
Finding a solution for Miss Jane proved
much easier than expected. It was simply a
matter of switching the designation she had
listed on her application. She had, naturally, listed her business as instructional.
However, operating under that designation
would require five parking spots. Her new
studio at 9636 NE 2nd Ave. only has three.
After Miss Jane assured board members
she also would be selling musical equipment to her students, the board suggested
she switch her application to a retail designation, which only requires three spaces.
Presto! The problem was solved with nary
a variance in sight.
“I always think of myself as an educator
first and businessperson second,” says
Miss Jane, a 43-year-old kindergarten
music instructor at nearby Miami Country
April 2008
COMMUNITY NEWS
Visual Pollution: Less Clutter, More Cash
By Tiffany Rainey
BT Staff Writer
iant outdoor advertisements
strapped to the flanks of Miami’s
skyscrapers and other buildings
may become a vanishing, or at least rarer,
species by the end of this month as city
commissioners expect to approve an ordinance to rein them in once and for all.
After several proposals and just as many
deferrals, commissioners finally seem to
have settled on language that is agreeable
to everyone. “I think all the commissioners were able to put their spoon in,” said
commission chairman Joe Sanchez at their
mid-March meeting.
Ironically, the ordinance will briefly
allow residents to see their city stripped
bare of advertising while building owners
clear any visual transgressions in order to
qualify for future advertising opportunities. After the transition phase, outdoor
advertisements, referred to as murals, will
return — but in a smaller sector of the
city, which includes the Design District
and the area surrounding Jackson
Memorial Hospital.
G
BT photo by Lucy Orozco
The City of Miami finally get tough with outdoor advertisers
Design District, a small patch of land
Rarely mentioned in ongoing
where the Borinquen Health Care
media coverage of the mural debate
Center stands (NE 2nd Avenue at 36th
is the fact that Miami-Dade County
Street), and a large swath surrounding
has ultimate authority over the City
Jackson Memorial Hospital that faces
of Miami’s outdoor advertising
both SR836 and I-95. Those three
habits. A county code passed in
were last-minute additions to the
1985 expressly forbade the advertisalready-approved geographic area,
ing form. Two decades later, in
which was based largely on
2006, county commissioners agreed
Commissioner Marc Sarnoff’s initial
to revisit the issue — largely at the
proposal. “There was a real desire to
behest of Miami Mayor Manny
have exposure to I-195,” he says. “It
Diaz. Within a year they passed an
was a compromise.” (For several
ordinance allowing up to 45 murals
Behemoths like this downtown eyesore at
years the Borinquen building has been
in a region that encompasses most
Ten Museum Place will soon be reined in.
draped with giant iPod murals, an
of downtown, Brickell, and
Perhaps because the green light from the
additional source of income for the nonEdgewater, providing the city did its part
profit medical clinic.)
county essentially amounts to a trial run,
to keep outdoor-advertising lobbyists in
The city ordinance’s other mural manthe city’s version is more restrictive.
check. The county’s current edict expires
dates are also tighter than the countyin the summer of 2009. At that time, if not Miami’s ordinance was still undergoing
authored document:
scrutiny from the city’s legal department
satisfied with what has occurred in the
•Only 35 murals will be allowed, with no
at press time, but one major distinction is
intervening period, the county could
more than 20 in any commission district.
that the city’s plan allows murals only
review the mural issue. (Earlier this
•Only one mural is allowed on each face
from the Miami River north to NE 16th
decade, county commissioners went
Street and from Biscayne Bay west to NW of a building, and signage is required to be
through a controversial struggle trying to
at least 300 feet from neighboring murals
3rd Avenue. (The county’s approved area
regulate billboard advertisements.)
or residences. If the residential property is
encompassed everything from NE 16th
With the county onboard for the time
a single-family home, the minimum disStreet up to NE 36th Street.)
being, Miami commissioners went to
Also included in the city’s plan are the
work drafting an ordinance of their own.
SCOHOL’s Out Forever — We Think
FDOT obliterates misspelled marker, but the culprit proves elusive
By Stephanie Palacino
BT Intern
ess than a week after the BT published an article pointedly headlined “How Embarassing” (March
2008), the subject of the story vanished.
The infamous SCOHOL road marker that
has amused Biscayne Boulevard drivers
for more than two years suddenly was
removed.
When the Florida Department of
Transportation (FDOT) hired Horizon
Contractors Inc. to paint a marker that
read SCHOOL, Horizon subcontracted the
job to Berlo Industries Inc., says FDOT
spokesman Brian Rick, adding that Berlo
accidentally stenciled the misspelled word
that thousands of passersby came to know
and love and mock. According to Rick,
after Berlo was informed of the mistake,
the company merely painted over the letters rather than remove a layer of roadway
and, along with it, the nonsensical word.
L
April 2008
Beloved typo as it used to be, as it began disappearing, and as it is no more.
Then, on a rainy Monday, March 3,
FDOT crews descended on the site on
Biscayne near 110th Street and literally
tore up the street, expelling the jumbled
letters. Rick assures BT that the marker
has been “blasted off” the boulevard for
good this time.
But how did the prolonged spelling flub
occur in the first place? “Berlo located the
marking on the roadway according to the
plans that were provided to them by
Horizon,” Rick contends. “However, for
whatever reason, Berlo did not use the
revised plans supplied to Horizon, which
actually eliminated this pavement marking.”
Rick further explains that, after a while,
the traffic ate through the cover-up paint
job and exposed the offending letters once
more. FDOT staff didn’t catch the newly
uncovered SCOHOL. “Our project staff is
supposed to check the accuracies of these
markings,” Rick says. “Unfortunately,
mistakes happen — as in this case.”
Horizon did assemble a crew to clean
up SCOHOL, but by that point FDOT had
already leaped into action. “Horizon had
mobilized a removal crew to the job,”
Rick says, “but our maintenance department had already removed it.”
29
COMMUNITY NEWS
Gardens
found trees and flowers that would thrive
in the spot, with minimal care.”
As Dunn’s original I-395 overpass garden matured in beauty, he tackled urban
gardening on NW 3rd Avenue, at his tree
farm on NW 2nd Court, and in the medians of Martin Luther King Boulevard. To
date he has transformed 60 acres of barren
land in underserved communities.
The land for the two-acre vegetable
garden, sentineled by the Dorsey House,
belongs to the City of Miami and two
private owners. “I looked at this weedy,
trash-filled vacant lot and saw a garden
that could actually nourish the community. I just sort of commandeered the land,”
Dunn says. “A year ago we started planting things that everyone here likes —
greens, cabbage, callaloo. We give the
harvest away on Saturdays or accept a
donation. I never get to eat a mango or a
SCOHOL’s Out
Shortly before press time, BT managed
to make contact with Berlo Industries
spokesman Leonard Wooten. According to
30
tomato, because the street people get
them first, and that is great. I figure that
90 percent of Overtown is eating better
because of the garden.”
Dunn’s Roots in the City organization
reaches into the neighborhood for garden
staff, hiring “people who are hard to
employ among Overtown’s 8000 residents,” he says. Dunn secured a City of
Miami contract to train people in urban
horticulture, and uses the NW 3rd
Avenue garden as his laboratory. “Our
employees have a marketable skill when
they complete the program,” he says. In
addition to garden maintenance, the
employees learn how to plot out and
install irrigation and sprinkler systems.
Dunn stresses entrepreneurial skills: “We
plan to market our new crop of greens to
stores in Overtown and Liberty City.
One hundred bunches of collards, delivered fresh from the ground — who can
resist that?”
He is quick to credit supporters MiamiDade Commissioner Audrey Edmonson,
Hands on Miami, Camillus House, the
City of Miami, the Richard Lyons
Nursery, and the Miami Veterans Affairs
hospital. Today Dunn is glad to tell his
gardening staff that a grant from the Dade
Community Foundation should cover
costs for much-needed wheelbarrows,
hoses, and push brooms. “And Gulfstream
[Park] racetrack is giving us horse
manure!” he adds.
Though he shakes his head and says,
“I’m not a gardener; I’m a psychologist,”
Dunn’s past seems to have caught up with
him. He was born on a fruit and vegetable
farm in Deland; his family spent five years
as migrant workers, following the harvest
cycle from Homestead to upstate New
York. “We picked everything from beans
to apples,” he says. “I grew up in the
fields. When Dad saved enough money to
buy a house, we moved to Overtown. I
was a child in its heyday. As an adult, I
wrote about it. I guess today I’m trying to
put it back together again.”
It may be working. All kinds of people
love Marvin Dunn’s gardens. Police stop
by to gaze at the neat rows of turnips. A
nurse on the way to Jackson Hospital via
14th Street delights daily in the everblooming roses. Tyrone, a Roots in the
City employee, claims the gardens as his
“best job ever.” Countless I-395 drivers
marvel at the bombax trees bursting with
red shaving-brush blooms. Homeless men
and women pick tomatoes and savor their
juicy richness before Dunn even has a
chance to harvest them. And that’s just
fine by him.
Wooten, FDOT’s Brian Rick is simply
mistaken. Yes, Berlo was contracted for
work on that part of the Boulevard, but the
company had moved on to other jobs
before SCOHOL hit the pavement. “That
would not have been us,” Wooten insists.
“We were the initial subcontractor in
2004, but around 2006 — by January or
February — we were off the job. By the
time they put down the asphalt, we were
done on that site.
“Plus,” Wooten can’t resist adding, “we
know how to spell.”
For information, to volunteer or to
donate, contact Marvin Dunn at 305389-1602 or at dunnfiu@aol.com.
Feedback: letters@biscayne.com
April 2008
COMMUNITY NEWS
Pollution
tance drops to 100 feet.
•The area immediately surrounding the
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing
Arts has been declared a mural-free zone.
•Advertisement size is capped at 10,000
square feet and can cover no more than 80
percent of a blank wall. If the wall has
windows, the mural can only cover 33
percent of it.
•Illumination of the mural is allowed
from 6:00 p.m. to midnight only.
•The fine for illegal murals (currently
$250 per day) will be $1000 per day.
To be eligible for a chance to display
advertisements, property owners must
remove all currently illegal murals at least
Parking
Day School, explaining why she initially
applied for an instructional occupation
license. “It’s all about perception.”
Board member Sid Reese says he and
the other men charged with deciding the
development fate of Miami Shores always
try their best to accommodate new business, though they often get a bad rap for
45 days prior to a lottery that will determine the 35 winners. Undoubtedly this
means a good deal of signage will be
pulled from building façades during the
coming weeks in a mad dash for compliance. (Miami’s ordinance does not affect
freestanding billboards.) “We’ll get a peek
at the city and see what she looks like
undressed,” Sarnoff quipped at the March
commission meeting.
All this dressing and undressing will
cost money. Outstanding fines and fees for
murals in violation (estimated to be millions of dollars) must be paid before properties will be considered for the lottery.
Fines and fees assessed under the new
ordinance are to be divided among the
Arts and Entertainment Trust, the Mayor’s
Poverty Initiative, and the Parks and Open
Space Trust Fund.
Those fees, to be paid by advertising
companies, include an annual base fee of
$1 per square foot, plus thousands of additional dollars in administrative charges.
“These are the largest fees of anywhere in
the country,” complained Greenberg
Traurig attorney Lucia Dougherty, who
represents clients in the outdoor-advertising industry.
Several city commissioners wanted to
encourage even more murals, arguing that
most “world-class” cities employ this kind
of advertising. However, Sarnoff staunchly
opposed any outdoor advertisements whatsoever. “If it were up to me, there would
be no murals in the city — but I can count
to three, and I know there would be three
votes against me,” he conceded midMarch, when the pending ordinance was
approved on first reading.
Although other commissioners and
those in the industry have called Sarnoff’s
position extreme, it is not unprecedented.
In 2006 frustrated officials in São Paulo,
Brazil, voted to eliminate all outdoor
advertising in the city of approximately 18
million residents. The ban, still in place,
resulted in the uncovering of numerous
slums and sweatshops previously hidden
behind massive billboards and banners. In
that case, only one councilman, an advertising executive, voted against the ban.
sticking so closely to the letter of the law.
“If the citizens listen and work with staff
and the board, we can usually figure something out,” he asserts. “We’re working hard
to improve and meet the needs [of the village], but there are some compromises that
have to be made.”
One of the biggest concerns the board
faces, Reese says, is parking in Miami
Shores’s downtown core of shops and
restaurants. The village, he argues, is in
dire need of more parking to accommodate
those patronizing local businesses. “People
say the lots are not full, but it’s because the
buildings are not full,” Reese notes. “If
these buildings fill up, we’ll really be in a
bind.” The board is actively seeking new
ways to solve the problem, he says.
But as of now, the board at least can
claim Miss Jane as a new ally. “They do
have an interest in seeing small businesses
come to Miami Shores,” she says. “They
wanted me to succeed.”
Miss Jane’s Music Studio is currently
offering several classes weekly but won’t
be in full swing until June. She is planning
a schedule of 29 classes per week for students up to the fourth-grade level.
GENERAL CONTRACTOR &
PAINTING CONTRACTOR
• Interior & Exterior
• Residential & Commercial
• Licensed & Insured
Phone: 305-751-4447
Fax: 305-754-1851
www. fabinteriorexterior .com
LIC# CGC1506675
April 2008
CC00BS00302
31
For e-mail information on these officials, please visit biscaynetimes.com and click on our Community Contacts link
BISCAYNE PARK
biscayneparkfl.gov
Village Hall (Log Cabin) 640 NE 114th St. .................................305-899-8000
Mayor: John R. Hornbuckle ........................................................305-899-8000
Commissioner: Bob Anderson ....................................................305-899-8000
Commissioner: Kelly C. Mallette ................................................305-899-8000
Commissioner: Dr. Chester H. “Doc” Morris...............................305-899-8000
Commissioner: Steve Bernard ..................................................305-899-8000
Attorney: John Hearn..................................................................305-899-8000
Building/Zoning Official: Salvatore Annese................................786-306-9510
Clerk: Ann Harper .......................................................................305-899-8000
Manager: Frank Spence .............................................................305-899-8000
Code Enforcement Officer: Sira Ramos .....................................305-899-8000
Police Chief: Mitch Glansberg.........................................305-899-8000 (x228)
Police Main Office: .....................................................................305-893-7490
Police Non-Emergency Dispatch:...............................................305-595-6263
Public Works Director: Bernard Pratt..........................................305 893 4346
Recreation Director: Elisa Tankersley.........................................305-893-3711
EL PORTAL
(101 NW 34th St.)
Parks and Recreation Director:
Ernest Burkeen ...........................................................................305-416-1320
Parks Operations ........................................................................305-250-5373
Buena Vista Park ..............................................................305-795-2334
Ichimura Miami-Japan Garden .........................................305-960-4639
Legion Park.......................................................................305-758-9027
Lemon City Park ...............................................................305-759-3512
Margaret Pace Park..........................................................305-350-7938
Morningside Park ..............................................................305-754-1242
Municipal Cemetery ..........................................................305-579-6938
Planning Director: Ana Gelabert-Sanchez..................................305-416-1470
Planning Assistant Director: Carmen Sanchez...........................305-416-1417
Police Chief: John Timoney ........................................................305-603-6100
Police Deputy Chief: Frank G. Fernandez .................................305-603-6120
Police Internal Affairs Division: ..................................................305-835-2000
Police Non-Emergency: .............................................................305-579-6640
Public Works Director: Stephanie N. Grindell.............................305-416-1200
Zoning Administrator: Lourdes Slazyk ........................................305-416-1405
Zoning Information Supervisor: Aldo Reyes ...............................305-416-1493
MIAMI SHORES
elportalvillage.com
Village Hall 500 NE 87th St. .......................................................305-795-7880
miamishoresvillage.com
Village Hall 10050 NE 2nd Ave. .................................................305-795-2207
Mayor: Mariette SanitVil .............................................................305-795-7880
Vice Mayor: Joyce Davis ............................................................305-795-7880
Councilman: Ruben Jean ...........................................................305-795-7880
Councilman: Harold E. Mathis, Jr. ..............................................305-795-7880
Councilwoman: Linda Marcus ....................................................305-795-7880
Building Official: Raul Rodriguez ................................................305-795-7880
Clerk: Albertha Patterson............................................................305-795-7880
Code Enforcement Officer ..........................................................305-795-7880
Manager: Jason Walker..............................................................305-795-7880
Police Chief: Aubry Johnson ......................................................305-795-7880
Mayor: Herta Holly ...............305-757-4679 (residence) 305-835-1934 (office)
Vice Mayor: Stephen K. Loffredo ............................305-754-8620 (residence)
........................................................................................305-757-8115 (office)
Councilman: Hunt Davis ..........................................305-751-1300 (residence)
........................................................................................305-691-9090 (office)
Councilman: Prospero Herrera................................305-757-2473 (residence)
........................................................................................305-795-2207 (office)
Councilman: JC Rodriguez......................................305-754-3891 (residence)
........................................................................................305-795-2207 (office)
Attorney: Richard Sarafan .........................................................305-349-2300
Building Director: Claudio Grande ..............................................305-795-2204
Clerk: Barbara Estep .................................................................305-795-2207
Finance Director: (Temporary): Holly Hugduhl ..........................305-795-2207
Fire Department
(Miami-Dade County Station #30,
9500 NE 2nd Ave.) .....................................................................305-513-7930
Library Director: Elizabeth Esper................................................305-758-8107
Manager: Tom Benton ................................................................305-795-2207
Planning and Zoning Director:
David Dacquisto .........................................................................305-795-2207
Police Chief: Kevin Lystad..........................................................305-759-2468
Police Crime Watch/Mobile Patrol ..............................................305-756-5767
Police Department Non-Emergency ...........................................305-759-2468
Public Works Director: Scott Davis.............................................305-795-2210
Recreation Director: Jerry Estep ................................................305-758-8103
MIAMI
miamigov.com
City Hall 3500 Pan American Dr.
One-Stop Call Center: 311
Mayor: Manuel A. Diaz ...............................................................305-250-5300
District 1 Commissioner: Angel Gonzalez ..................................305-250-5430
District 2 Commissioner: Marc Sarnoff.......................................305-250-5333
District 3 Commissioner: Joe M. Sanchez .................................305-250-5380
District 4 Commissioner: Tomas P. Regalado ............................305-250-5420
District 5 Commissioner: Michelle Spence-Jones ......................305-250-5390
Independent Auditor General: Victor I. Igwe...............................305-416-2044
City Attorney: Julie O. Bru ..........................................................305-416-1810
Communications Director: Kelly Penton .....................................305-416-1440
Building Department Director: Hector Lima ................................305-416-1102
City Clerk: Priscilla A. Thompson ...............................................305-250-5360
City Clerk Assistant: Pamela E. Burns .......................................305-250-5367
Civilian Investigative Panel Executive Director:
Shirley Richardson .....................................................................305-579-2444
Code Enforcement Director:
Mariano Loret de Mola ...............................................................305-416-2039
Code Enforcement Chief: Sergio Guadix ...................................305-416-2089
Interim Community Development Director:
Hector Mirabile ..........................................................................305-416-1978
Community Relations Office Coordinator:
Ada Rojas ...................................................................................305-416-1351
Finance Director: Diana M. Gomez ............................................305-416-1324
Fire-Rescue Chief: William W. Bryson .......................................305-416-5401
Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief: Maurice Kemp.................................305-416-5403
Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief: Loran Dougherty .............................305-416-5407
City Manager: Pedro G. Hernandez ...........................................305-250-5400
City Manager's Office Chief Financial Officer:
Larry M. Spring ...........................................................................305-416-1011
Neighborhood Enhancement Teams (NET)
NET Director:
David A. Rosemond ..........................................................305-416-2091
..........................................................................................305-416-1992
Downtown Administrator:
Eddie Padilla-Morales .......................................................305-579-6007
(10 NE 9th Street)
Little Haiti Administrator:
Rasha Soray-Cameau ......................................................305-960-4660
(6421 NE 2nd Ave.)
Upper Eastside Administrator:
Maria T. Mascarenas ........................................................305-795-2330
(6599 Biscayne Blvd.)
Wynwood/Edgewater Administrator:
Alberto Zamorano .............................................................305-579-6931
32
NORTH MIAMI
northmiamifl.gov
City Hall 776 NE 125th St. .........................................................305-893-6511
Information line ..........................................................................305-891-4636
Mayor: Kevin A. Burns ................................................................305-895-9815
District 1 Councilman: Scott Galvin ............................................305-895-9815
District 2 Councilman: Michael Blynn .........................................305-895-9815
District 3 Councilman: Jacques Despinosse ..............................305-895-9815
District 4 Councilwoman: Marie Erlande Steril ...........................305-895-9815
Animal Control: Tami Fox, Sr. Code Enforcement Officer .........305-895-9876
Attorney: V. Lynn Whitfield..........................................................305-895-9810
Attorney Deputy: Roland Galdos ................................................305-895-9810
Budget Director: Keith Kleiman ..................................................305-895-9893
Building and Zoning Director: Jacqueline Gonzalez ..................305-895-9820
Building and Zoning Department ...............................................305-895-9820
Clerk: Frank Wolland ..................................................................305-895-9817
Clerk Deputy: Jacquie Vieira ......................................................305-895-9817
Code Enforcement Director: Mike Ferrucci ..................305-895-9832(x17001)
Community Planning and Development Director:
Maxine Calloway ........................................................................305-895-9825
Community Redevelopment Agency Executive Director:
Tony E. Crapp, Sr. ......................................................................305-899-0272
Finance Director: Carlos M. Perez .............................................305-895-8991
Information Technology Director:
Hortensia Machado ....................................................................305-895-9850
Library Director: Joyce Pernicone .............................................305-891-5535
Manager: Clarance Patterson.....................................................305-895-9888
Manager Deputy: Dennis Kelly ...................................305-893-6511 (x12110)
MoCA Director and Chief Curator:
Bonnie Clearwater ......................................................................305-893-6211
NoMi Express Community Bus Service......................................305-947-9995
Parks and Recreation Director: Terry Lytle.................................305-895-9840
Parks Operation Center:.............................................................305-891-9334
Police Chief: Clinton Shannon ....................................................305-891-8111
Police Department Non-Emergency Service ..............................305-891-8111
Public Information Officer: Pam Solomon ..................................305-895-9891
Public Works Director: Mark E. Collins........................305-895-9831 (x12211)
Sanitation Division: .....................................................................305-895-9870
Sewer Backup: ...........................................................................305-895-9838
Stormwater/Flooding: ................................................................305-895-9878
Streets Division: .........................................................................305-895-9878
Utility Billing: ..............................................................................305-895-9880
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY
Mayor: Carlos Alvarez ................................................................305-375-2202
District 2 Commissioner: Dorrin D. Rolle....................................305-375-4833
District 3 Commissioner: Audrey M. Edmonson .........................305-375-5393
District 4 Commissioner: Sally A. Heyman .................................305-375-5128
Manager: George M. Burgess ....................................................305-375-5311
Commission on Ethics and Public Trust .....................................305-579-2594
Dept. of Environmental Resources Management.......................305-372-6789
Director’s office ......................................................................305-372-6754
24-hour pollution hotline ........................................................305-372-6955
Inspector General: Christopher R. Mazzella ..............................305-375-1946
Fraud hotline..........................................................................305-579-2593
Hotline....................................................................................305-579-9093
Main Library ................................................................................305-375-2665
TDD (Telecommunication Device for Deaf) ................................305-375-2878
Culmer/Overtown Branch ......................................................305-579-5322
Golden Glades Branch ..........................................................305-787-1544
Lemon City Branch ................................................................305-757-0662
Little River Branch .................................................................305-751-8689
Water and Sewer Department ....................................................305-665-7477
Emergency.............................................................................305-274-9272
Complaints .............................................................................786-552-8970
Water quality ..........................................................................305-520-4738
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Superintendent: Dr. Rudolph F. Crew.........................................305-995-1430
District 1: Wilbert “Tee” Holloway......................Wtholloway@dadeschools.net
District 2: Dr. Solomon C. Stinson ..............................................305-995-1334
District 3: Dr. Martin Karp ...........................................................305-995-1334
School Police Chief: Gerald L. Darling ..........................305-995-COPS(2677)
FLORIDA
Governor: Charlie Crist...............................................................850-488-7146
Governor: Press Office ...............................................................850-488-5394
State Attorney: Katherine Fernandez Rundle.............................305-547-0100
State Senators:
District 33: Frederica S. Wilson (D) ....................305-654-7150 (district office)
....................................................................850-487-5116 (Tallahassee office)
District 35: Gwen Margolis (D)............................305-993-3632 (district office)
District 36: Alex Diaz de la Portilla (R)................305-643-7200 (district office)
State Representatives:
District 104: Yolly Roberson (D)..........................305-650-0022 (district office)
District 106: Dan Gelber (D) ...............................305-531-7831 (district office)
District 108: Ronald A. Brisé (D) .........................305-623-3600 (district office)
District 109: Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall (D)....305-694-2958 (district office)
Dept. of Environmental Services: citizen services......................850-245-2118
Department of Transportation ..........................850-414-4100; 866-374-FDOT
District 6 Public Information:
Miami-Dade and Monroe.........................................................1-800-435-2368
Secretary of Transportation:
Stephanie Kopelousos................................................................850-414-5205
FEDERAL
Senators:
Mel Martinez (R).......................................................202-224-3041 (DC office)
.............................................................................305-444-8332 (Miami office)
Bill Nelson (D) .............202-224-5274 (DC office) 305-536-5999(Miami office)
Representatives:
District 17: Kendrick B. Meek (D) ...............................................305-690-5905
District 18: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) ...........................................202-225-3931
District 20: Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D)..............202-225-7931(DC office)
........................................................................305-936-5724 (Aventura office)
DEA (Miami Field Office) ............................................................305-994-4870
FBI (Miami Field Office)..............................................................305-944-9101
April 2008
NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS
MIAMI
Bayside Residents Association
Louis Bourdeau
louis@baysidefoliage.com
www.homestead.com/baysideresidents/
Belle Meade Homeowners
Margret Tynan, president
rosemsadie@aol.com
305-759-3848
Buena Vista Heights
Evelyn Andre, president
evy33127@yahoo.com
305-528-4148
Buena Vista East Historic
Neighborhood Association
Pradel Denis, president
bvehna@gmail.com
305-754-6781
Buena Vista West
Julia Colas, president
kendj@bellsouth.net
305-576-9403
Citizens on Patrol
Fred St. Amand, chairman
fred@paxvilla.com
305-754-5454
Communities United
Hattie Willis, president
hwillis5@bellsouth.net
305-754-3993
Lake Belmar Home Owners Association
Manuel Fente, president
305-379-4900
mfente@fentelaw.com
www.lakebelmar.org
Little River Neighborhood
Improvement
Lavon Williams, president
dlavon@yahoo.com
305-490-3160
Magnolia Park
Geoffrey Bash
gbash@bellsouth.net
305-401-9001
Miami Neighborhoods United
Grace Solares, president
gsolares@miaminu.org
www.miaminu.org
Neighbors of Oakland Grove
Agusto L. Newell, president
newella@fiu.edu
305-751-2415
Palm Bay Condominium Inc.
Bill Mathisen, president
wemath@bellsouth.net
305-757-1922
Palm Bay Towers
Jorge Bosch, president
palmbayb@msn.com
305-754-3870
Palm Bay Yacht Club
Gary Shacni, president
pbycc@bellsouth.net
305-757-3500
Palm Grove Neighborhood
Bob Powers, president
bob_powers@bellsouth.net
305-299-0052
Morningside Civic Association
William Hopper, president
casadeco@comcast.net
305-877-1479
Shorecrest Homeowners
Millie Santana, president
mylenec@bellsouth.net
Neighborhood of Edgewater Area of
Residents
Richard Strell, president
miamiwater@gmail.com
Upper Eastside Miami
Council
Allyson Warren, president
alymichel2002@yahoo.com
305-757-9780
www.uppereastsidemiami.org
Venetian Causeway Neighborhood
Alliance
Barbara K. Bisno, president
bbisno@comcast.net
305-374-2566 / 786-390-4134
EL PORTAL
El Portal Homeowners Association
Ana Moré, president
305-456-5788
anamore8@gmail.com
MIAMI SHORES
Miami Shores Property Owners
Association
Bekky Leonard, president
305-759-2235
tiger_mom@hotmail.com
www.miamishorespoa.org
NORTH MIAMI
Alhambra Heights
Beverly Hilton, president
alhambraheights@aol.com
305-953-1054, 305-953-1056(fax)
Arch Creek East
Ilana Burdick, president
archcreekeast@aol.com
305-945-1704
Central
Michael McDearmaid, president
mike@actiontitleco.com
305-893-0566
Enchanted Place
Ken Di Genova, president
ephoa@bellsouth.net
305-892-1710
Keystone Point
Steven Bass, president
secretarykpha@juno.com
sbb63@bellsouth.net
www.keystonepoint.org
Sans Souci Homeowner Association
Ernie Long, president
haldds1@bellsouth.net
305-931-4284
Sunkist Grove Homeowners
Joyce Mumford, president
joycemumford@bellsouth.net
305-915-8922
Westside Neighborhood
Association
Clarence Merke, president
305-681-5552
Community Calendar
BISCAYNE PARK
April 1, 7:00 p.m.
Commission meeting
Recreation Center
11400 NE 9th Ct.
305-899-8000
April 7, 6:30 p.m.
Planning & Zoning Board meeting
Recreation Center
11400 NE 9th Ct.
305-899-8000
April 18, 7 p.m.
Code Enforcement
Recreation Center
11400 NE 9th Ct.
305-899-8000
April 21, 6:30 p.m.
Planning & Zoning Board meeting
Recreation Center
11400 NE 9th Ct.
305-899-8000
EL PORTAL
April 22, 7 p.m.
Village Council meeting
El Portal Village Hall
500 NE 87th St.
305-795-7880
April 2008
MIAMI
April 3, 5 p.m.
Code Enforcement Board meeting
City Hall - Commission Chambers
3500 Pan American Dr.
305-416-2030
April 7, 5 p.m.
305-416-2030
April 9, 5 p.m.
305-416-2030
April 16, 7 p.m.
Planning Advisory Board meeting
305-416-2030
April 17, 9 a.m.
305-416-2030
April 21, 6 p.m.
Nuisance Abatement Board Meeting
305-579-2444
April 23, 5 p.m.
305-416-2030
April 10, 9 a.m.
City Commission meeting
305-416-2030
April 24, 9 a.m.
City Commission meeting
305-416-2030
April 14, 7 p.m.
Zoning Board meeting
305-416-2030
April 28, 7 p.m.
Zoning Board meeting
305-416-2030
MIAMI SHORES
April 1, 7:30 p.m.
Miami Shores Village Hall
10050 NE 2nd Ave.
305-795-2207
April 6, 6 p.m.
Code Enforcement meeting
10050 NE 2nd Ave.
305-795-2207
April 15, 7:30 p.m.
10050 NE 2nd Ave.
305-795-2207
April 24, 7 p.m.
Planning & Zoning meeting
10050 NE 2nd Ave.
305-795-2207
NORTH MIAMI
April 1, 7 p.m.
North Miami Planning Commission
Board meeting
City Hall - Council Chambers
776 NE 125th St.
305-891-4636
April 2, 10 a.m.
776 NE 125th St.
305-891-4636
April 8, 7 p.m.
North Miami Council meeting
776 NE 125th St.
305-891-4636
April 9, 12 p.m.
Business Development Board
776 NE 125th St.
305-891-4636
April 16, 6:30 p.m.
Board of Adjustment meeting
776 NE 125th St.
305-891-4636
April 17, 7 p.m.
Community Relations Board meeting
776 NE 125th St.
305-891-4636
April 22, 7 p.m.
City Council meeting
776 NE 125th St.
305-891-4636
33
POLICE REPORTS
BISCAYNE CRIME BEAT
Compiled by Derek McCann
Give Him a Break! Maybe
He Still Loves Me
Belle Meade
A businesswoman returned to her office to
grab a check she had forgotten.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, her exboyfriend was waylaid in the lobby. Two
minutes later he appeared. When she asked
him to leave, he did what most spurned,
mooching, trashy ex-flames do: He choked
her, stole her keys (now he no longer has
to wait in the lobby), and took her cell
phone. The violated victim, perhaps in a
state of magnanimous pity or plain codependent, I-feel-worthless insanity, refused
to press charges. Officers are waiting for
the woman to change her mind.
Yet Another Vindictive
Boyfriend
60 Block of NE 65th Street
A woman was walking home when she
noticed her ex-boyfriend trailing her.
When she started to run, fearing her ex,
she inadvertently dropped her purse and
him, pulled him by the shirt, and commenced punching him in the face. Daddy
threatened to kill Mr. Ex and then left the
scene. Protective Papa was later arrested,
and his daughter is still single. We’re
tempted to publish her exact address as a
warning to future lovers, but we won’t
because sequels are fun.
Possession and Ownership
schoolbag. She entered a friend’s apartment at the end of the block and called
police, but when she looked out the window, she saw her former man running
down the street clutching her items. Is this
bad-boy image we all seem to love
becoming a bit passé? How about someone boring and responsible for a change?
Nah. That would make future “Crime
Beats” suck.
Beware of Those
Ex-Girlfriends Too
Design District
In the interest of fairness and gender
equality, it’s not just ex-boyfriends who
are troublesome. How about ex-girlfriends
— or in this case, the father of an ex-girlfriend? Feeling for his hurt baby, he confronted the ex-lover at his house. They
met on his patio, where the father grabbed
700 Block of NE 73rd Street
Officers answering a burglary call
knocked on the door of the residence to
which they had been summoned. “I’ll be
right there,” a breathless voice responded. Officers then heard the back door
opening, so they set up a perimeter and
eventually caught the man trying to flee.
From the back of the squad car, the criminal spontaneously offered that he had
picked up a guy named Tommy at a gay
club then took him to a house “to move
some stuff” and smoke some crack. The
stuff they moved did not belong to them,
25% OFF
5120 biscayne blvd.
•
miami
t: 305.757.5001 • info@planetlighting.net
34
April 2008
POLICE REPORTS
Crime
but at least they got to puff the other stuff,
which did belong to them — for about
five minutes anyway.
Police-Report Language
Arts Lessons
Omni
Police reports can be used to report crime
as well as to educate the masses about
colloquial terms. In this one, a homeowner said his green City of Miami garbage
bin went missing after the “One-Armed
Bandit” emptied the trash. An unknown
person stole it shortly after the “OneArmed Bandit” left. Note per the police
report: One-armed bandits are robotic
garbage trucks. The two-armed bandit is
still at large.
Visit From a Lilliputian?
600 Block of NE 52nd Street
Man returned home to find he had been
burglarized, even though there was no
sign of forced entry and no one had
copies of his keys. However, he discovered a very small bathroom window
open when he surveyed the scene, but
April 2008
told police it was not humanly possible
for someone to fit through that window.
We suggest neighborhood residents be
like Gulliver: Watch your step and
your wallet.
Knockdown Pickup Lines
NE 2nd Avenue and 15th Street
On the way back to her office, a woman
was accosted by a heavyset stranger. He
bear-hugged her and violently threw her
to the ground. The victim screamed for
help and, luckily for her, two Miami-Dade
employees came to her rescue and chased
the thug down the street. They held him
until the police arrived. In explaining his
bizarre actions, the defendant said, “I am
attracted to her, and I just wanted to be
her friend.” Miami may be a lonely place
for some, but there have to better ways of
meeting people.
Fill in Your Own Spitzer
Blackmail Story
Palm Grove
The suspect, who was left alone at the
victim’s business for several hours, had
vanished along with more than $10,000 in
equipment by the time the business owner
returned. The proprietor reported laptops,
sunglasses, cell phones, and a huge bundle of cash missing. Police were called
and a report was issued, but there was a
message written with lipstick on the bedroom mirror (for the record, the suspect is
a male): “You have done lots of damage.
Remember, I have [all] the pictures.”
Shortly after, the victim signed a refuseto-prosecute form.
packs of Halls cough drops (the nasty-flavored ones). She did not attempt to pay
and was held by the store cashier for
police. Before police arrived, though, the
future defendant, perhaps thinking it
would be awkward to ask to use the bathroom at this point and envisioning a prolonged sojourn in the paddy wagon, took
care of nature’s calling and urinated on
the floor.
You Can’t Do That Here!
Helping Those Less
Fortunate, and the Feelings It
Evokes
NE 9th Street and N. Miami Avenue
Gallivanting his way into the middle of
traffic, this defendant was openly and
unabashedly drinking an unconcealed
can of beer in broad daylight. Because
this is still against the law, officers
arrested him. The hapless beer guzzler
exclaimed that he was just celebrating
his birthday. Happy birthday, my friend!
Celebrate with 30 others as you snuggle
up next to the toilet at county jail.
Why Wait? Or, You Can’t Do
That Here, the Sequel
1000 Block of Biscayne Boulevard
A female subject entered this store and
grabbed a Butterfinger candy bar and five
5900 Block of NE 2nd Avenue
A business owner, in an act of kindness,
hired two street vagrants to clean her store
— she did not get their names or check
for any identification. Several minutes
later the men were gone, as was her
purse. The suspects have not been arrested as the victim had trouble giving police
a description. So much for the virtue of
charity, but rather a clarion call for
Miamians’ continuing need to live up to
their necessary reputation for cold detachment. The hell with everyone!
35
A R T & C U LT U R E
Artifical Life
Cristina Lei Rodriguez’s eye-catching art evolves with a new solo show at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin
Rodriguez’s talent, starting here at
home with Reclaiming Ruins, her
2004 seminal installation at the
ristina Lei Rodriguez’s psyRubell Family Collection. The old
chedelic, nature-themed
building that housed the collection
sculptures have put her on the
had been torn down to make way for
Miami art map. The 33-year-old artist
a new one. Rodriguez gathered rubble
has become increasingly successful
from the demolished building and
since arriving on the scene in 2003.
covered it with multicolored, plastic
“She is probably one of the most
foliage until it was barely recognizaprominent female contemporary
ble. The resulting sculpture resembled
artists [in Miami],” says José Carlos
a mound of ancient ruins just before
Diaz, who operates Worm-Hole
excavation, playing on the theme of
Laboratory, a traveling curatorial art
nature versus the urban environment.
project. “I have never seen any other
She continued to show her work
sculptor make work with the materiaround the United States in group
als she’s using.”
shows. International attention folRodriguez’s sculptures — trippy
lowed. Rodriguez participated in
plastic plants, flowers, and gardens,
London-based curator Hans Ulrich
covered in layers of glitter, fluoresObrist’s “Uncertain States of
cent paint, and other, more unusual
America: American Art in the 3rd
Struggling for Grandeur, Rodriguez’s recent sculpture at the Vizcaya Museum
materials — are instantly recognizaMillennium” group exhibition, which
and Gardens.
ble. Her distinct oeuvre employs
took her work all over Europe. “It’s
Plexiglas and tacky thrift store items,
one of the most important shows I’ve
such as Mardi Gras beads, plastic plants,
After graduating from Middlebury
things going. We felt we could do whatev- ever been part of,” she says. “It was defiand gaudy fashion accessories. She then
College in Vermont in 1996, Rodriguez
nitely a huge thing for me.”
er,” Rodriguez says. At the same time,
dips her fake flora in epoxy to harden,
traveled extensively and also spent time in
She also credits her affiliation with
though, she remembers keeping her eye on
beginning the long construction process.
Miami, working for MTV Latin America
the big picture: “As a group we were inter- Emmanuel Perrotin for boosting her career.
as an assistant producer. Film
By 2006 Rodriguez was being represented
ested in building our careers outside
was her new passion and she
by the Paris gallerist, who had just opened
Miami. We were always very focused on
She decorates the pieces with tinsel,
tried her hand at it for a few
his first stateside space in Miami. He prewhat was happening outside of Miami.”
fabric, foam, and bright-colored paint,
years. Rodriguez says she
sented a solo exhibition of her work titled
During the next few years, the rest of
expertly coaxing them into surreal,
noticed she was “really interested the art world began to take notice of
artificial, subtropical settings.
in films with stop-animation,”
because they allowed her to
spend time building sets.
Once they are stiff, she decorates the
Ultimately she figured out it wasn’t films
pieces with tinsel, fabric, glue, foam, and
she really wanted to make. “I wanted to
bright-colored paint. She amasses layer
make stuff,” she explains. That drive to
upon layer, expertly coaxing her creations
make “stuff” led her to the California
into surreal, artificial, subtropical settings.
College of Arts and Crafts in San
These found knickknacks work doubleFrancisco, where she learned to create the
time, helping Rodriguez convey both her
sculptures and assemblage-based artwork
work’s flamboyant flirtiness as well as its
that have come to mark her signature style.
not-so-subtle subtext: the struggle between
Rodriguez graduated in 2002 and
man and nature. Like weeds bursting
returned to Miami, where the landscape of
through cracks in the sidewalk, nature,
the art scene was shifting rapidly, with the
even in the form of art, cannot be conarrival of Art Basel Miami Beach and a
quered or contained.
profusion of new galleries in Wynwood.
The daughter of Cuban and Japanese
“People were sort of curious about what
parents, the 33-year-old Rodriguez grew
was happening, and things were sort of up
up in Miami Lakes. She remembers being
for grabs,” Rodriguez recalls. As
interested in art from the beginning, but
Wynwood was transforming into a cultural
career aspirations didn’t come until later.
hub, she worked alongside artists such as
“I didn’t think it would be a practical
Pepe Mar and Diego Singh, exhibiting her
choice,” she says. “I felt a lot of pressure
work at the now-defunct Rocket Projects
that it wasn’t a realistic thing that I could
and other spaces that promoted local
Encantadas, early work form the Worm-Hole Lab, 2003.
actually do.”
artists. “We had a lot of energy to get
By Victor Barrenechea
BT Contributor
C
36
April 2008
Artifical
meant to play off being in a room that was
very visually loaded.” Its colors intentionally matched the stain-glassed windows
“Endless Autumn.” It was Rodriguez’s
while the base coordinated with the marmost ambitions project to date. The 20-byble floor. The result: Struggling for
20-foot garden was eight feet tall and took
Grandeur, a paradox of a piece that simulseveral months to construct. She transtaneously subverted and paid homage to
formed the gallery space into a Japanese
the ideal of beauty at Vizcaya.
garden — which Rodriguez refers to as
In addition to being busy artistically,
“the ultimate example of a controlled garRodriguez gave birth to her
daughter Ruby last year and
“I don’t think she wants to be pigeonadmits motherhood has brought
holed. Her work is really distinctive.
big changes. “Everything had to
She’s creating a body of work that
be planned out,” she explains. “I
has really evolved.”
had to get organized.” In other
words, no more pulling
marathon, all-night work sessions.
It
also
has reduced the number of
den” — expressing through it man’s
pieces
Rodriguez
can produce, which is
attempts to manipulate nature.
fine
with
her.
“I’m
trying to work on one
She advanced this theme again when
project
at
a
time,
trying
to be more
she was commissioned to create a work
focused,”
she
says.
“I
feel
like the quality
for Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in
of
the
work
is
more
important
than quanti2007. Inspired by the rows of topiary dotting the premises, Rodriguez built a sculp- ty for me. I’d rather make fewer pieces
and have them be really great.”
ture that not only mirrored the dominant
Rodriguez’s strategy seems to be workshape of the garden, but also combined it
ing. This year she landed two important
with the look and feel of the tea room
inside the museum. “We did a lot of things solo exhibitions: at New York City’s Team
Gallery and, this month, at Galerie
to make it blend in,” she says. “It was
she says. “For this show, nature is
not really the subject matter.
Basically I’m trying to make more
abstract work.” Even though her
new pieces may not be recognizable as plants, the indefinable
shapes still will be organic in
nature and carry over elements of
her previous floral pieces, incorporating some of the same materials.
“I don’t think she wants to be
pigeonholed as just creating gardens,” says José Carlos Diaz. “Her
work is really distinctive. Her
themes might change, but she’s
done a great job creating a body of
work that has really evolved. It’ll
be interesting to see how Miami
interprets her new work.”
April 2008
Cristina Lei Rodriguez’s solo
show opens April 12 and runs
Out of Season, which showed at the
through May 24 at Galerie
Moore Space in 2004.
Emmanuel Perrotin, located at
194 NW 30th St., Miami. For
more information call 305-573-2130 or
Emmanuel Perrotin. Rodriguez says the
visit www.galerieperrotin.com.
latter show will be something of a departure for her. “I want to experiment and try
some new things I haven’t tried before,”
37
WYNWOOD GALLERY WALK &
DESIGN DISTRICT ART + DESIGN
NIGHT
SATURDAY, APRIL 12
ABBA FINE ART
233 NW 36th St., Miami
305-576-4278
www.abbafineart.com
April 12 through May 7:
“Reality” by Emanuelle Cacciatore
Reception April 12, 7 to 11 p.m.
ALBERTINI ARTS
190 NW 36 St., Miami
305-576-2781
www.albertiniarts.com
“Out of the Blue” curated by Kris Steffner
with Jeremiah Jenner, Joseph Fischer,
Kris Steffner, Rachael Rendon, Tony
Rosca, Timothy Leistner, Greg Morgan,
and Magda Audifred
ALEJANDRA VON HARTZ FINE ARTS
2134 NW Miami Ct., Miami
305-438-0220
www.alejandravonhartz.net
Through May 3:
“Dys/functional” by Silvana Lacarra
AMAYA GALLERY
2033 NW 1st Pl., Miami
917-743-2925
www.amayagallery.com
Call gallery for exhibition information.
AMBROSINO GALLERY
2628 NW 2nd Ave., Miami
305-891-5577
www.ambrosinogallery.com
ART FUSION
1 NE 40th St., Miami
305-573-5730
www.artfusiongallery.com
April 12 through June 26:
“Embracing the World” with various
artists
ART GALLERY AT GOVERNMENT
CENTER
111 NW 1st St., Suite 625, Miami
305-375-4634
www.miamidadearts.org
“Tethered” by Frances Twombly
ARTFORMZ
130 NE 40th St. #2, Miami
305-572-0040
www.artformz.net
Through April 21:
“The Last Picture Show” with Chieko
Tanemura, Lori Acott Fowler, Glenn
Fischer, Nathan Markham, Yeon Jin Kim,
Venessa Monokian, Vanessa Garcia,
Jovan Villalba, Michael Wyshock, Ileana
Tolibia, Alette Simmons-Jimenez, Ray
Paul, Rolando Dal Pezzo, Natasha
Duwin, Priscilla Forthman, Alejandro
Mendoza, Marlene de Lazaro, Alicia
Deya, Donna Haynes, Loren
Santiesteban, Kimberley Maxwell, Darek
Pala, and Oscar Manuel Vargas
BAKEHOUSE ART COMPLEX
561 NW 32nd St., Miami
305-576-2828
www.bakehouseartcomplex.org
April 3 through April 30:
“Mosaic Arts International 2008” with various artists
38
ART LISTINGS
BARBARA GILLMAN GALLERY
4141 NE 2nd Ave. #202, Miami
305-573-1920
www.artnet.com/bgillman.html
Through April 30:
“Director’s Choice” with Bill Leech,
Debbie Putnoi, Andy Warhol, Rufino
Tamayo, Herman Leonard, and
William Gottieb
EUROPEAN ART GALLERY
305-438-9006
www.euartgallerymiami.com
Ongoing exhibitions by Irmaly and
Elmer Hund and “Light and Water” an
ongoing exhibition by Lily Wicnudel
BAS FISHER INVITATIONAL
180 NE 39th St., #210, Miami
By appointment: info@basfisherinvitational.com
BERNICE STEINBAUM GALLERY
3550 N. Miami Ave., Miami
305-573-2700
www.bernicesteinbaumgallery.com
Through April 5:
“The Frozen Moment” by Fabian
Peña
Solo shows by Nancy Friedemann
and Raquel Quijano
FREDRIC SNITZER GALLERY
305-448-8976
www.snitzer.com
Through April 5:
Solo show by Alex Sweet
Solo show by Gavin Perry
Reception April 12, 7:30 to 10 p.m.
GALERIE EMMANUEL PERROTIN
305-573-2130
www.galerieperrotin.com
Through April 5:
“Diary of Happiness” by Jean-Michel
Othoniel and “Strange Fruit” by Johan
Creten
Solo shows by Cristina Lei Rodriguez
and Paul Morrison
CAROL JAZZAR
CONTEMPORARY ART
158 NW 91st St., Miami Shores
305-490-6906
www.cjazzart.com
By appointment: carol@cjazzart.com
Through April 12:
“Place in Space” by Jen Stark
“Marry Me - Western Union” by David
Rohn
CHELSEA GALLERIA
305-576-2950
www.chelseagalleria.com
Through May 3:
“Lente Latino” with Leo Matiz, Tony
Mendoza, Francisco Olazabal,
Christian Robotti, Eduardo del Valle,
and Mirta Gomez
CIRCA 28
305-763-1468
April 12:
“Art After Dark & Experimental
Innovators” with Julio Cesar Garcia,
Carlos Alves, Ben Abounassif, Robiert
Santana, and Vicenta Casan
Reception April 12, 7 to midnight
DAMIEN B. CONTEMPORARY ART
CENTER
305-573-4949
www.damienb.com
Through April 7:
“Streets” by Phil Stein
“Deconstructing Urban Icons” by Enrico
Bacci
DAVID CASTILLO GALLERY
305-573-8110
www.castilloart.com
Through April 5:
Solo show by Wendy Wischer
“Raw Sewage” by Pepe Mar
DETAILS FACTORY
ETRA FINE ART
305-438-4383
www.etrafineart.com
“Spring Group Show” with various
artists
Gavin Perry, (No Title), vinyl tape, resin on board, 2008, at
Fredric Snitzer Gallery
305-573-1729
Through April 9:
“Made in Miami” with Lyn Nelson, Ricardo
Raphael, Perry Tortorelli, Marcelle C.
Zanetti, Nelson Viera, Adam Schrimmer,
Robyn Reichek, and Scott McKinley
www.dorschgallery.com
“Seuss Dynasty” by Elisabeth Condon,
“Rite of Way” by Amanda Burnham, and
“waiting” by Grant Haffner
DIANA LOWENSTEIN FINE ARTS
305-576-1804
www.dlfinearts.com
Through April 5:
“Historias del m_: Espacio Minimo Vital”
by Graciela Sacco
Through May 3:
“It Gets Worse” by Clifton Childree
“Dreams & Leftovers” by Marc Hello
Reception April 12, 7:30 to 10 p.m.
DOT FIFTYONE ART SPACE
305-573-9994
www.dotfiftyone.com
Through April 30:
“Echo, Shadow, Gravity, Distance” Andres
Ferrandis
DIASPORA VIBE GALLERY
305-573-4046
www.diasporavibe.net
“women’s work” with Jacquenette Arnette,
Angela Piehl, Vickie Pierre, and WuraNatasha Ogunji
DORSCH GALLERY
305-576-1278
EDGE ZONES CONTEMPORARY ART
305-303-8852
www.edgezones.org
Through April 5:
“On Earth” by Berta Jayo and ongoing
exhibitions with various artists
ELITE ART EDITIONS GALLERY
305-403-5856
www.elitearteditions.com
“Modern Sculpture” with Cristina
Giampaoli, Fabia Nitti, Luis Kaiulani,
Jorge Matas, Miguel Angel Jiménez
GALLERY DIET
174 NW 23rd St., Miami
305-571-2288
www.gallerydiet.com
Through May 3:
“The White Series” by Maria José
Arjona
“Karaoke” by Maria José Arjona
“Dear, dear I shall be too late” by
Maria José Arjona
GARY NADER FINE ART
305-576-0256
www.garynader.com
Through April 30:
Solo show by Wifredo Lam
GO GO GALLERY
305-576-0696
www.gogogallery.com
HARDCORE ARTS CONTEMPORARY
SPACE
305-576-1645
www.hardcoreartcontemporary.com
Through May 15:
Solo shows by Andres Michelena, Aisen
Chacin, Pepe Lopez, and Juan-Si
Gonzalez
HAROLD GOLEN GALLERY
Temporary location:
305-576-1880
www.haroldgolengallery.com
Through April 12:
April 2008
Art Listings
“Daisy, Blossom, and Grettl” by Mark
Atomos Pilon, Attaboy, and Annie Owens,
and “Postcard Diaries 2008” by Mark
Mothersbaugh of Devo
“Candy Eating Contest” with Alex Meyer
and Rafael Silveira
IN-DEPENDENT GALLERY SPACE
175 NW 22nd St., Miami
305-672-1002
www.in-dependent.com
Through April 9:
“The Boys Collection” by Melissa Rodwell
“The Human Factor” by Jojo Corväiá
KARPIO + FACCHINI GALLERY
1929 NW 1st Ave., Miami
305-576-4454
www.facchinigallery.com
KEVIN BRUK GALLERY
305-576-2000
www.kevinbrukgallery.com
Solo show by David Shaw
KUNSTHAUS MIAMI
305-438-1333
www.kunsthaus.org.mx
LEITER GALLERY
6900 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
305-389-2616
LYLE O. REITZEL GALLERY
305-573-1333
www.artnet.com/reitzel.html
Through April 30:
“Extended Boundaries: Latin
American and Caribbean
Artists in Miami” with Jose
Garcia Cordero, Jose Bédia,
and Edouard Duval Carrié
LOCUST PROJECTS
305-576-8570
www.locustprojects.org
Through April 26:
“Synesthetics” curated by Felice
Grodin with Lawrence Blough,
Monica Tiulescu, Marcia Lyons,
Samantha Salzinger, and
Sylvan Lionni
Reception April 12, 7 to
11 p.m.
MIAMI ART GROUP
GALLERY
305-576-2633
www.miamiartgroup.com
LUIS ADELANTADO GALLERY
305-438-0069
www.luisadelantadomiami.com
Through June 2:
“En El Nombre Del Padre” with
Priscilla Mongue, Marta Maria
Perez Bravo, Alexander Apostol,
and Milagros de la Torre
Reception April 12, 7 to
11 p.m.
LUNA STAR CAFÉ
775 NE 125th St., North Miami
305-799-7123
Through April 25:
“Two Painters Walk into a Bar”
with Susan Weiss and Susan
Feliciano
LURIE FINE ART GALLERIES
3900 NE 1st Ave., Miami
305-573-7373
www.luriegalleries.com
Through April 5:
Solo show by Carlos Quintana
MIAMI ART SPACE
305-438-9002
www.miamiartspace.com
Through June 14:
“Painting, Photography, and
Sculpture” by Kenneth Treister
“Havanna Nights” by Kenneth
Treister
MIAM-DADE COLLEGE, CENTER GALLERY
300 NE 2nd Ave.,
Bldg. 1, Room 1365, Miami
305-237-3696
www.mdc.edu
Pepe Mar, Untitled, mixed-media assemThrough April 14:
“Nature and Evolution” by
blage, 2008, at David Castillo Gallery
Michelle Mueller
Through April 26:
“ABSTRACTION: New Work” with Luciana
“Beyond Borders: Modernism Through a
Abait, Patricia S. Gutierrez, Leonardo
Selection of Artwork From the Collection
Hildago, A. Dale Nally, and John La Huis
of the Inter-American Development
Bank, Washington, D.C.” with Rufino
Tamayo, Wifredo Lam, Keith Haring,
Thomie Othake, Edgar Negret, Roberto
Matta, Jesus Soto, José Bedia, Diego
Rivera, Joaquin Torres-Garcia, Maria
Luisa Pacheco, and Carlos Merida
MIAMI EVENT SPACE
7820 NE 4th Ct., Miami
305-438-9002
www.miamieventspace.com
MIAMI INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
OF ART AND DESIGN
1501 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
305-428-5700
www.mymiu.com
THE MOORE SPACE
4040 NE 2nd Ave., 2nd floor, Miami
305-438-1163
www.themoorespace.org
April 12 through July 1:
Solo show with José Alvarez
PANAMERICAN ART PROJECTS
305-573-2400
www.panamericanart.com
Through April 5:
Group show with Gustavo Acosta, Carlos
Estevez, and Ted Larsen
“A Tale of Two Cities” with Gory and Gian
Paolo Minelli
PRAXIS INTERNATIONAL ART
RGB ENGINEERING P.A.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
P.E. LIC#60779
• Plans & Permits Processing
• Code Violation
• Legalization
• Open Permits
• New Construction (Any Type)
• Interior & Exterior Remodeling
FREE CONSULTING • FREE ESTIMATES
• Call for an Appointment
• Try Directly with Engineers
PH: 305-496-6519
• Avoid the Middleman
FAX: 305-971-3956
Turn an ordinary snapshot into a pop icon.
MODERN
PORTRAITS
Custom Acrylic Paintings
or Prints on Canvas
For more information, visit
www.mymodernportrait.com
or call 305-490-8117
April 2008
39
Art Listings
305-573-2900
www.praxis-art.com
SIGNATURE ART GALLERY
305-576-1645
http://signatureart.blogspot.com
Through May 15:
Solo shows by Anita Reyna and Felipe
Herrera
SPINELLO GALLERY
786-271-4223
www.spinellogallery.com
STEVE MARTIN STUDIO
305-484-1491
www.stevemartinfineart.com
“Practice of Invention” by Doyle
Gertjejansen
SUYU ART GALLERY
12399 W. Dixie Hwy., North Miami
561-201-2053
www.suyucultural.com
“Suyu #4” with various artists
TWENTY TWENTY PROJECTS
2020 NW Miami Ct., Miami
786-217-7683
www.twentytwentyprojects.com
40
“Negative Space” by Raul Mendez
Reception April 12, 7 to midnight
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI
PROJECTS SPACE
305-284-2542
UNDERCURRENT ARTS
305-571-9574
www.undercurrentarts.com
Through April 5:
“In the Lives of Dolls” with Aliza
Augustine, Maria de la Vega, Susan
Marks, Ursula Sokolowska, and Star27
“Visual Collaborative” with various
artists
Reception April 12, 7 to 10:30 p.m.
UNTITLED 2144
2144 NE 2nd Ave., Miami
305-576-2112
www.untitled2144.com
Through April 20:
Group exhibition with various artists
WALLFLOWER GALLERY
10 NE 3rd St., Miami
305-579-0069
www.wallflowergallery.com
myspace.com/wallflowergallery
WHITE VINYL SPACE
7160 NW 2nd Ct., Miami
305-776-1515
www.whitevinylspace.com
Through June 15:
“Maze” by Skip Van Cel
Installation location: 290 NW 72nd
Terr., Miami
MUSEUM & COLLECTION EXHIBITS
CIFO (Cisneros Fontanals Art
Foundation)
305-455-3380
www.cifo.org
“CIFO 2008 Grants and Commissions
Exhibition” with Alejandro Almanza
Pereda, Johanna Calle, Jonathan Harker,
Mateo López, Daniel Medina, Moris (Israel
Meza Moreno), Amilcar Lucien Packer
Yessouroun, Luis Romero, Ícaro Zorbar
Sánchez Laverde, Francisco Valdés,
Pablo Cardoso, and Federico Herrero
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL
UNIVERSITY FROST ART MUSEUM
11200 SW 8th St., Miami
305-348-0496
www.fiu.edu/~museum
Through April 12:
“MFA Spring 2008” with various artists
“BFA Spring 2008” with various artists
and de Meuron
Through May 18:
“Wifredo Lam in North America” by
Wifredo Lam
Through June 29:
“Parres Trilogy” with Melanie Smith and
Rafael Ortega
April 25 through July 20:
“Quisqueya Henríquez: The World
Outside: A Survey Exhibition 1991 2007” by Quisqueya Henríquez
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
770 NE 125th St., North Miami
305-893-6211
www.mocanomi.org
Through May 11:
“Pivot Points (Part 1)” with Pierre Huyghe
and Philippe Parreno, John Bock,
Thomas Hirschhorn, José Bedia, Matthew
Barney, John Baldessari, Roni Horn,
and more
LOWE ART MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY
OF MIAMI
1301 Stanford Dr., Coral Gables
305-284-3535
www.lowemuseum.org
“The Metro Series” by J. Tomás López
and MFA exhibitions with various artists
MOCA AT GOLDMAN WAREHOUSE
305-893-6211
www.mocanomi.org
“Pivot Points II: New Mythologies” with
Matthew Barney, Hernan Bas, José
Bedia, William Cordova, Tracey Emin,
Phillip Estlund, John Espinosa, Luis
Gispert, Isaac Julien, Guillermo Kuitca,
Mariko Mori, Raymond Pettibon, Ali
Prosch, Matthew Ritchie, Ann-Sofi Siden,
and Kyle Trowbridge
MIAMI ART MUSEUM
101 W. Flagler St., Miami
305-375-3000
www.miamiartmuseum.org
Through April 6:
“Work in Progress: Herzog and de
Meuron’s Miami Art Museum” by Herzog
THE MARGULIES COLLECTION
305-576-1051
www.margulieswarehouse.com
Through April 28:
“Sculpture: Selections from the Private
Collection of Martin Z. Margulies” includ-
ing works by Isamu Noguchi, Donald
Judd, Willem de Kooning, Ernesto Netto,
Miro, Olafur Eliasson, Richard Long,
Richard Serra, Tony Smith, George Segal,
Michael Heizer, Sol LeWitt, and more
THE RUBELL FAMILY COLLECTION
305-573-6090
www.rubellfamilycollection.com
Call for operating hours and exhibit information.
Through November 28:
“Hernan Bas: Works from the Rubell
Family Collection” by Hernan Bas; “John
Stezaker: Works from the Rubell Family
Collection” by John Stezaker; and “EuroCentric, Part 1: New European Art from
the Rubell Family Collection” with
various artists
WORLD CLASS BOXING
Debra and Dennis Scholl Collection
305-438-9908
Appointment only: dennis@worldclassboxing.net
Through April 11:
“Death Rattle” by William J. O’Brien
“IN REPOSE” curated by Lorie Mertes
with Janine Antoni, Mariko Mori,
Catherine Opie, Pipilotti Rist, Carolee
Schneemann, Cindy Sherman, Tanyth
Berkeley, Rineke Dijkstra, Trisha
Donnelly, Naomi Fisher, Jenny Gage,
Anna Gaskell, Kim Gordon, Katy
Grannan, Melanie Schiff, Meredyth
Sparks, Helen Van Meene, and Bettina
Von Zwehl
Compiled by Victor Barrenechea
Send listings, jpeg images, and events
information to art@biscaynetimes.com
April 2008
C ULTURE B RIEFS
the first of what the arts organization
hopes will be many events aimed at infusing the Boulevard with a little more culture. The American Legion Post and its
bar are located at 6445 NE 7th Ave.,
which is where 64th Street meets Biscayne
Bay. Admission is $10. Call 786-201-7727
or visit www.artsatstjohns.com.
Floating Holiday
Strolling on the River
As Miami’s oldest suburb, Spring
Garden has amassed its share of juicy
historical tidbits. Alligators in the basement? Early Miamians cast as savages in
a silent film? Satiate your curiosity by
joining local historian Paul George on
April 5, when he divulges native secrets
during a three-hour walking tour of this
architecturally diverse neighborhood
perched on the northern bank of the
Miami River. Departs from the Historical
Museum of Southern Florida (101 W.
Flagler St.) at 10:00 a.m. HMSF members pay $20, nonmembers $25. For
more information, call 305-375-1621 or
visit www.hmsf.org.
Celebrate Miami’s working river on
April 12 when the 12th Annual Miami
River Day returns to this pivotal city
waterway. Take a boat tour through some
of Miami’s oldest river neighborhoods, or
spend the day on solid ground along the
river enjoying everything from historical
re-enactments and stilt-walkers to local
artists and displays provided by environmental organizations and developers. The
free festivities begin at noon from Jose
Marti Park (351 SW 4th St.). For details
call 305-644-0544.
Contemporary
Collaborators
Artist Federico Nessi douses dormant
senses with his refreshing visions of surrealist awareness in WIRE WIRE WIRE, a
time-based multimedia installation incorporating music, dance, film, and sculpture.
Electric Bunnies, Ana Mendez, and Alex
Senf complete the contemporary collaboration hosted by Miami Light Project on
April 12 from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. at the
Light Box Studio (3000 Biscayne Blvd.,
#100). Drinks and DJs are courtesy of
Sweat Records and entry is free. Visit
www.myspace.com/wirewirewire for more
information.
A Walk on the Mild Side
Jazz Up the Boulevard
Join friends and neighbors in waking
the normally quiet bar at American Legion
Post 29 from its evening slumber on April
5. From 8:00 to 10:00 p.m., the folks from
the nonprofit Arts at St. John’s will transform this small outpost in Legion Park
into a speakeasy. Absorb original jazz
compositions by Asian-inspired Miami
Beach trio Sonido Batido over a few cocktails from the bar. Then explore the
accompanying gallery, where local artists
will showcase an array of modern visual
works created around a jazz theme. This is
April 2008
Scotia brings new life to the various childhood characters of Carle’s unforgettable
books in The Very Hungry Caterpillar and
Other Eric Carle Favourites. Both young
and old will delight in reacquainting themselves with some of their most beloved
stories, including The Mixed-Up
Chameleon (1975) and Little Cloud (1996)
in midmorning performances on April 18
and 19 at the Arsht Center Knight Concert
Hall. Tickets cost $12 and can be purchased by phone at 305-949-6722 or
online at www.arshtcenter.org.
Learn a little Miami Shores lore with
local historian and author Seth Bramson
on April 13 by joining his walking tour of
the village’s most noteworthy historic
sites. From Shoreland Company homes to
neighborhood open spaces, Bramson’s
hour-and-a-half excursion will remind residents where Miami Shores gets its quiet,
small-town flair. Plus it’s free. Departs
from Miami Shores Baptist Church (370
Grand Concourse) at noon. For more
information, call 305-358-9572.
Theater for Bookworms
Utilizing black lights and the unforgettable collage-style art of children’s author
Eric Carle, the Mermaid Theatre of Nova
unveiled at the Shops at Midtown Miami
later in the day. Meet at Fountain Plaza
(3201 N. Miami Ave.) at 2:00 p.m. for
this free activity. Call 305-573-3371 or
visit www. shopmidtownmiami.com for
more details.
See the City By the Bay
When you’re caught in Miami’s daily
hustle and bustle, it’s easy to miss some of
our city’s most elaborate architectural
details. Why not change perspectives a little by hopping aboard the Heritage II and
touring the city via water with historian
and University of Miami professor Ari
Millas? On April 20, near the end of Dade
Heritage Days, remind yourself how truly
spectacular the Magic City can be during
this four-hour boating expedition of the
Miami River, the Miami Circle, Villa
Vizcaya, Fisher Island, and the Port of
Miami. Brought to you by the Dade
Heritage Trust, the tour sets sail from
Bayside Marketplace (401 Biscayne Blvd.)
at noon. DHT members pay $25, nonmembers $30. For more information, call 305442-9697 or visit
www.dadeheritagetrust.org.
Rhyming Is Fundamental
Broadway Unbound
Want to see a slew of Broadway shows
but just don’t have the time or money to
spend? Well, this edition of Forbidden
Broadway might give you just the theater
sampler you’ve been desperately seeking.
Made especially for Miami audiences, this
quirky take on traditional theater spoofs
many a Broadway classic. From The Lion
King and Wicked to Les Misérables and
Hairspray, this hodgepodge of parodies
and tributes packs an energetic punch for
theatergoers. Created and written by
Gerard Alessandrini, the production will
be playing at the Arsht Center for the
Performing Arts (1300 Biscayne Blvd.)
through April 13. Ticket prices are $45,
$50. Call 305-949-6722 or visit
www.arshtcenter.org.
Britto’s Butterfly
Ever wondered if your child could be
the next Romero Britto? On April 19,
Miami’s next generation will get a
chance to learn from the city’s best when
the neo-Pop artist gives local children a
go at re-creating a mini version of his
butterfly sculpture, which will be
Poetry books may be gathering dust, but
the literary form is far from dead — just
ask the New Jersey-based Mayhem Poets.
On April 21 the slam poetry trio brings its
quick wit and flowing vernacular to Miami
for a spoken-word performance that promises to inspire burgeoning bards to whip
out their pens and practice their pronunciation. And, just like the verse of old, these
hip-hop-inspired rhymes tackle some pretty heavy issues. Performances at 9:30 and
11:30 a.m. at the Arsht Center Knight
Concert Hall. Admission is $8. Call 305949-6722 or visit www.arshtcenter.org.
Diggin’ the Graveyard
Often overlooked by the living, several
of Miami’s most notable (and permanent!)
residents get some much-deserved attention on April 27, when the African
American Committee of Dade Heritage
Trust conducts a lively procession through
historic Miami City Cemetery. Local dignitaries and the Progressive Cornet Band
lead the way in this six-block march, now
in its 14th year. Departs from St. Agnes’
Episcopal Church (1750 NW 3rd Ave.) at
3:00 p.m. There’s no charge. Call 305-6355130 or visit www.dadeheritagetrust.org
for more details.
41
P A R K P AT R O L
Green Spaces: A Year in Review
After 12 months of patrolling parks, some lessons learned
By Jim W. Harper
BT Contributor
arks near the Biscayne Corridor
are slightly above average. That
conclusion tops the findings of the
first year of “Park Patrol,” which
Biscayne Times established to evaluate
parks in the same way critics review
restaurants. Look across the United
States and you’ll be hard-pressed to find
any other publication with space dedicated to a parks critic. Let us take a
moment to pat ourselves on our little,
green watchdog backs.
Read the past 12 months of reviewed
parks as a call to action. The parks at the
top of the list need to “keep on keeping
on” by maintaining what makes them so
appealing. These are the parks you must
visit. The parks at the bottom of the list
need to stop what is going wrong and
make a U-turn into the daylight. Those
parks falling in the middle ground could
stand to do a little of both.
Clearly one field of green sets the
standard for all others: Oleta River State
Park. As our list’s only state-run park —
and its farthest north — Oleta truly
exists in a class by itself. It is also the
state’s largest urban park, and an awardwinning one at that. Now, considering
this land was slated to become “Epcot
South,” it’s a miracle the park exists at
all. Grab your fishing pole and moun-
P
Margaret Pace Park
tain-bike it over there, on the double. But
unlike the other parks listed here, you
must pay to enter.
At the other end of the geographic
spectrum, along Biscayne Boulevard’s
southernmost reaches, is the spectacular
debacle of Bicentennial Park. This
orphaned parcel of waterfront land was
the original Port of Miami, but now it’s
Miami’s port-o-potty. The plot is surrounded by a kind of edifice fence: the
Miami Herald building, the Adrienne
Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, the
Y EAR O NE I N R EVIEW
Rating
Park
Administration
.........
Oleta River State Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . State
...........
Arch Creek Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .County
........
Enchanted Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .City of North Miami
........
Margaret Pace Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . City of Miami
........
Morningside Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .City of Miami
........
Legion Memorial Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .City of Miami
........
Mini Parks of Miami Shores . . . . . . . . . . . .Village of Miami Shores
........
Bayfront Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .City of Miami (Bayfront Trust)
........
Biscayne Shores and Gardens . . . . . . . .County
........
Miami Shores Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Village of Miami Shores
........
Williams Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . City of Miami
........
Bicentennial Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .City of Miami (Bayfront Trust)
Full reviews for all parks are online at www.biscaynetimes.com.
42
Arch Creek Park
Freedom Tower, the American Airlines
a front door to the world, a park’s entrance
Arena, and those soaring condos under
usually reflects what can be found inside.
construction. But no neighbors live there
Citizen-led associations, such as the
yet — hence the neglect.
Oleta River Adventure Association and
Critiquing a park is not as easy or
the Arch Creek Park Trust, support the
straightforward as it might sound.
top parks. The Bayfront Park
Typically people visit parks to relax, to
Management Trust is an odd bird. Under
escape from a regimen, and to enjoy an
the auspices of Miami Commissioner Joe
unstructured experience, but reviewing a
Sanchez and a nine-member board, it
park is a structured process that employs oversees Bayfront and Bicentennial
rigid protocol. Of course the
experience is still enjoyable.
Typically people visit parks to relax,
After all, parks are the ultimate
to
escape from a regimen, and to enjoy
in public art, and they provide
an
unstructured experience, but reviewsome of the best people-watching a park is a structured process.
ing and people-meeting around.
Before launching “Park
Patrol,” we created measures for
things we could judge. Those fall into
parks for the city. It needs some help
several categories, such as access to
from neighbors, too — if and when they
nature, cleanliness, and activities. It’s
move into those downtown towers.
easy enough to count the number of picThe City of Miami runs the majority
nic tables in a park, but assessing how
of parks along the Biscayne Corridor,
comfortable it is to use those tables is
and its Parks and Recreation Department
another story. We try to capture that feel- enjoys a hit-or-miss record with these
ing with a criterion we like to call the
facilities. One of its recently revitalized
“relaxation quotient.” Like a good
parks, Margaret Pace, turned into an
movie, a good park should take you to
overnight sensation, and now breathes
another place, figuratively speaking.
life into the daily atmosphere of its
Unlike books, however, some parks can Edgewater neighborhood. Just west, in
be judged by their cover. Oleta River State Overtown, Williams Park struggles but
Park, for example, has a lovely sign at its
serves hordes of impoverished children.
entrance, and the entire park is well-mainThe equation is unfortunate but obvitained. Bicentennial Park, on the other
ous: Just like their schools, parks in
hand, doesn’t even have a sign, and we’ve poor neighborhoods also tend to be
already discussed the state of that park. As
April 2008
P A R K P AT R O L
Year in Review
poor. Instead, these parks should
receive priority for the numerous
planned improvements that have
gone unrealized.
On a brighter note, popularity
signals good news for most of these
parks. Only a few are relatively
empty: Arch Creek in North Miami;
Biscayne Shores and Gardens,
located north of Miami Shores; and
Bicentennial Park in downtown
Miami — none of which has a playground. Miami Shores Park and its
“tot lot” may be the busiest park of
Morningside Park
all, but it earned a mediocre rating
owing to its lack of shade and its
Several public pools are closed except
exclusive policies (only residents can use
during the summer. Unlike the oceanic
the tot lot, the tennis courts, and the athbeachfront, most of Biscayne Bay is
letic fields).
blocked by private residences. And forSomething else our area lacks: doggie
get canals and rivers. How many spots
parks. Those who run in canine circles
know official dog parks are virtually
do you know of that offer views of the
nonexistent here, but most parks will not Miami River, Little River, or Arch
Creek? The public should be able to
prohibit dogs even if their signs do.
access these aquatic treasures — just as
Also clearly missing from these
they can great expanses of the beach.
Biscayne Corridor open spaces is access
Some municipalities, such as North
to water, which is foolish in our climate.
Biscayne Shores & Gardens Park
Miami and Miami, have developed
extensive plans to increase or upgrade
green spaces, and these proposals offer
hope. Still, citizens and neighbors need
to be vigilant and demand the improvements sooner rather than later.
Public funding most likely will remain
inadequate, so parks must follow education and the arts into the coffers of the
private sector — a model that is well
under way in other large cities. With so
little public green space in metropolitan
Miami, parks deserve their fair share
from the wealthy.
Miami-Dade County announced in
March that it wants every child to live
within a five-minute walk of a park. By
that measure, our region still has a long,
long way to go.
In the meantime, we’ll keep patrolling.
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April 2008
43
COLUMNISTS: YOUR GARDEN
A Papaya Primer
BT photo by Jeff Shimonski
Everything you ever wanted to know about the tropical tree’s sex, sap, fruit flies, and more
body. The female inserts her ovipositor into young fruit and lays eggs,
which hatch into larvae and cause
he papaya makes an interestdamage to the fruit.
ing, fun, and tasty addition to
Originally thought to infest only
any warm-climate garden.
papaya, this fruit fly also has been
Scientifically known as Carica
spotted on mangos in Florida.
papaya, this distinctive tropical tree
Interestingly, papaya can be grown
produces an edible fruit. Typically
in certain areas of Miami-Dade
there is a single hollow trunk with
County without being attacked by
large, flat palmate (hand-shaped)
the papaya fruit fly. It is possible
leaves at the top. (A papaya will
that there are natural controls at
occasionally produce branches if
work here.
injured.) It grows quickly, doesn’t
If you do find the fruit fly attackPapaya foliage and fruit: A healthy papaya with ripening fruit and no fruit flies
live long (around ten years), and
ing your papaya fruit, pesticides
(left); female flowers on a papaya.
can thrive in a container.
won’t solve the problem — not if
There are several species of
you want to eat the fruit. Prevention
Carica native to the New World tropics, sun, good irrigation, and porous soil — I
Besides its fruit, the papaya tree proof egg-laying is the key to controlling
but papaya is the only one of economic invariably discover the problem is that
duces a milky, latex-like sap that conpapaya fruit fly. It is necessary to physiimportance. Grown throughout the
they are growing a male plant.
tains papain, a proteolytic enzyme used
cally prevent the adult female fly from
tropics in well-drained, fertile soil,
To distinguish between a female or
as a meat tenderizer. Papain is even used depositing eggs in the fruit. This can be
papaya trees exist exclusively in warm
male tree you must first examine the
for medicinal purposes. However, when
done by bagging the fruit with a paper
climates because frost can cause severe inflorescence. This is the structure that
working with papaya or handling the
bag or rolled up newspaper tied around
damage. Freezing temperatures will kill holds the flowers. For the papaya the
fruit or foliage, never allow the sap to
the stem. Take care to increase the size
this tree.
inflorescence is produced in the axils of
make contact with your face or eyes. It
of the bag or paper as the fruit grows
Its edible fruit often produce hunthe leaves (the leaf axil is where the stem can cause irritation and sores on the skin larger. This method is labor-intensive
dreds of seeds (which are also edible)
of the leaf is attached to the trunk). The
and mucous membranes. Speaking from
but very practical.
and can have a spicy, peppery flavor.
flowers are yellow and easily noticed. In
experience, papaya sap in your eyes will
As with all insect pest or disease manThe fruit inside ranges in color from
the female, the flowers appear to be
earn you a trip to the hospital!
agement, sanitation is very important.
salmon-orange to red, and can weigh up attached to the trunk (among the leaf
Sometimes papaya fruit yellows preAny fruit found with symptoms of larvae
to 15 pounds. Depending on the differaxils), whereas in the male, the flowers
maturely and drops off the tree, or often
or any fruit seen lying on the ground
ent cultivars, the fruit can range in size
are produced at the ends of long yellow
a green fruit still attached to the trunk
must be removed and destroyed to ensure
and shape from a small baseball to a
panicles (clusters).
will be found with white sap dripping
the larvae never develop into adults.
pear to a large, oblong melon. The ripe
Although there are always exceptions
down its skin. These symptoms are usufruit is usually eaten raw. Unripe, green
— and it is possible for the sex of the
ally caused by the papaya fruit fly, which
Jeff Shimonski is an ISA-certified
fruit can be cooked and eaten — often
tree to change — if your objective is a
is the main insect pest of papaya fruit in
municipal arborist, director of horticulin curries.
fruit-bearing tree, it is best to sow seeds
the New World. This insect looks like a
ture at Jungle Island, and principal of
Sometimes papaya trees bear no fruit
from a plant that has produced fruit you
wasp — predominantly yellow with
Tropical Designs of Florida. Contact him
at all. Over the years, a lot of people
like. Leave the resulting seedlings in
black markings — and is often called
by e-mail at jeff@tropicaldesigns.com,
have asked me why their particular tree
containers until the first time they
one, but it is a true fly. Female papaya
or log on to his Website, www.tropicaldehas never produced fruit. After determin- bloom. You will know male from female fruit flies have a very long slender
signs.com.
ing if they are cultivating it under the
immediately. Plant the females and toss
abdomen with an elongated and curved
proper conditions — full or almost-full
the males.
ovipositor that is longer than its entire
By Jeff Shimonski
BT Contributor
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April 2008
COLUMNISTS: KIDS
AND THE CITY
Go See Alice
we as adults look to be touched by the performing arts?
Right here in the Biscayne Corridor’s
n my ongoing quest to give my kids a
own Miami Shores, the nonprofit
life filled with cultural activities of
Playground Theatre is committed to doing
substance, I am always looking for
just that. For the organization’s current
new opportunities to feed their aesthetic
production, artistic director Stephanie
souls. I’ve written before about our school Ansin has adapted and directed Alice’s
district’s commitment to arts in education,
Adventures in Wonderland, in collaborathe arts-integrated programs of Arts for
tion with Fernando Calzadilla, who also
Learning, and the extensive number of
designed the set, costumes, and lighting.
locally based cultural organizations that
Ansin’s take on the traditional, and
provide educational arts programs for
sometimes controversial, children’s
young people. But rarely do I find perstory is a dense, multimedia experience,
formances I feel compelled to take my
and includes an original score by Afrokids to, shows that will give them a deep,
Brazilian-reggae-funk-electro-jazz
multisensory experience beyond the tradimusician Luciano Stazzone, photogrational rehashing of a story in a live, threephy and videography by Maria Teresa
dimensional environment.
Alvarado, and choreography by Octavio
Campos, who is widely known for
his own multidisciplinary perAnsin’s take on the traditional chilformance works.
dren’s story is a dense, multimedia
Voilà! Here is a textured, layered,
experience — textured, imaginative,
imaginative,
thoughtful, and
and thought-provoking theater.
thought-provoking theater experience that I am grateful to have for
In the case of live theater, of course, this my kids. I can only imagine the wonder in
is a valuable experience in and of itself — their eyes and minds when the show
seeing stories spring to life with actors
begins and launches their imaginations
who share the same space and air as we
with every image and sound.
do. But I think children deserve even more
When I asked Ansin, who is also a
than a traditional dose of theater, which
mother, what she thinks “kids’ theater”
for kids often means dumbed-down vermeans, she said no nudity and no guns. But
sions of mainstream works — or worse,
she stopped there, which won me over.
Disney-fied road shows that look exactly
Early in my career, I worked in theater,
like the animated movies or TV shows on
and I used to get really annoyed when peowhich they’re based. As a result, they
ple called to ask if a certain performance art
leave virtually nothing to the little ones’
show or alternative theater piece was
imagination or their intellect. And with
appropriate for kids. “It depends on your
their imaginations so wild and their minds kids,” I would tell people. “My theory is, it
open to possibilities, why not give kids the either goes over their heads or they’re ready
same cutting-edge work we expect when
to have a conversation with you about it.”
By Jenni Person
BT Contributor
I
Photo courtesy of Playground Theatre
It’ll restore your faith in the possibility of smart theater for kids
But now, nearly 20 years later and a mom
myself, my feelings have changed a little,
and my perspective is a bit less cocky. For
example, I don’t want to expose my kids to
gratuitous violence (and I sort of feel like
any fictional representation of violence is
gratuitous), and I don’t want them misunderstanding or being uncomfortably confused by adult situations.
I now understand that not everything
goes over my children’s heads so easily
— sometimes it gets stuck in the middle,
and that can be troubling for them.
However, that doesn’t mean theater (or
dance or music or visual art, for that matter) should be drained of all its juice or
watered down for younger audiences.
Kids deserve — even need — to have
their brains challenged, not to be spoonfed ideas and images.
They do deserve more shows like the
Playground Theatre’s Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland, which uses new work from
serious local artists to transform the original. Happily, these artists take the same
kind of creative risks in they do with their
adult-directed artistic endeavors.
“Kids get amazing messages,” says
Ansin, who told me about the time her
daughter — around two years old then —
unflinchingly watched a performance the
whole way through, turning away only
twice. “And she was right,” Ansin adds.
“Those two moments of the show were
missing something.” The anecdote points
to the fact that kids engage in anything
that is done well, and they don’t need to
be talked down to in order to follow along.
Children are capable of absorbing a lot
from what may seem like subtle aesthetic
choices. Ansin shares another story, this
one about her daughter being moved to
tears by one of the company’s shows, only
to turn to her after and say, “Mama, I want
to see it again.” Surely it was the power of
real theater that touched her so deeply —
the density of articulate script and creative
staging combined with smart visual
imagery and music. This inspires kids to
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45
COLUMNISTS: KIDS
Alice
feel and think beyond even the three
dimensions. It opens them up cognitively,
sparks creative curiosity, and likely
increases their future capacity for problem-solving.
Playground’s production provides
another bonus for kids and adults alike:
familiarity. Miami audiences will recognize the South Florida setting that carries
English author Lewis Carroll’s original
tale close to home. After all, Alice lives in
AND THE CITY
Coral Gables and attends school in
Coconut Grove. Real South Florida characters make appearances and staged locations include Fairchild Tropical Botanic
Garden and Vizcaya Museum and
Gardens. “We take Lewis Carroll’s lens
and look at our community,” says Ansin, a
Miami native — much the way Carroll
incorporated his environment in his writing, she adds. The sense of place will pull
kids closer to the work and engage them
more deeply while still feeding their
hunger for fantasy.
In addition to the extraordinary onstage
work, the Playground Theatre offers a
great kid-centered summer theater program. In two four-week sessions, kids
ages 6 to 12 learn the craft from the inside
out, creating their own narratives, developing lyrics, and addressing real-life
issues. The group tends to be incredibly
diverse, thanks to the support of the
Children’s Trust, which underwrites 50
scholarships. In addition to performance
skills, attendees learn to cope with varying
themes by using art. For those lucky
enough to take part in it, the drama camp
can offer a very powerful and personalized
growth experience.
I’ll see you at the Playground Theatre.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is
onstage at the Playground Theatre, 9806
NE 2nd Ave., Miami Shores, through
Sunday, April 13. It plays at the Colony
Theater, 1040 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach,
April 18 –20. Tickets are $15. Call 305751-9550 x223 or visit www.theplaygroundtheatre.com.
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46
Petplacemiami@yahoo.com
April 2008
C O L U M N I S T S : P A W S I T I V E LY P E T S
Socialization Matters
What is it, and why is it so important to get your puppy off on the right paw?
By Lisa Hartman
BT Contributor
y dog doesn’t like children.”
“He’s protective.” “She’s wary
of strangers.” “He doesn’t like
other dogs.” “My Yorkie doesn’t like to
leave the house.” “My Chihuahua doesn’t
like to be touched, or walk on grass, or
[fill in the blank].”
Sound familiar? Sadly, many of our
canine friends suffer from fears, phobias,
and behavior problems that could have
been prevented easily had the issues been
addressed early enough. Unfortunately,
most pet owners don’t understand how
critical the first few weeks of an animal’s
life are and think a dog’s behavior is based
solely on its genetic makeup or “temperament.” If only! Animals are not robots,
pre-programmed from birth. It is our job
to be proactive, to give them the best start
in life we can, so they can cope in our
human world.
Socialization is the process of introducing your dog to new people, places, and
things. What a puppy learns about the
world in its first few weeks of life may
shape who it becomes. From the beginning, it is vital for your pet to have great
experiences with children, babies, men,
people in funny hats, other dogs, and anything else you can think. Although professional show dogs would have no career
without extensive socialization, the risks
for the average family dog who lacks
socialization are even greater. It may be
given away or euthanized if it behaves
badly with people or other pets and
becomes too troublesome. Still, after the
puppy novelty wears off, the family dog
usually settles into a routine, meets hardly
M
April 2008
any new people on a regular basis, and is
taken to fewer places.
While you cannot overdo socialization,
you certainly can under-do it. It is
believed the socialization window closes
at four months old — three months for
some breeds of dogs, mainly guarding or
working types. After this, the fear
responses usually develop. Because eight
weeks is the youngest age advised for
getting a puppy (it needs to learn to be
with other dogs in the litter), by the time
your new pet moves in, the clock on
exposing it to lots of experiences is
already ticking loudly.
Where your puppy comes from also
impacts its start in life. If you are going to
a breeder, only deal with a reputable one
who breeds for the betterment of the
breed. Puppies should be whelped inside
the breeder’s house, where they can get
used to the sounds of home life, and
where people are around to interact with
them — not the backyard. Great breeders
will tell you their socialization plan. They
know how critical it is to a pup’s wellbeing. But if they don’t tell, ask. Some
breeders even enlist neighbors’ children,
babies, and adult friends to interact with
the pups as soon as they are old enough.
These puppies are often allowed to go to
different rooms in the house and have different toys, tunnels, and other surfaces to
walk on to develop confidence.
As for puppy stores, beware. They are
generally mass-producing poor-quality,
unsocialized pups in a world where most
dogs end up executed simply because
there are too many pets and not enough
homes. They are breeding for money.
These pups usually cost far more than a
pup from a rescue organization or even a
reputable breeder. On the other hand,
when rescuing a pup, pick one who seems
friendly, confident, and sweet. Give your
new pet a few days to settle in, and then
bring it with you everywhere. He or she
should be a social butterfly in no time!
Another good rule of thumb: Your dog
should meet 100 friendly people by three
months of age and another 100 by six
months. Most of the people should be
friendly men and children as these two
groups are the most likely to spook adult
dogs. Let strangers toss or hand-feed treats
and play gently with your pet.
And keep in mind, just because your
dog likes little Jimmy from next door does
not mean all children are in. Expose your
dog to as many new friendly children as
possible. Let neighbor Jimmy bring his
siblings over for cookies and puppy play.
If you have kids of your own, take your
pup to the bus stop and school with you to
meet more kids. Have your adult friends
over for brunch or the Dolphins game, and
let the dog hang with the whole gang.
Meet friends who have dogs for morning
walks. There are many ways to incorporate fun for the humans involved in your
puppy’s socialization process.
Which is a good thing, because the
process never ends. Just as you or I may
lose our people skills if we stop socializing, so can your dog. Consistent, frequent
exposure to friendly, new experiences
should maintain your dog’s happy meetand-greet personality and make for a welladjusted pet.
Finally, liking someone or something
and tolerating it are two different things.
If you find your dog exhibiting nervous
or reticent behavior, seek professional
help. Otherwise, have fun in the world
with your social and confident canine.
Lisa Hartman is head dog trainer for
Pawsitively Pets. You can reach her at
pawsitivelypetsonline@yahoo.com or
www.pawsitivelypetsonline.com.
47
A Market-Fresh Family
Homemade hummus, salsa, and salad creations from a fourth-generation produce-seller
By Lynn Roberson
BT Contributor
eneath her Seeley’s Gourmet
Garden canopy, Kerry Seeley has
set an immaculate white tablecloth
with iced containers of her signature hummus, as well her mild, medium, and hot
salsas, and a black-bean salad she recently
invented. A generous bowl of corn chips is
at hand, and Seeley, smiling, invites a
Saturday morning shopper at the Upper
Eastside Green Market to “go ahead and
try them all. Find what you like best.”
Gesturing to a rainbow of produce artistically arranged in wicker and reed baskets, Seeley adds, “The hummus is really
good with these beefsteak tomatoes. Make
a sandwich and use hummus instead of
mayonnaise.”
The shopper says she “can’t decide
which is best” while Seeley packs three
hummus picks at a discounted price and
weighs the selected vine-ripened tomatoes.
She then pops a rotund purple and white
Sicilian eggplant into the shopper’s bag.
B
“These are so sweet,” she says. “You just
slice them and throw them on the grill. No
salting, no soaking.”
The 26-year-old founder of Seeley’s
Gourmet Garden is the product of four
farm-and-produce generations. Her greatgrandparents sold their own fruits and
vegetables from a roadside stand in
Michigan. Her great-aunt and great-uncle
settled in Margate to cultivate a U-pick
farm that fell prey to development in
1994. In Pompano Beach, her grandfather
founded the open-air McNab Produce,
which burned down in 2002. “After the
fire, my mom and my uncle rebuilt the
store six blocks away and called it By
Their Fruit,” Seeley says. “The store was
air-conditioned, and it had a kitchen.”
There, the younger Seeley says, her roots
caught up with her. “I was in Pompano,
working in the food industry, but I wanted
to help my mom with the store. The
kitchen inspired me. I could use our fresh
Florida vegetables, spices, and herbs to
start my own product line. So in 2005 I quit
Starbucks to concentrate on Seeley’s
Gourmet Garden hummus because it’s
something that I really like to eat.”
Now the college-trained photographer,
who focuses on “capturing motion clearly,”
is in constant motion herself. Using a basic
R E S TA U R A N T L I S T I N G S
Restaurant listings for the BT Dining
Guide are written by Pamela Robin
Brandt. Every effort has been made to
ensure accuracy, but restaurants
frequently change menus, chefs, and
operating hours, so please call ahead to
confirm information. Icons ($$$)
represent estimates for a typical meal
without wine, tax, or tip. Hyphenated
icons ($-$$$) indicate a significant range
in prices between lunch and dinner
menus, or among individual items on
those menus.
$= $10 and under
$$= $20
$$$= $30
$$$$= $40
$$$$$= $50 and over
48
MIAMI
Brickell / Downtown
Abokado
900 S. Miami Ave., 305-347-3700
www.abokadosushi.com
Hamachi chiles rellenos? Shiso leaf “nachos” topped
with raw spicy tuna, kaiware sprouts, and other Asian
ingredients? The Viva, a sushi roll that starts with standard Japanese stuff (spicy tuna, cucumber, avocado),
adds typical Latin sabor (jalapeño, cilantro), wraps it all
in a flour tortilla, and garnishes it with South of the
Border heat (spicy snow crab mix)? Miami hasn’t tended
to initiate too many food “firsts,” but this Japanese/PanLatin fusion place is surely one. Intended as the groundbreaker of an international chain, this stylish indoor-outdoor eatery features inventive makis (executed by Hiro
Asano, formerly Bond Street’s sushi maestro), plus
LatAmer/Asian small plates and meals like pasilla chilebraised short ribs with wasabi-shiitake grits. Prices are
higher than at neighborhood sushi spots, but in keeping
with Abokado’s Mary Brickell Village neighbors. $$$$
Acqua
1435 Brickell Ave., Four Seasons Hotel, 305-381-3190
Originally an Italian/Mediterranean restaurant, this comfortably elegant, upscale spot switched chefs in 2006
(to Patrick Duff, formerly at the Sukhothai in Bangkok),
resulting in a complete menu renovation. Thailand’s
famed sense of culinary balance is now evident throughout the global (though primarily Asian or Latin Americaninspired) menu, in dishes like yuzu/white soya-dressed
salad of shrimp tempura (with watercress, Vidalia onion,
avocado, pomegranate), a tender pork shank glazed
with spicy Szechuan citrus sauce (accompanied by a
chorizo-flecked plantain mash), or lunchtime’s rare tuna
burger with lively wasabi aioli and wakame salad. For
dessert few chocoholics can resist a buttery-crusted tart
filled with sinfully rich warm chocolate custard. $$$$$
Azul
500 Brickell Key Dr., 305-913-8254
Floor-to-ceiling picture windows showcase Biscayne Bay.
But diners are more likely to focus on the sparkling raw
bar and open kitchen, where chef Clay Conley crafts
imaginative global creations – many of them combinations, to satisfy those who want it all. One offering, “A
two-burner stove, a food processor, and
minimal space, she experiments with flavor, texture, color, and taste constantly. “I
get an idea from a batch of smoked Spanish
paprika,” Seeley says. “I try it out to see if
people like it. A meal at a Thai restaurant
can send me off in another direction. Newly
dug horseradish roots led to my horseradish
hummus. Florida milk-and-honey corn
hopped into the black bean salad along with
Bulgarian feta cheese. I see. I mix. I taste.
If the flavor infuses well, if I like it, then
I’m happy. I refuse to sell anything that I
don’t like, even if other people do.”
Comparing Seeley’s products to grocery
store brands, the ingredients are startlingly
dissimilar. Commercial hummus, whether
refrigerated or in a nonperishable jar, generally contains chemical preservatives like
sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate.
Then there is that other suspicious ingredient: “natural flavors.” Store salsa contains
the same preservatives, plus phosphoric acid,
calcium chloride, sodium bisulfate, and xanthan gum. Doesn’t that sound tasty?
Study in Tuna,” includes tuna sashimi, Maine crab, avocado tempura, and caviar, with several Asian sauces.
Moroccan lamb is three preparations (grilled chop, harissa-marinated loin, and bastilla, the famed savory-sweet
Middle Eastern pastry, stuffed with braised shank), plus
feta and smoked eggplant. Finish with a vanilla soufflé
your way, a choice of toppings: chocolate, raspberry, or
crème anglaise. $$$$$
The Bar at Level 25 (Conrad Hotel)
1395 Brickell Ave., 305-503-6500
On the Conrad’s restaurant/lobby-level 25th floor, the
expansive, picture-windowed space around the corner
from the check-in desks used to be just a lobby extension. Now it’s The Bar, which is not just a watering hole
with panoramic views. At lunch it’s an elegant sandwich
bar; at night it’s a raw bar (with pristine coldwater oysters) and (best) a tapas bar serving pintxos. That’s just
the Basque word for tapas, but as interpreted by Atrio’s
chef Michael Gilligan, there’s nothing mere about the
generously portioned small plates. They range from traditional items like cod fish equixada (a zingy bacalao
April 2008
April 2008
49
DINING GUIDE
Restaurant Listings
salad) and saffron-sautéed Spanish artichokes to inventive inspirations like foie gras and goat cheese-stuffed
empanadas, or Asian-inspired soft-shell crab in airy tempura batter. $$$
Café Sambal
500 Brickell Key Dr., 305-913-8358
www.mandarinoriental.com/miami/
Though the Mandarin Oriental Hotel describes this
space as its “casual hotel restaurant,” many consider it a more spectacular dining setting than the
upscale Azul, upstairs, owing to the option of dining
outdoors on a covered terrace directly on the waterfront. The food is Asian-inspired, with a few Latin and
Mediterranean accents (sushi, plus creative fusion
dishes like tangerine-anise spiced short ribs with
scallion pancake, or a tempura-battered snapper
sandwich with lemon aioli). For the health-conscious,
the menu includes low-cal choices. For hedonists
there’s a big selection of artisan sakes. $$$-$$$$$
Caribbean Delight
236 NE 1st Ave., 305-381-9254
Originally from Jamaica, proprietor Miss Pat has been
serving her traditional homemade island specialties to
downtown office workers and college students since the
early 1990s. Most popular item here might be the weekday lunch special of jerk chicken with festival (sweetfried cornmeal bread patties), but even vegetarians are
well served with dishes like a tofu, carrot, and chayote
curry. All entrées come with rice and peas, fried plantains, and salad, so no one leaves hungry – doubly true
thanks to the home-baked Jamaican desserts. $
Dolores, But You Can Call Me Lolita
1000 S. Miami Ave., 305-403-3103
www.doloreslolita.com
It’s hard to figure why a Mediterranean/Latin restaurant
(with Asian touches) would be named after a line in a
1950s novel about a New England pedophile. But
everything else about this casually stylish spot is easy
to understand — and easy on the wallet. All entrées
cost either $18 or $23, a price that includes an appetizer — no low-rent crapola, either, but treats like
Serrano ham croquetas, a spinach/leek tart with
Portobello mushroom sauce, or shrimp-topped eggplant
timbales. And all desserts, from tiramisu to mango
carpaccio with lemon crème, are a bargain $2.50. The
best seats in this hip hangout, housed in the old
Firehouse 4, are on the rooftop patio. $$$
Fresco California Bistro
1744 SW 3rd Ave., 305-858-0608
This festively decorated indoor/outdoor bistro packs a
lot of party spirit into a small space, a large variety of
food onto its menu, and a very large amount of informal
retro California-style fusion food onto its plates. To the
familiar Latin American/Italian equation, the owners
add a touch of Cal-Mex (like Tex-Mex but more health
conscious). Menu offerings range from designer pizzas
and pastas to custardy tamales, but the bistro’s especially known for imaginative meal-size salads, like one
featuring mandarin oranges, avocado, apple, blue
cheese, raisins, candied pecans, and chicken on a
mesclun bed. $$
Garcia’s Seafood Grille and Fish Market
398 NW N. River Dr., 305-375-0765
Run by a fishing family for a couple of generations, this
venerable Florida fish shack is the real thing. No worries about the seafood’s freshness; on their way to the
rustic outside dining deck overlooking the Miami River,
diners can view the retail fish market to see what looks
freshest. Best preparations, as always when fish is this
fresh, are the simplest. When stone crabs are in season, Garcia’s claws are as good as Joe’s but considerably cheaper. The local fish sandwich is most popular –
grouper, yellowtail snapper, or mahi mahi, fried, grilled,
or blackened. The place is also famous for its zesty
smoked-fish dip and its sides of hushpuppies. $-$$
Indochine
638 S. Miami Ave., 305-379-1525
www.indochinebistro.com
Indochine has succeeded by morphing from mere
restaurant into hip hangout. Copious special events
(art openings, happy hours with DJs, classic movie or
50
Red, White, and You
Agreeable wine for $12 or less
By Bill Citara
BT Contributor
M
albec is to Argentina what
Pinot Noir is to
Burgundy, Cabernet
Sauvignon to the Napa Valley, and
Sangiovese to Italy. It’s the nation’s
iconic grape, and though several
New and Old World vintners have
produced 100 percent (or virtually
100 percent) varietal Malbecs,
there’s little doubt that nobody does
it quite like the Argentines.
Not surprisingly, Malbec shares
much the same story with another
iconic grape of a South American country,
Chile’s Carmenere. Like Carmenere,
Malbec — one of the classic “Bordeaux
blend” grapes — was introduced by immigrants and immediately began to flourish in
the less hostile South American climate.
Both grapes, though, took awhile longer to
find an appreciative audience — Carmenere
because it was misidentified for decades as
Merlot, and Malbec because its stocks were
almost decimated in the 1980s by a government program that encouraged winemakers
to pull up their vineyards.
That, as they say, was then.
Today Argentine Malbecs from the best
producers (Susana Balbo, Catena Zapata,
Vina Cobos, and others) have put rockets
on Argentina’s reputation as a fine-wine
producer, and these wines are still excellent
values compared to much of their high-end
competition. As value is this column’s middle name, we’re all over good, affordable
Malbecs like brown on rice. (Don’t get carried away by the vegetarian analogy,
though. Malbec is the ideal accompaniment
to Argentina’s iconic food: beef.)
The first swirl and sniff of each of these
wines, especially the 2005 Cruz Alta
Reserve — which shows off aromas of tar,
tobacco, and black olives to go along with
luscious blackberry, cassis, and ripe plum
fruit — reveals the slight earthiness that
contributes to a Malbec’s distinctive character. At 2005 it seems young. It could benefit from another year or two of aging.
On the more approachable, pull-thecork-and-drink-it side is the 2006
Malbec from Bodega Norton. One of
the most widely available Argentine
Malbecs, it reveals a bit of the classic
funk but more rich black-and-blueberry
fruit, with hints of fennel and even faint
floral notes. The 2005 Trapiche Oak
Cask kicks all those aromas and flavors
up a notch (I can’t believe I just quoted
Emeril), adding minty, toasty tones to its
palate palette, as well as smooth tannins
that hold the whole package together.
A contrasting pair — French and
Argentine — is the 2005 Georges
Vigouroux Atrium and 2005 Trivento
Select. The Atrium displays the lean structure, crisp berry, and tangy herbal character
found in Malbecs produced in Cahors, the
region where most of France’s Malbec
grapes are now grown, as opposed to the
Trivento, an almost New World-style, fullbodied wine loaded with rich, ripe plummyblueberry fruit and pronounced toasty oak.
Whatever style you choose, Malbec is an
icon worthy of your glass.
The Cruz Alta and Atrium Malbecs
are available at Total Wine in North
Miami for $11.99 and $9.99, respectively (13205 Biscayne Blvd.,
305-891-3737). The Biscayne
Commons Publix (14641 Biscayne
Blvd., 305-354-2171) carries the
Bodega Norton ($7.99) and Trapiche
($9.99), while the Trivento Select can
be found for $11.99 at the Aventura
ABC Fine Wine & Spirits (16355
Biscayne Blvd., 305-944-6525).
karaoke nights, wine or sake tastings) draw everyone
from downtown business types to the counterculture
crowd. Not that there’s anything “mere” about the
range of food served from three Asian nations. Light
eaters can snack on Vietnamese summer rolls or
Japanese sushi rolls, including an imaginative masagocoated model with mango, spicy tuna, and cilantro. For
bigger appetites, there are Thai curries and
Vietnamese specialties like pho, richly flavored beef
soup with meatballs, steak slices, rice noodles, and
add-in Asian herbs and sprouts. $$-$$$
downtown; when it first opened, eating options in the
courthouse area were basically a variety of hot dog wagons. With alternatives like amaretto-tinged pumpkin
agnolloti in sage butter sauce, cilantro-spiced white
bean/vegetable salad dressed with truffle oil, and soufflé
di granchi (crabmeat soufflé atop arugula dressed with
honey-mustard vinaigrette), proprietors Jennifer Porciello
and Horatio Oliveira continue to draw a lunch crowd that
returns for dinner, or perhaps just stays on through the
afternoon, fueled by the Lawyer’s Liquid Lunch, a vodka
martini spiked with sweetened espresso. $$$
La Loggia Ristorante and Lounge
Novecento
68 W. Flagler St., 305-373-4800, www.laloggia.org
This luxuriantly neo-classical yet warm-feeling Italian
restaurant was unquestionably a pioneer in revitalizing
1414 Brickell Ave., 305-403-0900
www.bistronovecento.com
For those who think “Argentine cuisine” is a synonym
for “beef and more beef,” this popular eatery’s wide
range of more cosmopolitan contemporary Argentine
fare will be a revelation. Classic parrilla-grilled steaks
are here for traditionalists, but the menu is dominated
by creative Nuevo Latino items like a new-style ceviche
de chernia (lightly lime-marinated grouper with
jalapeños, basil, and the refreshing sweet counterpoint
of watermelon), or crab ravioli with creamy saffron
sauce. Especially notable are entrée salads like the signature Ensalada Novecento: skirt steak slices (cooked
to order) atop mixed greens coated in rich mustard
vinaigrette with a side of housemade fries. $$-$$$
Oceanaire Seafood Room
900 S. Miami Ave., 305-372-8862
www.theoceanaire.com
With a dozen branches nationwide, Oceanaire may
seem more All-American seafood empire than Florida
fish shack. But while many dishes (including popular
sides like bacon-enriched hash browns and fried green
tomatoes) are identical at all Oceanaires, menus vary
significantly according to regional tastes and fish. Here
in Miami, chef Sean Bernal (formerly at Merrick Park’s
Pescado) supplements signature starters like lump crab
cakes with his own lightly marinated, Peruvian-style
grouper ceviche. The daily-changing, 15-20 specimen
seafood selection includes local fish seldom seen on
local menus: pompano, parrot fish, amberjack. But
even flown-in fish (and the raw bar’s cold-water oysters)
are ultra-fresh. $$$$
Pasha’s
1414 Brickell Ave., 305-416-5116
The original branch on Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road
was instantly popular, and the same healthy Middle
Eastern fast food – made with no trans fats or other
nutritional nasties – is served at the three newer outlets. The prices are low enough that one might suspect
Pasha’s was conceived as a tax write-off rather than a
Harvard Business School project, which it was by
founders Antonio Ellek and Nicolas Cortes. Dishes
range from common classics like falafel and gyros to
more unusual items like muhammara (tangy walnut
spread), silky labneh yogurt cheese, and chicken adana
kebabs with grilled veggies and aioli sauce. Everything
from pitas to lemonade is made fresh, from scratch,
daily. $-$$
Peoples Bar-B-Que
360 NW 8th St., 305-373-8080
www.peoplesbarbque.com
Oak-smoked, falling-off-the-bone tender barbecued ribs
(enhanced with a secret sauce whose recipe goes back
several generations) are the main draw at this Overtown
institution. But the chicken is also a winner, plus there’s
a full menu of soul food entrées, including what many
aficionados consider our town’s tastiest souse. Sides
include collards, yams, and soft mac and cheese. And
it would be unthinkable to call it quits without homemade sweet potato pie or banana pudding, plus a bracing flop – half iced tea, half lemonade. $-$$
Perricone’s
15 SE 10th St., 305-374-9449, www.perricones.com
Housed in a Revolutionary-era barn (moved from
Vermont), this market/café was one of the Brickell
area’s first gentrified amenities. At lunch chicken salad
(with pignolias, raisins, apples, and basil) is a favorite;
dinner’s strong suit is the pasta list, ranging from
Grandma Jennie’s old-fashioned lasagna to chichi fiocchi purses filled with fresh pear and gorgonzola. And
Sunday’s $15.95 brunch buffet ($9.95 for kids) – featuring an omelet station, waffles, smoked salmon and
bagels, salads, and more – remains one of our town’s
most civilized all-you-can-eat deals. $$
Prime Blue Grille
315 S. Biscayne Blvd., Miami, 305-358-5901
www.primebluegrille.com
This truly 21st-century steakhouse targets today’s
health-minded gourmets by serving only certified-organic Brandt beef – antibiotic- and hormone-free, as well as
dry-aged, butchered in-house, and smoke-seared by
Prime Blue’s intense wood-burning grills and ovens. For
noncarnivores, the menu gives equal time to fish, all
caught wild, and offers dozens of cooked vegetable and
salad options, including build-your-own. There’s also a
raw bar and a small steak/seafood retail counter. The
décor is as modern as the menu. Instead of the stuffy
April 2008
DINING GUIDE
Restaurant Listings
men’s club look, you have a soaring, light-hued, openplan, indoor/outdoor space, with panoramic Miami
River view. $$$$
Provence Gril
1001 S. Miami Ave., 305-373-1940
The cozy, terracotta-tiled dining room (and even more
charming outdoor dining terrace) indeed evoke the
south of France. But the menu of French bistro classics
covers all regions, a Greatest Hits of French comfort
food: country-style pâté maison with onion jam, roasted
peppers and cornichons; steak/frites (grilled rib-eye
with peppercorn cream sauce, fries, and salad); four
preparations of mussels; a tarte tatin (French apple tart
with roasted walnuts, served à la mode). Deal alert: An
early-bird prix-fixe menu (5:30-7:30 p.m.) offers soup or
salad, entrée, dessert, and a carafe of wine for $44 per
couple. $$$-$$$$
The River Oyster Bar
650 S. Miami Ave., 305-530-1915
www.therivermiami.com
This casually cool Miami River-area jewel is a full-service seafood spot, as evidenced by tempting menu
selections like soft-shell crabs with grilled vegetables,
corn relish, and remoulade. There are even a few dishes to please meat-and-potatoes diners, like short ribs
with macaroni and cheese. But oyster fans will still find
it difficult to resist stuffing themselves silly on the
unusually large selection of bivalves (often ten varieties per night), especially since oysters are served
both raw and cooked – fire-roasted with sofrito butter,
chorizo, and manchego. To accompany these delights,
there’s a thoughtful wine list and numerous artisan
beers on tap. $$$
Rosa Mexicano
900 S. Miami Ave., 786-425-1001
www.rosamexicano.com
A branch of the original Rosa Mexicano that introduced New Yorkers to real Mexican food (not Tex-Mex)
in 1984, this expansive indoor/outdoor space offers a
dining experience that’s haute in everything but price.
Few entrées top $20. The décor is both date-worthy
and family-friendly – festive but not kitschy. And nonsophisticates needn’t fear; though nachos aren’t available, there is nothing scary about zarape de pato
(roast duck between freshly made, soft corn tortillas,
topped with yellow-and-habanero-pepper cream
sauce), or Rosa’s signature guacamole en molcajete,
made tableside. A few pomegranate margaritas
ensure no worries. $$$
Soya & Pomodoro
120 NE 1st St., 305-381-9511
Life is complicated. Food should be simple. That’s
owner Armando Alfano’s philosophy, which is stated
above the entry to his atmospheric downtown eatery.
And since it’s also the formula for the truest traditional
Italian food (Alfano hails from Pompeii), it’s fitting that
the menu is dominated by authentically straightforward
yet sophisticated Italian entrées such as spinach- and
ricotta-stuffed crêpes with béchamel and tomato
sauces. There are salads and sandwiches, too, including one soy burger to justify the other half of the place’s
name. The most enjoyable place to dine is the secret,
open-air courtyard, completely hidden from the street.
Alfano serves dinner on Thursdays only to accompany
his “Thursday Night Live” events featuring local musicians and artists. $-$$
Taste of Bombay
111 NE 3rd Ave., 305-358-0144
No surprise that a place called Taste of Bombay would
be an Indian restaurant. And depending mostly on the
predominant nationalities of downtown construction
workers at any given time, Taste of Bombay has also
served sushi, Philippine, and Chinese food. Best bet,
though, is the all-you-can-eat Indian buffet lunch
spread, featuring six changing entrées (a mix of meat,
poultry, fish, and vegetable curries) plus veggie pakoras, rice, salad, chutneys, hot naan bread, and a
dessert. The place looks plain outside, but it’s pleasantly exotic enough inside for a bargain business
lunch. $$
Tobacco Road
626 S. Miami Ave., 305-374-1198
www.tobacco-road.com
Prohibition-era speakeasy (reputedly a fave of Al
Capone), gay bar, strip club. Previously all these, this
gritty spot has been best known since 1982 as a venue
for live music, primarily blues. But it also offers food
from lunchtime to late night (on weekends till 4:00
a.m.). The kitchen is especially known for its chili, budget-priced steaks, and burgers, including the mega-mega
burger, a trucker-style monster topped with said chili
plus cheddar, mushrooms, bacon, and a fried egg.
There’s also surprisingly elegant fare, though, like a
Norwegian salmon club with lemon aioli. A meat-smoker in back turns out tasty ribs, perfect accompaniment
to the blues. $$
Midtown / Design District
Adelita’s Café
2699 Biscayne Blvd., 305-576-1262
From the street (which is actually NE 26th, not
Biscayne) this Honduran restaurant seems unpromising, but inside it’s bigger, better, and busier than it
looks. Unlike many Latin American eateries, which
serve a multinational mélange, this one sticks close to
the source and proves a crowd-pleaser. On weekends
especially, the two casual dining rooms are packed with
families enjoying authentic fare like baleadas (thick
corn tacos), tajadas (Honduras’s take on tostones), rich
meal-in-a-bowl soups packed with seafood or meat and
veggies, and more. To spend ten bucks on a meal here,
one would have to be a sumo wrestler. $
Bin No. 18
1800 Biscayne Blvd., 786-235-7575
At this wine bar/café, located on the ground floor of
one of midtown’s new mixed-use condo buildings, the
décor is a stylish mix of contemporary cool (high loft
ceilings) and Old World warmth (tables made from old
wine barrels). Cuisine is similarly geared to the area’s
new smart, upscale residents: creative sandwiches and
salads at lunch, tapas and larger internationally
themed Spanish, Italian, or French charcuterie platters
at night. Though the place is small and family-run
friendly, Venezuelan-born chef Alfredo Patino’s former
executive chef gigs at Bizcaya (at the Ritz-Carlton
Coconut Grove) and other high-profile venues are evident in sophisticated snacks like the figciutto, a salad
of arugula, gorgonzola dolce, caramelized onions, pine
nuts, fresh figs, and prosciutto. Free parking in a fenced
lot behind the building. $$
Brosia
163 NE 39th St., 305-531-8700
www.brosiamiami.com
The reputation that Arthur Artile amassed after years as
executive chef at Norman’s and Chispa has made the
Design District’s Brosia an instant hit. The menu is
Mediterranean-inspired, with a few items — like gazpacho Caprese — fusing cuisines, but most retaining
regional individuality: Moroccan mussels in curry broth;
shrimp and clams (with garlic, chorizo, and sherry) that
scream “Spain!” The stylish space is a draw, too. Inside,
all mahogany, leather, and luxuriant intimacy; outside,
seating on an extensive patio shaded by a canopy of old
oaks. And the convenient all-day hours (even breakfast)
give it the feel of a real neighborhood restaurant. $$$
Charcuterie
3612 NE 2nd Ave., 305-576-7877
This Design District old-timer has hung on for close to
20 years as the District has gone through its mood
swings. But it’s no worse for the wear. The
upstairs/downstairs space looks good as new, and is
still almost impossibly cute. The menu, chalked daily on
a blackboard, still features well more than a dozen typical French bistro specials like chicken Dijonaise or
almond-crusted trout in creamy, lemony beurre blanc.
And the salads, soups, and sandwiches are still, invariably, evocative. Rough-cut pâté de campagne, topped
with cornichons on a crusty buttered baguette is an
instant trip to Paris. Though weekend nighttime hours
were instituted several years ago, dinner is an on-again,
off-again thing, so call first. $$-$$$
EAT IN • TAKE OUT • FREE DELIVERY
Two Large Projection Screens - Inside & Outside • Lounge Seating • WiFi connection
Now under the Management of Frank Crupi
of Frankie’s Big City Grill
Now serving his famous Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches
(305) 762-5751
www.andiamopizza.com
5600 Biscayne Boulevard
CHOSEN BY MEN'S FITNESS MAGAZINE AS 1 OF THE 12 “MUST-TRY PIZZA STOPS” IN THE COUNTRY
April 2008
51
DINING GUIDE
Restaurant Listings
The Daily Creative Food Co.
2001 Biscayne Blvd., 305-573-4535
While the food formula of this contemporary café is
familiar – sandwiches, salads, soups, breakfast food,
and pastries, plus coffee and fruit drinks – a creative
concept differentiates the place. Signature sandwiches
are named after national and local newspapers (like
the Biscayne Times: tuna salad with hummus, cucumber, roasted peppers, arugula, and sprouts on multigrain bread), giving diners something to chat about. For
those who’d rather Have It Their Own Way, both sandwiches and salads can be do-it-yourself projects, with
an unusually wide choice of main ingredients, garnishes, breads, and condiments for the creatively minded. $
Domo Japones
4000 NE 2nd Ave., 305-573-5474
www.domojapones.com
Thin-sliced, white-fish usuzukuri sashimi garnished with
sea salt and blood orange sauce; a scallop sushi roll
flavored with truffle oil and cured plum; miso-glazed
black cod. If the fare at Domo Japones, housed in the
romantically renovated old Buena Vista post office,
sounds unusually inventive and trendy, there’s a logical
explanation: Chefs Nao Higuchi and Timon Balloo are
Nobu and SushiSamba veterans, and owner Amir BenZion partnered in Bond Street. Harder to explain are
maki combinations like shrimp and prosciutto with
pineapple ginger sauce, or prices more South Beach
than Biscayne Corridor. But sushi till midnight Thursday
through Saturday (11:00 p.m. Monday-Wednesday) is a
major neighborhood upgrade. $$$$
18th Street Café
210 NE 18th St., 305-381-8006
www.18thstreetcafe.com
Most of the seating in this cool little breakfast/lunch
room is in a sort of giant bay window, backed with banquettes, that makes the space feel expansively lightfilled, and quite nicely gentrifies its whole evolving
52
Midtown block. This pioneering place deserves to survive, even if just considering the roast beef sandwich
with creamy horseradish – an inspired classic combination that makes one wonder why more places in this
town don’t serve it. (We’ll debate later.) Other culinary
highlights of the classic “Six S” repertoire (soups, sandwiches, salads, sweets, smoothies, specials) might
include a turkey/pear/cheddar melt sandwich, and really sinful marshmallow-topped brownies. $
Elements
3930 NE 2nd Ave., 305-573-0444
To the relief of lunchers who loved chef Lorena Garcia’s
former Design District restaurant, Food Café (which lost
its lease around the time of Hurricane Wilma), this new
venture is only about a block away and, despite the new
name, serves many old favorites. These include the signature, slightly rechristened Food Elements Salad: baby
greens with Granny Smith apples, seasonal berries, gorgonzola, and addictive candied walnuts, dressed with a
raspberry vinaigrette. But there are new dishes too,
such as a panko-crusted fish burger with spicy
remoulade sauce. $$
Five Guys Famous Burger and Fries
3401 N. Miami Ave. (Shops at Midtown),
305-571-8345
www.fiveguys.com
Like the West Coast’s legendary In-N-Out Burger chain,
this East Coast challenger serves no green-leaf faux
health food. You get what the name says, period, with
three adds: kosher dogs, veggie burgers, and free
peanuts while you wait. Which you will, just a bit, since
burgers are made fresh upon order, not steam-tabled.
Available in double or one-patty sizes, they’re well-done
but spurtingly juicy, and after loading with your choice
of 15 free garnishes, even a “little” burger makes a
major meal. Fries (regular or Cajun-spiced) are also
superior, hand-cut in-house from sourced potatoes; a
changing sign reports the spuds’ point of origin. $
Grass
28 NE 40th St., 305-573-3355
After a couple of years in hiatus, this Design District
restolounge has reopened in the same outdoor courtyard space. What’s new: “MediterAsian” chef Michael
Jacobs and a menu that travels beyond pan-Asian and
Mediterranean influences into the Americas. Entrées
range from lowbrow comfort food (cunningly reinvented
mini pot pies) to high-status extravagance (stoneseared, authentic Kobe steak). For healthy grazers, rawbar selections include ceviches and a large seafood
platter (lobster, shrimp, and lump crab with housemade
dipping sauces). There’s also a snack menu (pristine
coldwater oysters, a crab salad timbale, parmesan-truffle shoestring fries, mini-Kobe burgers) served till the
wee hours, providing a welcome alternative to the
Boulevard’s fast food chains. $$-$$$$$
Lost & Found Saloon
Karu & Y
Mario the Baker
71 NW 14th St., 305-403-7850, www.karu-y.com
When this $20 million entertainment complex opened,
the aim of its restaurant, Karu, according to press
releases, was to be deliberately atypical of South
Florida – and indeed many Miamians couldn’t make
heads or tails of the experimental New Spanish food.
Since then, though, dramatic menu changes have introduced new dishes utilizing seasonal ingredients, like
Florida stone crabs highlighted in an aioli soup with
lemon chive ice, cilantro micro greens, and aji Amarillo
pepper caviar. And while much of the fare remains cutting edge, there’s now also a steak menu (ranging from
a dry-aged cowboy steak to a Wagyu skirt cut, with à la
carte sides like creamy rice with Idiazábal cheese).
Closed Aug. 28 -Sept. 17. $$$$$
Latin Café 2000
2501 Biscayne Blvd., 305-576-3838
www.latincafe2000.com
The menu is similar to that at many of our town’s Latin
cafés, largely classic Cuban entrées and sandwiches,
with a smattering of touches from elsewhere in Latin
America, such as a Peruvian jalea mixta (marinated
mixed seafood), or paella Valenciana from Spain, which
many Miami eateries consider a Latin country. What justifies the new millennium moniker is the more modern,
yuppified/yucafied ambiance, encouraged by an expansive, rustic wooden deck. Delivery is now available. $$
185 NW 36th St., 305-576-1008
www.thelostandfoundsaloon-miami.com
There’s an artsy/alternative feel to this casual and
friendly Wynwood eatery, which, since opening as a
weekday-only breakfast and lunch joint in 2005, has
grown with its neighborhood. It’s now open for dinner
six nights a week, serving Southwestern-style fare at
rock-bottom prices. Dishes like piñon and pepita-crusted salmon, chipotle-drizzled endive stuffed with lump
crab, or customizable tacos average $5-$8. Also available: big breakfasts and salads, hearty soups, housemade pastries like lemon-crusted wild berry pie, and a
hip beer and wine list. $
250 NE 25th St., 305-891-7641
www.mariothebakerpizza.com
At this North Miami institution (opened in 1969) food is
Italian-American, not Italian-Italian: spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, eggplant parmigiana, and hot or cold
subs. No imported buffala, arugula, or other chichi stuff
on the New York-style medium-thin-crusted pizzas; the
top topping here is the savory housemade sausage. And
no one leaves without garlic rolls, awash in warm parsley
oil and smashed garlic ($4 a dozen, $3 per half-dozen,
which won’t even last the ride home). A new branch is
now open in Miami’s Midtown neighborhood. $
Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink
130 NE 40th St., 305-573-5550
Long-awaited and an instant smash hit, this truly neighborhood-oriented restaurant from Michael Schwartz,
founding chef of Nemo’s in South Beach, offers downto-earth fun food in a comfortable, casually stylish
indoor/outdoor setting. Fresh, organic ingredients are
emphasized, but dishes range from cutting-edge (crispy
beef cheeks with whipped celeriac, celery salad, and
chocolate reduction) to simple comfort food: deviled
eggs, homemade potato chips with pan-fried onion dip,
or a whole wood-roasted chicken. There’s also a broad
range of prices and portion sizes ($4-$8 for snacks and
April 2008
April 2008
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DINING GUIDE
Restaurant Listings
small plates to $24-$39 for extra-large plates) to
encourage frequent visits from light-bite as well as pigout diners. Michael’s Genuine also features an eclectic
and affordable wine list, and a full bar, with cut-rate
weekday happy hour cocktails. $$-$$$
are for sale. And for those who don’t have thousands of
dollars to shell out for the local art on the walls, less
than ten bucks will get you art on a plate, including a
Picasso: chorizo, prosciutto, manchego cheese, baby
spinach, and basil on a crusty baguette. Other artfully
named and crafted edibles include salads, daily soups,
several pastas (like the Matisse, fiocchi pouches filled
with pears and cheese), and house-baked pastries. $
Mike’s at Venetia
Out of the Blue Café
555 NE 15th St., 9th floor, 305-374-5731
www.mikesvenetia.com
There’s no sign out front, but this family-owned Irish
pub, on the pool deck of a waterfront condo building
across from the Miami Herald, for more than 15 years
has been a popular lunch and dinner hang-out for local
journalists – and others who appreciate honest cheap
eats and drinks (not to mention a billiard table and 17
TV screens). Regulars know daily specials are the way to
go. Depending on the day, fish, churrasco, or roast
turkey with all the trimmings are all prepared fresh. Big
burgers and steak dinners are always good, and happy
hour appetizers (like meaty Buffalo wings) are always
half-price. Additionally, a limited late-night menu provides pizza, wings, ribs, and salad till 3:00 a.m. $-$$
2426 NE 2nd Ave., 305-573-3800
www.outofthebluecafe.net
Forget impersonal chain coffeehouses. This artist-friendly, independent neighborhood café serves a full selection of coffee drinks made with the award-winning beans
of Intelligentsia, a roasting company that works directly
with artisan growers to encourage sustainable agriculture – and one helluva good cup of java. Also served:
breakfast and lunch sandwiches, imaginative salads,
soups, homemade pastries (including a “cupcake of the
month”), and creamy fresh-fruit smoothies. With tables,
sofas, and lounge chairs inside an old Midtown house
(and on a protected outdoor patio), plus free wireless
Internet access, the space is also just a pleasant place
to hang out. Owner Carmen Miranda (real name) says
beer and wine will soon be available. $
Pizzafiore
2905 NE 2nd Ave., 305-573-0900
Those seeking dainty designer pizzas can fuhgeddaboudit here. At this New York-style pizzeria (which has
roughly the same menu as North Beach’s original
Pizzafiore, but independent ownership), it’s all about
heftiness. A special slice/soda deal features two pizza
triangles bigger than most Miami mini-skirts. Whole
pies come medium (large), large (huge), and extra-large
(think truck tire). And with fully loaded pizzas like the
Supreme Meat Lover priced only a few bucks more than
a basic tomato/cheese, it pays to think big about toppings too. Other Italian-American fare is also available,
notably pastas and subs. $-$$
Orange Café + Art
2 NE 40th St., 305-571-4070
The paintings hanging in this tiny, glass-enclosed café
Sheba
4029 N. Miami Ave., 305-573-1819
www.shebamiami.com
Combining contemporary Design District chic with traditional African craft (from its adjacent art gallery),
Sheba’s spacious setting is a soothing place to discover the exotic offerings of Miami’s only Ethiopian eatery.
Once diners adjust to eating with their hands (using
inerja, the sourdough crepes accompanying entrées,
as a utensil), the food is quite accessible. Both wats
(meat and poultry stews) and tibs (sautéed dishes
incorporating the familiar multicultural “holy trinity” of
onions, tomatoes, and peppers) tend, like Cuban cuisine, to be spiced with complexity, not fire. A Best of
the Best platter for two enables diners to sample most
of the menu. $$$
S & S Diner
3801 N. Miami Ave., 305-573-0201
(See Brickell/Downtown listing)
1757 NE 2nd Ave., 305-373-4291
Some things never change, or so it seems at this diner,
which is so classic it verges on cliché. Open since 1938,
it’s still popular enough that people line up on Saturday
morning, waiting for a seat at the horseshoe-shaped
counter (there are no tables) and enormous breakfasts:
corned beef hash or crab cakes and eggs with grits; fluffy
pancakes; homemade biscuits with gravy and Georgia
sausage – everything from oatmeal to eggs Benedict, all
in mountainous portions. The lunch menu is a roll call of
the usual suspects, but most regulars ignore the menu
and go for the daily blackboard specials. $-$$
The Secret Sandwich Co.
Tony Chan’s Water Club
3918 N. Miami Ave., 305-571-9990
The spy theme applies to menu items (the Mata Hari,
Double Agent, French Connection, Bay of Pig), but it
could also refer to the hard-to-spot storefront housing
this take-out (and delivery) lunch spot, which, for it’s
small size, offers a big selection of hot and cold sandwiches, varying from char-grilled burgers to more exotic
specialty items like grilled or blackened mahi mahi with
mixed greens, tomato, and creamy garlic dressing. There
are also daily soups, and salads with “secret vinaigrette.” But the best-kept secret is the rich, smooth,
homemade flan, hidden in the chilled display case. $
1717 N. Bayshore Dr., 305-374-8888
The décor at this upscale place, located in the Grand, a
huge bayside condo/resort hotel, looks far too glitzy to
serve anything but politely Americanized Chinese food.
The presentation is indeed elegant, but the American
dumbing-down is minimal. Many dishes are far more
authentic and skillfully prepared than those found elsewhere in Miami, like delicate but flavorful yu pan quail
(minced with mushrooms in lettuce cups). Moist sea
bass fillet has a beautifully balanced topping of scallion, ginger, cilantro, and subtly sweet/salty sauce. And
Peking duck is served as three traditional courses:
Pasha’s
crêpe-wrapped crispy skin, meat sautéed with crisp veggies, savory soup to finish. $$$-$$$$
W Wine Bistro
3622 NE 2nd Ave., 305-576-7775
Both bistro and retail wine shop, this Design District spot
is run by Florent Blanchet, an energetic young
Frenchman who was previously a wine distributor. His former gig led to connections that mean if wine lovers don’t
find the bottle they want in W’s selection of roughly 200labels (which emphasizes boutique and organic growers),
Blanchet can probably get it within 24 hours. Food is
sophisticated light bites like a shrimp club sandwich with
pancetta and sun-dried tomato aioli; smoked duck salad
with goat cheese croutons and a poached egg; and
chocolate fondant. At night there are tapas. $-$$
Zuperpollo Biztro Reztocafe
3050 Biscayne Blvd., 305-573-8485
www.zuperpollo.com
Occasionally there’s a sign out front of the office building housing this bistro, indicating that a branch of the
popular Uruguayan eatery Zuperpollo (on Coral Way,
since 1986) is within. Otherwise, since the restaurant
opened in 2006, locals have basically had to intuit its
presence – way in back, past a guard desk and an elevator bank, behind an unmarked door. Once there, diners discover an extensive pan-Latin menu of breakfast
food, salads, substantial meat and fish entrées, homemade pastas and soups, desserts, and sandwiches,
including Uruguay’s famed chivito, sometimes called “a
heart attack on a bun”: beef, bacon, ham, eggs, mozzarella, plus sautéed mushrooms and red peppers. And
naturally, from the rotisserie, there’s the zignature
zuper chicken. $-$$
Upper Eastside
Andiamo
5600 Biscayne Blvd., 305-762-5751
www.andiamopizza.com
Sharing a building with a long-established Morningside
.com
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HOURS: Mon - Fri 7 am - 6 pm / Sat 9 am - 4 pm
210 NE 18 th street, miami, fl 33132
54
April 2008
DINING GUIDE
Restaurant Listings
Canela
car wash, Andiamo is also part of Mark Soyka’s 55th
Street Station – which means ditching the car (in the
complex’s free lot across the road on NE 4th Court) is no
problem even if you’re not getting your vehicle cleaned
while consuming the brick-oven pies (from a flaming
open oven) that are this popular pizzeria’s specialty.
Choices range from the simple namesake Andiamo
(actually a Margherita) to the Godfather, a major meat
monster. Extra toppings like arugula and goat cheese
enable diners to create their own designer pies. Also
available are salads and panini plus reasonably priced
wines and beers (including a few unusually sophisticated selections like Belgium’s Hoegaarden). $$
5132 Biscayne Blvd., 305-756-3930
When this atmospheric little neighborhood oasis
opened, the formula was Cuban cooking at lunch,
Catalan tapas at night. The menu is now more uniform:
contemporary Spanish and pan-Latin tapas, sandwiches, salads, sides, and entrées at all hours, just a far
more elaborate selection at night. The tapas list is
especially impressive, with all the usual Hispanic meat
and cheese favorites but also an unusually large selection of seafood and vegetarian items such as espinaca
à la catalaña (spinach sautéed with pine nuts and
raisins). Must-not-miss items include ultra-creamy croquetas (ham, cheese, chicken, spinach, or bacalao),
grilled asparagus with aioli, and habit-forming Brazilian
cheese bread. $-$$$
Boteco
Captain Crab’s Take-Away
916 NE 79th St., 305-757-7735
This strip of 79th Street, formerly known for its live bait
and auto repair shops, is rapidly becoming a cool altculture enclave thanks to inviting hangouts like this rustic indoor/outdoor Brazilian restaurant and bar.
Especially bustling on nights featuring live music, it’s
even more fun on Sundays, when the fenced backyard
hosts an informal fair and the menu includes Brazil’s
national dish, feijoada, a savory stew of beans plus
fresh and cured meats. But the everyday menu, ranging
from unique, tapas-like pasteis (shrimp and hearts of
palm-stuffed turnovers) to hefty Brazilian entrées, is
also appealing – and budget-priced. $$
1100 NE 79th St., 305-754-2722
The drive-through window says “fast food,” and so do this
long-lived seafood shack’s low prices. And indeed there
are three Captain Crab’s Take-Aways (the others are in
Carol City and Fort Lauderdale), all related to the sit-down
Crab House restaurants. But there the resemblance to
McFauxFood ends. For about the price of a bucket of the
Colonel’s chicken you can get a bucket of the Captain’s
savory garlic crabs. The King’s burger meal or the
Captain’s similarly priced fried (or garlic boiled or New
Orleans-spiced) shrimp meal? No contest. Also popular:
crab cakes and conch (fried or in fritters and chowder).
For fish haters, spicy or garlic chicken wings are an
option; for kids, cut-price “first mate” meals. $-$$
Café Le Glacier
7295 Biscayne Blvd., 305-754-6551
For anyone who can’t get over thinking of French food as
intimidating or pretentious, this cute café with a warm
welcome, and family-friendly French home cooking, is
the antidote. No fancy food (or fancy prices) here, just
classic comfort food like onion soup, boeuf bourguignon
(think Ultimate Pot Roast), moist, tender chicken
Dijonaise, Nicoise salad, quiche, and homemade crème
brûlée. And the kids can get hot dogs or grilled cheese.
Top price for grown-up entrées is about $12. $-$$
Casa Toscana
7001 Biscayne Blvd., 305-758-3353
www.casatoscanamiami.com
Tuscan-born chef/owner Sandra Stefani cooked at
Norman’s (and briefly ran the Indian Creek Hotel’s
restaurant) before opening this Upper Eastside jewel, a
wine market/eatery whose 30 original seats have been
supplemented by a wine room/garden for tasting
events and private dining. Stefani travels regularly to
Italy to find exciting, limited-production wines and inspi-
ration for truly Tuscan-tasting daily special dishes with
honest, authentic flavors, such as grilled wild boar
sausages with lentil croquettes. Favorites that show up
often on the menu include pear and ricotta raviolini
with sage butter sauce, grilled eggplant slices rolled
around herbed goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes,
and a light ricotta tart with lemon and rosemary. $$$
Che Sopranos
7251 Biscayne Blvd., 305-754-8282
This branch of a Miami Beach Italian/Argentine
pizzeria, housed in a charming bungalow and featuring a breezy patio, covers multicultural bases. If the
Old World Rucola pizza (a classic Margherita topped
with arugula, prosciutto, and shredded parmesan)
doesn’t do the trick, the New World Especial (a Latin
pie with hearts of palm and boiled eggs) just might.
Also available are pastas, salads, sandwiches, dinner entrées (eggplant parmigiana with spaghetti,
lomito steak with Argentinean potato salad), and
desserts (tiramisu or flan). $
Chef Creole
200 NW 54th St., 305-754-2223
Sparkling fresh Creole-style food is the star at
chef/owner Wilkinson Sejour’s two tiny but wildly popular establishments. While some meatier Haitian classics
like griot (fried pork chunks) and oxtail stew are also
available – and a $3.99 roast chicken special is a hard
deal to resist – the glistening fish display that greets diners as they walk in makes it clear that seafood is the
specialty here: crevette en sauce (steamed shrimp with
Creole butter sauce), lambi fri (a mountain of perfectly
tenderized fried conch), poisson gros sel (local snapper
in a spicy butter sauce), garlic or Creole crabs. Note for
ambiance-seekers: The Miami branch has outdoor tikihut dining; North Miami’s outlet, a former Carvel, has
the same food but lacks the tropical charm. $-$$
Dogma Grill
7030 Biscayne Blvd., 305-759-3433
www.dogmagrill.com
What could induce downtown businessmen to drive to
the Upper Eastside to eat at a few outdoor-only tables
just feet from the busy Boulevard? From the day it
opened, people have been lining up, even in summer’s
sweltering heat, for this stand’s sauce-garnished, all-beef,
soy veggie, turkey, and chicken hot dogs. The 22 varieties
range from simple (the Classic, with ketchup, relish, and
chopped onion) to the elaborate (the Athens, topped with
a Greek salad, including extra-virgin olive oil dressing) to
near-unbelievable combinations like the VIP, which
includes parmesan cheese and crushed pineapple. $
East Side Pizza
731 NE 79th St., 305-758-5351
Minestrone, sure. But a pizzeria menu with carrot
ginger soup? Similarly many Italian-American pizzerias offer entrées like spaghetti and meatballs, but
East Side also has pumpkin ravioli in brown butter/sage sauce, wild mushroom ravioli, and other
surprisingly upscale choices. The East Side Salad
includes goat cheese, walnuts, and cranberries;
quaffs include imported Peroni beer. As for the
pizza, they are classic pies, available whole or by the
slice, made with fresh plum tomato sauce and
Grande mozzarella (considered the top American
pizza cheese). Best seating for eating is at the sheltered outdoor picnic tables. $
Garden of Eatin’
136 NW 62nd St., 305-754-8050
Low profile would be an understatement for this place.
Housed in a yellow building that’s tucked in back of a
parking lot behind a small grocery store, it’s nearly invisible from the street. Inside, though, it has the comfortable feel of a beach bar, and generous servings of inexpensive Afro-Caribbean vegan food. Rastafari owner
Immanuel Tafari cooks up meat and dairy-free specials,
like Jamaican pumpkin/chayote stew in coconut milk,
that depend on what looks good at that morning’s produce market. Large or small plates, with salad and fried
sweet plantains (plus free soup for eat-in lunchers), are
served for five or seven bucks. Also available are snacks
Authentic Creole
Cuisine
13105 West Dixie Hwy.
North Miami, FL 33161
305.893.4 246
200 NW 54th Street
Miami, FL 33127
305.7 54.2223
April 2008
Catering Available
305.899.2729
55
DINING GUIDE
Restaurant Listings
like vegetarian blue corn tacos, desserts like sweet potato pie, and a breakfast menu featuring organic blueberry
waffles with soy sausage patties. $
Good Eats Deli
645 NE 79th St., 305-757-2731
After years of working for chichi celebrity chefs (Robbin
Haas and Michelle Bernstein, among others) and catering for movie stars internationally, this place’s
chef/owner decided to downsize and open a simple
deli in his own neighborhood. Of course diners can get
a classic grilled cheese, but many specialty items do
have fun chichi-chef touches, like Cinnamon Apple
Chicken Salad, or a “Godfather” sandwich, basically a
Caprese combo of buffalo mozzarella, tomato, and
basil, except dressed with a vanilla bean/balsamic
glaze. Fortunately the prices are not at all chichi.$-$$
Gourmet Station
7601 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, 305-762-7229
Home-meal replacement, geared to workaholics with no
time to cook, has been trendy for years. But the
Gourmet Station has outlasted most of the competition.
Main reason: deceptive healthiness. These are meals
that are good for you, yet taste good enough to be bad
for you. Favorite items include precision-grilled salmon
with lemon-dill yogurt sauce, and lean turkey meatloaf
with homemade BBQ sauce – sin-free comfort food. For
lighter eaters, there are wraps and salads with a large,
interesting choice of dressings. Food is available à la
carte or grouped in multimeal plans customized for
individual diner’s nutritional needs. $$
Hiro’s Sushi Express
5140 Biscayne Blvd., 305-759-0914
(See North Miami Beach listing)
Hoagie Hut Café
8650 Biscayne Blvd., 305-757-0910
Located in Antiques Mall, this cute hut (whose wroughtiron and wicker furniture actually give it more the
ambiance of an old-time soda shop) is only open during
weekday 9-to-5 business hours. But no worries. The leftovers from one of the place’s mammoth salads,
whether simple garden or mega-meat Grand Combo,
will feed you for the weekend. And the signature footlong overstuffed “hoagie submarines,” or even the relatively wee eight-inchers, might indeed feed most of a
ship’s crew. Also available: big bargain breakfasts.
Hoagie prices start at $2.99 for a twelve-inch bologna;
nothing on the menu breaks eight bucks. $
Jimmy’s East Side Diner
7201 Biscayne Blvd., 305-754-3692
Open for more than 30 years, Jimmy’s respects the
most important American diner tradition: Breakfast at
any hour. Admittedly the place closes at 4:00 p.m., but
still. There are blueberry hot cakes and pecan waffles
for sweet-tooth eaters; eggs any style, including omelets
and open-face frittatas for those preferring savories;
and a full range of sides: biscuits and sausage gravy,
grits, hash, hash browns, even hot oatmeal. Also available are traditional diner entrées (meat loaf, roast
turkey, liver and onions), plus burgers, salad platters,
and homemade chicken soup. $-$$
56
Karma
7010 Biscayne Blvd., 305-759-1392
A real car wash with meticulous detailing takes time.
But killing an hour is a pleasure at this stylish car
wash/tapas bar, where the elegant light fare occasionally even outshines the hand-washed automobiles.
Vegetarians do especially well, with crusty baguette
sandwich combos like brie, walnuts, and honey, or
another featuring grilled artichokes and buttery St.
Andre cheese. Lower carb items range from an imported olive assortment to an antipasto platter with
Spanish Cantimpalo chorizo, manchego cheese, and
garbanzos. There are breakfast and dessert pastries
too. Beverages include organic coffee and soy chai
lattes, as well as wines and an extensive beer list featuring Belgian brewskis. On Thursday nights the car
wash transforms into a chic lounge until 2:00 a.m. $-$$
Kingdom
6708 Biscayne Blvd., 305-757-0074
This newly renovated, indoor/outdoor sports bar serves
low-priced but high-quality steaks, plus more typical bar
food that’s actually far from the usual premade,
processed stuff. Philly cheese steak sandwiches, big
enough for two, are made from hand-sliced rib eye;
sides include fries and beer-battered onion rings, but
also lightly lemony sautéed spinach. And the burgers
rule, particularly the Doomsday, a cheese/
bacon/mushroom-topped two-pound monster that turns
dinner into a competitive sport. But even the smallest
Queenburger (a half-pounder that’s no sissy) is a perfectly seasoned contender. No hard liquor, but the beer
list makes up for it. $$
Luna Café
4770 Biscayne Blvd., 305-573-5862
www.lunacafemidtown.com
The ground floor of the Wachovia Bank building may not
seem a particularly evocative locale for an Italian eatery,
but once inside, the charming décor and the staff’s
ebullient welcome indeed are reminiscent of a café in
Italy. The kitchen’s outstanding feature is a brick oven,
which turns out designer pizzas (greater in variety, lesser
in cost on the lunch menu, in effect till 4:30 p.m.) and
crisp-skinned roast chickens. Otherwise the menu holds
few surprises – except the prices, surprisingly low for
such a stylish place. No dish exceeds $22. $$-$$$
Azul, not to mention regular Food Network appearances, opened a homey restaurant in an emerging
(but far from fully gentrified) neighborhood. Just be
glad she did, as you dine on white almond gazpacho
or impossibly creamy ham and blue cheese croquetas. Though most full entrées also come in half-size
portions (at almost halved prices), the tab can add up
fast. Table-to-table conversations about the food are
common, something that only happens at exciting, if
not flawless, restaurants. And at this one, the star herself is usually in the kitchen. Parking in the rear off
69th Street. $$$-$$$$
Soyka
Moonchine
7100 Biscayne Blvd., 305-759-3999
Like its Brickell-area older sibling Indochine, this friendly indoor/outdoor Asian bistro serves stylish fare from
three nations: Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Menus
are also similar, split between traditional dishes like
pad Thai and East/West fusion creations like the
Vampire sushi roll (shrimp tempura, tomato, cilantro,
roasted garlic). But the café also carves out its own
identity with original creations, including yellow curryspiced Moonchine fried rice or Popeye’s Salad (spicy
tuna, avocado, spinach, masago roe, sesame seeds,
and a scrumptious sweet/hot kimchee dressing). Nearly
everything is low in sodium, fat, and calories – except
desserts (notably the chocolate bomb). There’s also an
impressive sake list, too. Coming soon: a large rear
patio for dining and entertainment. $$-$$$
One Ninety
26 NE 54th St., 305-758-7085
www.oneninetyrestaurant.com
When the original One Ninety, a hip Nuevo Hippie
hangout in residential Buena Vista, closed because of
rent increases in 2004, loyal patrons from all walks of
life mourned the loss. In its new Little Haiti location,
the space is much smaller but the loose vibe is the
same, as are the eclectic live bands and some old
food favorites: bacalao cake with onion, cuke, and
tomato salad with lemony aioli sauce; ricotta-walnut
agnolotti with butter and sage; and chef Alan
Hughes’s unique black-pepper-spiked white chocolate
mousse (now presented as one of a five-item chocolate medley). $$-$$$
Pineapple Blossom Tea Room
The Lunch Room
7957 NE 2nd Ave., 305-722-0759
Hidden in Little Haiti, this Thai/Japanese spot, which
opened in 2005, remains one of the Upper Eastside’s
best-kept secrets. But chef Michelle Bernstein (of
Michy’s) and other knowledgeable diners wander over
from the Boulevard for simple but perfect pad Thai, chili
grouper (lightly battered fillets in a mouthwatering
tangy/sweet/hot sauce), silky Asian eggplant slices in
Thai basil sauce, and other remarkably low-priced specialties of Matilda Apirukpinyo, who operated a critically
acclaimed South Beach Thai eatery in the 1990s.
Though the casually cute indoor/outdoor place is only
open for weekday lunches, “cantina” dinners can be
ordered and picked up after hours. $
8214 Biscayne Blvd., 305-754-8328
www.pineappleblossom.com
The interior of this pineapple-yellow building is a soothing oasis offering traditional full English tea service – or
a more zingy tropical fruit-flavored Caribbean variation.
Whether your chosen brew is steaming Earl Grey or
pineapple-mint iced tea, the scones (with thick cream
and jam), tea cakes, cookies, and desserts, are hometown treats. Owner Frances Brown is a pastry chef.
There’s more substantial fare, too. Innovative wraps like
Caribbean shrimp salad with tropical fruit salsa; salads
such as warm goat cheese with fresh greens, tomatoes,
dried cranberries, and candied cashews. Also offered
are tempting take-out baskets like the Tea for Two (with
tea, jam, scones, and cookies), great for gifts or for athome teas. $-$$
Michy’s
6927 Biscayne Blvd., 305-759-2001
Don’t even ask why Michele Bernstein, with a résumé
that includes top-chef gigs at upscale eateries like
noises emanating from a new outdoor biergarten, this
German restaurant is owner Alex Richter’s one-man
gentrification project, transforming a formerly uninviting stretch of 79th Street one pils at a time. The fare
includes housemade sausages (mild veal bratwurst,
hearty mixed beef/pork bauernwurst, spicy garlicwurst) with homemade mustard and catsup; savory
yet near-greaseless potato pancakes; and, naturally,
schnitzels, a choice of delicate pounded pork, chicken, or veal patties served with a half-dozen different
sauces. $$-$$$
Royal Bavarian Schnitzel Haus
1085 NE 79th St., 305-754-8002
With Christmas lights perpetually twinkling and party
5556 NE 4th Court, 305-759-3117
www.soykarestaurant.com
This expansive, contemporary hangout was often credited with almost single-handedly sparking the revitalization of the Biscayne Corridor’s Upper Eastside. Now
that the hype has calmed down, Soyka remains a solid
neighborhood restaurant that, like restaurateur Mark
Soyka’s previous ventures (notably Ocean Drive’s pioneering News Café and the Van Dyke on Lincoln Road)
is a perfect fit for its area. Comfortably priced yuppie
comfort food like meatloaf with mashed potatoes, crab
cakes with spicy-sweet slaw, a wild mushroom/smoked
mozzarella pizza, or a Cobb salad may not be revolutionary fare, but Soyka continues to thrive while more
ambitious, nationally publicized restaurants like OLA
have come and gone. $$-$$$
Sushi Siam
5582 NE 4th Court, 305-751-7818
On the fairly standard menu of sushi bar specialties
plus a small selection of Thai and Japanese cooked
dishes there are a few surprises, such as a unique lobster maki that’s admittedly huge in price ($25.95), but
also in size: six ounces of crisp-fried lobster chunks,
plus asparagus, avocado, lettuce, tobiko (flying fish),
masago (smelt) roes, and special sauces. Also popular
are red and orange dragon rolls, similarly sauced makis
of fried shrimp plus veggies topped with, respectively,
raw tuna and salmon. Thai dishes are served with a
choice of more than a dozen sauces, ranging from traditional red or green curries to the inventive, such as an
unconventional honey sauce. $$$
Sushi Square
7244 Biscayne Blvd., 305-754-3100
At this tiny, trendy place, you won’t find a menu dominated by the kinds of makis offered by most Miami
sushi houses: Americanized, cream-cheese-stuffed,
tempura-flake-covered. Instead numerous sushi rolls
are filled with Japanese ingredients: the gobo shiso
(Japanese mountain burdock root and shiso leaf); the
shitake maki (sweet soy-simmered shitake mushroom).
And many others are uniquely imaginative, like the Key
West (key lime-marinated salmon, chives, cilantro
pesto, and pear). There are equally unusual soups, salads, and starters, too. But if nothing appeals, the chef
enjoys a challenge. Tell him, as Diaghilev instructed
Sartre, to astonish you. $$-$$$
Taj Mahal
620 NE 78th St., 305-758-2929
www.tajmahalfl.com
Under new ownership, the restaurant formerly known
April 2008
DINING GUIDE
Restaurant Listings
as Renaisa is rock-and-rolling again. The menu, now
missing Renaisa’s original Bangladeshi specialties,
is mostly a rundown of typical north Indian favorites,
but they’re very savory, assertively spiced versions
that come as hot (or mild) as you like. There’s also a
sprinkling of unusual dishes: spicy/sweet fresh
pumpkin vhuna, Goan salmon curry in coconut
sauce, and an appealing Bombay chat (betweenmeal street snack) of spiced and chilled chickpeas,
topped with tangy/sweet housemade tamarind
yogurt plus a samosa turnover. $$-$$$
UVA 69
6900 Biscayne Blvd., 305-754-9022
www.uva-69.com
Owned by the Vega brothers (chef Michael and artist
Sinuhé) of Cane á Sucre – now defunct, but one of
Midtown Miami’s first cool, contemporary cafés – this
more ambitious yet casual outdoor/indoor Euro-café
serves the same purpose on the Upper Eastside, helping to transform a commuter strip into a hip place to
hang out. Food includes fresh-baked breakfast pastries
and a nighttime tapas menu. But there’s also more
substantial lunch and dinner fare, ranging from elegant sandwiches, salads, and small plates (tempurabattered Gulf shrimp with chili dipping sauce and chayote slaw) to full entrées like sake-marinated grouper
with jasmine rice, shrimp/black bean sauce, and
crispy spinach. $$-$$$
Ver-Daddys Taco Shop
7501 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, 305-303-9755
At this soulful new taco shop, the menu descriptions
are in common English (“cinnamon puffs” drizzled
with honey and lime, not “buñuelos”). But taco fillings
range from the commonplace (ground beef, shredded
chicken) to more unusual pork in chili verde, fried
potato, or Baja battered fish (authentically garnished
with Mexican crema and cilantro-spiked cabbage).
And all offerings can be loaded with other garnishes
from the kitchen (refried beans, cheese, crema) or
April 2008
less perishable offerings from a salsa bar. For the
heath-minded, oils are nonhydrogenated, and
sauces/seasonings are all housemade and free of
preservatives. $
NORTH BAY VILLAGE
Barchetta on the Bay
1601 79th St. Causeway, 305-861-2228
Location, location, location. The truth of the old real
estate cliché could not be better illustrated than at
this reasonably priced Italian restaurant. While pastas
like lobster ravioli in tomato/cream vodka sauce are
under $20, and no meat or seafood entrée exceeds
$30, the spectacular setting on Biscayne Bay is priceless. Floor to ceiling picture windows serve as the
expansive indoor dining space’s rear wall, but the
primo seats are outdoors, in sheltered banquettes
and patio tables where the water view, and carefree
tropical party feel, is unimpeded. $$-$$$$
Havana’s on the Bay
7601 E. Treasure Dr., 305-864-1787
www.havanasonthebay.com
Hidden in a condo complex just off the 79th Street
Causeway, this hip indoor/outdoor waterfront
restolounge serves Cuban-inspired dishes, most with
little Nuevo Latino touches. The masitas (fried pork
chunks) are tamarind-glazed; the fish sandwich’s
condiment is zingy chipotle allioli. And the house specialty, seafood mofongo (mashed fried plantains), is a
chic take on the standard, minimally fish-stuffed fried
plantain balls: one large mound surrounded by a
plethora of shrimp, squid, mussels, salmon, and
white fish, all in a creamy-smooth Creole sauce. Live
Latin and jazz bands play some nights and during
Sunday brunch. $$-$$$
Japanese Market and Sushi Deli
1412 79th St. Causeway, 305-861-0143
Inside a small market that is, nevertheless, widely
considered Miami’s premier source of Japanese foodstuffs, the “Sushi Deli” restaurant component is noth-
ing more than a lunch counter to the left of the
entrance. But chef Michio Kushi, who worked for
years at the Sushin, Miami’s first full-service
Japanese restaurant, serves up some sushi found
nowhere else in town. Example: traditional Osakastyle sushi – layers of rice, seasoned seaweed, more
rice, and marinated fresh mackerel, pressed into a
square box, then cut into lovely one-bite sandwich
squares. While raw fish is always impeccable here,
some unusual vegetarian sushi creations also tempt,
as do daily entrées, like curried beef stew, that typify
Japanese home cooking. $
Oggi Caffe
1666 79th St. Causeway, 305-866-1238
www.oggicaffe.com
This cozy, romantic spot started back in 1989 as a
pasta factory (supplying numerous high-profile restaurants) as well as a neighborhood eatery. And the wide
range of budget-friendly, homemade pastas, made
daily, remains the main draw for its large and loyal
clientele. Choices range from homey, meaty lasagna
to luxuriant crab ravioli with creamy lobster sauce,
with occasional forays into creative exotica such as
seaweed spaghettini (with sea scallops, shitakes, and
fresh tomatoes). For those tempted by too much,
ultra-accommodating servers have been known to
allow half orders of two pastas. $$-$$$
Shuckers Bar & Grill
1819 79th St. Causeway, 305-866-1570
“Cheap eats and a million-dollar view” is the sound
bite manager Philip Conklin uses to describe this outdoor beach bar, hidden in back of a bayfront motel.
The joint dates from South Beach’s late 1980s
revival, but the kick-off-your-shoes vibe – not to mention the pool tables and jukebox – couldn’t be farther
from SoBe glitz. The food ranges from classic bar
favorites (char-grilled wings, conch fritters, raw or
steamed shellfish) to full dinners featuring steak,
homemade pasta, or fresh, not frozen, fish. And
since about half of the establishment is sheltered,
the bites and bay view rock even when the weather
sucks. $-$$
Sushi Siam
1524 NE 79th St. Causeway, 305-864-7638
(See Miami listing)
NORTH BEACH
Café Prima Pasta
414 71st St., 305-867-0106
www.primapasta.com
Opened in 1993 with 28 seats, this family-run North
Beach landmark has now taken over the block, with
an outdoor terrace and multi-roomed indoor space
whose walls are full of photos of their clientele
(including national and local celebs). Particularly
popular are homemade pastas, sauced with
Argentine-Italian indulgence rather than Italian simplicity: crabmeat ravioletti in lobster cream sauce,
black squid ink linguini heaped with seafood. Veal
dishes, such as piccata with white wine-lemon-caper
sauce, are also a specialty. Though romantic enough
for dates, the place is quite kid-friendly — and on the
terrace, they’ll even feed Fido. $$$
Tamarind Thai
946 Normandy Dr., 305-861-6222
www.tamarindthai.us
When an eatery’s executive chef is best-selling Thai
cookbook author Vatcharin Bhumichitr, you’d expect
major media hype, fancy South Beach prices, and a
fancy SoBe address. Instead Bhumichitr joined forces
with Day Longsomboon (an old Thai school pal who’d
moved to Miami) at this unpretentious, authentic (no
sushi) neighborhood place. Some standout dishes
here (like shrimp and corn cakes with plum sauce,
deep-fried sweet and sour fish, and roast duck with
tamarind sauce) are featured in the chef’s latest
tome, Vatch’s Thai Kitchen, but with Tamarind’s very
affordable prices (especially at lunch), you might as
well let the man’s impeccably trained kitchen staff do
the work for you. $$-$$$
57
DINING GUIDE
Restaurant Listings
MIAMI SHORES
Village Café
9540 NE 2nd Ave., 305-757-6453
www.villagecaferestaurant.com
There’s an official Village Hall a few blocks up the road,
but a popular vote would probably proclaim Village Café
the community center of Miami Shores. Few residents
can resist starting the workday with unique breakfast
treats like a pressed panini of ham, Brie, and
caramelized apples. Later locals gather over a balsamic-dressed cranberry blue chicken salad (a grilled breast
on romaine with gorgonzola, walnuts, and dried cranberries), pan-fried blue crab cakes with beurre blanc
and crisp cayenne-fried onions, wonton-topped salmon
Oriental, or homemade pasta. As for dessert, the pastry
case speaks for village residents: Let them eat (freshbaked) cake! $-$$
Côte Gourmet
9999 NE 2nd Ave., #112, 305-754-9012
If every Miami neighborhood had a neighborhood
restaurant like this low-priced little French jewel, it’d be
one fantastic food town. The menu is mostly simple
stuff: breakfast croissants, crêpe, soups, sandwiches,
salads, sweets, and a few more substantial specials
like a Tunisian-style brik (buttery phyllo pastry stuffed
with tuna, onions, potatoes, and tomatoes) with a
mesclun side salad. But everything is homemade,
including all breads, and prepared with impeccable
ingredients, classic French technique, and meticulous
attention to detail, down to the stylish plaid ribbons that
hold together the café’s baguette sandwiches. $-$$
range of sandwiches and wraps. Breakfast time is busy
time, with banana-walnut pancakes especially popular.
But what’s most important is that this is one of the
area’s few sources of the real, New York-style water
bagel: crunchy outside, challengingly chewy inside.
Those puffy half-donuts most places pass off as bagels
aren’t even contenders. $
Chef Creole
Bamboche
13408 Biscayne Blvd., 305-947-6339
Buried in a strip mall perpendicular to the Boulevard,
Bamboche is worth the hunt on one of those head-splitting Saturdays, for a Haitian specialty not found in
many area restaurants: bouillon tet cabrit, a soup
packed with greens (like spinach, cabbage, cress, string
beans) and root veggies that is reputed to be a miraculous hangover remedy. Along with bouillon, weekend
specials include more unusual dishes like fritay, fried
street snacks. Haitian standards (griot, tassot) are available daily, as are fresh-squeezed juices, lattes, and
almost two dozen desserts. $
Canton Café
12749 Biscayne Blvd., 305-892-2882
Easily overlooked, this strip-mall spot serves mostly
Cantonese-based dishes, ranging from all the old
Chinese-American classics (chop suey, moo goo gai pan,
pu pu platters) through newer Americanized fusion
favorites like honey garlic chicken, teriyaki beef, and
crab Rangoon. But there are also about two dozen spicier, Szechuan-style standards like kung po shrimp, ma po
tofu, and General Tso’s chicken. And there are a few
imaginative new items, like the intriguingly christened
“Shrimp Lost in the Forest,” Singapore curried rice noodles, crispy shrimp with honey-glazed walnuts, and
Mongolian beef (with raw chilis and fresh Oriental basil).
Delivery is available for both lunch and dinner. $$
Captain Jim’s Seafood
NORTH MIAMI
Los Antojos
11099 Biscayne Blvd., 305-892-1411
If it’s Sunday, it must be sancocho de gallina,
Colombia’s national dish. If it’s Saturday, it must be ajiaco. Both are thick chicken soups, full meals in a bowl.
But veggies and garnishes vary, and this modest
Colombian eatery is a handy spot to comparison-test
such typical stews. Adventuresome eaters may want to
try another Saturday special, mondongo (tripe soup,
similar to Mexico’s menudo). For Colombian-cuisine
novices, a Bandeja Paisa (sampler including rice,
beans, carne asada, chicharron, eggs, sautéed sweet
plantains, and an arepa corn cake) is available every
day, as are antojitos – “little whims,” smaller snacks
like chorizo con arepa (a corn cake with Colombian
sausage). And for noncarnivores there are several hefty
seafood platters, made to order. $$
Bagels & Co.
11064 Biscayne Blvd., 305-892-2435
While this place is often referred to as Guns & Bagels,
one can’t actually buy a gun here. The nickname refers
to its location next to a firearms shop. But there’s a lot
of other stuff aside from bagels here, including a full
58
than Chéen’s – earthily aromatic from achiote, tangy
from bitter oranges, meltingly tender from slow cooking
in a banana leaf wrap. To accompany, try a
lime/soy/chili-spiced michelada, also authentically
Mexican, and possibly the best thing that ever happened to dark beer. $$-$$$
12950 W. Dixie Hwy., 305-892-2812
This market/restaurant was garnering critical acclaim
even when eat-in dining was confined to a few Formica
tables in front of the fish counter, owing to the freshness of its seafood (much of it from Capt. Jim Hanson’s
own fishing boats, which supply many of Miami’s most
upscale eateries). Now there’s a casual but pleasantly
nautical side dining room with booths, and more recently added, a sushi bar stocked largely with flown-in
Japanese fish just as pristine as the local catch.
Whether it’s garlicky scampi (made with sweet Key
West shrimp), housemade smoked fish dip, grilled yellowtail (or some more exotic local snapper, like hog or
mutton), perfectly tenderized cracked conch, or conch
fritters (with just enough batter to bind the big chunks
of Bahamian shellfish), everything is deftly prepared
and bargain-priced. $$
13105 W. Dixie Hwy., 305-893-4246
(See Miami listing)
Chipotle Mexican Grill
14776 Biscayne Blvd., 305-947-2779
www.chipotle.com
Proving that national fast-food chains don’t have to be
bad for either diners or the environment, Chipotle
serves what the company calls “food with integrity.” The
fare is simple, basically tacos and big burritos: soft flour
or crisp corn tortillas stuffed with chipotle-marinated
steak or chicken chunks, bolder shredded beef barbacoa, or herb-scented pork carnitas, all with choice of
fresh garnishes. But these bites contain no evil ingredients (transfats, artificial color/flavor, antibiotics, growth
hormones). Additionally, all pork, plus a large and growing percentage of the grill’s beef and poultry, is raised
via humane and ecologically sustainable methods. And
the food, while not the authentic Mex street stuff
dreams are made of, is darned tasty, too. $
D.J.’s Diner
12210 Biscayne Blvd., 305-893-5250
Located in a Best Western motel, this place, run by a
Chinese-American family, serves mostly basic American
diner fare – burgers, sandwiches, about a dozen dinner
entrées, fresh-baked apple pie, and, oddly, a whole section of Caesar salad variations. But it’s also a secret
source for Chinese food, mostly chow mien/chop sueytype dishes, but also a few dishes such as eggplant
with garlic sauce and ma po tofu that are a step up in
authenticity. $-$$
Hanna’s Gourmet Diner
13951 Biscayne Blvd., 305-947-2255
When Sia and Nicole Hemmati bought the Gourmet
Diner from retiring original owner Jean-Pierre Lejeune in
the late 1990s, they added “Hanna’s” to the name, but
changed little else about this retro-looking
French/American diner, a north Miami-Dade institution
since 1983. Customers can get a cheeseburger or garlicky escargots, meatloaf in tomato sauce or boeuf
bourguignon in red wine sauce, iceberg lettuce and
tomatoes, or a mushroom and squid salad with garlic
dressing. For oysters Rockefeller/tuna-melt couples
from Venus and Mars, it remains the ideal dinner date
destination. $$-$$$
Chéen-huyae
Le Griot de Madame John
15400 Biscayne Blvd., 305-956-2808
Diners can get some of the usual Tex-Mex dishes at
this cute spot, if they must. But the specialty is Mayanrooted Yucatan cuisine. So why blow bucks on burritos
when one can sample Caribbean Mexico’s most typical
dish: cochinita pibil? It’s currently LA’s trendiest taco
filling (and morning-after hangover remedy). But that
city couldn’t have a more authentically succulent version of the pickle-onion-topped marinated pork dish
975 NE 125th St., 305-892-9333
When Madame moved her base of operations from her
Little Haiti home to a real restaurant (though a very
informal one, and still mostly take-out), she began offering numerous traditional Haitian dishes, including
jerked beef or goat tassot and an impressive poisson
gros sel (a whole fish rubbed with salt before poaching
with various veggies and spices). But the dish that still
packs the place is the griot: marinated pork chunks
simmered and then fried till they’re moistly tender
inside, crisp and intensely flavored outside. $
Here Comes the Sun
2188 NE 123rd St., 305-893-5711
At this friendly natural foods establishment, one of
Miami’s first, there’s a full stock of vitamins and nutritional supplements. But the place’s hearty soups, large
variety of entrées (including fresh fish and chicken as
well as vegetarian selections), lighter bites like miso
burgers with secret “sun sauce” (which would probably
make old sneakers taste good), and daily specials are a
tastier way to get healthy. An under-ten-buck early-bird
dinner is popular with the former long-hair, now bluehair, crowd. Frozen yogurt, fresh juices, and smoothies
complete the menu. $-$$
Ichi
13488 Biscayne Blvd., 305-944-9334
Half sushi/sashimi, half cooked Japanese dishes, the
menu is relatively small but covers most of the traditional favorites and a few surprises. Popular makis
include the Dream (shrimp tempura, avocado,
Japanese mayo, and masago), the vegetarian Popeye
spicy spinach roll, and the deep-fried Crispy, a riceless
salmon and veggie roll. Among cooked items, there’s
a large list of teriyakis, and a few dishes prepared
with a different twist – panko-breaded pork or chicken
katsu cutlets, for instance, that eschew the standard
sweet sauce for curry. $$
Jerusalem Market and Deli
16275 Biscayne Blvd., 305-948-9080
Specialties like shawarma, spinach pies, kebabs, hummus, and kibbeh (a savory mix of ground lamb and bulgur, arguably the world’s most interesting meatball) are
native to many Middle East countries, but when a
Lebanese chef/owner, like this eatery’s Sam Elzoor, is
at the helm, you can expect extraordinary refinement.
There are elaborate daily specials here, like lemon
chicken or stuffed cabbage with a variety of sides, but
even a common falafel sandwich is special when the
pita is also stuffed with housemade cabbage and onion
salads, plus unusually rich and tart tahina. For home
cooks, there’s also a limited selection of imported
spices and staples. $-$$
Kingston Bar & Grill
12108 Biscayne Blvd., 305-899-0074
Making a quick run for photocopy toner can lead to a
pleasant surprise if your destination is the Office Depot
next door to this humble eatery. The storefront looks
more like a derelict Laundromat than a source for
authentic Jamaican fare (plus a few Haitian specialties).
But the changing $3.99 lunch specials, and even
cheaper Tuesday and Thursday chicken special (curry,
brown jerk, fried, or stew chicken for an unbelievable
$2.50), can’t be beat on the Boulevard. Breakfast,
served 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., includes specialties
like ackee and salt fish, callaloo, and fried or boiled
dumplings. On Fridays look for goat-head soup. $
Lime Fresh Mexican Grill
14831 Biscayne Blvd., 305-949-8800
Like its South Beach predecessor, this Lime was an
April 2008
DINING GUIDE
Restaurant Listings
instant hit, as much for being a hip hangout as for its
carefully crafted Tex-Mex food. Though Lime is now
franchising, the chain’s concept is “fast casual” rather
than fast food – meaning nice enough for a night out. It
also means ingredients aren’t canned-type crapola.
Seafood tacos are about as exotic as the standard
menu gets, but the mahi mahi for fish tacos comes
fresh, never frozen, from a local supplier, and salsas
are housemade daily. Niceties include low-carb tortillas
for dieters and many Mexican beers for partiers. $
Little Havana
12727 Biscayne Blvd., 305-899-9069
www.littlehavanarestaurant.com
In addition to white-tablecoth ambiance that’s several
steps up in elegance from the majority of neighborhood
eateries, this place features live Latin entertainment
and dancing, making it a good choice when diners want
a night out, not just a meal. It’s also a good choice for
diners who don’t speak Spanish, but don’t worry about
authenticity. Classic Cuban home-style dishes like mojomarinated lechon asado, topped with onions, and juicy
ropa vieja are translated on the menu, not the plate,
and fancier creations like pork filet in tangy tamarind
sauce seem universal crowd-pleasers. $$$
Louie’s Brick Oven
15979 Biscayne Blvd., 305-948-3330
www.louiesbrickoven.com
A pocket flashlight isn’t a bad idea if you want to read
the menu in this mood-lit room. But who needs to read
it? There’s a coal-fired brick oven, so order pizza, which
comes out of the ultra-hot enclosure with a perfect crust
– beautifully blistered, crisp outside, chewy inside.
Appealing toppings include the Calabrese (Italian
sausage, caramelized onions, kalamata olives, mozzarella, tomato sauce) and a more modern mix of mozzarella,
tomato sauce, onion, thin-sliced prosciutto, and arugula
drizzled with olive oil. For those craving more crunch
than the latter pie’s arugula salad, there are flavorful
veggies from a hardwood-fired grill. Wings from the brick
oven (spiced with roasted garlic and Italian herbs,
topped with grilled onions) are a smokin’ starter. $$-$$$
Maleewan Thai & Sushi
2224 NE 123rd St., 305-895-0393
Redecorated (tasteful bamboo-matted walls, silk flowers)
since the days — many days — this space was occupied
by the kosher sushi spot Tani Guchi’s Place, Maleewan
is now a cozy, neighborly nook at which to enjoy all the
standard Japanese and Thai selections. Cooked sushi is
the strong suit here, particularly the signature mammoth-size Maleewan roll, given zing by pickled Japanese
squash and savor by a crispy yellowtail tempura topping.
If you’re craving more creative fare, check out the handwritten specials board on your way in. $$
Mama Jennie’s
11720 NE 2nd Ave., 305-757-3627
For more than 35 years this beloved red-sauce joint has
been drawing students and other starvation-budget diners with prodigious portions of lasagna, spaghetti and
meatballs (the latter savory yet light-textured), veal
marsala topped with a mountain of mushrooms, and
other Italian-American belly-busters. All pasta or meat
entrées come with oil-drenched garlic rolls and either
soup (hearty minestrone) or a salad (mixed greens,
tomatoes, cukes, brined olives, and pickled peppers)
that’s a dinner in itself. Rustic roadhouse ambiance,
notably the red leatherette booths, add to Mama’s
charm. $-$$
even Nobu Matsuhisa’s “new style sashimi” (slightly
surface-seared by drizzles of hot olive and sesame oil).
Formerly all Japanese-influenced, the specials menu
now includes some Thai-inspired creations, too, such as
veal massaman curry, Chilean sea bass curry, and sizzling filet mignon with basil sauce. $$$-$$$$
The Melting Pot
La Paloma
15700 Biscayne Blvd., 305-947-2228
www.meltingpot.com
For 1950s and 1960s college students, fondue pots
were standard dorm accessories. These days, however,
branches of this chain (originating in Maitland, Florida,
in 1975) are generally the only places to go for this
blast-from-the-past eating experience. Fondues are
available à la carte or as full dip-it-yourself meals. Start
with a wine-enriched four-cheese fondue; proceed to an
entrée with choice of meat or seafood, plus choice of
cooking potion – herbed wine, bouillon, or oil; finish
with fruits and cakes dipped in your favorite melted
chocolate. Fondue etiquette dictates that diners who
drop a skewer in the pot must kiss all other table companions, so go with those you love. $$$
10999 Biscayne Blvd., 305-891-0505
Step into La Paloma and you’ll be stepping back in
time, circa 1957. Adorned with antiques (some even
real) and chandeliers, the over-the-top plush décor was
the American fine-dining ideal – half a century ago
(though actually the place only dates from the 1970s).
Cuisine is similarly retro-luxe: old-fashioned upscale
steaks, chops, and lobster, plus fancier Continental
fare. If you have a yen for chateaubriand, duck a l’orange, oysters Rockefeller, French onion soup, trout
almondine, wiener schnitzel, and peach Melba, it’s the
only place in town that can deliver them all. A huge
wine list fuels the fantasy. $$$$
North One 10
11052 Biscayne Blvd., 305-893-4211
www.northone10.com
For most chefs a Miami-to-Manhattan move is generally
considered one of those offers you can’t refuse. But
after helming several NYC restaurants for China Grill
Management, the homegrown married team of chef
Dewey and sommelier Dale LoSasso returned to do
their own thing in their own neighborhood. The menu is
“creative comfort food”: a shrimp waffle with basil butter; “steak and eggs” (a grilled NY strip with truffled
goat cheese frittata, herb demiglace, and hash browns);
a stone crab hot dog the chef invented for a Super Bowl
party. The award-winning wine list inspires playfully
themed pairing events like an Italian food/wine
“Godfather” dinner. But it’s not South Beach, so prices
are reasonable, and parking is free. $$$-$$$$
Paquito’s
16265 Biscayne Blvd., 305-947-5027
From the outside, this strip-mall Mexican eatery
couldn’t be easier to overlook. Inside, however, its festivity is impossible to resist. Every inch of wall space
seems to be covered with South of the Border knickknacks. And if the kitschy décor alone doesn’t cheer
you, the quickly arriving basket of fresh (not packaged)
taco chips, or the mariachi band, or the knockout margaritas will. Food ranges from Tex-Mex burritos and a
party-size fajita platter to authentic Mexican moles and
harder-to-find traditional preparations like albóndigas –
spicy, ultra-savory meatballs. $$-$$$
Pasha’s
14871 Biscayne Blvd., 786-923-2323
www.pashas.com
(See Miami: Brickell / Downtown listing)
Paul Bakery Café
Nuvo Kafe
13152 W. Dixie Hwy., 305-892-1441
Though the neighborhood is decidedly ungentrified, the
interior of this café is an oasis of cultivated Caribbean
cool and subtly sophisticated global fare. Haitian-born,
Montreal-schooled chef Ivan Dorval formerly cooked at
the Oasis Café in Miami Beach, as well as the Delano,
and the varied background is reflected in cuisine that’s
chiefly creative Caribbean but with influences from the
Middle East, Asia, Greece, and Italy. Homemade,
health-oriented dishes include velvety ginger pumpkin
bisque, unusually refined conch fritters (light batter,
monster chunks of conch), West Indies crab cakes with
citrus aioli, and a signature lavish, but only slightly sinful, Citadel Raw Fruit Pie. $$-$$$
Oishi Thai
14841 Biscayne Blvd., 305-947-4338
www.oishithai.com
At this stylish, dramatically minimalist Thai/sushi spot,
the regular Thai and Japanese dishes are as good as
anywhere in town. But the way to go is the menu of specials, many of which clearly reflect the young chef’s
fanatic devotion to fresh fish, as well as the time he
spent in the kitchen of Knob: broiled miso-marinated
black cod; rock shrimp tempura with creamy sauce;
14861 Biscayne Blvd., 305-940-4443
www.paulusa.com
From one rural shop in 1889, the French bakery known
simply as Paul has grown to a worldwide chain, which
fortunately chose to open its first U.S. outlet in our
town. One bite of the crusty peasant loaf, the olive-studded fougasse, or another of the signature artisan
breads transports you right back to France. As authentic as the boulangerie breads are, the patisserie items
like flan normande (a buttery-crusted, almond-topped
apple-and-custard tart) are just as evocative. For eat-in
diners, quite continental soups, salads, and sandwiches are equally and dependably French. $$
ubiquitous tarte tatin, caramelized apples atop puffpastry crust. $$-$$$
Sara’s
2214 NE 123rd St., 305-891-3312
www.saraskosherpizza.com
While this mainly vegetarian kosher place is best known
for its pizza (New York-style medium crust or thick-crusted Sicilian, topped with veggies and/or “meat buster”
imitation meats), it’s also offers a full range of breakfast/lunch/dinner vegetarian cuisine of all nations, with
many dairy and seafood items too. Admittedly the cutesie names of many items – baygels, bergerrbite, Cezarrrr
salad, hammm, meat-a-ball, schmopperrr – may cause
queasiness. But the schmopperrr itself is one helluva
high-octane veggie burger. $-$$
Scorch Grillhouse and Wine Bar
13750 Biscayne Blvd., 305-949-5588
www.scorchgrillhouse.com
Though some food folks were initially exasperated when
yet another Latin-influenced grill replaced one of our
area’s few Vietnamese restaurants, it’s hard to bear a
grudge at a friendly, casual neighborhood place that
offers monster ten-ounce char-grilled burgers, with potatoes or salad, for $8.50; steaks, plus a side and a sauce
or veg topper, for nine bucks at lunch, $15 to $18.75 (the
menu’s top price) at night; and three-dollar glasses of
decent house wine. Many other grilled meat and seafood
items are also offered, plus pastas, salads, gooey
desserts, and specials (events as well as food). $-$$
Steve’s Pizza
12101 Biscayne Blvd., 305-891-0202
At the end of a debauched night of excess, some paperthin designer pizza with wisps of smoked salmon (or
similar fluff) doesn’t do the trick. Open till 3:00 or 4:00
a.m., Steve’s has, since 1974, been serving the kind of
comforting, retro pizzas people crave at that hour. As in
Brooklyn, tomato sauce is sweet, with strong oregano
flavor. Mozzarella is applied with abandon. Toppings are
stuff that give strength: pepperoni, sausage, meatballs,
onions, and peppers. $
Sun City Café
15400 Biscayne Blvd., 305-940-6955
Super-stuffed crêpes, made to order from scratch, are
the main specialty here – some sweet (the Banana
Split: fresh strawberries, sliced bananas, candied walnuts, ice cream, and Nutella or dulce de leche), some
savory (the Sun City Steak: beef, mushrooms, onions,
red peppers, Swiss cheese, and A1 sauce). But there’s
also a smaller selection of custom-crafted wraps, salads, sandwiches, and sides, plus smoothies, coffee
drinks, even beer or wine. Free Wi-Fi encourages long,
lingering lunches. $
Plein Sud
12409 Biscayne Blvd., 305-891-2355
The Boulevard may not be the Champs-Elysées, but diners could be fooled once inside this evocative French
bistro. The ambiance is Old World, and the menu is
solid and well executed. Starters range from country
comfort (Lyonnaise sausage with warm, vinegary potato
salad; a charcuterie platter with homemade pâté) to
urban sophistication (Maine lobster tail with celery
remoulade). Entrées include long-stewed, creamy blanquette de veau, or a precision-cooked steak-frites (rib
eye with crisp shoestring fries). For dessert there is the
Sushi House
15911 Biscayne Blvd., 305-947-6002
In terms of décor drama, this sushi spot seems to have
taken its cue from Philippe Starck: Delano-like sheer
floor-to-ceiling drapes, for starters. The sushi list, too, is
over the top, featuring monster makis: the Cubbie
Comfort (spicy tuna, soft-shell crab, shrimp and eel
tempura, plus avocado, jalapeños, and cilantro, topped
with not one but three sauces: wasabi, teriyaki, and
ORIGINAL BAVARIAN
BIER GARTEN
OPEN DAILY FROM 5:00PM TO 11:00PM
FRIDAY & SATURDAY TO MIDNIGHT
305-754-8002 www.schnitzelhausmiami.net
1085 N.E. 79th Street/Causeway, Miami, FL 33138
TEL :
April 2008
59
DINING GUIDE
Restaurant Listings
subs, simple salads, and a few new protein adds –
grilled chicken breast, fried fish, or a steak. $-$$
spicy mayo); the Volcano, topped with a mountain of
tempura flakes; the spicy/sweet sauce-drenched
Hawaiian King Crab, containing unprecedented ingredients like tomatoes, green peppers, and pineapple. To
drink there are boutique wines, artisan sakes, and
cocktails as exotic as the cuisine. $$$-$$$$
Twenty-One Toppings
14480 Biscayne Blvd., #105, North Miami
305-947-3433
A shoo-in to top many future “Best Burger” polls, this little joint serves sirloin, chicken, turkey, and white bean
patties, topped with your choice of one cheese from a
list of seven, one sauce from a list of twelve, and three
toppings from a list of 21. And since the chef/co-owner
is a culinary school grad who has trained in several cutting-edge kitchens (including David Bouley Evolution),
the garnishes ain’t just ketchup. There’s Asian vinaigrette, gorgonzola, grilled portobellos, much more. If
choosing is too confusing, try the chef-designed combos.
Tokyo Bowl
12295 Biscayne Blvd., 305-892-9400
This fast-food drive-thru (unexpectedly serene inside) is
named for its feature item, big budget-priced bowls of
rice or noodles topped with cooked Japanese-style
items like teriyaki fish (fresh fish sautéed with vegetables), curried chicken and veggies, spicy shrimp, or
gyoza dumplings in tangy sauce. There’s also an all-youcan-eat deal – sushi (individual nigiri or maki rolls) plus
tempura, teriyaki, and other cooked items for $14;
three bucks more for sashimi instead of sushi. $-$$
Wong’s Chinese Restaurant
12420 Biscayne Blvd., 305-891-4313
This old-timer’s menu reads like a textbook on how to
please everyone, with food ranging from traditional
Chinese to Chinese-American to just plain American.
Appetizers include honey garlic chicken wings or
Buffalo wings. A crab-claw starter comes with choice of
pork fried rice or French fries. Seafood lovers can get
shrimp chop suey, or salty pepper shrimp (authentically
shell-on). And snowbirds will be pleased to find a number of dishes that are mainstays of Manhattan
Szechuan menus but not common in Miami: cold
sesame noodles, Hunan chicken, twice-cooked pork,
Lake Tung Ting shrimp, and peppery kung po squid. $$
Woody’s Famous Steak Sandwich
13105 Biscayne Blvd., 305-891-1451
The griddle has been fired up since 1954 at this indie
fast-food joint, and new owners have done little to
change the time-tested formula except to stretch operating hours into the night and expand its classic griddledor-fried-things menu to include a few health-conscious
touches like Caesar salad, plus a note proclaiming their
oils are free of trans fats. Otherwise the famous steak
sandwich is still a traditional Philly – thin-sliced beef,
cheese, and onions on a buttered Italian roll (with tasty
housemade sour cream/horseradish sauce served on
the side so as not to offend purists). Extras like mushrooms are possible, not imposed. Drippin’ good burgers,
too. And unlike MacChain addicts, patrons here can
order a cold beer with the good grease. $-$$
Zipang
Venezia Pizza and Café
13452 Biscayne Blvd., 305-940-1808
No frozen pizza crusts or watery mozzarella here. No
imported designer ingredients either. The pies are New
York-style, but the dough is made fresh daily, and the
cheese is Grande (from Wisconsin, considered
America’s finest pizza topper). Also on the menu are
Italian-American pastas, a large selection of hot an cold
14316 Biscayne Blvd., 305-919-8844
It’s appropriate that the name of this small strip-mall
sushi spot refers to Japan’s first and only sparkling
sake – something most Americans have never heard of,
making the reference pretty much an insider’s joke.
Since opening several years ago, the restaurant itself
has been one of our town’s best-kept secrets. But the
perfectionist chef/owner’s concentration on quality and
freshness of ingredients has made Zipang the pick of
sushi cognoscenti like Loews’s executive chef Marc
Ehrler, who has named the unpretentious place his
favorite Miami eatery, while admitting the obvious:
“Nobody knows it.” $$-$$$
party combo platters. But there are also bento boxes
featuring tempura, yakitori skewers, teriyaki, stir-fried
veggies, and udon noodles. Another branch is now
open in Miami’s Upper Eastside. $
Hiro’s Yakko-San
NORTH MIAMI BEACH
Bamboo Garden
1232 NE 163rd St., 305-945-1722
Big enough for a banquet (up to 300 guests), this veteran is many diners’ favorite on the 163rd/167th Street
“Chinatown” strip because of its superior décor. But the
menu also offers well-prepared, authentic dishes like
peppery black bean clams, sautéed mustard greens,
and steamed whole fish with ginger and scallions, plus
Chinese-American egg foo young. Default spicing is mild
even in Szechuan dishes marked with red-chili icons, but
don’t worry; realizing some like it hot, the chefs will customize spiciness to heroic heat levels upon request. $$
China Restaurant
178 NE 167th St., 305-947-6549
When you have a yen for the Americanized Chinese
fusion dishes you grew up with, all the purist regional
Chinese cuisine in the world won’t scratch the itch. So
the menu here, containing every authentically inauthentic Chinese-American classic you could name, is just
the ticket when nostalgia strikes – from simple egg rolls
to pressed almond duck (majorly breaded boneless
chunks, with comfortingly thick gravy). $-$$
Christine’s Roti Shop
16721 NE 6th Ave., 305-770-0434
Wraps are for wimps. At this small shop run by Christine
Gouvela, originally from British Guyana, the wrapper is
a far more substantial and tasty roti, a Caribbean
mega-crepe made from chickpea flour. Most popular filling for the flatbread is probably jerk chicken, bone-in
pieces in a spiced stew of potatoes, cabbage, carrots,
onions, and more chickpeas. But there are about a
dozen other curries to choose from, including beef,
goat, conch, shrimp, trout, and duck. Take-out packages
of plain roti are also available; they transform myriad
leftovers into tasty, portable lunches. $
Hiro Japanese Restaurant
3007 NE 163rd St., 305-948-3687
One of Miami’s first sushi restaurants, Hiro retains an
amusing retro-glam feel, an extensive menu of both
sushi and cooked Japanese food, and late hours that
make it a perennially popular snack stop after a hard
night at the area’s movie multiplexes (or strip clubs). The
sushi menu has few surprises, but quality is reliable.
Most exceptional are the nicely priced yakitori, skewers
of succulently soy-glazed and grilled meat, fish, and vegetables; the unusually large variety available of the last
makes this place a good choice for vegetarians. $$
Hiro’s Sushi Express
17048 W. Dixie Hwy., 305-949-0776
Tiny, true, but there’s more than just sushi at this mostly take-out spin-off of the pioneering Hiro. Makis are the
mainstay (standard stuff like California rolls, more complex creations like multi-veg futomaki, and a few unexpected treats like a spicy Crunch & Caliente maki),
available à la carte or in value-priced individual and
17040 W. Dixie Hwy., 305-947-0064
After sushi chefs close up their own restaurants for the
night, many come here for a bite of something different.
The specialty is Japanese home cooking, served in grazing portions so diners can enjoy a wide variety of the
unusual dishes offered. Standard sushi isn’t missed
when glistening-fresh strips of raw tuna can be had in
maguro nuta – mixed with scallions and dressed with
habit-forming honey-miso mustard sauce. Dishes
depend on the market, but other favorites include
goma ae (wilted spinach, chilled and dressed in
sesame sauce), garlic stem and beef (mild young
shoots flash-fried with tender steak bits), or perhaps
just-caught grouper with hot/sweet/tangy chili sauce.
Open till around 3:00 a.m. $$
Heelsha
1550 NE 164th St., 305-919-8393, www.heelsha.com
If unusual Bangladeshi dishes like fiery pumpkin patey
(cooked with onion, green pepper, and pickled mango)
or Heelsha curry (succulently spiced hilsa,
Bangladesh’s sweet-fleshed national fish) seem familiar, it’s because chef/owner Bithi Begum and her husband Tipu Raman once served such fare at the critically
acclaimed Renaisa. Their new menu’s mix-and-match
option also allows diners to pair their choice of meat,
poultry, fish, or vegetable with more than a dozen
regional sauces, from familiar Indian styles to exotica
like satkara, flavored with a Bangladeshi citrus reminiscent of sour orange. Early-bird dinners (5:00 to 6:30
p.m.) are a bargain, as some dishes are almost halfprice. Lunch is served weekends only except by reservation, so call ahead. $$-$$$
JC Food
1242 NE 163rd St., 305-956-5677
Jumbo’s regular menu offers a large percentage of hardto-find traditional Chinese home-cooking specialties
(many using fresh and preserved Asian vegetables): pork
with bitter melon, beef with sour cabbage, chicken with
mustard green, cellophane noodle with mixed-vegetable
casserole. Still, most diners come for dim sum, a huge
selection served at all hours. These small plates include
chewy rice noodle rolls filled with shrimp or beef, leek
dumplings, crisp-fried stuffed taro balls, savory porkstudded turnip cake, pork/peanut congee, custard croissants, and for the brave, steamed chicken feet. $$
Kyung Ju
400 NE 167th St., 305-947-3838
Star of the show at this long-lived Korean restaurant
(one of only a handful in Miami-Dade County) is bulgogi.
The name translates as “fire meat,” but isn’t a reference to Koreans’ love of hot chilis. Rather it refers to
Korean-style barbecue, which is really not barbecued
but quickly grilled after long marination in a mix of soy
sauce, sesame, sugar, garlic, and more. Lovers of fiery
food can customize with dipping sauces, or the eatery’s
many little banchan (included side dishes, some mild,
OPEN LUNCH
& DINNER
LUNCH EXPRESS Thai Special $8.95
KARAOKE IDOL every other Wednesday starting at 9pm
Prizes & gifts to participants. Kitchen open late.
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DINING GUIDE
Restaurant Listings
others mouth-searing). Pa jun, a crispy egg/scallionbased pancake, is a crowd-pleasing starter. And if the
unfamiliarity seems too scary altogether, there’s a
selection of Chinese food. $$-$$$
Kebab Indian Restaurant
514 NE 167th St., 305-940-6309
Since the 1980s this restaurant, located in an
unatmospheric mini strip mall but surprisingly romantic
inside (especially if you grab one of the exotically
draped booths) has been a popular destination for reasonably priced north Indian fare. Kormas are properly
soothing and vindaloos are satisfactorily searing, but
the kitchen will adjust seasonings upon request. They
aim to please. Food arrives unusually fast for an Indian
eatery, too. $$
King Buffet
316 NE 167th St., 305-940-8668
In this restaurant’s parking lot, midday on Sundays, the
colorful display of vivid pinks, greens, and blues worn
by myriad families arriving for dinner in matching goingto-church outfits is equaled only by the eye-poppingly
dyed shrimp chips and desserts displayed inside on the
buffet table. Though there’s an à la carte menu, the
draw here is the 100-item (according to advertisements) all-you-can-eat spread of dishes that are mostly
Chinese, with some American input. It’s steam-table
stuff, but the price is right and then some: $5.95 for
lunch, $8.95 for dinner. $-$$
King Palace
330 NE 167th St., 305-949-2339
The specialties here are authentic Chinatown-style barbecue (whole ducks, roast pork strips, and more, displayed in a glass case by the door), and fresh seafood
dishes, the best made with the live fish swimming in
two tanks by the dining room entrance. There’s also a
better-than-average selection of seasonal Chinese veggies. The menu is extensive, but the best ordering strategy, since the place is usually packed with Asians, is to
see what looks good on nearby tables, and point.
Servers will also steer you to the good stuff, once you
convince them you’re not a chop suey kinda person. $$
Laurenzo’s Market Café
16385 W. Dixie Hwy., 305-945-6381
www.laurenzosmarket.com
It’s just a small area blocked off by grocery shelves,
buried between the wines and the fridge counters – no
potted palms, and next-to-no service in this cafeteriastyle snack space. But when negotiating this international gourmet market’s packed shelves and crowds
has depleted your energies, it’s a handy place to refuel
with eggplant parmesan and similar Italian-American
classics, steam-tabled but housemade from old family
recipes. Just a few spoonfuls of Wednesday’s hearty
pasta fagiole, one of the daily soup specials, could
keep a person shopping for hours. $-$$
version made with saj, a circular Syrian flatbread similar to pita but much thinner, moister, and all-around better. Upon order, diners can watch the chef custom-cook
their saj (on a scorching-hot, flying-saucer metal dome
of the same name), then roll the beautifully surface-blistered bread around one of 27 stuffings, including
za’atar and EVOO, brined olives and labneh (creamy
yogurt cheese), falafel, steak, even dessert fillings like
strawberries and Nutella. Also available: soups, salads,
and substantial globally topped rice bowls, plus fresh
fruit juices and smoothies. $
this strip between I-95 and Biscayne Boulevard, PK
has the only prepared-food counter, serving authentic
Chinatown barbecue, with appropriate dipping sauces
included. Weekends bring the biggest selection, including barbecued ribs and pa pei duck (roasted, then
deep-fried till extra crisp and nearly free of subcutaneous fat). Available every day are juicy, soy-marinated
roast chickens, roast pork strips, crispy pork, and
whole roast ducks – hanging, as tradition dictates,
beaks and all. But no worries; a counterperson will
chop your purchase into bite-size, beakless pieces. $
Little Saigon
Sang’s Chinese Restaurant
16752 N. Miami Ave., 305-653-3377
This is Miami’s oldest traditional Vietnamese
restaurant, but it’s still packed most weekend
nights. So even the place’s biggest negative – its
hole-in-the-wall atmosphere, not encouraging of lingering visits – becomes a plus since it ensures fast
turnover. Chef/owner Lily Tao is typically in the
kitchen, crafting green papaya salad, flavorful beef
noodle pho (served with greens, herbs, and condiments that make it not just a soup but a whole ceremony), and many other Vietnamese classics. The
menu is humongous. $-$$
1925 NE 163rd St., 305-947-7076
Open late (12:30 a.m. most nights) since 1990, Sang’s
has an owner who previously cooked in NYC’s
Chinatown, and three menus. The pink menu is
Americanized Chinese food, from chop suey to honey
garlic chicken. The white menu permits the chef to show
off his authentic Chinese fare: salt and pepper prawns,
rich beef/turnip casserole, tender salt-baked chicken,
even esoterica like abalone with sea cucumber. The
extensive third menu offers dim sum, served until 4:00
p.m. A limited live tank allows seasonal seafood dishes
like lobster with ginger and scallion. More recently
installed: a Chinese barbecue case, displaying savory
items like crispy pork with crackling attached. $$$
Mary Ann Bakery
1284 NE 163rd St., 305-945-0333
Don’t be unduly alarmed by the American birthday
cakes in the window. At this small Chinese bakery the
real finds are the Chinatown-style baked buns and other
savory pastries, filled with roast pork, bean sauce, and
curried ground beef. Prices are under a buck, making
them an exotic alternative to fast-food dollar meals.
There’s one table for eat-in snackers. $
Matador Argentinean Steakhouse
3207 NE 163rd St., 305-944-6001
With Latin parilla places spreading here as fast as
kudzu, it’s hard to get excited about yet another all-youcan-eat meat spread. But Matador offers far more for
the money than most. One dinner price ($24.95, $27.95
weekends) includes a salad bar of more than 30 items,
unlimited grilled proteins (many cuts of beef, sausages,
chicken, pork, assorted veggies, and even fish upon
request), crunchy steak fries, a dessert (typically charged
extra elsewhere), and even more fun, a bottle of quite
quaffable wine per person. $$$
Siam Square
54 NE 167th St., 305-944-9697
Open until 1:00 a.m. every day except Sunday (when
is closes at midnight), this relatively new addition to
North Miami Beach’s “Chinatown” strip has become
a popular late-night gathering spot for chefs from
other Asian restaurants. And why not? The food is
fresh, nicely presented, and reasonably priced. The
kitchen staff is willing to customize dishes upon
request, and the serving staff is reliably fast.
Perhaps most important, karaoke equipment is in
place when the mood strikes. $-$$
Tuna’s Garden Grille
17850 W. Dixie Hwy., 305-945-2567
When Tuna’s moved in 2006 from the marina space it
had occupied for almost two decades, it lost its waterfront location, its old-fashioned fish-house ambiance,
and its outdoor deck. But it has gained a garden setting, and retained its menu of fresh (and sometimes
locally caught) seafood – some fancified, some simple (the wiser choice). Also continuing are Tuna’s signature seasonal specials, like a Maine lobster dinner
for a bargain $15. Open daily till 2:00 a.m., the place
can sometimes feel like a singles bar during the two
post-midnight happy hours, but since the kitchen is
open till closing, it draws a serious late-night dining
crowd, too. $$
AVENTURA /MIAMI GARDENS
Bella Luna
19575 Biscayne Blvd. Aventura Mall, 305-792-9330
www.bellalunaaventura.com
If the menu here looks familiar, it should. It’s identical
to that at the Upper Eastside’s Luna Café and, with
minor variations, at all the rest of Tom Billante’s eateries (Rosalia, Villaggio, Carpaccio), right down to the
typeface. But no argument from here. In a mall – a
setting more accustomed to food court, steam-tabled
stuff – dishes like carpaccio al salmone (crudo, with
portobellos, capers, parmesan slices, and
lemon/tomato dressing) and linguine carbonara (in
creamy sauce with pancetta and shallots) are a
breath of fresh, albeit familiar, air. $$-$$$
Bourbon Steak
19999 W. Country Club Dr. (Fairmont Hotel, Turnberry
Resort), 786-279-0658
www.michaelmina.net
At Bourbon Steak, a venture in the exploding restaurant empire of chef Michael Mina, a multiple James
Beard award winner, steakhouse fare is just where the
fare starts. There are also Mina’s ingenious signature
dishes, like an elegant deconstructed lobster/baby
Panya Thai
520 NE 167th St., 305-945-8566
Unlike authentic Chinese cuisine, there’s no shortage
of genuine Thai food in and around Miami. But Panya’s
chef/owner, a Bangkok native, offers numerous regional and/or rare dishes not found elsewhere. Plus he
doesn’t automatically curtail the heat or sweetness
levels to please Americans. Among the most intriguing:
moo khem phad wan (chewy deep-fried seasoned pork
strips with fiery tamarind dip, accompanied by crisp
green papaya salad, a study in sour/sweet/savory balance); broad rice noodles stir-fried with eye-opening
chili/garlic sauce and fresh Thai basil; and chili-topped
Diamond Duck in tangy tamarind sauce. $$-$$$
Lemon Fizz
16310 W. Dixie Hwy., 305-949-6599
www.lemon-fizz.com
Like wraps? Then you’ll love this Middle Eastern café’s
PK Oriental Mart
255 NE 167th St., 305-654-9646
While there are three other sizable Asian markets on
• KARAOKE IDOL starting April 8th every other Tuesday. Prizes & gifts to participants.
OPEN
LUNCH &
DINNER
Kitchen open late.
• FRIDAY HAPPY HOURS Residence DJ starting @ 6pm til...
(complimentary hors d'oeuvres served @ the bar)
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April 2008
61
DINING GUIDE
Farmers’ Markets
(Vitamin C) to retard spoilage — Seeley’s
Gourmet Garden hummus travels directly
to an array of Saturday and Sunday green
markets.
She rises at 5:00 a.m. Saturdays to load
the hummus headed north for West Palm
Beach, Boca Raton, Wilton Manors, Delray
Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, and Lake
Worth. She chooses to helm the Upper
Eastside location on Biscayne Boulevard.
On Sundays she repeats this solo performance, anchoring the popular Las Olas Green
Market in Fort Lauderdale.
By 9:00 on a recent Saturday morning,
Seeley had already set up seven tables full
of squash, fingerling potatoes, sweet
onions, tomatoes, pink grapefruit, and
honey bell oranges from Immokalee, flats
of Plant City strawberries, baskets of
mushrooms, bunches of chives and rosemary, plus three coolers of her gourmet
products. After seven hours of brisk sales,
when the 3:00 load-out time came, Seeley
packed the unsold items into her van in
less than an hour with a bit of help from a
friend. “This goes back to the fridge in
Pompano, and then off tomorrow morning
to Las Olas,” she says.
“Food is hard work,” Seeley notes. “I
don’t know that I want my son to follow
along in the family footsteps. But my
company is really all-American in the best
sense of the phrase. People ask me if I’m
from Lebanon, Greece, Colombia, or
France, and I love that because I’m a mix
of many things, and it comes through in
my food. I’m open to anything that surprises and delights.”
Seeley’s Gourmet Garden products, and
the produce that accompanies them, are
sold every Saturday at the Upper Eastside
Green Market at Legion Park and at By
Their Fruit, 40A W. McNab Rd., Pompano
Beach, 954-786-9695. Kerry Seeley can
be reached at 954-461-1000 or by e-mail
at seeleysgourmetgarden@hotmail.com.
grouper, the kitchen’s veterans know precisely how
to cook fish. All entrées come with suitable starch
and green-type vegetable, plus various other complementary freebies, so starters, salads, and sides
aren’t necessary. $$$
Pilar
The Soup Man
20475 Biscayne Blvd., 305-937-2777
www.pilarrestaurant.com
Chef/owner Scott Fredel previously worked for
Norman Van Aken and Mark Militello. He has been
executive chef at Rumi, and cooked at NYC’s James
Beard House. Armed with those impressive credentials, Fredel and his partners launched Pilar (named
for Hemingway’s boat) aiming to prove that top
restaurants can be affordable. Consider it now
proven. Floribbean-style seafood is the specialty,
dishes like fried Bahamian cracked conch with fresh
hearts of palm slaw and Caribbean curry sauce,
rock shrimp spring rolls with sweet soy glaze, and
yellowtail snapper with tomato-herb vinaigrette and
a potato/leek croqueta. Don’t let the strip-mall
location fool you. The restaurant itself is elegant.
$$-$$$
20475 Biscayne Blvd. #G-8, 305-466-9033
The real soup man behind this franchise is Al Yeganeh,
an antisocial Manhattan restaurant proprietor made
notorious, on a Seinfeld episode, as “the soup Nazi.” On
the menu: ten different premium soups each day (from
a rotating list of about 50). The selection is carefully balanced among meat/poultry-based and vegetarian; clear
and creamy (like the eatery’s signature shellfish-packed
lobster bisque); chilled and hot; familiar (chicken noodle)
and exotic (mulligatawny). All soups come with gourmet
bread, fruit, and imported chocolate. Also available are
salads, sandwiches, and wraps, à la carte or in soupplus combos. $-$$
On the other hand, Seeley sets aside a
whole day for hummus-making. Fridays
from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., she puts
down her 16-month-old son and locks
herself in her Pompano Beach kitchen.
Working in batches, she creates nine flavors of the Middle Eastern garbanzo bean
delicacy. Fresh garlic, dill, rosemary,
coconut, lemon, horseradish, chipotle, and
cilantro, plus red, green, and jalapeño
peppers come straight from the fields to
Seeley’s hands. When they emerge —
mixed with sea salt, olive oil, tahini, garbanzos, and a tad of ascorbic acid
Restaurant Listings
vegetable pot pie, a raw bar, and enough delectable
vegetable/seafood starters and sides (duck fat fries!)
for noncarnivores to assemble a happy meal. But
don’t neglect the steak — flavorful dry-aged Angus,
100-percent Wagyu American “Kobe,” swoonworthy
grade A5 Japanese Kobe, and butter-poached prime
rib, all cooked to perfection under the supervision of
on-site executive chef Andrew Rothschild, formerly of
the Forge, meaning he knows his beef. (Mina himself
is absentee.) $$$$$
Chef Allen’s
19088 NE 29th Ave., 305-935-2900
www.chefallens.com
After 20 years of success in the same location, many
chefs would coast on their backlog of tried-and-true
dishes. And it’s doubtful that kindly Allen Susser
would freak out his many regulars by eliminating from
the menu the Bahamian lobster and crab cakes (with
tropical fruit chutney and vanilla beurre blanc). But
lobster-lovers will find that the 20th anniversary
menus also offer new excitements like tandoori-spiced
rock lobster, along with what might be the ultimate
mac’n’cheese: lobster crab macaroni in a Fris vodka
sauce with mushrooms, scallions, and parmesan. The
famous dessert soufflé’s flavor changes daily, but it
always did. $$$$$
Fish Joint
2570 NE Miami Gardens Dr., 305-936-8333
Unless one’s mind is already made up before getting
here – and stuck on steak, pasta, or some other
land-based dish – loyal repeat customers know to
ignore the small printed menu and wait for the tableside presentation of about ten catches-of-the-day,
arrayed on a tray. Servers identify each fish, explain
how it’s to be prepared, and take your order.
Whether it’s a simple sautéed fillet or a slightly more
complex preparation like shrimp/crab-crusted
Il Migliore
2576 NE Miami Gardens Dr., 305-792-2902
Reminiscent of an intimate Tuscan villa, chef Neal
Cooper’s attractive trattoria gets the food right, as
well as the ambiance. As in Italy, dishes rely on
impeccable ingredients and straightforward recipes
that don’t overcomplicate, cover up, or otherwise
muck about with that perfection. Fresh fettuccine
with white truffle oil and mixed wild mushrooms
needs nothing else. Neither does the signature Pollo
Al Mattone, marinated in herbs and cooked under a
brick, require pretentious fancification. And even
low-carb dieters happily go to hell in a hand basket
when faced with a mound of potatoes alla Toscana,
fried herb-sprinkled French fries. Located west of
Biscayne Boulevard in the Davis Plaza shopping
mall, across from Ojus Elementary School. $$-$$$
Sushi Siam
19575 Biscayne Blvd. 305-932-8955
(See Miami Listing)
Mahogany Grille
2190 NW 183rd St., 305-626-8100
Formerly Ruby and Jean’s Soul Food Cuisine, a popular but strictly neighborhood cafeteria, Mahogany
Grille has drawn critical raves — and an international
as well as local clientele — since retired major
league outfielder Andre Dawson and his brother
Vincent Brown acquired the place in early 2007. The
diner décor is gone, replaced by white tablecloths
and, naturally, mahogany. The food is a sort of
trendy yet traditional soul fusion, heaping platters
from several African diaspora regions: Carolina Low
Country (buttery cheese grits with shrimp, sausage,
and cream gravy), the Caribbean (conch-packed fritters or salad), and the Old South (lightly buttermilkbattered fried chicken). The chicken is perhaps
Miami’s best, made even better with the Grille’s waffles. $$-$$$
HOT DOGS, BUNS AND MORE!
Try our $5.95
BO
CLASSIC COM
Miami
7030 Biscayne Blvd.
305-759-3433
Winner:
“Best Bang for the Buck”
Fort Lauderdale
900 S. Federal Hwy.
954-525-1319
– Zagat 2007 & 2008
62
April 2008
HAVANA’S ON THE BAY
Waterfront dining
with a view.
Latin cuisine
with a twist.
“The food is Cuban-inspired rather than traditionally
Cuban. Replete with little Nuevo Latino attempts at
elegance, this is not abuelita’s home cooking. The
neighborhood needs comfy, casually stylish, reasonably
priced hangouts like this one.”
“Seafood mofongo, the house specialty, is a chic take on
the standard, minimally fish-stuffed fried plantain
balls: one large mound surrounded by a plethora of
shrimp, squid, mussels, salmon, and white fish, in
creamy-smooth Creole sauce.”
– NEW TIMES
– BISCAYNE TIMES
M
April 2008
COLLINS AVE
BRIDGE
79TH ST
CAUSEWAY
E. TREASURE DR.
BLVD
305-864-1787
WWW.HAVANASONTHEBAY.COM
BISCAYNE
I95
7601 E. TREASURE DR.
NORTH BAY VILLAGE 33141
BRIDGE
NORTH BAY VILLAGE
N
MARINA
63
R A N K E D # 1 F U L L S E R V I C E R E A L E S TAT E C O M PA N Y B Y
The Name Your Know, The People You Trust
MAGAZINE
305 677 5000
MIAMI, MIAMI BEACH, HOLLYWOOD, TAMPA
BAYSIDE HISTORIC
Drastically reduced to $499 K or for rent
RARE FIND IN DAVIS HARBOR
Offered at $595 K
CHARMING UPPER EASTSIDE VINTAGE
Offered @ $375 K
PERFECT LIVE/WORK UPPER EASTSIDE
Offered at $650 K
Newly renovated w/ cutting-edge LOFT-like design. Step
thru the door of a quaint historic cottage into a modern
masterpiece. Brand new baths & kitchen. 2 BD / 2 BA &
1BD / 1BA guest quarters perfect for work from home or
inlaws. East of Biscayne, walk to area boutiques & cafes.
Minutes to downtown & beaches.
Please use same text as March BBT (will send a better
photo). Just add one sentence…Split floor plan perfect
for family living. This can go right before Brand new
gourmet kitchen.
Please use same text as March BBT but add one
sentence…Move right in! This can go right before Best
house under $400 K.
Art deco gem nestled in the heart of 79th St.
causeway rapidly developing area. Meticulously
restored 3 BD / 2 BA w/ beautiful original wood
floors & many architectural details.
Lushly
landscaped garden hidden behind privacy fence.
Gated parking. Currently used as hair/nail salon
w/ charming home in rear.
Marcy Kaplan / Lori Brandt
786 543 5755 / 786 553 1962
gimmesheltermiami.com
786 543 5755 / 786 553 1962
786 543 5755 / 786 553 1962
786 543 5755 / 786 553 1962
260 EUCLID AVE # 23, SOUTH BEACH
Offered @ $175 K
MIMO W/ BAY/CITY VIEWS
Offered at $899 K
MIAMI SHORES BARGAIN
Offered at $467 K ($179/SQ FT)
MORNINGSIDE HISTORIC POOL HOME
Drastically reduced to $999 K
South of 5th studio. Walking distance to beach,
restaurants the best location in Miami. Studio is super
clean with Dade County pine flooring! Priced to sell,
won't last! MLS# M1209308
4 BD / 3 BA MIMO completely renovated. Design
combines functionality w/ aesthetic enjoyment. Open &
spacious w/ modern lines, vaulted ceilings thruout. All
new baths & kitchen. Over 2,400 SQ FT house
w/ double lot (15,000 SQ FT). Wonderful Bayside
neighborhood… steps to bay front park, walk to cafes &
area boutiques..
Spacious 3 BD / 3 BA home (over 2,600 SQ FT) located
in the heart of Miami Shores. Large rooms, spacious
closets, 2 car garage, and desirable split floor plan
perfect for family. Original hardwood floors, new barrel
tile roof, fenced yard. Walk to cafes, shops, churches, &
recreation.
Steal this house! Incredible price for impressive 2-story
historic Mediterranean. 4BD/4BA (including 1BD/1BA
guest cottage) w/ gorgeous 75' heated pool & Jacuzzi w/
custom Bisazza tile. Dramatic fireplace & winding
staircase. 3021 SQ FT/ 12,000 SQ FT lot. Built by L.
Murray Dixon (architect) in 1934.
Robert Vandenberg
305 975 7766
rvandenberg@majesticproperties.com
786 543 5755 / 786 553 1962
786 543 5755 / 786 553 1962
786 543 5755 / 786 553 1962
THE ULTIMATE URBAN LOFT
Offered @ $799 K
NEW YORK LOFT ON THE BAY
Reduced to $549 K
PENTHOUSE WITH 360º VIEWS
Reduced to $2.7 M
AQUA ON ALLISON ISLAND
Reduced to $1.649 M
Live and work in Miami’s True Urban LOFTS. Creatively designed
living and entertainment space at Parc Lofts. 2,371 SQ FT corner
residence with wraparound balcony overlooking pool and sundeck.
16 FT high ceilings with windows galore. East, south and west
exposures. A blend of Chicago brick and stainless steel on wide
plank wood flooring. No expense spared. Full service building in the
heart of the Downtown Miami Arts District, steps away from the new
Performing Arts Center. Priced to sell now!
New York style LOFT with 180* views of Biscayne Bay, Miami
Beach, Various Islands, Cruise Ships, and Sunrises.
Completely finished with modern glass panels creating
privacy, this LOFT also offers SubZero and S.S. Appliances,
Oversized Shower, and 10' ceilings. Ready to move-in. This
is a steal! Only 3 units per floor and 43 residences. Reduced
to OVER $250 K less then developer like units.
An outrageous 5,500 SQ FT “One of a Kind” PH with 360º
views of Biscayne Bay, Ocean, City, & Sunrises/Sunsets
encompasses the 22nd floor. The elevators open to your
private foyer which leads you to an 2,000 SQ FT living space
and enormous kitchen. The 4 BD / 4.5 BA includes 2 master
suites, a theater room, four parking spaces, and over 2,000
SQ FT of terraces. It is absolutely a must see in Miami!
Two story TH with 3 BD / 3.5 BA and over 3,600 SQ FT
offers water views from every room. Recently featured in
Architectual Digest Italy, this Extraordinary home offers
SubZero, Thermador, Goggenau appliances, Dorn Bracht,
Duravit, Waterworks fixtures, Bulthaup cabinetry, and 3
garage spaces. AQUA provides full service amenities.
PERFECT LOCATION!
VIRTUAL TOUR www.circlepix.com/home/YBGU6W
Virtual Tour www.CIRCLEPIX.com/home/YBUSQ9
Virtual Tour www.CIRCLEPIX.com/home/TVWNFD
Hal Taylorson PA
305 799 3100
haltaylorson@gmail.com
Hal Taylorson PA
305 799 3100
Hal Taylorson PA
305 799 3100
Susan Gale
305 695 GALE (4253)
info@susangalegroup.com
W W W. M A J E S T I C P R O P E R T I E S . C O M
64
April 2008

Villa Paula and the Ghosts of Little Haiti Guerrilla Gardeners

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