What to eat Miami? culinary specialties and gastronomy

In general, Americans eat earlier than the French, especially in the evening when dinner is served between 6 and 7 pm. However, Miami and other Florida cities, used to tourism and partying, offer more extended hours. Whether it's for brunch, lunch or dinner, there is a wide variety of styles to suit all budgets and gourmets. In South Beach and Ocean Drive, trendy restaurants offer high prices. Moving away from Miami Beach, towards Downtown Miami and more specifically Brickell and Wynwood, you will find a host of small, more affordable establishments. In the Keys area, the romantic atmosphere that already hints at the Caribbean comes at a cost and restaurants are often more expensive than in the rest of South Florida.

Although we associate brunch with New York or Chicago, there is no shortage of places in Miami and the surrounding area for brunch aficionados, served between 11am and 4pm, especially on weekends. Among the specialties worthy of a real brunch, let's mention the eggs Benedict, buttered toasts covered with poached eggs, bacon and hollandaise sauce. Eggs in general are one of the central elements of a brunch: scrambled, fried, boiled, poached or in an omelette, they are often accompanied by bacon or small grilled sausages. There are also various potato-based preparations such as hash browns, small shredded and fried potato cakes.

However, a brunch can include an infinite variety of sweet and savory dishes. There are various pastries, quiches, raw vegetables, smoked salmon and cheeses such as Vermont cheddar, Humboldt Fog with goat's milk or Monterey Jack, flavoured with chilli. On the sweet side, we often eat specialties similar to a typical American breakfast: pancakes, waffles, French toast, muffins, etc. To hydrate after such a feast, tea, chocolate or coffee are abundantly consumed. Since brunch is a later meal than the traditional breakfast, it is also appropriate to serve alcoholic beverages. Among the three most emblematic cocktails, we must mention the Mimosa, made with champagne and orange juice, or its cousin the Bellini, of Italian origin, which consists of peach coulis and prosecco. Finally, the Bloody Mary is a mixture of vodka, tomato juice, pepper and tabasco, with a stalk of celery for decoration.

There is no shortage of steakhouses in Florida, and the best cuts are those that cooks age in the open air for several days before cooking them with a marinade. While BBQ ribs are more likely to originate in the southern part of the Grains Plains, such as Kansas or Kentucky, they are obviously still very popular here, along with other meat lovers' dishes such as sirloin steak, beef ribeye, or T-bone, usually served with fries or a generous baked potato, a large pickle and coleslaw, a creamy salad of shredded white cabbage and carrots. Another crudité, the Caesar salad, made with romaine lettuce, small croutons and a rich anchovy and parmesan dressing, may have originated in Tijuana, Mexico, but it has since been democratized to the point that it is far more popular in the United States.

With tens of millions of visitors each year, Florida offers an infinite variety of restaurants, often associated with theme parks with all sorts of buffets, often gargantuan for the hungriest. However, Americans in general seem to be taking the lead for a number of years now. " Organic ", " Vegan " and " Gluten-Free ": three words you will often see on restaurant menus and on packaging in supermarkets. Like the rest of the Anglo-Saxon countries, the USA offers many alternatives to people who do not consume dairy, meat, gluten or eggs, not to mention allergens. Thus, many of these products are low fat, fat free, sugar free, low sodium, diet, cholesterol free, etc. And each one scrupulously informs the buyer of its caloric, protein, carbohydrate, lipid and vitamin content, etc.

If it is difficult to attribute a specific cuisine to Florida, so much this state attracts tourists from the four corners of the USA and the world, one finds some specificities which come from its proximity with the Caribbean. Key West is only 170 km from Havana and it is enough to discover Little Havana to realize the Cuban influence in this historical district of Miami, born in the 1950s during the Castro Revolution. Even today, in this district, which is predominantly Latin American, Cuban cuisine is honored in a host of small and often inexpensive restaurants. For those who want to eat on the go, it is impossible not to mention the traditional Cuban sandwich or medianoche. Prepared with pan cubano - a kind of baguette slightly brioche - it is filled with cold roast pork, ham, mustard, emmental cheese and sweet pickles.

The Puerto Rican, Haitian and Jamaican communities, as well as the various cuisines from Central and South America, also have their own restaurants. So you can find almost any Latin dish, and many establishments offer a cuisine at the crossroads of Latin and US gastronomy, under the name of Floribbean cuisine. For example, ceviche, a Peruvian specialty made from raw fish marinated in lime juice, is very common in the city's fusion restaurants. Haitian cuisine is also featured at Little Haiti in Miami. There is also a tasty arroz con pollo (saffron rice with chicken and vegetables), lechón asado (roasted suckling pig), fried plantains, arepas (cornmeal rolls filled with ham, cheese, cold meat, etc.), empanadas (fried turnovers filled with ground meat) and Jamaican jerk chicken (barbecued chicken marinated in a hot sauce). Joumou soup is a giraumon squash soup with beef, potatoes, plantains and small vegetables (carrots, kale, celery, parsley and onions) that is typically Haitian and can be enjoyed at the Caribbean Marketplace in Little Haiti.

Florida has the second longest coastline in the U.S. after Alaska, with some 2,170 kilometers of coastline shared between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, so seafood is at a premium. The best seafood specialties can be enjoyed in the Keys where fishing is a widespread activity. Tuna, swordfish, tarpon, grouper, barracuda, dorado (mahi-mahi), not to mention crabs, shrimp, lobsters, oysters and other shellfish. Another local specialty is the conch, or conch in French. These large sea snails with their almost baroque shells are very popular in Florida, especially with the Bahamian community. Palm Beach is only 100 km from Grand Bahama. In restaurants, they are often fried(conch fritters), but they can be prepared as aconch salad, diced and marinated with lemon juice, onion, tomato, bell pepper and chili.

If you had to name only one dessert in Florida, it would be the Key lime pie. This pie is made with a cookie crust and lime cream, topped with whipped cream. The Key lime - also known as the West Indian lime tree or gallet lemon tree - is a very acidic citrus fruit that is smaller than a lime, which is most often substituted for it in making this luscious pie.

There is also the inevitable cheesecake, which is made with cream cheese and sour cream, which gives it an incredibly melting texture. If there are variations of cheesecake all over the world, the chocolate brownie is a very American invention, to be enjoyed with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The classic apple pie, generously flavored with cinnamon, is often served with ice cream, while the pecan pie, originally from the southern United States, is filled with maple syrup and pecans. Pumpkin pie is filled with a pumpkin puree flavoured with cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. It is usually served with whipped cream, most often for Thanksgiving. Other classics include cupcakes and carrot cake, which Americans eat with lots of coffee.

If we are used to the American coffee, very long, more than 60 years of Cuban migration in Florida have contributed to create a taste for coffee different from most other American states. The most common coffee is the cafecito or cubano, a very strong espresso with a lot of brown sugar. Alternatively, try the cortadito, half espresso and half milk, while the classic café con leche has a dash of condensed milk. These drinks may not be common outside of Cuban neighborhoods, but Americans are increasingly appreciative of good, full-bodied coffee.

In addition to beer and wine, which are readily available, Florida is a cocktail paradise, especially with rum and tequila, no surprise there. For example, the Rum Runner - the name given to the people who transported rum during Prohibition - was invented in the 1950s, mixing white rum, blackberry liqueur, banana cream, orange juice, pineapple juice and grenadine. The Miami Vice is a cross between a piña colada (coconut milk, pineapple juice, white rum) and a daiquiri (white rum, strawberry puree, sugar, lime). Other cocktails such as the margarita, the mojito and the caipirinha are also very popular.