Miami Brunch: A review

Every Sunday we talk about going to brunch, but we never do. This Sunday we broke that routine. I have been hearing alot of things about Sugarcane Raw Bar, and their menu looked interesting so we drove over to Midtown to check it out.

Sugarcane has great decor. We walked into a lush patio area and they immediately sat us outside in the shade. This is the best time of year to sit outside, while seeing that everyone else is 10 feet under snow after all, but I digress. As we looked around, I realized that the restaurant has one major failure - staffing. We were outside at around 1:30 on a Sunday at a place that offers brunch. There were at least 7 other tables sitting in our same courtyard and there was 1 waiter. one. That's setting the poor guy up to fail, I mean, brunch is huge on South Florida weekends, and you have one waiter? There's no way you are going to get good service unless your bussers and runners are epic. Which brings me to my second point. We had to ask for water several times. The bussers were walking around with trays and blank looks on their faces, like they weren't quite sure how they got there and what they were supposed to do.

Our waiter finally got to our table, was very apologetic and quickly took our orders. He had good knowledge of the menu, and checked back a few times to let me know my coffee was on it's way, but the coffee guy took awhile. It was well worth the wait. My cappuccino was amazing, close to what I had in Italy. In between getting our drinks and our food, one foodrunner kept trying to bring us someone else's food. When we got our food, the runner totally forgot to bring an entire part of El Hombre's meal.

My meal was fantastic though. I got the flatbread because I had read that it was a great dish, and it was truly tasty. It was a thin bread with tomato, squash, zucchini, asparagus, mushroom and manchego, topped with an egg. It was almost a little pizza and it was well worth the wait.

At this point our waiter came back, we complained that part of El Hombre's meal was missing and he quickly got us a discount on our ticket.

My synopsis? Food was great and very reasonably priced, but the management needs to work on the staffing, big time. As in, train their bussers and runners (which, honestly, anyone can do) and have more servers working. And make sure their servers maintain the excellent attitude that our guy had.. poor guy was totally in the weeds, but was polite, helpful and apologetic to everyone around us.

Sunday Morning

It's a sunny, chilly day and we are just taking it easy for a bit, and this song popped into my head, so I thought I would share. A live, slightly jazzy version of Sunday Morning by Maroon 5. Perfect for lazing about the house, pretending that you don't have to work the next day...

Stiltsville

A few months ago, El Hombre procured a boat. No particular reason why, he just wanted one, went on the hunt, and found one for a reasonable price. Once we got it all fixed up, we have been exploring the waters of Miami-Dade County. This past Sunday was no exception. We docked out of Coconut Grove and decided to find some new sites to explore. Afterall, Miami is a different city, even on the water, and there continues to be unique spots even at sea. Stiltsville is no exception.

Ever since I started seeing photos of these houses hovering above the water, I have been fascinated. Stiltsville has been around since the late 20s, early 30s and is apparently a hotspot during the spring and summer months for boaters to hang out on the sandbars and flats on the weekends. But these parties didn't start in the past few years, Stiltsville was one of the original party spots in Miami. Rumored to have been a hotbed for gambling and drinking during prohibition, people have been making their way out there since it's inception, to throw down and have a good time. Kind of fitting now, given Miami's reputation, right?

Now most of these homes are empty, their residents moving onto firmer grounds after hurricanes and storms. Seven homes remain, darkened windows and birds on roofs. The only way to get there is by boat, and stay far off during low tide or you may get stuck. Once we got out there, and found a safe place to drift without getting stuck, we admired these homes on stilts, like giants taking quiet moments over calm, clear blue waters while staring off at El Farito and Key Biscayne. You can't help but wonder what was life like back then. How did people weather the storms, how did they survive? Looking across the calm, serene blue water, did it make up for the terrifying nature of whipping winds from hurricanes and waterspouts? Did they flee conventional life to live free from traditions and societal pressure, and did they get lonely at all? We will never know, but it's interesting to imagine.

Of course I took a few photos:



To learn more about Stiltsville, check out the following links:
Biscayne National Park Info
Wikipedia entry
Miamism Article

If you don't have access to a boat, the South Florida Historical Museum offers a tour by Dr. Paul George, a leading South Florida Historian

NYE: A recap

New Years Eve in Miami. man. So many people come down here to party their butts off in overpriced, snotty clubs on the beach, hoping to brush up against celebs while clinging champagne glasses. Me personally? I hate crowds and I love fireworks. Typically we hang with friends on the Key Biscayne beach while drinking champagne at midnight and watching the fireworks. This year didn't happen that way, and for some reason we decided instead to watch the orange drop at Bayfront. This time reaffirmed a few things for me:

1. Riding on a packed metromover to an event is always highly entertaining. I don't have any pics or video this time, but watching the traffic, this was definitely the way to go.

2. I hate crowds. I really, really hate crowds.

3. I hate Bayfront. Combining Bayfront with crowds is the worst thing ever.

4. People will get drunk and stupid and get into fights. Everyone will run thinking there are guns involved. Not awesome.

While points 2 and 3 are true, watching people in a crowd at Bayfront is hilarious. Just make sure you are watching your belongings as well. Despite having a cough that sounds like tuberculosis and hating bumping into people, it was actually kind of fun to watch all the different people that showed up. And the fireworks this year were awesome. Unlike the 4th of July a few years ago, the City of Miami put on an awesome fireworks show. I even caught a little bit of it on video for you guys:

7 years in Miami: A retrospect

This afternoon, El Hombre and I were driving to our favorite Argentine bakery for some empanadas, when it hit me. It's been almost seven years since I moved to Miami. It's strange because it seems like a long time ago, but at the same time, sometimes it seems like it was only two or three years ago.

From the moment I moved here, things were different. From having a homeless guy try to open my windows in my old apartment (subsequently, I moved out as fast as possible), being laid off a month and a half after moving here, getting my second degree black belt and getting a masters degree, I have gone through a lot. Miami is tough, and South Beach is tougher. I lived on the beach for three years, and often held two - three jobs just to get by. This included waiting tables at Nikki Beach (I quickly learned that I hate waiting tables and am terrible at it), retail management (it's easier to upsell when you are waiting on drunk people who just rolled off Ocean Drive) and hospitality of sorts.

Anyways, I thought I would share some of the things I have learned since I moved here:
- It's ok to buy your produce off the back of a truck. It's cheaper and better than the grocery
- Finding parking on South Beach is a nightmare. Finding parking on the Gables campus of UM on a Tuesday or Thursday is even worse
- Yes you will probably be towed
- No you don't have to pay the meters on Sunday in Coral Gables
- Everyone in Miami drives by the rules of the country from which they originate
- After a light turns red, AT LEAST 4 cars are allowed to turn left
- People in Miami may be rude, but people in Boca Raton are worse
- Learning Spanish is important, but every so often it's better to feign ignorance in a conversation
- The La Carreta on Bird Road can withstand anything, including fire
- If anything happens in Cuba, or a new "Fidel is dead" rumor catches, it will be on the front page of the Miami Herald and there will be crowds of people outside the aforementioned La Carreta and Versailles
- Homestead has the best produce AND the best Farmer's Market
- If you tell someone you don't speak Spanish, be prepared for a lecture
- Channel 7 will always lead with American Idol, no matter what else is happening around the world
- There are random chickens and peacocks all over the city
- Coffee is cheaper and better at Cuban bakeries
- If you talk about the lack of hills in Miami, there will always be that one person who references the hill at Tropical Park
- Santa's Enchanted Forest is a nightmare and an eyesore. It looks like the Christmas Faerie vomited her hangover all over Tropical Park
- Seeing Miami via boat is a whole different experience
- Fairchild is amazing, but so are the Pinecrest Gardens and not as many people know about them
- Vizcaya is super cool to boat up to. You can never really get the full appreciation for it until you see all angles.
- There are good people in Miami, but you probably won't meet them in South Beach clubs
- South Beach clubs are extremely overrated and after awhile you get tired of going places where a beer is $15 and you have to wear shoes that make you want to cut your feet off. When that happens, you will migrate to downtown and Brickell
- People in Coral Gables are surprisingly nice and shop owners welcome your business
- You will never get good service in South Beach. It's not even worth complaining about anymore.

Worst Valet Ever

So normally I don't valet my car. It's not just that I don't feel high roller enough, it's also that I used to work for a rental car company on the beach and I knew alot of valet guys. I saw it all - kids crashing $50k cars, stealing things out of cars, joyriding, etc. Normally I would rather shell out the money for a garage and keep my keys in my pocket. But yesterday El Hombre and I were up at Riverfront for my company holiday party, the company is reimbursing me for valet, and I don't know that area at all, so I figured, "What the hell? How bad can it be?"

Well, after waiting over an hour for the car yesterday, I found out. Ameripark Valet Services, as it turns out, is the worst valet company in the world. Nobody was running the booth, because apparently the company is too cheap to hire more than 3 guys to work a Saturday night during season and the same night as the boat parade. Smart. So there was nobody running the booth. This resulted in the following: People who showed up 30 minutes after me getting their cars before me, nobody knowing where my car keys were and an extremely angry crowd. Normally I am patient, but when I am the only person being nice to the valet guy, and he explodes at me that everyone else came first, I lost it. Magically my car appeared after I made an extremely angry call to the corporate center and then accused the guys of either crashing my car in the parking lot or taking it for a joyride.

So my advice? Avoid this parking company at all costs. They are poorly run, overpriced, poorly staffed and have worse customer service than any company, restaurant or store on South Beach. And that's saying a lot.

Happy Friday Morning on US1