Best in Miami-Dade
Welcome to MiamiDade.com! This is your portal for the best quality restaurants, events, attractions, and hotels in Miami-Dade County. We offer the concerts you won’t want to miss and the dining experiences that provide the ingredients for memorable meals. Take in the local landscape through our Blogs section, featuring the best insights from South Florida’s blogger community. Year round resident or snowbird, you can also find all online services for government departments both county and municipal. We want to hear from you. So, drop us a line and tell us about your Best in Miami-Dade experience!
Featured Restaurant
Joe's Stone Crab11 Washington Avenue
Miami Beach, FL
Tel: 305.673.0365
What can you say about a place whose clientele over the years has included the likes of Joseph Kennedy, Will Rogers and J. Edgar Hoover? (No jokes, please.) Founded in 1913, when Miami Beach was still in its infancy, Joe's Stone Crab has been a must-stop for anyone visiting the star-studded sandbar ever since.
We recommend an order of medium stone crabs-about eight chilled, cracked claws-with classic cold mustard sauce and melted butter, an order of crispy hash browns and fresh-made coleslaw. For dessert-as if you had to ask-the legendary Key lime pie. Beware, though, Joe's doesn't take reservations and is open for lunch only "in season"-mid-October through mid-May-so snagging a table isn't always so easy. The good news is that, if you don't want to endure the inevitable dinnertime crunch, you can pop over to Joe's Take-Away, conveniently located next door, get your claws to go and enjoy them right on the beach.
Featured Attraction
Coral Gables Venetian Pool2701 De Soto Blvd.
Coral Gables, FL
Tel: 305.460.5306
With its vine-covered loggias, shady porticos, Spanish fountain, three-story observation towers and cascading waterfalls, the Venetian Pool is not exactly your typical swimming hole. But, then, George Merrick would have settled for nothing less. Merrick was the driving force behind the creation of Coral Gables during the 1920s land boom; his vision was a city of public plazas and Mediterranean-inspired buildings that would serve as a counterpoint to what he saw as Miami's erratic, uncontrolled development.
Indeed, the Venetian Pool was originally not a pool at all, but a quarry pit providing the limestone used in so much of the construction of Merrick's "City Beautiful." In 1924, the pit was transformed into a pool (courtesy of underground artesian wells) and christened the Venetian Casino. In the 1920s and '30s, gondolas navigated its waters, movie stars like Johnny Weissmuller swam its length and live orchestras serenaded couples as they danced poolside, under the stars. There's no dancing anymore, but you can still soak in the glamour.
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Featured Blog
This blog the Miami Heat Beat features everything you need to know about the most exciting NBA franchise in the league.
Total Number of Wins Predictions – Atlantic Division
Total Number of Wins Predictions – Southeast Division
More Heat ‘10-’11 Odds – Riley to the Bench?
Don’t Wait By the Phone, Stack
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Featured Hotel
Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort19999 W. Country Club Drive,
Aventura, FL
305-932-6200
The thrills begin the moment one arrives at the door of this lush, elegant 300-acre resort. Palm trees dominate the landscape, along with hanging orchids, bougainvillea, bird of paradise, and other sub-tropical foliage. Inside, furnishings and decorative accents balance the classic and the contemporary, as high-tech touches like flat-screen LCD televisions complement the simple charms of a French press coffeemaker (all standard issue in the resort’s 392 rooms).
Of course, the real reason to stay at this top-notch Fairmont property is the golf. Founded in the early 1970s as a private golf club, Turnberry has hosted numerous high-profile tournaments in its rich history. Now, following a $30 million upgrade of its courses, the resort continues to draw the game’s best—or just those who want to play the same 18 holes. Turnberry also features Willow Stream Spa, a 25,000-square-foot facility, as well as a number of fine restaurants. The only downside? Once you arrive, you might have trouble motivating yourself to get out to Miami’s other attractions.
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Featured Attraction
Vizcaya Museum & Gardens
3251 South Miami Avenue
Miami, FL 33129
Tel: 305-250-9133
When James Deering, a Midwestern industrialist, decided to make Miami his winter home, the fledgling town had a population of only 10,000. Amazingly, a tenth of that number—along with imported craftsmen from the Caribbean and Europe—ultimately became involved in creating Vizcaya, Deering’s dream home, a grand Italianate villa on Biscayne Bay near Coconut Grove.
Completed in 1916, the house, with its 34 decorated rooms of exquisite antique furnishings and objets d’art, was designed to give the illusion that it had been around for hundreds of years. Sadly, the sickly Deering (failing health was one of his motivations for relocating to Miami) would spend only a handful of winters in the comfort of his creation. He died in 1925. Today, the home and its celebrated gardens are open to the public.
photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dewang/
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Featured Event
Miami Spice 2010
Miami Spice is back! For two months, until the end of September, Miami-Dade diners can get a steal of a deal at select restaurants. Lunches are $22 and dinners are $35 for three-course meals.
While the selection the restaurants put out for Miami Spice might not be as free flying as what you can get off the menu, the opportunity to try some of these extraordinary chefs for this little money is rare. Participating restaurants can be found at ilovemiamispice.com. Organizers have divided the county into four sections, basically north and south for both the beach and the mainland. Sometimes the listed restaurants put their menus online. Just click on them to see.
A debate about which restaurants are must-visits is already prompting passionate responses on the Internet. For example, here are picks from The Chowfather. Needless to say, if there’s a restaurant you like, make a reservation soon.
These three jumped out to us. Most all are trendsetters, nationally known, and usually quite expensive. They each advise that menus and days when it’s available can change so call ahead.
Starting from the south, we’d grab dinner at Palme D’Or. This restaurant has earned an incredible 28 rating from Zagats, which calls it the top restaurant in South Florida. It’s also in the extraordinarily beautiful Biltmore Hotel. Zagats has called Chef Philippe Ruiz’s French Nouvelle Cuisine “as close to perfection as you can get.” What you save on dinner, you can spend on sampling the restaurant’s award-winning wine list.
Dress is upscale casual. Palme D’Or only offers the Spice menu for dinner and only Sunday through Thursday.
Palme D’Or can be found in the Biltmore Hotel at1200 Anastasia Ave.
Coral Gables, FL
(305)445-8066 ext 2411
On Miami Beach, we’d check out OLA Restaurant. Latin Chef Douglas Rodriguez has won all kinds of plaudits including being named by Newsweek as “one of the 100 Americans that will influence the coming millennium.” His pan-Latin cuisine is a must if you’re going to be on the Beach.
OLA can be found in the Sanctuary Hotel at1745 James Ave.
Miami Beach, FL
(305) 695-9125
The Miami Spice special is also not available for lunch and the dinner will only be offered Sunday through Thursday.
Heading north, we’d go to Michy’s. Chef Michelle Bernstein is winning all kinds of notice of late – even a recent appearance on Top Chef. Michy’s is the only restaurant on our list that has put its Miami Spice menu online, so go check it out and see if it turns you on.
Bernstein’s food as described as pan-European, what she calls “luxurious comfort food.”
Once again, lunch is not offered. The Miami Spice dinner is offered only Tuesday through Friday and Sunday.
Michy’s can be found at6927 Biscayne Blvd.
Miami, FL 33138
(305)759-2001
Finally, on North Beach, we’d have to go with Timõ Restaurant & Bar on Sunny Isles. Chef Tim Andriola’s Italian-Med cuisine gets high marks. The Miami Spice menu is offered for lunch here all week except for Saturday and Sunday. The Miami Spice dinner is served all week.
Timõ Restaurant & Bar can be found at17624 Collins Ave.
Sunny Isles, FL 33160
(305)936-1008