BEST MILK SHAKE
Burr's Berry Farm
12741 SW 216th Street
South Dade
251-0145
The four sweetest months in Miami are January, February, March, and April. That's when Charles Burr harvests his twelve acres of strawberries and his wife Mary operates the roadside milk shake stand. The milk shakes come in three prices A $1.70, $1.95, $2.25. Varying with the time of the season and the volume of customers, the berries are mere minutes out of the field. The Burrs sell flats of strawberries and fresh vegetables, too.
BEST ICE CREAM PARLOR
Whip 'N Dip Ice Cream Shoppe
1407 Sunset Drive
Coral Gables
665-2565
For the past ten years, George Giampetro has dished up chocolate cones and strawberry milk shakes in his family-run store, located a skinny quarter-mile from ice cream heavyweights Swensen's, Ben & Jerry's, and H„agen-Dazs. But Giampetro isn't worried about the competition. He doesn't do anything fancy to keep his customers, who on a recent evening included a wailing tot in his pajamas determined to force his dad to buy him an entire ice cream cake instead of just one measly cone, a group of Metro-Dade firefighters, and two teenage lovers. Simplicity is the key to Giampetro's success. His homemade concoctions, including tasty nonfat and nondairy varieties, are creamy and sweet. If you are good enough, you don't need a gimmick.
Readers' Choice: The Frieze Ice Cream Factory
BEST DOUGHNUTS
Krispy Kreme Doughnut Co.
590 NE 167th Street
North Miami Beach
949-6135
Scenic 167th Street offers plenty of options to the doughnut lover. Between I-95 and Biscayne Boulevard there are three different shops, including a Mister Donut and a representative of that Dunkin chain. But by far the best on this stretch or any other in Dade is Krispy Kreme, where you not only get to fill up on doughnuts, you get to watch doughnuts being made. This store, the only Kreme in Dade County -- and for the past 25 years the only Kreme in South Florida -- supplies crullers, chocolate frosteds, raspberry- filled, and the rest to Dade's grocery stores and public schools. Stop by any time you see the flashing orange "Hot Doughnuts Now" sign and watch through the picture windows as round white circles of dough progress through ovens, into vats of bubbling brown oil, and under a white shower of sugar glaze. Ask the clerk at the counter and she'll pull you a doughnut right off the conveyor belt. The melt-in-your-mouth taste is so sinful that it puts all other doughnut experiences to shame.
BEST PIE
S & S Restaurant
1757 NE Second Avenue
Miami
373-4291
Pumpkin. Apple. Cherry. Peach. For more than 50 years, the fine folks at the S & S have been serving up the four horsemen of pie with tender loving care. From the delicate crust to the ample homemade fillings, each massive slice is a testament to all that is wondrous and right with America. Pie may only be a three-letter word, but so is God. And at the S & S, Pie is God.
