Best Restaurant In South Beach 1999 | Red Square | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Miami | Miami New Times
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Best Restaurant In South Beach

Red Square

Marquee chef Robbin Haas may have moved on to newer pastures (Baleen at Grove Isle), but he left behind a well-rehearsed kitchen and his decidedly distinctive menu. Which means it's still possible to feast on filet stroganoff, luxurious blinis with crème fraîche and caviar, and spicy Georgian fried chicken with mashed spuds and red beans. But the fare accounts for only part of Red Square's success. The 80-seat dining room adds a little perestroika panache to South Beach with those domed lighting fixtures, the distressed walls hung with Russian art, and the frozen sheet of ice that's the concept bar. The service is exemplary: Polite, professional servers polish wineglasses; busboys replace not just bread and water but cocktails as well. And oh, those cocktails. They're shaken not stirred with one or more of the 100 frozen vodkas that Red Square imports from around the world. Check out the Metropolitan Kosmopolitan, the Blue Russian, or the Glasnost for a night on the town that you will quickly forget.

Best Spanish Restaurant

El Bodegon Gallego

We've got your budget Cuban, reasonable Nicaraguan, moderately priced Peruvian, homey Mexican. We've even got easy-to-afford Dominican and Panamanian places. But when it comes to Spanish fare, the cuisine that sparked all these derivations, most of the good stuff is pretty pricey. Enter El Bodegon Gallego, and don't go anywhere. Not only is this narrow, storefront Spanish eatery the best in the city (no holds barred, unless you count the iron shielding the windows), it's ridiculously cheap. Like the sopa de mariscos, a huge bowl of tomato-based seafood broth stocked with fresh mussels, jumbo shrimp, and tender squid, for $3.95. Tapas-size portions of potato tortilla run you a whopping $1.50. Main courses, including a healthy portion of arroz con pollo con chorizo or a skirt steak with rice and plantains, top out at $6.95. In fact fresh-made sangría is just about the most expensive item on the menu, which is, we should add, so authentic there isn't even Casa Juancho

Best Indian Restaurant

Kebab Indian Restaurant

"The best beef I ever tasted was, perhaps needless to say, in Bombay, at a restaurant gleaming with chrome, chandeliers, and mirrored walls, not far from the central market where cows, in their capacity as manifestations of the divine, were permitted to roam freely and graze at the produce stalls," Francine Prose writes in an essay included in a book called Not for Bread Alone. Cows are sacrosanct in India, though eating them is not expressly illegal. We haven't seen any cows strolling around North Miami Beach lately, but the only beef dish at Kebab is the keema matar, minced beef spiced with onion, garlic, and ginger. The lack of beef dishes likely is deliberate, an exclusion made out of respect to cows everywhere. Still it's impossible to miss the bovine, free-range or otherwise, at this superb Indian restaurant. Since 1981 Kebab has been serving up the spiciest curries, the most fragrant nan, and the coolest kulfi (ice cream made with pistachios, almonds, and rose water) around. A kebab may conjure an image of many animal products on skewers, but you'll have to settle for some very tasty chicken tikka or seikh kebab (minced lamb) instead. What a sacrifice.

Best Restaurant In An Art Gallery

Meza Fine Art gallerycafé

We'll have the mozzarella, tomato, and basil salad with a Monet, please. No, make that the citrus duck confit with a Degas on the side. Or how 'bout the snapper in champagne sauce with a Gauguin garnish? Okay, we'll let this art gallery get away with billing itself as "ARTernative," because there are some true masters at work here in the kitchen. The delightful Mediterranean menu complements the setting, which comes complete with live dancing and after-dinner concerts. It all makes Meza a must-see and -eat. C'mon in, the art -- and the fare -- is fine.

Best Food Court

Galeria Internacional mall

Amid the electronic shops hawking VCRs and knockoff Rolexes, this tiny food court features more than a dozen ethnic kiosks where you can get Brazilian rodizio-style meats, Colombian empanadas; Chinese noodles; Middle-Eastern salads; Jewish bagels; and spicy Indian fare. The green- and yellow-clad shoppers from Brazil crowd grills serving spits of beef the size of soccer balls, plus chicken, liver, and pork, leaving vegetarians and lovers of mouth-burning food free to sample the rustic Indian fare at Raja's, where a daily choice of vegetable curries and sautéed cabbage are always available. An incendiary curry chicken tastes as though it's been marinated in spice and then smothered in a creamy sauce of curry and tomato. Platters cost about five dollars. Don't bother speaking English here; this is the real Miami.

Best Restaurant For A Romantic Dinner

The Rusty Pelican

Okay, okay, there's a substantial kitsch factor here. The anchors, the lobster traps, the nets, the seashells strung all over everything. But come on, watching the sun set over the downtown skyline through those plate-glass windows is an all-time Miami moment, one that is best shared over a couple of Neptune platters and nice bottle of chilled white wine with that special someone. And once it gets dark, the cityscape looks even more magical. Alternate gazing at that stunning view and into each other's eyes, and pretty soon it'll be, "Damn the over-the-top-nautical theme décor. Full speed ahead for luuuuuv!"

Best Chain Coffeehouse

Xando

I. Iced latte. II. Espresso, decaf or regular. Order a doppio (double) for a multiple charge. III. Hazelnut cappuccino. Nutty, creamy, smooth. IV. Power Arctic mocha, combined with so many proteins and carbs you're practically propelled to the gym. V. Vanilla tea. Or get chai. VI. Raspberry razzmatazz: brandy, black raspberry liqueur, and crème de cassis in a mocha with whipped cream. VII. Turkey-Brie panini with whole-grain mustard. VIII. Stew of the day. IX. S'mores, campfire ingredients complete with flame brought to the table. Yours for the melting! X. Xando, naturally.

Best Chain Restaurant

Café Tu Tu Tango

Do a little dance, make a little art, get down with appetizers -- it works for Tu Tu Tango. The concept, with tapas from around the world served in a bohemian setting designed to reflect an artist's garret, proved so popular that chairman and founder Bradley Weiser went ahead with plans to expand nationally. Currently the café, launched in 1991, has five successful locations, with two in Miami-Dade, one in Atlanta, one in Orlando, and another in Anaheim, California. Several more are scheduled to open in 1999 in diverse areas like Kansas City, Missouri; and Columbus, Ohio. So far the fare round here has remained consistently good, and the theme, "food for the starving artist" (hence the small portions), is carried out in live entertainment: Local artists are employed to draw, paint, or sculpt on the premises in exchange for eats. The resulting art is displayed in the restaurant until some art-hungry diner purchases it along with some Cajun chicken egg rolls, Mediterranean spinach dip, and an order of hurricane shrimp.

Best Herald Hideout

Mike's At Venetia

If you've called, faxed, and written yourself silly and you still can't reach the Herald, try Mike's at lunchtime: You may find that writer who's been avoiding you. The café, located on the ninth floor of the Venetia condominium, serves tasty and affordable meals that are like catnip to the scribes and editors barricaded across the street in One Herald Plaza. It may only be an urban myth, but it is believed that at least two Herald employees are eating at Mike's at all times. Who can blame them? Hot roast beef-cheddar sandwiches, broiled grouper, shrimp scampi: The food is better than expected and priced to move. The waitresses are nice, too. True story: The editors of Tropic spent so many afternoons on the outdoor patio that their magazine folded from neglect.

Best Place To Cheaply Summon The Spirit Of Paul Gauguin

Curry's Restaurant

Is it the large mural depicting tan smiling girls (and a few men) wearing leis and grass skirts, swaying seductively and gathering food? Maybe it's the dozen or so hanging fixtures resembling upside-down baskets lushly strewn with a variety of wax fruit that Carmen Miranda could have used for headgear? Perhaps it's the light-wrapped palm tree twinkling in the middle of the room, or the turquoise walls bearing huge paintings of a happy couple rowing an outrigger and frolicking in the surf? Most likely, though, it's the complete dinners that drive us to take refuge in the ersatz Polynesian atmosphere of Curry's Restaurant (established in 1937) the way Gauguin fled chaotic civilization to the serene island of Tahiti. The bowl of crisp salad brought to your table with a choice of four dressings; the warm round of bread served on a cutting board with butter; the baked potato, French fries, or vegetables presented in a stainless steel dish; the sizzling platters of steak, chicken, and liver; and the desserts (apple cobbler, strawberry shortcake, and chocolate pudding) -- a different one every day. It all starts at $8.95. Paradise indeed.

Best Of Miami®

Best Of Miami®

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