Instagram, the wildly popular photo sharing social media application, has garnered over 100 million users since its founding in 2010. Today, smart phone users now share breakfast moments and coffee breaks with the press of two or three buttons.
But, for the most part, these quick snaps and shares have diminished the quality of food photography. Close-up shots of meatballs with bright, blinding flashes in a dimly-lit dining room dominate the social feeds. Blurry photos of 5 am half-eaten double cheeseburgers -- with an excess of ketchup -- likewise disenchant.
However, many Miami's restaurants, writers, bloggers and chefs utilize the popular application with much success. So, Instagram food aficionados, here's a list of the Magic City's top five Instagram accounts for great photos of good eats.
5. @runchickenrun - Yardbird Southern Table & Bar
Yardbird, South Beach's mecca for fried chicken and bourbon, knows exactly how to entice with good pictures of Southern fare and drinks. The restaurant's Instagram features daily lunch supper specials, behind the scenes looks into the kitchen and sneak peaks into events like Midnight Chef's Table. The restaurant's best shots are captured in daylight, just like the platter above.
4. @harryspizzeria and @MGFD_MIA - Harry's Pizzeria and Michael's Genuine Food & Drink (The two Miami restaurants for the Genuine Hospitality Group)
Back in July, The Genuine Kitchen made an announcement: the team behind Michael's and Harry's were now armed with iPhones and had been told to go out and Instagram food. Miami's Twitter-verse was then inundated with filtered images of Hedy Goldsmith's pie in a jar and daily pizza pies from Harry's Pizzeria. Two months later, we continue to be thankful.
3. @fatgirlhedonist - Fatgirl Hedonist
Fatgirl Hedonist's Instagram is packed with excess: lots of fried food, lots of cheese and lots of desserts. The photos are aesthetically pleasing, with depictions of media noche sandwiches, truffled French fries and queso frito hamburgers. It's easy to eat vicariously through this lady's Instagram feed. When viewing the shots though, our only concern is whether to just hit "like" or mail the blogger a pamphlet about Crestor.
2. @leeandmaries - Lee & Marie's Cakery Company
It's hard to top the sweet Instagrams by newcomer Lee & Marie's Cakery -- the South Pointe bakery and café that opened early September. The photos are all shot in great lighting, and the images feature pretty compositions packed with buttered-up baked goods and pristine meringues. Photographs of savory menu items are just as pleasing too.
1. @giginow - Gigi Miami
Gigi makes the top of the list for three reasons: widespread coverage of daily specials, overall good lighting and consistent flow of solid photography. The restaurant averages about two to three photos a day, always with dozens of likes and handfuls of positive comments. They are also number one for their most stunning Instagram shot: raw scallops with watermelon, lime and arugula (photo on page 1). Like most Instagrammers, we might just be suckers for pretty things in pink.
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