With Miami's favorite Aussie, the lunch bell could bring a satanically rich blood cake (Brits call it black pudding) fried in a fist-size knob of good butter. Perhaps your plate will boast Wagyu bacon, cured in-house at Edge Steak & Bar. Or maybe it'll be a plate of freshly made corzetti pasta, imprinted with the fleur de lis pattern that chef Aaron Brooks picked up during a recent jaunt through Chicago. And that's just lunch. At dinner, he and his crew will serve you the expertly browned and basted beef they always have, but only after you dig into kangaroo empanadas ($6), chorizo and cheddar croquetas ($9), and a Sicilian pork and pistachio terrine ($13) that will likely soon be swapped out for some other mind-boggling charcuterie. And while all of this is good and well, Brooks' main mission is to delight. This consummate chef is just as happy to let his pâté poach while whipping up pancakes at 8 p.m. on a Saturday or eggs Benedict at noon on a Tuesday.

Readers' choice: José Andrés (the Bazaar and Bazaar Mar)

The clatter of colliding pool balls rings out. You don't know how many games of nine ball you've lost, but your friends haven't forgotten your tab. You're down. Way, way down. "How's about you start working it off with a pizza?" your pal suggests. The vote is for the veggie ($13): a crisp-crusted pie scattered with woody artichoke hearts, mushrooms, peppers, black olives, and goat cheese. But when you reach for a slice, your hand is promptly slapped away. "This ain't yours, man," your foe interjects. "This is your payment." And so it goes. You don't see one shred of rib eye off the South Philly cheesesteak ($10) nestled in a puffy Amoroso bun flown in from the city that birthed the Republic. You can't even have one crunch of the spicy pickle ($2), brined in-house and the perfect chaser for whatever shot fits your fancy at 4 a.m. Maybe next time, you'll actually be able to sink a shot and get something to quiet that gurgling gut.

Readers' choice: Bodega Taqueria y Tequila

No place is more Miami than the Miami River. Its mouth, which empties into Biscayne Bay, was the cradle of the indigenous Tequestas and birthplace of the modern city. Today a combination of creaky, rusty cargo haulers and luxury megayachts gurgles up the waterway. River Yacht Club's manicured lawn filled with crisp white tables and chairs is the perfect place to see it all happen as the Brickell skyline rises before you. In the meantime, you never know what you'll find upon opening the menu, which seems to drastically change every three months. At one point, it was Philippe Ruiz, formerly of the Biltmore's Palme d'Or, running things. Shortly after that, it was the now-rebranded Vagabond's Alex Chang. Most recently, it's a refined Japanese concept called Dashi overseen by Shuji Hiyakawa, former executive sushi chef of Kuro at the Seminole Hard Rock. This is one club worth squeezing inside.

Swiss chard was this sandy-blond 35-year-old's gateway vegetable, leading from the world of hobby gardening into something more serious. Two years ago, Chris French leased a one-acre tract of land in Homestead and began sprouting everything from tomatoes to greens. Almost instantly, Miami's sophisticated chefs began buying up everything he could grow. His field was at one time almost completely dedicated to Alex Chang's Vagabond. Today French's gorgeous handiwork can be found at Pinch Kitchen, Mandolin Aegean Bistro, Matthew Kenney's Plant Food + Wine, and Matthew Sherman of Jugofresh's Paradigm Kitchen. French's work has also inspired some chefs to push their own boundaries. When his tomato crop contracted a disease earlier this year, Melissa Sosa from Zak the Baker Deli took hundreds of pounds of green tomatoes that would've otherwise been ground into the dirt. The result was some of the city's best pickles. French is just what Miami needs: a young farmer eager to do the back-breaking work to make the city a better place to eat.

Freddy and Danielle Kaufman began their meat careers selling single-pound packs of their custom sausages at South Florida farmers' markets. In early 2013, they had gained enough momentum to open their own cozy butcher shop in Miami Shores. Four years later, anyone with a passing familiarity of tubed meats knows there is simply no better sausage (about $12 for four links) in town than the ones you'll find at Proper Sausages. The beloved butchers have also branched out to ribs, bacon, and other delightfully marbled slabs of meat, as well as fresh to-go sandwiches that make for the perfect lunch break. Butcher shops are experiencing a resurgence in America but still need a lot of help. Luckily, it's not difficult to support Proper Sausages. Any carnivore with at least one working sense owes this place a visit. The Kaufmans have a pretty liberal policy on staring and drooling.

It's true that Miami's beer scene is exploding. But what makes Concrete Beach tap into the city's community is its taproom, called the Social Hall — and rightly so. The brewery is a spot to not only refresh with a pint or two but also meet people. A robust calendar of events includes art shows, live music, contests, and beer-release parties. The brewery even hosts a monthly run where joggers loop around Wynwood for three miles and are rewarded for their efforts with discounted pints. It's this interaction with the people of Miami that makes Concrete Beach more than a place to drink beer. It's also a place to make new friends. Call it Wynwood's version of Cheers.

Readers' choice: Funky Buddha Brewery

If you're hunting whalez, look no further than Union Beer Store. Here, it's open season year-round. You're probably thinking, A craft beer mecca on Calle Ocho? Yes. Except this isn't just a beer bar and neighborhood taproom where you can find 20 unique brews on draft served alongside a variety of snacks. It's also a suds market, where refrigerated cases hold a rotating selection of hard-to-find bottles and cans (even some made in Cuba, alongside random public tastings from the owner's personal cellar). Plus, it's a growler bar, allowing you to fill to-go growlers with whatever is on tap to enjoy all that Union Beer Store bounty wherever your craft beer-loving self desires. The rotating tap list changes more often than you can count and includes beers on nitro, cask ales from a beer engine, and local stuff you won't find anywhere else (J. Wakefield Brewing even created an IPA especially for this place). It's all thanks to the husband-and-wife team of David and Cici Rodriguez, both longtime supporters of Miami's craft beer scene. David started at Lokal in 2011 and became manager/partner of the Coconut Grove restaurant's Wynwood sibling, Kush. Cici founded Miami Brew Bus. Together, these two know their brews and share that passion and knowledge with Miami via Union, which opened in February. Fashioned after a half-market/half-bar place they stumbled across in California, it's their interpretation of craft beer heaven. Any self-respecting beer aficionado would agree with them.

What makes a great wine bar? Is it the selection, the knowledgeable staff, or the prices? You can find all three in perfect unison at Bin 18, the chic urban bistro near the Adrienne Arsht Center that presents a classy selection of European food and drink items with a specialization in vino. The wine bar offers a dazzling array of affordable, quirky wines alongside a short (but ambitious) small-plates menu. These aren't typical wines, certainly not by the glass, but the selection is appropriate for wine nerds and casual drinkers alike. Sipping here is a pinch-yourself treat, with choices of stunning rarity and age, bottles you might count yourself lucky to stumble upon thanks to a restaurant that's been collecting for more than a decade. From a Scaia Rosso baby amarone to a La Liebre y Tortuga albarino, there's always something unique. With around 150 bottles to choose from and about 15 rotating varietals by the glass, it's best to try as many as possible during the weekday happy hour, where you can get half-priced glasses of wine and draft beer from 5 to 7 p.m. Or try the pre-theater menu: $39 for one glass of wine paired with a prix fixe of appetizer, entrée, and dessert.

For a proper martini, you first must have the proper surroundings. There's no other place in Miami that exudes a more elegant, Old-World vibe than the classic Biltmore Hotel. A dark lounge decorated with pictures of actors on the red carpet in Cannes houses the room's focal point: a lushly carved wooden bar that looks like it belongs in a chic Parisian hotel. Your bartender hands you a leather-bound book of beverages, but you came here for the most regal of cocktails, so you don't even look. The classic martini (starting at $15) is the preferred libation of the likes of Winston Churchill, Dorothy Parker, and James Bond. Whether you choose vodka or gin is, of course, a matter of preference. If you take gin, you'll be rewarded with an ice-cold drink made with Martin Miller's London Dry gin (the house spirit) and topped with three olives. Forget the house-made bitters, bacon-infused bourbon, and cocktails in cans. There's a reason why the martini has stood the test of time, and this one is clear perfection in a glass. The Biltmore Bar is open Tuesday through Saturday from 4 to 1:30 a.m. and is closed Sunday and Monday.

Readers' choice: Diplomat Prime

Barman Leo Holtzman put himself on the Miami map with the Cocktail Collection, a speakeasy above the sorely missed Tobacco Road. There, Holtzman entertained guests with sleight of hand and refreshed them with his drinks. Holtzman is now a partner at SoCal, where he mixes the Gardner's margarita ($11). Instead of having the usual light-green hue, this cocktail is a gorgeous shade of blush. The secret is the red bell peppers muddled into the drink. Holtzman then uses cucumbers for freshness and serrano peppers for a slight tingle. Containing a liberal amount of Herradura tequila and garnished with peppers and a spiced-salt rim, this margarita is a delightfully fresh iteration of the classic and a much more sophisticated version than the frozen kind poured from blenders. SoCal is open Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday from 5 p.m. to midnight, Thursday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., and Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m.