Reader Response

Simply put, dining in the Magic City improved on all fronts this year. That said, we’re still a ways away from becoming a culinary capital such as New York City, Los Angeles, or Chicago. That means 2017 isn’t the time to rest on our laurels but to continue to expand and improve our dining options. Here are five things (in no particular order) Miami could use in 2017.

Writing in the New York Times earlier this week, Miami-based journalist Brett Sokol interviewed Gean Moreno, one of the three curators for the forthcoming Whitney Biennial, about the lack of local representation in the coveted bi-annual NYC exhibition. Despite being the curator of programming at Miami’s Institute of Contemporary Art…

Ah, Thanksgiving — a time of happiness and warmth, when families come together to put aside their differences and celebrate the love that binds them with delicious food and thoughtful conversation. Kidding! The hallmark of a successful Thanksgiving for most people has traditionally been ignoring Aunt Martha’s obvious drinking problem…

Last night, in the midst of a liberal social media meltdown over Donald Trump’s increasing likelihood of winning the presidency, actor George Takei launched a rallying cry. “We must stand up defiantly to any dark or divisive acts, and look out for the most vulnerable among us. It is more important than ever.”

Hey, everyone. It’s me, Naked Donald Trump. You probably heard about my appearance yesterday in Wynwood, perched on top of a III Points billboard. Just about every news organization in town came to check me out. People seemed pretty excited. Maybe a little too excited – they yanked me down…

The spectacle of the 20th anniversary of one of the largest institutionalized displays of racism in the United States is coming to South Beach this Memorial Day weekend. An estimated crowd of over 250,000 people are expected. We all know this as Urban Beach Weekend. Kudos to Miami Beach city…

Wake up in Berlin, Germany, on any given Sunday, check your weather app and the forecast reads: Dreary. You knew this, though. You taste it in your morning breath and smell it in the ashy air. Still, you get up and shower, put on your party pants, and stop by…

I always wondered why my hometown of Hialeah had such a bad reputation. Almost every one I’ve met outside of Florida that knows of the city talks shit about it — without ever having stepping foot in it. After watching what was la desgracia que fue the Hialeahwood video on YouTube,…

Recently Carnival Cruise Lines announced it would launch cruises to Cuba. Although there was no direct mention that Cuban-Americans would be prohibited, that is ultimately what came to pass. On Tuesday, Cuban Americans filed a class action lawsuit opposing the move.  Who is really to blame for this discrimination? In…

President Barack Obama’s most recent visit to Cuba was all about progress. It means change is coming.  I moved to this country when I was four years old. I don’t remember Cuba. Like Dan Le Batard who penned “Obama in Cuba Brings the Pain of Loss to a Miami Family”…

The Oscars — a night that critics and movie lovers everywhere dread. The evening is a showcase of films that mislead the world into thinking they’re the best of the year when, in reality, they’re just the best-marketed. Enter stage left: #OscarsSoWhite. Enter stage right: host Chris Rock spending most…

It’s all the rage to register with no party affiliation in Florida. Independents now represent 24 percent of the electorate in the Sunshine State. Taking third party registrants into account, that means 27 percent of Florida voters aren’t affiliated with either major party. That’s a dramatic shift from just two…

For the most part, 2015 was a really great year in Miami music. We saw locals conquer during another successful III Points. We saw the rise of the Olympia theater through stellar performances by Kraftwerk, Neutral Milk Hotel, Sufjan Stevens, and more. We were visited by some of the biggest…

With the recent release of the phase one Ultra 2016 lineup, more than a few people in Miami, and indeed around the world, will be beset by visions of lollipops, body glitter, and more neon than downtown Tokyo and Times Square combined. One thing almost none of those potential ravers…

There’s something almost all great destination cities across the globe have in common: a tacky tourist zone that locals have almost completely ceded to visitors and tend to avoid like the plague. In New York it’s Times Square with its Guy Fieri restaurants and Sesame Street-knock off character. In New…

Food Network stars often get a bad rap. Many self-proclaimed foodies and professional restaurateurs alike will tell you that their sensationalizing of cooking desecrates the art of the industry by turning it into a cheapened, profit-driven entertainment source. I happen to disagree. Whether you find these people to be cultural…

Gourmands and caffeine addicts alike have celebrated the birth of Miami’s quality coffee scene. Roasting outfits and cafés like North Miami’s Alaska Coffee Roasting Co., Eternity Coffee Roasters and of course Panther Coffee have helped transform the city from a land with little to boast beyond its ventanitas into a…

It’s been over half-a-decade since Stephen Ross purchased the Miami Dolphins from Wayne Huizenga, and it seems as if slowly-but-steadily, he has finally turned around the franchise. Heading into the 2015 season everything feels very new car smell around the team, and it allcomes directly from Stephen Ross’s hard work.  Dolphins…

As if it wasn’t hard enough to stand on stage in front of a stone-faced crowd and tell jokes, women comedians in Miami have to deal with misogynistic jeers, too. In a scene long dominated by men, sometimes the heckling even comes from fellow male comics. When 25-year-old Dominique Gelin…

Like many other Cuban Americans in Miami, Neyda Borges was shocked to hear President Obama’s December announcement that the U.S. would re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba. The 34-year-old teacher, who works at Miami Lakes Educational Center, immediately turned on CNN in her classroom. Down the hall, two teachers with opposing…