BEST PLACE TO PLAY DARTS 2005 | Abbey Brewing Company | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Miami | Miami New Times
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BEST PLACE TO PLAY DARTS Abbey Brewing Company 1115 Sixteenth Street

Miami Beach

305-538-8110 A crowded, dim beer bar may seem like an odd choice, but we're assuming you're not looking to play championship darts. Few beach bars are more collegial than the Abbey, which is unpretentious and friendly without attracting hordes of frat boys and hoes, and playing darts is all about such communal spirit. Two pluses: The dart board's location makes players unofficial doormen, so you might make a few friends, and the beer-and-wine-only alcohol selection ensures a significant time lag between arrival and alcohol-induced darts-related injuries.

BEST PLACE TO PLAY DARTS Abbey Brewing Company 1115 Sixteenth Street

Miami Beach

305-538-8110 A crowded, dim beer bar may seem like an odd choice, but we're assuming you're not looking to play championship darts. Few beach bars are more collegial than the Abbey, which is unpretentious and friendly without attracting hordes of frat boys and hoes, and playing darts is all about such communal spirit. Two pluses: The dart board's location makes players unofficial doormen, so you might make a few friends, and the beer-and-wine-only alcohol selection ensures a significant time lag between arrival and alcohol-induced darts-related injuries.

BEST CLUB MIX El Clique 1252 Coral Way

Miami

305-860-5360 A little gem tucked in where Coral Way forms a triangle with SW Third and Twelfth avenues, this place used to be a gay bar called the Eagle. But now it's a magnet for young, hip, Spanglish Miami. The crowd is a smooth blend of artists, musicians, and the cool kids who navigate the scenes at venues as varied as I/O, the District, Transit Lounge, and Hoy Como Ayer. However, the particular mix on a given night depends largely on the entertainment, which can range from trance to tango to an anything-goes open-mike night. Sometimes the crowd is older and more old-school Latino. The bartenders are friendly; the tapas are another magnet. When the place gets full, the parking lot becomes an overflow dining room.

BEST CLUB MIX El Clique 1252 Coral Way

Miami

305-860-5360 A little gem tucked in where Coral Way forms a triangle with SW Third and Twelfth avenues, this place used to be a gay bar called the Eagle. But now it's a magnet for young, hip, Spanglish Miami. The crowd is a smooth blend of artists, musicians, and the cool kids who navigate the scenes at venues as varied as I/O, the District, Transit Lounge, and Hoy Como Ayer. However, the particular mix on a given night depends largely on the entertainment, which can range from trance to tango to an anything-goes open-mike night. Sometimes the crowd is older and more old-school Latino. The bartenders are friendly; the tapas are another magnet. When the place gets full, the parking lot becomes an overflow dining room.

BEST ROCK CLUB I/O 30 NE Fourteenth Street

Miami

305-358-8007

www.iolounge.com People who want to enjoy live music must content themselves with I/O, Churchill's Pub, and Tobacco Road. Of that trio, I/O, which opened in June 2003, is the young and fresh choice. In addition to the indie-rock heaven of its two Saturday-night affairs Poplife and Vice, the venue has featured everything from rock en español concerts featuring Bacilos and Volumen Cero to massive jams by rap legend KRS-One, the latter drawing so many people the place became a fire hazard. These days it offers the weekly Poplife and Vice shindigs, a monthly Goth party (Shattered Heart), and other recurring rock, electro, and hip-hop events -- a little something for everybody.

BEST ROCK CLUB I/O 30 NE Fourteenth Street

Miami

305-358-8007

www.iolounge.com People who want to enjoy live music must content themselves with I/O, Churchill's Pub, and Tobacco Road. Of that trio, I/O, which opened in June 2003, is the young and fresh choice. In addition to the indie-rock heaven of its two Saturday-night affairs Poplife and Vice, the venue has featured everything from rock en español concerts featuring Bacilos and Volumen Cero to massive jams by rap legend KRS-One, the latter drawing so many people the place became a fire hazard. These days it offers the weekly Poplife and Vice shindigs, a monthly Goth party (Shattered Heart), and other recurring rock, electro, and hip-hop events -- a little something for everybody.

BEST NEIGHBORHOOD BAR/MIAMI BEACH Spire Bar The Hotel

801 Collins Avenue

Miami Beach

305-531-2222 At the rooftop bar designed by Todd Oldham, electronic cocktails glow with the luminescence of the old Tiffany Hotel's neon sign. Allow your eyes to slowly scan the entire landscape, from the calm Atlantic to the skyscrapers growing like saw grass along Brickell and Biscayne -- a breathtaking panorama, especially at sunset. And the view of the charming Art Deco neighborhood below is downright heartwarming. Sophisticated but casual, grand but intimate, chic but welcoming -- this place makes for an exquisite package. It's the perfect spot for locals to take their out-of-town guests -- the ones they really like anyway.

Readers´ Choice: The Abbey

BEST NEIGHBORHOOD BAR/MIAMI BEACH Spire Bar The Hotel

801 Collins Avenue

Miami Beach

305-531-2222 At the rooftop bar designed by Todd Oldham, electronic cocktails glow with the luminescence of the old Tiffany Hotel's neon sign. Allow your eyes to slowly scan the entire landscape, from the calm Atlantic to the skyscrapers growing like saw grass along Brickell and Biscayne -- a breathtaking panorama, especially at sunset. And the view of the charming Art Deco neighborhood below is downright heartwarming. Sophisticated but casual, grand but intimate, chic but welcoming -- this place makes for an exquisite package. It's the perfect spot for locals to take their out-of-town guests -- the ones they really like anyway.

Readers´ Choice: The Abbey

BEST LATIN CLUB La Covacha 10730 NW 25th Street

Doral

305-594-3717

www.lacovacha.com Miami's best Latin club also has a very colorful history. What used to be a rural roadhouse where Cuban families would tie up their horses burned to the ground in the Nineties. Lucky for us, proprietor Aurelio Rodriguez lifted it from the ashes, gave it a face-lift (preserving the rustic thatched roof), and turned it into a nonstop Latin music party for residents of the western part of the county and those willing to make the trip. Whether a DJ spins or a live band plays, the dance floor is usually packed with gyrating bodies until the wee hours. Not all of the best clubs are on the Beach, as La Covacha proves.

Readers´ Choice: Bongo´s Cuban Caf´

BEST LATIN CLUB La Covacha 10730 NW 25th Street

Doral

305-594-3717

www.lacovacha.com Miami's best Latin club also has a very colorful history. What used to be a rural roadhouse where Cuban families would tie up their horses burned to the ground in the Nineties. Lucky for us, proprietor Aurelio Rodriguez lifted it from the ashes, gave it a face-lift (preserving the rustic thatched roof), and turned it into a nonstop Latin music party for residents of the western part of the county and those willing to make the trip. Whether a DJ spins or a live band plays, the dance floor is usually packed with gyrating bodies until the wee hours. Not all of the best clubs are on the Beach, as La Covacha proves.

Readers´ Choice: Bongo´s Cuban Caf´

Best Of Miami®

Best Of Miami®