It is supposed to be a flaky, crescent-shape roll painstakingly prepared by rolling butter and pastry dough into thousands of microlayers. The crisp, crusty exterior should give way to so ethereal a bite that it will taste like a Ferran Adriá concoction called "butterair." And, preferably, it should be made fresh daily. The croissants at La Brioche Dorée match all of these criteria, which is why so many French expatriates, as well as locals, cram the quaint little storefront bakery every morning. The secret ingredient that makes these croissants so buttery is -- and this is a shocker -- the butter. It comes from France and is denser, richer than the American stuff, which is served on the side but is totally superfluous. Croissants are $1.50; a cup of espresso $1.50. A copy of Le Monde would be a few francs extra.

What hamburgers are to Americans, roti is to many Caribbean islanders. In Trinidad and Guyana, roti is considered soul food, and few places outside the islands do it better than Caribbean Delite. This hole-in-the-wall is embedded in a strip mall that amounts to a miniature Caribbean district. Reggae music blasts from the record store down the way, and Jamaicans emerge from the shop next door, carrying grease-stained brown paper bags stuffed with hot beef patties. Caribbean Delite serves up spicy saffron-color curried meats like chicken, beef, goat, and shrimp with a generous dollop of curried potatoes and chickpeas (also eggplant, cabbage, and pumpkin if you come on a Thursday). These dishes -- accompanied by paratha, a scrumptiously soft flatbread also known as buss-up-shut -- are traditionally scooped up by hand. Succulent chickpea-filled doubles cost $1. For a more filling meal, consider a shrimp roti for $7 or feast on curried boneless chicken with paratha roti for $6.50. But roti is not Caribbean Delite's only specialty. It also sells pholourie, fried balls of dough that you dip into zesty mango chutney. For dessert, try some sweet-and-sour tamarind balls, or khurma, sticks of crisp fried dough sprinkled with ginger and sugar. Check out the well-stocked cooler of carbonated beverages, which can be difficult to find in the United States, such as Jamaican favorites grapefruit-flavor Ting, red-orange Kola Champagne, and sorrel, a customary yuletide brew made from crimson blossoms. The glass cabinet at the store's counter contains myriad strange island imports, like mauby, a concentrated concoction made from tree bark; and Milo, a chocolaty drink known and loved throughout the archipelago.

For a doughnut-hole-size family shop to hold its own next to Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme in this sticky business, you know the product has to take the cake (or the glazed or the cruller). Paired with café con leche, the classic glazed will melt on your tongue, the moist chocolate cake will make you moan, and the velvety cream filling in the Bavarians will have you convinced that little fried pieces of Heaven do exist on Earth. But you need to get here early, because doughnuts this good will not last all morning.

Screw Betty Crocker, forget Duncan Hines, and stay away from supermarket bakeries. If you really want to make a birthday party memorable, head straight to Karlo. Everything is freshly made, so simply entering the store can induce an olfactory orgasm. Freshly baked bread, cookies, empanadas, croissants, and pastries crowd the glass cabinets. Pick up some pastelitos for the party and then choose a cake, any cake. They are all as pretty as a picture. Chocolate, vanilla, amaretto, layered with berries or topped with frosting. The almond mousse is among the best ($27 sized for 10 to 12 people, $60 for 25 people). It slices like thick butter and goes down like a marzipan dream. Now that is worth singing the birthday song for.

Yes, it is in a strip mall. Yes, the red lanterns and waiters' uniforms remind you a little bit of a James Bond movie, somehow. But the food ... the aroma of mushrooms wafting from a bubbling clay pot, of shrimp nestled deliciously in semitransparent dumpling wraps, of kung pao tofu with a hint of pork and mini chili peppers. Tropical is authentic Chinese and classic Miami. Go for dim sum on the weekends as well. The average cost of entrées is from $12 to $20.

We like to visit this clean little two-year-old Colombian joint in a nondescript East Little Havana strip mall Sunday afternoons, when the mondongo and sancocho ($5.50 each with rice) are at their zenith. These soups are the basis of the weekend diet in Bogot‡ and beyond -- and here they are cooked to perfection, particularly the tripe in the mondongo. Indeed Colombianos from across Miami-Dade County, at least the patriotic ones, make their way here to enjoy the Aguila and Club Colombia Beer ($2.75 per bottle) while they nibble on bread and talk of home. Visitors with hearty appetites order the churrasco, a paragon of meaty perfection, which comes with a baked potato and salad for $8.95. The lucky ones get to chat with Amparo Valencia, the owner who hails from Armenia, which, in case you didn't know, is a city in the west-central mountains of Colombia.

Sweetened, condensed milk was introduced to the Florida Keys 150 years ago. Owing to the lack of cows around, the new canned product was taken to with gusto by the citizenry, who developed all sorts of new recipes in which to use it. Key lime pie was far away the most successful of these concoctions, and the ingredients have hardly changed since its inception: key lime juice, condensed milk, and crust (originally made from pastry dough, but nowadays from graham crackers crumbled with butter). The only variation comes via the topping: whipped cream or meringue -- that is, except at the Blond Giraffe Key Lime Pie Factory. They base their pie on a flaky cornmeal crust, use Nellie & Joe's key lime juice in the delicate pale yellow custard, and top it off with -- nothing. That's the plain pie, which costs $3.95 per slice and $17.75 for the whole. A slice capped with a lofty cloud of meringue, or a frozen key lime wedge dipped in chocolate and served on a stick are also available at the same single-serving price (slightly more per pie). However you slice it, and however you top it, Blond Giraffe's key lime pie is the best thing anyone has created from a can of condensed milk.

Four things you might not know about chocolate:
1. A single chocolate chip provides sufficient food energy for an adult to walk 150 feet; hence it would take about 35 chocolate chips to go one mile, and 875,000 for an around-the-world hike.
2. Chocolate has in excess of 500 flavor components, more than twice the amount found in strawberry and vanilla.
3. Chocolate syrup was used for blood in the famous 45-second shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.
4. Romanico's on Coral Way makes the most luxurious chocolate in Miami. Owner Alejandra Bigai's specialty is hand-rolled truffles, which come in delectable flavors such as holy berry, passion caramel, heavenly vanilla, and wild coconut; the last is a blend of mild and dark chocolate plumped with coconut cream and coated with tiny white flakes (six for $12, and only 38 calories each). The other main draw here are the box sets of hand-painted chocolates. Those found in the Piccolo Art Collection ($11.95) are filled with almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, or dulce de leche; the 40 chocolates in the Grande Collection ($39) are etched with colorful fish. All chocolates come beautifully packaged and with personalized note cards, which makes them ideal gifts. Or sit in the cozy shop, sip a cappuccino, and slowly relish the sweets yourself.

Admittedly this new neighborhood café's Cuban specialties are spotlighted only at lunchtime, when Cuban-American co-owner Margarita Vasallo is the kitchen dominatrix. Although the menu is limited to sandwiches, starters, and a few full-size entrées, all items are of high quality -- and are the real thing. Dishes include several typical Cuban beef cuts, a fish and soup of the day, and one or two more labor-intensive Cuban specials -- perhaps hefty rabo encendido or ropa vieja. Any deviations from tradition are imaginative improvements, such as pan con bistec ($5.95 to $6.95) served with a choice of three steaks (palomilla, breaded palomilla, or churrasco), topped with fashionable mixed-veggie Terra Stix instead of canned potato sticks, and accompanied by a mesclun, rather than iceberg lettuce, side salad. The $3.50 serving of sopa de pollo (richly flavorful broth packed with poultry, calabaza, corn on the cob, and much more) is to normal chicken soup as the University of Miami's bulked-up ibis is to Tweety Bird. And the impossibly creamy house croquetas ($1.50 each) are nothing short of a ticket to Heaven for the price of a bus ride.

A three-plate (generally appetizer-size) tasting dinner of roasted chestnut soup with seared foie gras and toasted walnuts; roasted Maine scallops with pumpkin crme, purple potato, and smoked bacon; and crisp plum tart with pink peppercorn ice cream: $39. The aforementioned courses with an extra tasting plate of Hudson Valley foie gras terrine with dried fruit chutney: $44. And another course of beef tenderloin with shallot butter, potato galette, and truffle sauce: $55. A six-course sampling dinner chosen by the chef, Philippe Ruiz, who is widely acknowledged as one of Miami's elite culinarians: $65. Plus wine pairing: $95. Getting to dine on the most exquisitely prepared French/Mediterranean cuisine in the city, in an elegant, intimate setting inside the posh Biltmore Hotel, with more than 300 wines from which to choose, and absolutely stellar service: Pricey. But not absurdly so. And worth every penny.