Scott Fredel opened this stylish contemporary American bistro in Aventura's sprawling Promenade Shops to show that white-tablecloth dining didn't have to come at white-knuckle prices. Four years later, he's made his point and then some. Sophisticated dishes such as slow-roasted salmon with truffled red potato salad and coarse-grained mustard sauce come in at a fistful of dollars less than at the tony South Beach eateries where Fredel used to cook, with all but a handful costing $20 or less. And the benefits of eating in a mall restaurant that doesn't look or act anything like a mall restaurant? Priceless.

Most wine bars could just as easily be called whine bars, as in: "How come there's nothing decent to eat here to go along with all the great wine?" Well, your sniveling pleas have been answered at this cozy, comfy Coral Gables wine shop/tapas bar. To go along with more than 100 bottles of (all Spanish) wine are wickedly flavorful small plates of gambas al ajillo ($9.95), zippy little piquillo peppers stuffed with a silken purée of bacalao and potato ($6.95), and one of the best Spanish tortillas in town ($4.95). So eat, drink, enjoy. And stop your whining.

We could start by making a joke at the expense of Coconut Grove's grim dining scene — such as how choosing the best restaurant in this area is like selecting the best Jewish football star. But that would be needlessly snarky. Besides, since Ideas Restaurant opened here in late 2006, the Grove has itself a star establishment to build upon. The chef, Alvaro Beade, hails from the Castilla y León region of Spain, and his cooking style is clean, vibrantly flavored, and highly innovative. Seafoods such as cuttlefish, lubina, and dorada (the last crusted in sea salt) are shipped from his country's Mediterranean coast, which makes Ideas ideal for a sumptuous fish dinner. Yet there is so much more to try, for no other Spanish restaurant in town serves dishes such as consommé of Serrano ham, carpaccio of king prawn, veal cheeks braised in red wine, and confit of suckling baby pig (entrées are in the $28 to $48 price range).The selection of wines is as distinctive as the cuisine, from the Verdejo whites of Rueda to the robust reds of Ribera del Duero. With a restaurant this fine in Coconut Grove, can an NFL quarterback named Moishe Schwartz be far behind?

Ever since Norman Van Aken copped our award for Best Restaurant in Coral Gables for 10 years straight, there has been an aversion to repeating winners in the same category. It's so lazy. So boring. So predictable. But when an establishment is as singularly rewarding as Sardinia, there really isn't much choice in the matter. Few restaurants re-create the ambiance and cuisine of another country as authentically, and none has chosen a more gastronomically interesting nation. Peerless antipasti platters are assembled from each diner's choice of imported meats, cheeses, roasted vegetables, and other tasty tidbits such as Castelvetrano olives tossed with wild fennel flowers. The Sardinian wines are unique, the Italian wines extensive. Whole octopus, rib eye steaks, and suckling pigs get smokily roasted in a roaring wood-fired oven, branzino crusted in sea salt, lamb and rabbit braised into stew (entrées run $26 to $38). Pastas, almost all under $20, include distinctive cuts such as paccheri and malloreddus, and hearty garnishings such as wild boar sausage and rabbit ragout. Ambiance and service, too, are a notch above the rest, and the hours are easy to remember: noon to midnight seven days a week. Could Norman's record be in jeopardy?

Houdini would have been hard-pressed to match the magical act of Marseille-born, Paris-trained chef Philippe Jaccquet, who somehow produces a full menu worth of authentic Southern French bistro cuisine from a kitchen smaller than Richard Simmons' wardrobe closet. The cramped dining room is barely larger, but brightened with Gallic knickknacks and posters hanging from vibrantly colored walls. A favorite is the mussels and frites, and also steak frites — heck, we really like the frites, crisply culled from fresh potatoes and served in paper-lined tins. Other lunch and dinner specialties hit the spot in flavorful no-frills fashion, from escargots to bouillabaisse to steak in peppercorn sauce; from duck pâté with fig tapenade to lamb shank roasted in orange and thyme (appetizers average $10 to $15, main courses $11 to $21). It doesn't take sleight of hand to conjure an honest country meal here — except on Sundays, when Pastis is closed.

During those uncommon evenings when there's a winter bite in the air, dining outdoors at Con Tutto can still feel like summer. The secret is to nab one of the outdoor tables closest to the grill, which is ensconced in a blazing brick furnace. As traditional parrillada components sizzle on the parrilla (flank and skirt steaks, sweetbreads, sausages, kidneys, and so forth), flames intermittently erupt and billows of smoke enshroud the diners. Crusty flautas; charred, thick-crust pizzas; and mile-high chivitos are also praiseworthy at this Uruguayan hole-in-the-wall on Calle Ocho. Of course on most Miami nights, it is advisable to seek those seats in Con Tutto's intimate alleyway courtyard that are farthest from the grill — although it depends on your preferred dining climate. People disagree about the merits of hot and cold weather all the time, but Con Tutto's prices are indubitably decent — the parrillada for one is $14.99, for two only $22.99. Everything else costs less. That's hot. And it's cool.

The chunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano that gets plunked upon your plate is complimentary. So are toasts piled with bright bruschetta, a plate of garlic-fried zucchini slices, and sourdough bread with olive oil. At the end of the meal, glasses of limoncello are poured — free of charge. Everything else at Il Gabbiano is priced sky-high, which also describes the quality of hearty New York-style Italian fare. Take, for instance, the pastas, homemade by an Italian pasta chef who worked with the owners during their decades-long success running Il Mulino in New York City — the porcini ravioli bathed in champagne sauce costs $38, but, as the getting-old cliché goes, the taste is priceless. Same standards apply to grilled calamari ($19), osso buco Milanese ($42), grilled branzino ($48), and a textbook tiramisu ($12). There are 200 wines and outdoor seating with a gorgeous vista of Biscayne Bay. Yes, it is all so very expensive, but only if you pay. The trick is to maneuver things so that someone else does (although try to avoid doing so on a Sunday — when Gabbiano is closed).

This newcomer to the Miami dining scene is located on South Miami Avenue near downtown, but you can call it the old Firehouse Four building. The two-level restaurant is stylishly decorated, but you can call it duplex chic. For a prix-fixe charge of either $18 or $23, diners begin with a choice among some 15 soups, salads, and appetizers, plus an entrée selected from a listing under each price range, but you can call it a clever and appealing menu. Starters include watercress salad with marinated chicken and Serrano ham, duck and cheese quesadillas, and Vietnamese salmon egg rolls, but you can call them yummy. Eighteen-dollar dinners encompass pork tenderloin, short rib ravioli, and linguine with pesto and shrimp, and $23 gets you grilled Picanha steak, veal churrasco, or Kobe beef burgers, but you can call it all a great deal either way. A dozen wines are poured by the glass for $10 and under, and desserts such as mango carpaccio and coconut crème brûlée are $2.50 each, but you can call the person to whom you owe a dinner, invite him or her to Dolores but You Can Call Me Lolita, and call it money and an evening well spent.

David Bouley Evolution. Johnny V South Beach. Mark's South Beach. Restaurant Brana. Afterglo. Cafeteria. Duo. Frankie's Big City Grill. Karu & Y. The list of this past year's local restaurant victims is as lengthy as a dessert menu at The Cheesecake Factory. The closings that shocked this town most, though, were clearly Norman's and Pacific Time — two of only a few true Miami landmark dining establishments. Norman Van Aken's eponymous restaurant showcased his New World cuisine, a brilliant blend of Caribbean and South Florida ingredients. When Norman's opened in 1995, it became a nationally recognized oasis for cutting-edge contemporary American cooking; cookbooks and fame followed. Jonathan Eisman was likewise a pioneer, in more than one way. He was the first to recognize Lincoln Road's potential — hard to believe that in 1993 his Pacific Time was the pedestrian mall's only real dining option. And he was an early passenger on the Pan-Asian express, certainly the first in these parts to pair seafood with a fusion of East/West flavorings. Alas, two of our finest have gone, but Van Aken is still going strong with his Norman's at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, and Eisman is undoubtedly getting set to jump ahead of the curve once again.

On Fridays and Saturdays, a dirt parking lot behind a South Miami church comes alive with folks in search of Levi Kelly's succulent ribs. For $8 he'll give you a quarter rack of the crispiest, slow-roasted pork ribs anyone's ever tasted. If you like, he'll lay them on top of two pieces of white bread and slather them with delicious sauce. You'll spend about 45 minutes eating them. Or at least you'll want it to take that long. They're that good. So pull up a chair and get to know the man. Across the street, pick-up games of dice, poker, and dominoes run all night. But come during the day: You'll want to watch the children and families who pass through Kelly's little blue tent.