Ilene
What local restaurants or businesses do you recommend?
In Pinecrest: Daily Bread, Cheese Course, Joanna’s. Brickell: River Oyster Bar, the new Fleming's and for French food, Le Petite Mason. We love Crust on Miami River. It is an Italian restaurant with great food. I get their angel hair pasta with olive oil and garlic, and an arugula salad. The portions are huge – so you have to share everything.
Miles
What local restaurants or businesses do you recommend?
I try to cook most of the meals at home. If we go out to eat, I've got one vegan and one vegetarian. So we go to places that can accommodate that. A lot of them are in Design District or beach and usually restaurants that I've worked on. For a special occasion, there's a place called Planta in Miami Beach. Everything on the menu is plant-based.
Wally
What local restaurants or businesses do you recommend?
There’s no local outlet for bands to play down south. Right now, you have to go north to Wynwood or downtown. There’s a place called Las Rosas. It’s good for bands as it’s easy to load in and out and the sound is great. Also, Churchill's – which is a British pub in North East. They have good punk shows.
Noah
What local restaurants or businesses do you recommend?
We take out fish from Captains Tavern. We've been going there for decades. We'll get take out from the Daily Bread. And, the kids are big fans of Power Pizza. They like plain cheese pizza and Harlow loves garlic bread. They make a high protein dough.
Denise
What local restaurants or businesses do you recommend?
I love St Roch Food Hall in the Design District. I love Vietnamese noodle soup, and there's a stand with great pho and bahn mi sandwiches. And then, there's an Israeli street food place across the way from them that has this great whole roasted cauliflower with amazing dipping sauces. And then, there is another seafood place there with a fantastic mahi-mahi sandwich with shaved fennel. One of my favorites is Michael's Genuine. It's old school, but so far I haven't found anything to replace it. Michael is a really nice guy. They also have a roasted cauliflower dish with a parsley sauce that is amazing.
Amy
What local restaurants or businesses do you recommend?
I do like to try new places, because we're covering new restaurants all the time. There's a new place on a new Mediterranean place called T U R on Giralda. It's super clean and very good. I like my food deconstructed, I like to see what it is. Caja Caliente is really good Cuban food done by a young 25 year old named Monica. I like to eat at the bar at Zucca at St Michele. It's super fun and the hotel is beautiful. Their charcuterie board is great. It has this European feeling and I feel like I'm somewhere else when I go there. Also, soup at Miss Saigon on Giralda and they have a location in Pinecrest. It's very good and you can eat there all the time.
Liana
What local restaurants or businesses do you recommend?
We eat out a lot. My daughter has declared herself a foodie. We like exposing her to as many flavors as possible and we don’t subscribe to the idea of taking her to restaurants that cater to children. We really want her to eat what we eat. We like the St Roche Market because you don't have to eat at the same place every time and they've got that great bar in the middle and there's a lot of healthy options. We like Seasons 52 in the Gables, Matsuri on Bird Road and Dragonfly in Doral. For a date night, my husband and I really like Byblos and Planta on the Beach - the creativity that goes into their Vegan menu is incredible.
Skip
What local restaurants or businesses do you recommend?
We haven't gone anywhere this year, but in South Miami we like Pastis, which is a little French restaurant. There's a good pizza place on Sunset called Spritz. Whisk is a nice hidden restaurant next to Ace Hardware. And Red Fish Grill is very good and has a lovely water view.
Fernando
What local restaurants or businesses do you recommend?
Dragonfly is one of our favorites. They started in Gainesville, and then they got so big that they moved to Orlando and then finally moved to Miami. Also, Houston's and Capital Grille are just classic good staple restaurants.
Luis and Natalia
What local restaurants or businesses do you recommend?
For Thai:Bangkok City – everything is good. Especially the fried rice and the peanut sauce. The peanut salad is incredible. Origins on the Key is also great. They have a bunch of different cuisines - Thai, Malaysian, Japanese – but it’s not fusion. They have different dishes from each style. The Malaysian roti is really good. For Tacos: El Toro Taco – we get everything, it’s all well made, and you can’t go wrong. Las Carnitas – the mole is real. You would never pull over and think to eat there. It is a little window with seating on 8th street. You need to be taken there.