10Best's Miami Restaurants
-- Kelly Sigmon, 10Best Travel Editor
A vacation wonderland, by necessity, demands terrific food, and Miami is well-equipped to deliver a culinary rainbow. Just-caught seafood promises a welcome taste of the sky-blue sea, thanks to broiled snapper, stone crab, fried grouper and conch fritters. Similarly pervasive are the many variations of Latin American cuisine: ubiquitous Cuban eateries, enticing Argentinean spots, and fascinating establishments like SushiSamba dromo, which finds parallels in Peruvian, Brazilian and Japanese cuisines. A hometown invention, colorfully dubbed Floribbean fare, marries local ingredients to Caribbean sensibilities, grounding them in Continental technique. It's a movement prevalent in area restaurants, even when menus aren't explicitly devoted to the idea. Of course, dining well is easy, although it can come at a price in exceptional mainstays like Norman's, Chef Allen's and Mark's South Beach. Lest all hope for affordability be lost, know that South Florida shelters a clutch of budget-friendly eateries, which shirk neither ambience nor excellence. Among them are South Beach's no-frills La Sandwicherie and Pilar Restaurant, a dashing, modern seafood place run by Scott Fredel – Culinary Institute chef, licensed boat captain and competitive fisherman, to boot.