"SOUTH BEACH FOOD SNOB"

In preparation for a more recent trip, I decided to give the website (www.restaurant.com) another try. I was looking for a place to have lunch in South Beach Miami, and found the answer to my dreams (where restaurants are concerned). A Thai & Cuban Cuisine restaurant! Now it's been my experience that restaurants like this are usually trouble, It usually turns out that the person in the kitchen is either one ethnicity or the other, and is making a failed attempt at one of the cuisines. So I cautiously checked the reviews for the restaurant and satisfied with the posted comments..... I proceeded. It aided in my persuasion that, since signing up for the websites email alerts, I was notified of a limited time offer of $2 for the certificates instead of $10, PLUS the minimum purchase was only $35! So that meant that for $12 , we would be eating $35 worth. I was sold! Anyway, for only a $2 investment if we arrived at the restaurant, and it was a dive..... all I lost was 2 bucks.

IZZY'S CUBI THAI was located inside of the Sherry Frontenac hotel on Collins Avenue in the heart of South Beach. The inside of the restaurant was fairly empty for a Friday lunch crowd, this concerned me. It took several minutes for us to "wait to be seated" as the sign requested. There only seemed to be one person working the entire restaurant! Waiting tables, Hosting, answering the phone....... we suspected even doing the cooking?
We went ahead and ordered a feast dispite that!

Papas Rellenas - $3.50
Homemade mashed potatoes stuffed with ground beef, peppers and olives, covered with a light breading
Empanadas $4.25
Three Cuban turnovers filled with either chicken, ground beef or ropa vieja (We chose Ground Beef, Much to my dismay I am only now, while typing this realizing that they had a Ropa Vieja option!)

Those were our appetizer selections..... Oh did I forget to mention....... this certificate only required us to spend $35 to use the $25 gift certificate!........

We also placed our entree order at the same time. Choosing to order that from the Thai menu.

Pad Thai $11.95
Thin rice noodles fried with shrimp, chicken and vegetables sprinkled with chopped peanuts
Seafood Curry $17.95
Shrimp, scallops, squid, crabmeat, in red curry sauce, coconut milk, bell pepper and pineapple


We anxiously waited for our food.... and waited...... and waited..... I though "oh dear, is he holding off bring out the appetizers we ordered to just bring it all out at once?" Apparently not. He brought out the Empenadas & Papa Rellenas (3 of each) each plate included a cup of homemade salsa. It was all delicious! Which only made me concerned for the quality of the impending Thai menu items........ could both come from the same kitchen and be as good?
WELL I AM HERE TO TELL YOU THAT THE ANSWER IS - Si!
Nate declared that it was the best Thai food he may have ever eaten (he had the curry). Mine was also very good, I would probably also have said the best, but I have a devout loyalty to my friends at Thai Basil, here in Greenville. (More on them later, too!)

We pushed away from the table stuffed and ready for a nap. Atleast I did. OH, Now it's location being in a hotel makes sense!
So..... If you find your self in the Miami area, and have 90 minutes to kill..... (yeah , you better bring change to feed the meter!) then go and enjoy a yummy multicultural feast at

IZZY'S CUBI THAI
6565 COLLINS AVENUE
MIAMI BEACH, FL 33141
(305) 865-0012
WWW.IZZYSCUBITHAI.COM

Mojito's - My Liquid Lunch

My co-worker and I decided we were going to lunch today. She said she wanted pizza, and you'll never guess where she wanted to go....... GASP - Mellow Mushroom. The CEO of our company laughed and said, she's not going there..... haven't you read her Blog (and she had). On our drive down main street, we passed a new little restaurant that I had been wanting to try, Mojito's. I told her to turn the car around, I knew where to go to lunch. Upon entering the small cafe, the smells of my childhood came rushing back to me. Ahhhhh the smell of olive oil, garlic and black beans. As I was exclaiming how great it smelled, she was turning up her nose and disputing that. We sat ourselves (as the sign suggested), and were then greeted by our waitress. She told us about the specials which, it being Friday, were their Signature Cuban sandwich ($7.95), and the daily special of Ropa Vieja ($6.95). For those of you who didn't grow up with the privilege of having a mother who prepared this....... It is shredded beef slow cooked in a tomato based sauce with peppers, onions and green olives. Once the waitress offered that, there was no decision to be made. My co-worker hesitantly choose the same (much to my hesitation too). Now dispite the title - we skipped the yummy looking Mojitos ($7.00/$8.00) on this trip, it being our lunch break and all. The Ropa Vieja was served with a scoop of white rice, bowl of black bean soup and two platanos (Sweet plantains). It was great, even my co-worker liked her lunch. Now I would have said that lunch was awesome, BUT...... no one cooks as good as mama.

I am eager to go back at night, to enjoy that Mojito and dance to some salsa music, because it seems that the cafe turns into a hoppin night spot once the sun goes down.

816 Main Street - Greenville
(864)423-9491
http://www.myspace.com/mojitosonmainstreet