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
