Avocado Toast in Miami

Avocado toast seems to be a current food rage in Miami.   Almost everywhere I go for breakfast has a version of it.    Some are just avocado, either smashed or sliced, on top of toast, which not infrequently is from Zak the Baker in Wynwood.  Some add a poached or soft cooked egg on top.   Others add additional ingredients such as ham, pickled onion and other condiments.   Here are three of my current favorites: 

All Day at 1035 North Miami Avenue serves the most unusual of the three with pickled red onion, sliced avocado, a poached egg and an advertised seven-grain toast.   All Day is located in a warehouse-like neighborhood just around the corner from a large U-Haul rental facility.   There not many, if any, other eating places in the area, It is a large, two story, bright white clean restaurant with specialty chocolates lining one wall, which I need to go back and try.   There are about a dozen tables and at least half of them were trying the avocado toast on one of the days I was there. 

Puroast is also located on Miami Avenue but on the south side of the Miami River at 632 South Miami Avenue, right on the edge of the Brickell City Center complex in the old Tobacco Road block.   The avocado toast here also has sliced avocado, a poached egg and a pile of chopped ham.  It’s called Rustic Avo Toast on the menu board.   Puroast is primarily a coffee house with a small number of breakfast and lunch items, all of which look pretty good.   Their specialty is coffee with the usual set of espresso and brewed coffee options.  Try their Greca, their ‘signature brew’, for a great morning eye-opening experience.

Threefold Café is the only one of the three that serves their avocado mashed.  Their version also has feta cheese, basil, thyme, butter and chopped roasted mushrooms.  It is definitely the most complicated of the three and is served on a great toasted slice of Zak the Baker bread.   Located at 141 Giralda Street (part of the soon to be completed pedestrian-only block) in the heart of Coral Cables, it is the largest of three restaurants and has the most extensive menu serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.    It’s large and bright and has an extensive espresso and brewed coffee menu that includes an affogato, one of my favorites – a shot of espresso served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (more on my favorite affogato bars in a later post!).  

Try these places and let me know what you think or share your favorite place to get a good avocado toast breakfast.

 

Getting Fit in Miami

Next Level Coaching and Fitness (www.NLC.fitness) is the brain-child of Nick Kempen, a Miami-based health and fitness coach who has over 15-years of experience in the areas of fitness, nutrition and lifecycle coaching.   Nick provides one-on-one and on-line training, as well as nutritional assistance.   His website says, ‘my goal is to coach my clients in helping them change and improve their lifestyle through health and fitness’. 

In full disclosure, Nick has been my personal trainer for about the past 7 years and I can say that at age 61, I am in the best shape of my life.    He understands my goals and tailors my workouts to help me achieve them.   My goals are to stay fit, keep my weight under control and try to eat healthier.   I have an arthritic hip due primarily to tennis and Nick gives me exercises that keep the muscles in that area strong to minimize injury and help stem constant aggravation.   Nick is good at listening to my complaints about aches and pains but doesn’t let me cheat in my workouts with him.  He adjusts my routines to my needs and continually advises and checks in with me between workouts about my diet and other lifestyle fitness issues – I really like to run but is that good for my hip?, I really like Key Lime Pie so can I have a piece this week?,  what can I do in between workouts for continued improvements?

Nick, originally from Illinois, has been in Miami for over ten years.   He knows Miami well and is a good ambassador.   He also carries about a dozen certifications that prove his dedication and knowledge.

So go to the Next Level Coaching website and sign up for either an in-person one-on-one training session or an online session with access to exercise videos.  Nick also holds a Saturday morning boot camp at Cure Fitness (www.cure-fitness.com) at 1800 SW 1st Avenue in the Brickell area of Miami at 8am.   It only costs $20 per session and is a great way to start the weekend.  

“What seems impossible today will soon become your warm-up’, Nick says.