Last summer we sent two weeks in Aix-in-Provence, France, a university town of about 145,000 people, located just over 100 miles from Nice by train through Marseilles. Aix is a beautiful town with modern architecture, especially in its art complex, which is home to the annual art festival, devoted primarily to opera but also includes orchestral and vocal concerts…
Read MoreRoad Trip to the West Coast of Florida
I grew up in Broward County, Florida on the east coast of the state. I hadn’t been over to the west coast in probably about 45 years. So I recently took a long weekend and went across the state to Naples and then further up to Anna Maria Island. We headed out around 9am on a sunny Saturday and headed across the state via Alligator Alley, picking it up in Fort Lauderdale about 45 minutes from home in Miami. Alligator Alley, or the old Route 84 and the now I-75, is a pretty easy trip across the state at a posted speed of 70 mph.
Traffic was pretty light on this Saturday morning and we arrived at our destination for lunch with a friend at Vanderbilt Beach in Naples in a little over 2 hours. Naples has turned into a beautiful lush town that seems to be significantly better off than I remember as a kid. Wide main streets with lots of palm trees and gated communities set back from the street hidden by large green hedges seemed to be the norm. Even the ubiquitous Florida strip malls were well designed and set back from the road. We had a great gulf-side lunch at the Turtle Club where Vanderbilt Beach Road meets Gulf Shore Drive. The Turtle Club is a old-timey small resort that has aged well over the years and now looks like new after a recent renovation, or as their website says, it ‘has come to represent perhaps the finest fusion of Olde Florida and New Florida in Naples’. Anyway it’s a nice place to have a relaxing lunch with a great view of the Gulf of Mexico.
Then on to Anna Maria Island just over the bridge west of Bradenton and just south of St. Petersburg – about a two hour drive north of Naples. The island is made up of three small towns - Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach and at the most northern tip, Anna Maria, and can be accessed via bridges on the south side through the small fishing community of Cortez or on the north side directly from Bradenton. The three towns are densely packed with vacation rentals and houses, though I understand the tallest structure on the island is a mere six stories with a now newer height limit of only 37 feet or about 3 stories. These restrictions have given the area a cozy, comfortable feeling. Just to the south of Bradenton Beach is the more spread out, primarily residential Long Boat Key accessed by a bridge between the two islands.
Dinner one night was at the Waterfront Restaurant at the corner of North Bay Road and Pine Avenue in Anna Maria, a comfortable seafood house serving excellent fish. Directly across the street is the Anna Maria City Pier. Dinner the second night was at the more upscale Euphemia Haye restaurant on Long Boat Key. They have a great upstairs dessert room, with at least a dozen homemade desserts and along with live music is a great place to unwind after your large meal.
The next morning we headed back to Miami via the more southern Tamiami Trail. This is the road we probably took when we made the trip 45 years ago when I was a kid. The speed limit is 60 mph and is only two lanes for most of the trip. It’s a nice leisurely way to travel across the state with access to the Big Cypress National Preserve, camping sites and airboat rides.
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.
Best French Baguette in Miami
Who makes the best baguette in Miami? I should probably have posted about this event a few weeks, right after it happened, but I guess better late than never. Did you ever wonder which bakery makes the best French baguette in Miami? Now we know. On April 13th, at the National Hotel on Collins Avenue, French Morning and Norwegian presented the second annual Miami Baguette Battle. Other sponsors included Ile de France, Cacao Noel, Chateau d’Esclans and Three Little Pigs. The event was held outdoors by the National’s magnificent pool and on a beautiful Miami evening guests were served wine, cheese, pate, charcuterie and, of course, baguette samples from the competing bakeries. A panel of judges tasted and discussed, followed by a little more tasting and discussing and with a little help from a glass or two of wine, came up with a winner. The participating finalists included La Parisianne, La Provence, Buon Pane Italiano, Chocolate Fashion and Rosetta Bakery. I hope this yearly event continues because it was a fun evening where, by my estimate, about 200 people relaxed with some wine and goodFrench food in anticipation of the Battle’s outcome. And the judge’s decision? The winner was La Provence!
Great British Food in Miami
I remember seeing Andy Bates on British TV a few years back while I was in Europe on vacation. He had his own cooking show and while I don’t remember exactly what he made, I remembered his name when I saw he recently landed in Miami and is cooking here now. This past weekend Andy was cooking at his popup restaurant, The Avenue, located this time at the Midtown Garden Center (@midtowngardencenter on Instagram) at NE 2nd Avenue and 26th Street, in Edgewater. His menu, while not extensive was all English – scotch eggs, fish and chips, chips with curry sauce, ploughman’s salad and banoffee pie for dessert. The scotch eggs were perfect; he has two varieties, one made with sausage and a more veggie version made with falafel. If you don’t know what scotch eggs are, they are perfectly done hard cooked eggs with a coating of sausage or falafel cooked until the outside is nice and crispy. I only tried the sausage version and it was delicious – crispy outside, cooked sausage and nicely done egg. The fish and chips was also perfectly done – fresh flaky cod with a thin crispy layer of beer batter all nicely deep fried. I also had the chips with a great creamy curry sauce with lots of fresh cilantro on top. Andy has been in the Miami area awhile now and has been cooking via his pop-up at a variety of locations, primarily in the Wynwood area. He has set up shop at The Miami Flea (@maimiflea on Instagram), J. Wakefield Brewery (@jwakefieldbeer), the O Miami Poetry Festival (@omaimifestival) at the North Miami Bandshell (2northmiamibandshell) and the new Omni Park (@omniparkmiami). I understand Andy is looking for his own shop to cookin a more permanent setting. I hope he finds it soon and expands his menu to include more great English food. Next time I find him cooking somewhere, I am going to try the banoffee, a gooey pie of bananas and dulce de leche and something I have not tried before – millionaire shortbread, a three a layer treat of shortbread, chocolate and dulce de leche. You can follow Andy on line at The Avenue Miami, as well as on Instagram and Twiter at @andybateschef and @theavenuemiami, and on Facebook, at The Avenue – British Diner.