South Beath Miami Culinary Food Tours

One of my favorite things my family did while in Florida was the South Beach Miami Culinary Food Tours. I didn't know what to expect when my mom told me she signed us up. 

Surprisingly, it was so much fun!  The tour lasted 2.5 hours and took us to 6 different restaurants.  I didn't know how much food we would be getting, there were 3 full sized meals, 1 flat bread sandwich, and 2 desserts!  If you don't leave full, then you didn't eat enough of what was in front of you!

We walked a little over a mile over the 2.5 hour course.  There was great commentary along the way, both historical, cultural and just interesting comments! 

Here are the 6 restaurants we went to:

Bolivar

A Colombian restaurant that served Ceviche (a seafood dish typically made from fresh raw fish marinated in citrus juices) and empanadas.  Honestly, the raw fish wasn't my favorite, but I think that was more of a texture thing.  The atmosphere was great and truly felt like a South American restaurant.

Manolo

If you haven't tried a churro yet, you are missing out! A churro is crispy on the outside with a sweet and salty coating with a dulce de leche filling.  It was delicious and one of my favorite things I ate on the tour!

Larios (On the Beach)

Larios is run by the Estefan family and served my favorite main dish of the night.  With the atmosphere of old Havana, they served a Cuban classic of beef ropa vieja and sweet plantains mariquitas.  Basically, pulled pork in a barbecue-ish sauce.  Not barbecue, but similar.  That was served with plantain "chips" which were also very good.  

The Tides South Beach Hotel Restaurant

I was starting to hit a food coma here.  Everything was prepared very well, but there was a lot of food! I don't remember what I ate, but it was some sort of chicken dish.  The chocolate truffles were excellent though!

Blocks Pizza Deli

This restaurant is all-organic!  Here we had the Sun Dried Hippie Pocket, which had sun dried tomatoes, feta, baby spinach, basil pesto, and olives.  

Milani Gelateria

Delicious gelato! Traditional Italian style gelato with many flavors to choose from.  Definitely check it out.  

Has anyone else done a food tour?  I know I will be doing another one in the future!

Sunny Fort Lauderdale!

It has now been a month since my last post...sorry it has been awhile!  It has been a crazy past few weeks.  I recently went to Fort Lauderdale, FL and it was nice to escape the cold weather!

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Pier 66.  It was a nice hotel and had great views.  The reason we chose this hotel was because it was near one of the WaterTaxi stops.  Unfortunately, they recently redid the pier and the stop had not opened up yet.  In order to get to another stop, we had to walk across the draw bridge- which was not a short walk!

We actually got caught walking over the bridge when we heard that we had to get to the other side before it went up.  We sprinted across- what a sight!

We hopped on the WaterTaxi and took in the sights.  Fort Lauderdale calls itself the "Venice of America" because of all the canals.  It was nice to just sit on the WaterTaxi and look at all of the beautiful houses and yachts- and there were so many of them!

So if you are going to Fort Lauderdale, here are some things I recommend.

Dining:

YOLO: 

on Las Olas Blvd.  We went here for NYE and it was good! Definitely try the cornbread!

Flip Flops, Shooters, or the Chart House:

all on the water.  Flip Flops and Shooters are more casual.  We went to Flip Flops and it was delicious!

Pan'e Dolci: Italian Bakery

This bakery is also on Las Olas and serves delicious gelato, cannolis, pastries, and coffee.  I definitely recommend trying this place!

We also went to places like The Cheesecake Factory and Panera, which are always good.  

Shopping: 

Sawgrass Mills and Colonnade Outlets:

If you love to shop like I do, I definitely would recommend checking out Sawgrass Mills and the Colonnade Outlets (same location- map found here).  There are so many great outlet stores like: Kate Spade Outlet, Tory Burch Outlet, Burberry, Michael Kohrs Outlet, Barneys New York Outlet, Prada and Valentino- just to name a few.  Of course there are the normal stores as well in Sawgrass Mills.  Definitely a nice place to check out!

Galleria Mall

This mall is smaller than Sawgrass mills, but it is closer to downtown Fort Lauderdale.  They also have a number of restaurants like P.F. Changs, Seasons 52, and the Capital Grille.  There is a cafe, Piazza di Giorgio Cafe, which has a number of different options to choose from.  A great place for lunch.  

Sight Seeing:

WaterTaxi

This is a great way to see everything on the water.  I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if you need to get somewhere quickly, but if you are just enjoying the ride and taking in the sights it is a great way to get around! 

Everglades Holiday Park

The Everglades are very interesting to see.  I would recommend taking an AirBoat tour.  These boats take you around the Everglades and last about an hour.  We saw many alligators and other wildlife. It is also the home of the Gator Boys Alligator Rescue, a show on Animal Planet.  It was kind of frightening to see them interact with the alligators in the way he did, but it was also very fascinating.  

Can you spot the alligator?

We only had 4 days in Florida, and one was spent in Miami, where we took an excellent Culinary Tour.  That post will come out tomorrow.  

Have you done anything amazing in Fort Lauderdale?