Miami Trip Part 2 - A Taste of Cuba at Playa Cafe

Playa Cafe

1515 Washington Ave.

Miami Beach, FL 33139

When heading to Miami, you have to make a stop for some Cuban food. We had about two hours to kill in South Beach before we had to be at our ship for our Caribbean cruise. So we had to find a good Cuban sandwich quick. Luckily, we spotted one the night before, and we wanted to give it a shot, so we headed to Playa Cafe.

Playa Cafe is located on the main drag of South Beach, Washington Avenue. It is a tiny little place, that is real easy to miss. Inside the no frills restaurant you will find a lunch counter, with about eight stools filled with regulars, and three ladies working behind the counter prepping the food. We knew what we came here for, Cuban sandwiches, so lets see how they turned out.

This is what it is all about, the traditional Cuban Sandwich. The Cuban sandwich consists of the following; roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard and mayo. Served on Cuban bread and then it is pressed until the bread gets a slight toast to it, and the cheese gets melted. For $4.95 you can not beat this sandwich. A generous amount of meat, and the flavors meld so well together. I was very happy with this.

Next up is the Medianoche Sandwich, a close cousin to the Cuban sandwich. This has all of the same items in it, but instead of Cuban bread, they use a softer, yellow, egg bread. This bread is sweeter, and blew me away. The sweetness of the bread, with the saltiness of the meats, made a nice contrast. If I had my choice, I would have chosen this sandwich over the traditional Cuban, but just by a little bit.

The other traditional Cuban items on the menu looked great as well. Talking to the locals, they all loved this place. They loved the food, as well as the prices. It brought them back day after day. Wish we lived close enough to sample their menu.

Out of five baseball players, (because when I think Cuba, I think about baseball, and also these sandwiches really hit it out of the park), five being best to zero being worst, Playa Cafe gets 3 baseball players.

Playa Cafe does not have a website, but you can find information about them here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/playa-cafe-miami-beach-2

Miami Trip Part 1 - Staying On Track at 11th Street Diner?

11th Street Diner

1065 Washington Avenue

Miami Beach, FL 33139

We are on the road, this time to Miami, and then off to the Caribbean for a ten day cruise. First things first though, we need to see what Miami has to offer. We were staying in South Beach before we took off the next afternoon, so we checked out the 11th Street Diner.

We had seen this place on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It is open twenty-four hours, and it was only four blocks away from our hotel, so how could we not head over? We got to our hotel around midnight, but because we were still running on west coast time, it felt more like nine, so it was the perfect time for dinner.

11th Street Diner is housed in an 1948 art deco dining car. Moved from Pennsylvania in pieces, it has been a fixture in Miami since 1992, won numerous awards, and been featured on television shows. When Guy Fieri was here he had the roasted turkey dinner, pork chops, and the Argentinian skirt steak. We could not try any of these because they were only serving their late night menu, but let's see what they got cooking up anyways.

Katie ordered up the Turkey Club. I learned from Triple D that they make two turkey's a day, so this sandwich was made with fresh turkey, no pressed sandwich meat here. Katie liked that it was fresh turkey, but she thought the pieces she had were a little dry. She also felt that the sandwich was cut into too small of pieces, and kept falling apart. This was served with your basic potato chips.

I know, big surprise that I would order a burger, well here it is, the Everything Burger. What comes on an everything burger you ask? Cheese, bacon, mushrooms, grilled onions and peppers. I liked this burger, and woofed it down pretty quick. I think they were a little skimpy with the mushrooms and peppers, and it was a tad over-priced, ($11.95). It was juicy and flavorful though.

It is hard to rate 11th Street Diner on this visit though. It was nice having somewhere close that was open 24 hours. The food was not bad, but it was not, knock your socks off great either. I am sure that if we would have had their full menu to choose from it would have been better. It is difficult going to places that you see on TV, because the expectations are so high that the food is going to blow your mind, and those are unrealistic expectations to have.

Out of five models, (no, not because models eat hamburgers, but because when I think South Beach, I think models), five being best to zero being worst, 11th Street Diner gets 2.5 models.

For more information on 11th Street Diner, click here: http://www.eleventhstreetdiner.com/