Two years ago when we were in Japan, we had met a very nice couple. This year they traveled to Florida to make the sojourn, as is required when in Florida, to Disney world. But since they were here it was a good opportunity to hang out with me and the wife...good choice. Having moved here in 2000 we had been to South beach 4 times in the first year. It was ok at first, but after the second and third times were heinous and the forth was, well, not good enough to make up for the bad stuff from the first three. So with our friends coming to So Beach we braved the traffic, the wacky freeway and toll system to the two and a half hour one way trip back to this island of humanity. And to top it off its the pinnacle of spring break just as in the days of old thousands of college students cross the street and there are skaters bladeing helter-skelter down the center of a street in bumper to bumper traffic. Hey kids, do your parents know your brain got sucked out of your head as you left campus?
So here we were finding ourselves headed to what we remember to be an ugly and unwelcoming city. But to our surprise we found areas that have been revamped to be welcoming to locals and tourist alike. I guess if you have a lot of movies and a hit TV show, Burn notice, focused on your town it better be fun and have lots of stuff to do that's suited to the whole family. The best part was the people we went to meet were very adventurous about the food and scenery. Oh and I don't think I mentioned the 15 month old daughter that was in tow.
So as we cruised around to find a parking place in this over saturated part of the world we found a place that was tucked away from the main streets as if it was there just for us. This place was also on the edge of a few blocks that had been made into an open market/restaurant mall with some cool places for us to eat. This is the place we decided to eat and thank the powers that it was just the ticket for adults to have a great experience and the little munchkin not to feel out of place because of the loud and boisterous house staff. It's called Hosteria Romona and this is the web site: http://www.hosteriaromana.com/ . This is an honest to goodness strait from Italy trattoria. Everyone in this joint are from Italy and that includes the wild and flamboyant mannerisms of these guys. If you never got a chance go to get to San francisco in the 60's then this would be the place not to miss. AND THE FOOD,WOW!
We did have a great time with our friends ad their daughter was terrific. After 4 hours at the same table with the same couple and the live theater of people in the streets we had blown our time and needed to get the munchkin back to the room for bed time. All in all I was so pleased to rekindle our friendship and get to see Miami in a whole new light. Better get there if you want a piece of real food and real people.
If I pass you on the road stop at Peets, because your buying.
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