Friday, September 10, 2010

Blu La Pizzeria del Sole

Courtesy of Miami New Times Blu La Pizzeria del Sole, South Miami

This charming, moderately priced trattorialike pizzeria is a 40-seat (with 30 more chairs outside) spinoff of Trattoria Sole next door. A main benefit from that association is the wine selection, which is far more extensive than one could reasonably expect to find in a pizza place. Panini, focaccia, and half-moon calzone constitute some of the offerings for pizza-poopers, but it's the pies that bring Blú the green.

The blissfully blistering treatment they undergo while baking rapidly in a smoldering hot, wood-burning oven yields a crisp, semicharred crust with thin, bready middle and seared topping of bubbling cheese and tomato sauce. Delicious, and 28 variations from which to choose: spinach/fontina, eggplant/Parmesan, artichoke/mushroom, and anchovies with oregano, a staple in Naples and Rome.

There also are more than a dozen sauceless pizza bianche, which include "tartufon" with mozzarella, mushrooms, and white truffle oil; and "pizza blú," covered in mozzarella, fontina, eggplant, potatoes, and fresh rosemary. The priciest pizza costs $13.50, the average is around $10, but none is more rewarding than the basic fiore di campo of tomato, mozzarella, and basil that's yours to eat in or take out for $7.50.

Photo by MBorrero
Rick Munarriz, Contributor comments. In Short – Owned by and adjacent to the upscale Trattoria Sole, Blu specializes in cozy atmosphere. The restaurant's centerpiece is a large wood-fired oven, surrounded by several booths and tables. The additional two-dozen outdoor tables are perfect for people-watching. Is the pizza Chicago style? New York style? Try Italian-style. Hearty toppings like deli ham are piled high on crepe-thin flour crusts. Although pizzas dominate the menu, paninis, calzones and carpaccios also abound. Click here and Save Up to 60% on Pizzeria del Sole Restaurant Gift Certificates: $25 gift certificates for only $10!


Photo by MBorrero UrbanSpoon
Hours of Operation:
Sun-Thu noon-11 p.m
Fri-Sat noon-11:30 p.m.

Blu La Pizzeria del Sole
7201 SW 59th Avenue
South Miami, FL 33143
For reservations 305.666.9285


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Monday, September 6, 2010

Olivos Restaurant

Courtesy of Olivos Restaurant, Doral

When you're in the mood for good times and great cuisine, be sure to check out Olivo's. The restaurant is located in one of the area's most pleasant settings and is known for its delightful staff and superb cuisine.

The menu at Olivo's features a wide array of great selections, made from only the freshest and highest quality ingredients, with something sure to please every member of your group. Olivo's has established itself as one of the area's favorite culinary destinations and is sure to offer you a pleasant and unique dining experience every time you visit. Please stop in soon! Click here and Save Up to 60% on Olivos Restaurant Gift Certificates: $25 gift certificates for only $10!


Hours of Operation
Monday - Thursday:  11:30 AM - 11:00 PM
Friday:  11:30 AM - 01:00 AM
Saturday:  11:30 AM - 01:00 AM
Sunday:  11:30 AM - 11:00 PM

Olivos
10455 NW 41 Street
Doral, FL 33178
For reservations call 305.718.9968
email:  mail@olivosrestaurant.com
http://www.olivosrestaurant.com/

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Caffe Vialetto

Courtesy of Caffe Vialetto, Coral Gables

Caffe Vialetto is a small intimate restaurant with a big restaurant taste and experience. The Latin - Caribbean tinged Italian cuisine is both excellent and consistent and the staff will always treat you like family! This is one of those places that makes you really slow down and taste all the flavors in your mouth before you swallow your food. My personal favorite restaurant in Miami. It's small and inviting, with great service. The food is great. Order anything and you're promised to be blown away by the explosion of flavors in your mouth. And for desert, get The Funk; its impossible to explain but its the best dessert I've ever eaten.

Best Known For...
15-20 Daily specials
Fresh fish specials daily
Risotto - daily specials
Braised short ribs - best in Miami
Osso bucco alla Milanesa

Reviews and Awards
Zagat rated excellent, City Search top 5 restaurant in Miami


Hours of Operation
Lunch Mon-Fri 12pm-3pm
Dinner Sun-Thurs 6pm-Close, Fri-Sat 6pm-11pm

Caffe Vialetto
4019 S. Le Jeune Rd
Coral Gables, FL 33143
Call for reservations 305.446.5659 fax 305.446.3532
Click here Save Up to 60% on Restaurant Gift Certificates: $25 gift certificates for only $10!

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The Sports Exchange

Courtesty of The Sports Exchange

The Sports Exchange has revamped for 2010 with a new management team and refined menu. The Sports Exchange was created in 2008 to fill a void for the true sports fan who is in search of an upscale, lively place to enjoy great food, drink and festivities. Equipped with many unique features, it's an ideal place to spend time with friends, family and co-workers, watching any and all sporting events in style and surroundings that are second to none.

Located in the middle of Miracle Mile of Coral Gables, the business and entertainment district of the "City Beautiful," The Sports Exchange is equipped with over 27 large-screen, high-definition televisions and projection screens, In addition to showing a range of sporting events and games, lunchtime will feature up-to-date stock quotes and local and national news shows, such as CNN's Lou Dobbs Show and more. WE GOT GAME and the seating options to please any size party.

Enjoy the Coral Gables scenery in our comfortable outdoor seating areas. If your prefer privacy try our SKY BOX private event space. SKY BOX has Full Multi-Media Capabilities, PA System & Plasma Screens and Custom Catering Packages Available. You can plan your event; see the SKY BOX page for more information & policy specifics. This event space seats up to 60 guests.

All of us at Miami Food Review use Restaurant.com and recommend it.  Get your Sports Exchange Restaurant.com Gift Certificates: Save up to 60% off your next meal! to The Sports Exchange.

The Sky is the Limit! The SKY BOX is great for Corporate Meetings, Lunches, Dinners, Events & Watch Parties! With a seating capacity of 275 people and numerous oversized booths, The Sports Exchange is the perfect place to get together to share a meal and a drink with a large group of co-workers, friends and family.

Best Known For...
27 flat screen TV's
Longest bar in Coral Gables
Anything to do with sports - do it here!
Great ribs and seafood
Filet mignon
Validated parking with meal

Hours of Operation
Monday - Sunday:   11:30 AM - 12:00 AM

The Sports Exchange
45 Miracle Mile
Coral Gables, FL 33134
For reservations call:  305.774.1222

Miami - $25 Gift Certificates for $10

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Sunday, September 5, 2010

Trattoria Sole

Courtesy of Trattoria Sole, South Miami

At Trattoria Sole our guests can celebrate eating well, enjoying the most delicious, regionally-inspired dishes served alongside enthralling beverage choices. The consistency of our delivery speaks of our passion for hospitality and commitment to excellence. We know the right atmosphere can make worries fade away, and set the mood for memorable moments. At Trattoria Sole we pay special attention to every detail to create truly delightful experiences.

Trattoria Sole specializes in elegant Italian cuisine. The restaurant offers a romantic dining atmosphere that is family friendly and inviting. The menu offers a full array of selections, including antipasti, salads, pasta, poultry, veal, steak and fish; lunch menu has delicious panini (sandwiches) too. Notable entrees include Tagliata ai funghi porcini (grilled NY strip steak with porcini mushrooms), Vitello Saporito (Veal Scaloppine), and Tonno in salsa di finocchi (tuna loin with roasted fennel and balsamic essence); among the pastas the Fiocchi con pera e gorgonzola (pear-gorgonzola cheese filled pasta with walnuts-butter and sage sauce) and Rigatoni ai funghi e melanzane (Rigatoni pasta with eggplant, mushrooms, caramelized onions and aged ricotta cheese) are a must try.

The restaurant also features an exhibition kitchen and a full bar, with an extensive selection of fine spirits and signature drinks. The wine list focuses on Italian gems and recognizes organic and biodynamic viticulture. Full service off-site catering is also available, and an event planning coordinator will assist you in designing your perfect occasion. Reservations recommended.

All of us at Miami Food Review use Restaurant.com and recommend it.  Get your Trattoria Sole Restaurant.com Gift Certificates: Save up to 60% off your next meal! to Trattoria Sole.

Hours of Operation

Lunch:  Mon-Fri 12pm-3pm
Dinner:  Sun-Thurs 6pm-10:30pm, Fri-Sat 6pm-11:30pm
Closed: 3pm-6pm daily

Trattoria Sole
5894 Sunset Drive
Miami, FL 33143

For reservations call 305.666.9392

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Town Kitchen & Bar

Courtesy of Town Kitchen & Bar, South Miami

Serving Global Comfort Foods with updated steakhouse appeal. Entree salads, hot sandwiches, homemade soups, fresh baked breads, and brick oven pizzas are just some of our features. Our "triple grind" burger and parmesan-truffle fries are a must!

What the Miami New Times Says:  it's ideal for an early afternoon drink-up on the weekend. By early evening it's a classy, trendy, minimalist restaurant that specializes in "global comfort food" like brick oven pizzas and yummy parmesan-truffle fries. By night it's bumpin', with crowds of trendy 20- and 30-somethings, clutching martini glasses as they spill out into the street. The food is delicious — just try the grilled Caribbean jerk churrasco steak salad, it's $15 and to die for — but we keep going back for the cocktails. Town's got a classy clientele and a wide variety of actually delicious martinis, and a big beer menu that includes Chimay and other exotic ales. Try the Towntini — a swirl of Absolut Mandarin Vodka, Cointreau, pineapple juice, cranberry juice, and a mandarin orange garnish for $10. You'll feel like you've been transported to an elegant hotel on Collins Avenue, even though the glowing sign of Sunset Place hangs in the near distance.
 
Elizabeth Stewart @ Miami.com comments.  While Town Kitchen & Bar has been known for its popular, and tasty, American cuisine – especially its weekend brunches - the South Miami spot has more than just eggs over easy to entice a weekly visit. Tucked in a quiet corner behind Sunset Place, the casual crowd pleaser offers a lively, and cost effective (for the ladies, anyway) Thursday night scene.

Some happy hours make you run out the door before your computer shuts down, but Town’s Thursday night specials have zero time limit. Ladies receive half off everything on the menu all night. Choices are endless, including an extensive list of signature cocktails and martinis, wines, and beer. And for those ladies feeling particularly ambitious, arrive between 4-7 p.m. for complimentary champagne.

The crowd and the music are largely determined by whether you decide to drink inside, or al fresco. Inside offers more of a nightlife vibe, pumping a Top 40 selection including anything from Shakira to Ricky Martin (hey, it is South Miami afterall). With plenty of high-and-low-top tables available in the trendy but intimate space, the primarily 30s-plus crowd tends to swarm around the bar. The average Town goer may still even be in their scrubs or loosening his necktie at the end of a long workday. Another perk of sitting near the bar (besides the obvious drink proximity) is this is the only place where all appetizers are also half off.

Outside is equipped with additional couches and tables, and is more for the laid back customer or perhaps a family or two there for dinner. Although you can still hear a faded Ricky Martin song playing in the background, this is the area to sit if you are there for less head bobbing, and more hob-knobbing. And while appetizers out here are full price, waiters keep the half-priced drinks flowing.

Hours of Operation
Breakfast: Saturday and Sunday 8:00am-1:00pm
Lunch: Monday through Sunday 11:30am-5:30pm
Dinner:  Sunday-Wednesday 5:30 -10:00, Thursday-Saturday 5:30-11:00
Late Night:  Late Night Food 11-12.
Bar Hours:  7 days a week, 11:30am until you leave

Town Kitchen & Bar
Locaed at Plaza 57
7301 SW 57th Court
South Miami, Florida
One Block South of Shops of Sunset

For reservations please call:  305.740.8118
Michael Altman / Executive Chef
chef@townkitchenbar.com
John Janette / General Manager
john@townkitchenbar.com
Catering Services
catering@townkitchenbar.com
http://www.townkitchenbar.com/

Restaurant.com Gift Certificates: Save up to 60% off your next meal!

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Saturday, September 4, 2010

Gaetano Ristorante Coral Gables

Courtesy of Gaetano Ristorante

"For me the true food experience is a constant voyage of discovery to new flavors." Your Host and Executive Chef, Gaetano Ascione

Gaetano Ristorante has a simple recipe for success: Renowned Chef Gaetano Ascione serves outstanding but honest, fresh, simple and rustic Italian cuisine from across Italy. Prepared from the best and freshest ingredients the country exports, served alongside a hand picked collection of regional Italian Wine.

Fabulous authentic Italian cuisine and style, in a trendy location, here you will find flavors from the Italian Riviera, from pasta & cheeses to shell fish, beef, veal, and lamb.
Gaetano Ristorante is not just a restaurant but a destination where our customers can travel in search of the pleasure of great food, conviviality, pure and sincere.

Our passion and love guided us in the compilation of our Wine List, which represents wines from the greatest vineyards and producers in Italy. We are certain that among the pages of Gaetano's Wine List you will find, as we have, a wine to fall lin love with.

Gaetano Ristorante is located within the charming Hotel St. Michel, on the corner of Ponce de Leon Boulevard and Alcazar Avenue in the heart of quaint, historic downtown Coral Gables.

All of us at Miami Food Review use Restaurant.com and recommend it.  Get your Gaetano Ristorante Restaurant.com Gift Certificates: Save up to 60% off your next meal! to Gaetano's.

Hours of Operation

Breakfast:  Open only for special events of 6 people or more
Lunch:  11:30am - 3pm
Dinner:  5:30pm - 10:00pm

Gaetano Ristorante
Hotel St. Michel
162 Alcazar Avenue
Coral Gables, FL 33134

For reservations: 786.422.6796


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