Miami Culinary Tours
For Christmas my best friends and I all get each other an experience rather than an actual present. We’d much rather get the chance to spend time together, and the holidays are the perfect reminder to stop and enjoy the company of the people that you love. This year my friend Liz got us all tickets to Miami Culinary Tours (MCT). MCT is an award-winning Food Tour in Miami, Florida, that has several different options including a Little Havana Food & Cultural Tour, a Little Havana Culture & Bites Tour, a South Beach Food & Art Deco Tour, a Wynwood Food & Art Tour, a Coconut Grove Food & History Tour and a Design District Food & Art Tour.
They all sounded amazing, but we ended up choosing the Design District Food & Art Tour. When we arrived at the starting point, we were met by our guide Mirka (how cute is she with her Miami-esque scarf?!). Mirka was a wonderful tour guide and had an amazing knowledge of the food and culture in Miami. We were lucky in that we were the only ones signed up for the tour that afternoon, so we ended up having a private tour just for the four of us!
We began the tour at what was then St Roch Market, but is now called Politan Row. Apparently there is a St Roch market in New Orleans and when the city found out about this market they sued and actually won so St Roch had to change it’s name. Whatever it’s called – it’s delicious! Politan is a “chef-driven food hall featuring a mix of local food and beverage talent, allowing the culinary curious to explore a variety of new cuisines”. Translation? A fancified food hall with some Really. Good. Food! We had three different dishes at Politan, and at each place there were so many things I wanted to go back and try.
The first dish was at Coop. Coop is run by the Rodriguez brothers and is inspired by their family road trips through Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. They serve Southern classics like from-scratch buttermilk biscuits with candied bacon butter and 25-hour brined fried chicken served on a cheddar chive waffle. For our dish we were served the house brined fried chicken with ranch, pepper jelly and buffalo dipping sauces and house made barbecue chips. The chicken was very moist, and the breading was crispy without being greasy. The pepper jelly was amazing! Things on the menu I want to go back and try: Mac & Cheese – Gorgonzola cheese sauce, granny smith apples, walnuts, and fried chicken, and Maria’s BBQ Pork – Pulled pork, corn chow chow, crispy potatoes, guava barbecue sauce.
The second dish was at Tran An. Tran An is run by Chef Jon Nguyen who trained at the Cordon Bleu in Paris. Tran An draws inspiration from the flavors and recipes of the family’s hometown in Hanoi. Their menu features noodle-based classics like pho and salads with inventive protein options like barbeque pork, lemongrass sausage and shaking beef. For our dish we were served a fresh spicy spring roll served with a spicy peanut hoisin. For us these were just ok, I didn’t think they had much flavor and the wrapper was a bit gummy. The only real flavor was in the sauce – I’m not sure if that’s the point but we were a little disappointed. Things on the menu I want to go back and try: Pork and Shrimp Imperial Rolls.
The third dish was at Jaffa. Jaffa was opened by Chef Yaniv Cohen who is bringing his North African and Middle Eastern roots to Politan Row. Yaniv runs a celebrated food blog called the Spice Detective where he explores the medicinal attributes of spices. At Jaffa you’ll find dishes that highlight this knowledge like turmeric roasted cauliflower, deconstructed baba ganoush and a hummus bar. For our dish we were served vegan falafel cumin scented chickpea fritters. I am not a fan of chickpea, but the others were, and they absolutely gushed over it, saying these were the perfect blend of crunchy outside and fluffy inside – one of the best they’d ever had. They were full of flavor and you could taste a bit of cumin, and it wasn’t at all spicy, but perfectly spiced. Things on the menu I (my girlfriend) want to go back and try: Crispy Brussel Sprouts – Seasonal nuts, honey syrup.
While we only had three dishes at Politan Row, there were several other stalls I wanted to go back and try. Namely Hot Lime for the Shorty, a slow braised short rib taco with onions, cilantro, aji limo and cotija cheese, Stage Social for the pancake trio, three stacks of mini pancakes topped with smoked chicken apple sausage, Nutella and smoked marshmallows, citrus-caramelized pistachio and crème anglaise, and Sweetblendz for a Superfood Smoothie with Acai, blueberries, bee pollen, vegan protein and almond butter. Who wants to join me?!
From the Politan we walked over to the Palm Court Shopping Center, which houses a number of high-end stores such as Dior, Cartier Ba&sh, Hermes, and VanCleef and Arpels. The “flag” flying above Hermes is actually an expensive Hermes scarf! The entire courtyard is decked out in pink with pink hammocks and pink apes hanging from the trees. The installation called “Pink Beasts” was added in 2019 by artist Fernando Laposse. The installation was handmade by a community of Mayan weavers in Yucatan, to remind visitors that there are still sustainable and organic ways of achieving vibrant color. The geodesic dome in the middle of the courtyard called the Fly’s Eye Dome was originally designed by Buckminster Fuller, and recreated for Design Miami in 2014. The original design was meant to be a prototype for low cost housing. Currently the dome covers an access to an underground car park in the Design District. On the second floor of the courtyard overlooking the dome is a fiberglass sculpture of the architect Le Courbusier, designed by artist Xavier Veilhan. The bust started off as a drawing before being translated into Veilhan’s signature polygonal style. “
Also, on the second floor was Abaco Wines, a wine shop and tasting room which has a diverse wine by the glass menu and retails wines from around the world. The staff are certified sommeliers who are glad to share their knowledge with you. We were given a glass of AM2 Rose 2016 Sonoma Coast which everyone enjoyed, and Cathy liked it so much she bought a few bottles herself.
The next stop on the tour was the Estefan Kitchen, a Cuban food restaurant opened by Gloria and Emilio Estefan in 1992. The restaurant itself is amazing, but what most people don’t know is they have a little walk up stand out front. For our bite we were served a cod croquette and Cuban Espresso – they were delicious and gave us a little pep in our step for the rest of the tour!
We walked through the design district admiring the street art and enjoying the day. The Institute of Contemporary Art was nearby and I would have loved to be able to stop in – definitely worth a trip back. Even the outside is amazing.
Next up were two food trucks located at 95 NE 40th Street. The first was Yoso Sushi where we had Gyoza. A Japanese beef dumpling cooked in Wagyu beef fat with truffle soy sauce. These were good, but we’ve definitely had better -they were pretty greasy..
The second was Bodega, where we had Street Tacos with roasted pork, charred pineapple, red onions, cilantro, and salsa rosado. I am a huge Mexican fan, and these were To. Die. For. The pork was very flavorful and the addition of pineapples kicked it up a notch. I will just go ahead and shamelessly admit I ate Liz’s leftovers.
Right behind the food trucks was a sculpture of a red solo cup by Paula Crown called Jokester 2. The sculpture was unveiled during Art Basel, and for every selfie taken with the cup that week Studio Lab pledged to work with Surf Rider Miami to clean 1 pound of plastic waste from Miami’s beaches. We of course had to take our picture on it lol!
The vulgar displays of wealth you see in Miami never fail to amaze me – I mean who has a Ferarri decked out in a Louis Vuitton paint job? And where the hell can I get one?!
Our tour ended at Mad Labs Creamery, an ice cream and candy haven by Soraya Kilgore, the pastry chef for award-winning restaurants like Brava and Alter. They have classical and seasonal ice cream paired with more than 30 toppings all made on site. They also have other over-the-top treats including wiggly Japanese cheesecake, chocolate by the point and matcha swiss rolls.
We thoroughly enjoyed our food tour and would definitely come back. I have my eye on the Wynwood tour next time… who wants to join us? 🙂
