Eating House is a fairly new restaurant located in the Coral Gables, just outside the boundaries of the City Of Miami. The restaurant is spearheaded by Chef Giorgio Rapicavoli, who is often recognized as being the first person from Miami to win on Chopped, which airs on the Food Network.

Eating House is known for its eclectic menu, and as as Giorgio would often say – if restaurants were compared in terms of art, Eating House would be “graffiti”.

Their Sunday brunch has been the talk of the town with various standout menu items like the Cap’n Crunch Pancakes (pictured above), BK Hashbrowns and Apple Pie Belgian Waffles among other things. And then their dinner service is just a burst of choices from their General Tso Ox Tail to their Pork Belly or Pasta Carbanera.

Hours:
Monday: Closed
Tuesday – Thursday: 7:00pm – 11:00pm
Friday – Saturday: 7:00pm – 12:00am

Eating House
804 Ponce De Leon Boulevard
Coral Gables, Florida 33134
(305) 448-6524

www.eatinghousemiami.com

Photo Courtesy Of The Huffington-Post

Divine Delicacies is one of Miami’s top custom cake shops. They have worked with all kinds of celebrities, athletes and tons of local businesses to create some of the best works of cake art that anyone in South Florida (and even beyond) have ever seen.

Above, you can one of their latest creations. The Ultimate Sneaker Cake for a 305 local named Justin, who is apparently a big time sneaker head. The cake is Nike’d out with placements of the Nike Air Mag, the recent Yeezy II color ways and even a couple Air Jordan XI’s at the base of the cake.

So a special shout out to Divine Delicacies, check them out at ddcakes.com and on Twitter @DDelicacies

More photos below, all courtesy of @SneakerboxClyde…

South Street Restaurant is a new concept restaurant in Miami, Florida – spearheaded by Amaris Jones and restaurateur Amir Ben-Zion. Its a Philadelphia-inspired “Neo-Soul” restaurant packed with all the soulful dishes and fixings you’d expect from a soul food restaurant.

They serve lunch, dinner and brunch on the weekends. From South Street Deviled Eggs, South Fried Corn, Philly Cheesesteaks, and on Sundays, they have excellent Brunch dishes including their Chicken & Waffles, Fish Fry and Hoecakes (pancakes) to name a few.

With a jazzy and bluesy atmosphere, South Street is poised to fill the void for a quality higher-end restaurant with touches of soul in the Miami area.

During the Art Basel festivities in Miami earlier this month, South Street was packed day in and day out and used their loft-like stage as a great platform for various nightly performers that included rising R&B star, Luke James.

Click below for the address, shots of some of the dishes, as well as LeBron’s tweet giving South Street the thumbs up of approval. We also hear that teammate Dwyane Wade is a fan of South Street as well. Stop on by next time you’re in Miami’s Design District.

South Street Restaurant & Bar‎
4000 Northeast 2nd Avenue
Miami, FL 33137
(305) 573-5474
southstreetmiami.com‎

From the makers of Gigi in Midtown Miami, which we posted about a little while back – comes Cooper Avenue. Originally, the restaurant was going to be a sequel of sorts and was going to be called Gigi Village. But those plans were scrapped and the final product ended up being the concoction now known as Cooper Avenue. Amir Ben-Zion spearheads the new project that serves the South Beach area as a restaurant, bakery, deli, bar, lounge, newsstand and market inside the New World Symphony building off 17th Street. The menu is a bit pricey, but the quality of the food is like no other. Click here to read the full Cooper Avenue menu.

Cooper Avenue
1661 Pennsylvania Ave
Miami Beach, Florida 33139

BurgerFi is a new boutique restaurant that has been popping up all over South Florida and as of recent has expanded to various cities around the U.S. BurgerFi touts the “green” format of doing business with low-energy consumption at all their locations and all-natural, grass-fed beef with hand-cut fries and a wide choice of drink options. And taking their green approach even further, their chairs are made from recycled Coke bottles, tables out of recycled wood and their fans use 66% less electricity. Overall, their food is great and their establishments are the perfect compliment. Try BurgerFi today!

More info: www.burgerfi.com

One of our favorite restaurants in Miami is most definitely Yardbird. Their Chicken and Waffles dish is quite possibly the best in Miami.

And what’s good about Yardbird is that they always keep their menu fresh and often tailored to the season. And they always introduce new dishes, side items  and desserts. One of their more delicious side items include their Florida Corn.

We’re talking about fresh grilled corn with lightly fried hominy, and topped up with a layer of crispy cornbread crumbles. Yes, sprinkled with cornbread crumbs, which absolutely makes the recipe go to hundred thousand trillion in terms of taste points. So it’s definitely a good tip in terms of recipe and also a great recommended item that you should try next time you make your way to Miami and/or to Yardbird.

Yardbird
1600 Lenox Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139
(305) 538-5220
www.runchickenrun.com

Sometimes you just need to give yourself a little reward to satisfy your hunger and to satisfy that occasional sugar rush. And with that said, anything “Cookies-N-Cream” is usually extremely delicious. But add a little bit of cheesecake and an abundance of Oreos, and you have yourself the ultimate desert experience coming your way. Here’s a recipe for Cookies ‘N Cream Cheesecake Bars that makes about 24 bars:

From Elephant Eats [via Blissfully Delicious]

For the crust
46 Oreo cookies (almost 2 entire packages including the ones in the cheescake layer)
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
24 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup. sour cream, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large egg plus 2 egg yolk
24 Oreo cookies, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 325˚ F. Line a 9×13 pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper.

Make the crust: place cookies in the bowl of a food processor. Process, pulsing, until the cookies are finely ground. Add in the melted butter and pulse until the cookie crumbs are moistened. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking pan. Press the crumbs into an even layer over the bottom of the pan. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then set aside and prepare the filling while maintaining the oven temperature.

Make the filling: add the cream cheese to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until light and smooth, about 2 minutes. Mix in the sugar until well combined. Blend in the sour cream, vanilla and salt. Beat in the eggs and egg yolks on medium-high speed until incorporated, scraping down the bowl as needed. Stir in the chopped cookies with a rubber spatula.

Pour the cheesecake batter over the prepared crust, smoothing the top with a spatula. Bake for about 45 minutes, until the cheesecake is set around the edges but slightly wobbly in the center. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool about an hour to room temperature. Cover the pan and refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours or overnight.

To cut the bars, pull the cake from the pan by lifting the foil up out of the pan. Place on a cutting board, peel away the foil, and slice into bars. Clean the knife blade between each slice to keep the edges neat. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Again, spotted this via Elephant Eats

Lokal is a fairly new restaurant that opened up in the Coconut Grove area of Miami. They pride themselves in trying to keep all of their food and ingredients as local as possible and as organic as possible. From the chicken, to the beef, waffle batter, fries and etc – they try to make it from scratch with as many local ingredients as possible.

Burgers: Lokal has a great selection of salads, kids menus, specialty beers and wines and then of course, they are known mostly for their burgers of all types of shapes and sizes. For example, a “Miami Heat” Burger inspired by the obvious. And then a signature “Childhood Dream” Burger that is pictured above and below. Basically its a donut cut in half with a grass-fed beef patty, cheese, and bacon. Definitely not an everyday item, but its so good to just try, even if its just once.

Other Specialties: Aside from specializing in burgers, they also have other plates and platters, including their Chicken & Waffles dish that is absolutely amazing. Its definitely the best thing on the menu. Its made with Fried Florida chicken with homemade Belgian waffles served with chopped bacon, powdered sugar and homemade maple syrup. Absolutely delicious and you must try it.

Desserts: And lastly, their desserts. They have a Key Lime Pie and a very perfectly perfected Puerto Rican Tres Leches (pictured above and below) that is worth every penny.

Check the in-depth photos below and check out Lokal today, just south of the Downtown Miami area.

Lokal Burgers & Beer
3190 Commodore Plaza Miami, FL 33133
(305) 442-3377

Gigi is a stylish restaurant located in the Midtown area of Miami. Known for its reliability during the day, as well as a great tasting late night eatery, Gigi combines the art of small-but-filling-portions and an ever changing daily specials menu that can surprise you each time you come in.

The food is definitely Asian-inspired, but they can surprise you everyday with new dishes. A few times that I’ve gone, I’ve run into the chefs huddled around the kitchen like scientists working on new dishes and taste-testing it before allowing the public to order it. And those two times I’ve seen them in that process, I was the first to order what they just created.

Open till 3am on weekdays and 5am on weekends, Gigi is a definite must if you’re in the Miami area.

Recommendation: The Drumsticks, The Cornbread and if they have it on the menu the day you go in: the Pork Belly Fried Lo-Mein.

Gigi
3470 North Miami Avenue Miami, FL 33127
(305) 573-1520

Shrimp Fried Rice w: Pineapple, leeks, cabbage and red onions.

Ginger Drumsticks

Cornbread with Honey Bacon Butter

A sample of how their Daily Specials chalkboard usually looks (notice the Wu-Tang symbol)

Braised pork with fried egg and braised pork

Trouffled Avocado mousse with goat cheese potato balls

Roast beef sandwich with napa cabbage slaw.

Cream of Tomato Soup w/ Grilled Cheese

Prosciutto-Swordfish Fried Rice.

Gigi French Toast with Honey Butter.

Texas De Brazil is a Brazilian Steakhouse (churrascaria) with various locations all over the U.S. and internationally. They opened their first location in the suburbs of Dallas in 1998 and have grown to have various locations including Chicago, Las Vegas, New York – as well as all over Texas and Florida where the Texas De Brazil brand is extremely popular.

To put it simple, they offer their food in a more upscale buffet style. You pay one price and eat as much as you want. You choose your sides and beverages and servers will then come at your service every couple of minutes with different cuts of steak, pork and chicken of your choosing. You have a card that flips to green and red – green tells thee servers to serve you, and red tells them not to serve you. Its a quite amazing experience.

The pricing is a little bit on the higher side, but you can definitely catch a discount during their lunch hours if you’d like to simply try it before committing to a full dinner date.

Visit www.texasdebrazil.com to locate your nearest location and to read the menus in full.

Click below for a few more photos…