This article is part of the Miami FT Globetrotter Guide
In Miami, I like to stand up.
Our favorite coffee spot is the small window counter cut on the side of the restaurant. You may find the best Cuban sandwiches pushed inside the laundromat. Some of our most iconic foods – empanadas, croquetas and pastelithos are designed for the biggest flavors on the go.
Eating like a local in Miami means embracing these types of dining experiences. They are unofficial. You’re waiting for Abuero to his cafe sheet and a Colombian woman waiting for you to fry your crunchy empanadas.
We gather around the food and spill tea to spill tea. That’s how we build a community.
What I’ve learned over the decades I’ve written about food in the city I was born in is that our fine dining is special. The casual and unexpected place where we eat most of our meals is at the heart of our culture.
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The character of Miami is incorporated into these rituals. Here we see that immigrant traditions transcend their origins, to become something unique, Miami. These places tell us how we eat and how we live. They will tell you about us.
If you want to feel like you’ve experienced Miami like you’re in the local area, these are my five rites of passage.
Order coffee at Ventanita
Ordering Cuban coffee daily from a small walk-up window is a distinctive feature of Miami Life.
Around town you can see Ventanitas built into the sides of the restaurant. The word means “small window,” and tradition is an import of Cuban coffee culture. This is not a coffee shop that plays Alt-Rock and serves poured lattes and matcha (you can get it elsewhere). Instead, locals gather at Ventanitas, at 3am after the club, for a business meeting at lunchtime, or for a calm pickup. They smirk, grouse, drink Cuban coffee, and a version of espresso with sugar whipped in the first few drops. Miami happens in Ventanita.
Here’s what you need to know, as the selected Ventanita may not have a detailed menu. I have only had 4 cups of coffee drinks you could order for a long time:
Cafeshito is a 2 ounce sweet, life-giving dark roast, with a high flavor and surprisingly low caffeine. The sugar lifts up heavy. The crema leaves a foamy mustache.
When you order a colada, the window waitress gives you 4 ounces of coffee in a styrofoam container with a stack of finger-sized plastic cups (perhaps she calls you “Mi Amor”). Resist the urge to swallow it like a latte, or you look the future and ruin your courage, as the late comedian Ralphy might joke. Instead, take it to the next meeting and share and make friends.
If all that coffee looks too big, order a cortadito. Cafeshito-sized poured half-cuban coffee and half steamed milk. Ask the evaporated, steamed milk and it stands for dessert.
Café Con Leche is a meal. It is a full cup of steamed milk and the waitress asks if you want it to be Oskuro or Claro, dark or some light with coffee. Coffee sugar is usually enough to sweeten it. Add a pinch of salt to bring out the flavor, and locals nod with approval.
What do you eat at Ventanita? Some full-service stuff pushes you hot Cuban sandwiches. Everything provides two other basics. Fried croquetas de jamon made with minced ham and bechamel. and a selection of pasti lithos, Cuban puff pastries filled with either guava, guava, cream cheese, spices minks beef or sweet coconut.
Some of my favorite Ventanitas are Iras Canaria, popular with locals in Kendall, the Coral Way in Miami, and of course, the iconic Versailles on Southwest 8th Avenue. With all of them you will get a complete Miami experience.
Visit the Frita Shop
When the Netflix film crew wanted to learn about the Miami Street Food, I took them to Fritas.
These Cuban smash burgers date back to Havana in the 1920s, are all beef patties seasoned with cumin, garlic and paprika, the types of spices you’ll find in Spanish cuisine. They bump into plancha, inject their flavors while cooking, squirting out a red sauce sprinkled with diced onions.
Finally, they are topped with papitas clouds (Crispy fried potato strings) and served on Cuban bread rolls. Slam it with a dash of ketchup and a barely spicy crystal hot sauce.
The late “Benito” Victoriano Gonzales was a legend in Miami Frita. He opened what became Miami’s longest-running Frita shop and named himself King Frita, Elle de Las Fritas. He taught his brother-in-law Orterio Cardenas to trade. Please access both. At the end of his West Miami counter, you can find Elmago every day, overseeing the grill and drinking wine. He loves to say hello and take photos.
Try other Cuban sandwiches
I’m not talking about Cuban sandwiches you know. I’m talking about other people. It is Elena Ruz, a secret among the Miamians.
Named after a teenage socialite who first ordered at a local sandwich shop in Vedad, Cuba, Elena Ruz lives on the other side of the traditional Cuban flavor spectrum. Instead of ham, roasted pork, tangy yellow mustard and pickles, it is made with sliced, roasted white ingredients turkey, whipped cream cheese, and chunky strawberry jam and served in egg breads that look like chala. It’s an unofficial favorite sandwich of Cuban mamas everywhere, including myself.
My beloved version of Elena Ruz is Francita from Tintai Café.
Tinta YCafé, 315 Ponce de Leon, Coral Gables and 9840 Ne Second Ave, Miami Shores
Eat at the laundromat
Dining like a local in Miami means finding great food in unexpected places. Spanish tapas at gas station, Chulasco at car wash, maybe my favourite: 24 hour laundromat steak sandwich.
Mary’s cafe and laundromat Pan-Com Bistec is a legendary Miami. Order at Ventanita on the side of a busy road. Marinate thin cut steaks on a mojo, topped with lettuce, tomatoes and potato sticks, and press against buttery, toasted Cuban bread. Open 24 hours a day, it is a favorite of journalists and politicians after late-night committee meetings and a shelter for the vampire-time crowds.
Marys is ironically cool. That’s what makes it so loved. Miami DJ Josh Baker spun it during the Ultra Electronic Dance Music Festival and posted about it for his 149,000 followers.
Try all kinds of empanadas
Every country in Latin America has a version of empanadas. In Miami, you can find bakeries that specialize in almost everything.
At Rincon Antioqueño, crunchy, fried Colombian corn empanadas are traditionally served along with horse mackerel picante salsa (the professional move is to chew one end and drop it into a small amount of sauce). The Graziano market focuses on two tablespoons of Argentinian empanadas, stuffed with things like prosciutto and creamy cheese.
In Doral, Laucilenha undoubtedly makes the best classic Venezuelan Paveron Empanada, featuring beef, country white cheese and sweet plantain. It also happens to be next to Caracas Bakery. This is to combine classic Venezuelan flavors with French techniques to make it one of the best bakeries in South Florida (there are three locations).
My favorite store may be from Empanada Harry, a far-western suburb. So, third generation Baker Harry Coleman and his wife Michelle regularly produce 23 types of empanadas from around Latin America on certain days. Among them are the irresistible chili empanadas, stuffed with ground beef, sturdy eggs, black olives and sweet sugar. The daily special features guava and goat cheese.
The Empanada Harry is solid with a solid car, 30 minutes from the tourist spot. However, you can stop at the Latin BBQ spot Smoke & Dow next to the Colemans. It combines Miami flavors like Texas BBQ and Cafe Sit-covered brisket. Finishing the 1931 night of Amelia in 1931, a cocktail bar with Asian restaurants in Cuba and Peru, and an entrance disguised as Latin jazz and dry cleaners.
That’s about the same as Miami.
Rincón Antioqueño, 6521 Sw Eighth St, Miami
Laucilenha, 7880 NW 52nd St, Doral
Caracas Bakery, 7884 NW 52nd Street, Doral, and two other locations
Several locations including Graziano’s, 2301 Galiano St, Coral Gables
Empanada Harrys, 4009 SW 152nd Avenue, Miami
Smoke & Dough, 4013 SW 152nd Ave, Miami
Amelia 1931, 13601 SW 26th St, Miami
Carlos Frías is a journalist, author and two-time James Beard Award-winning food writer. He was born and raised in Miami
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