Our best bite in Miami was the cubano sandwich from a small, relatively new shop called Cubaton. It was incredible!
Had I known it was this good, I would have went twice. We were leaving for home the same day we went here.
The frozen drinks were great too.
CUBATON SANDWICH SHOP
413 15th St
Miami Beach, FL 33139
My wife and I had one night to squeeze in a steak meal when we were in Miami. Since most steakhouses in South Beach seem to be chains, we went with Prime 112 based on a totality of recs we got from friends. The other contender was Papi Steak (next time).
Flavor: 9
We had the t-bone and the veal rib chop. Both were nice, and aged flavor came through. Both solid 8/10 in my opinion. I was impressed for Florida steak!
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9
There’s a good selection of cuts here all day long,. In fact the menu is pretty gigantic. There’s both a T-bone and a porterhouse, a rib eye for two and for one, bone-in and boneless strips. Plenty of dry aged selections as well.
Portion Size & Plating: 8
The portions are on the large side here. Sometimes I forget how small portions can be in NYC, even at steakhouses. Plating was on par with minimalist upscale modern steak joints.
Price: 7
Steaks for one here will range between $80 and $140, which is mighty high. They’re really raking the tourists over the coals here, but at least the food is good.
Bar: 6
The bar here is small. I was expecting a bigger, nicer/better bar for a hot spot like a Miami beach steakhouse.
Martini was nice, however.
Specials and Other Meats: 8
There are plenty of non-beef options to explore here, and as I mentioned earlier, the menu is massive. We tried the veal and we were impressed, so I think 8/10 is fair here for not having tried any other items.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 6
We started with the foie gras and broiled Louisiana style oysters. The oysters were the better of the two, and they were great. After the apps, things went slightly downhill, and then they fell off a cliff.
I wish I knew the veal came as a composed dish with a side (spinach, cheese and breadcrumb stuffed tomato). I would have skipped the gummy creamed spinach and maybe even the scalloped potatoes.
Dessert would have been great if a couple of the mini donuts weren’t raw inside.
Inedible.
Seafood Selection: 8
Based on the quality of the broiled oysters, I think it’s safe to get all manner of seafood here and it will be good.
Service: 10
Our waiter was great, friendly and knowledgeable, so I have to give a full 10 here. A few things to note, though, was that there was a musty/moldy smell to the warm/moist towels they brought out for us between courses. Don’t use
The table bread was a nice assortment of cheese biscuit, nut roll and pumpernickel onion. Really liked this.
Ambiance: 7
This joint had a smell throughout that was wet/musty. It did just rain when we went there, and it is Miami/south Florida, so maybe this is common. But it was sort of like the entire place smelled like the moldy hand towel! Strange.
PRIME 112
112 Ocean Dr
Miami Beach, FL 33139
This is a review of the buffet dinner at Crystal Palace in Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
For $42 it is all-you-can-eat, and they even have some decent meat carving stations with roasted sirloin and turkey. The star, for me, was the achiote pork. I found a big chunk that was super moist in the middle.
They also had some good dessert here, in particular the small square / cube cakes. Key lime pie, cheesecake with oreo crust, and a berry pie that had the same consistency as the key lime pie but with sweeter fruit and berry flavors. All great. Even the basic sugar cookie was pretty good. The ice cream, on the other hand, was too icy for soft serve.
Despite the pretty good desserts, I think the best part of this meal was that achiote pork, as I mentioned above. Either that, or getting a love-attack by Tigger!
We took pics with all four Pooh characters as they wandered around the restaurant: Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger. I won’t bore you with those. I will say that the people who wear the costumed must be very patient to deal with screaming kids every day.
This place at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is set up like the inside of a mid-century modern 1950’s or early 60’s home. Lots of round-screen tube television cabinets are playing clips of old shows from the era, and there are sea-foam green appliances and furniture, wood paneling, checkerboard floors, etc. I loved it.
Plus the food was pretty fucking great too. Everything is home-style cooking, like stuff that your grandma would cook for you. I ordered a smoked gouda stuffed pork chop. It was absolutely awesome. Juice inside, crispy outside, good stuffing. I demolished it.
I also got to try the fried chicken. Same deal – crispy on the outside, juicy inside. A great thigh!
Their PB&J ice cream shake is incredible too. Not too heavy on the PB so that you get instantly full either, as the base is vanilla.
My wife had a great pork osso buco. While I liked my dish better, her’s was fall-apart tender and beautifully plated.
She also had a crazy soda concoction drink with a glowing ice cube, and they sang Happy Birthday to her and gave her a cupcake for dessert.
Check out the mixed plate, with chicken, meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Not bad!
When I’m away from NYC, I love trying new fast food joints that I can’t find back home. In Florida, I kept seeing these Pollo Tropical joints all over the place, so I had to try it.
The menu is pretty simple – chicken or pork, rice bowls, platters and sandwiches. My wife and I tried a bunch of stuff.
First was the guava BBQ pulled pork sandwich, which reminded me of luau pork or achiote pork. The BBQ sauce was good – sweet and tangy with a unique fruity flavor. The chicken sandwich was pretty basic – nothing special there: grilled chicken, cheese and some fixings on a potato bun. The rice bowl we tried was the same pork meat as the sandwich, but on a bed of yellow rice with black beans, onions, and corn. This was the best value, in my opinion. You got a lot of food for the money.
Each sandwich item came with a side. We had fried yucca, and corn soufflé – both were excellent, and easily addicting snack foods.
They even serve beer from the Bahamas. Sweet!
But the thing that really sets Pollo Tropical apart from other joints is the sauce selection, all free to grab as much as you want, to mix and make concoctions of your own, etc. They have things like guava BBQ sauce (as well as regular BBQ sauce), curry mustard sauce (amazing – I know it sounds bad, but trust me), garlic cilantro cream sauce (awesome for the beef selections, if available in that particular restaurant – and it has a hint of lime), pineapple rum (thing “tropical duck sauce”), spicy poyo poyo sauce (great kick from habanero peppers), Pollo Tropical hot sauce, and fresh salsa. You really can’t go wrong with any of them.
In short, I dig this place. If there was one in NYC, I’d be hitting it pretty often.
Epcot Center in Disney World is famed for its “world walk,” highlighting about a dozen countries and offering some cuisine and culture from each. This place, in the French pavilion, is known to be one of the better places to eat in the park.
My wife scored us some reservations in advance of our trip, and I was looking forward to trying the steak selections.
First off, the bread at this place is amazing. You can choose from about four different kinds: mushroom onion bread, Swiss cheese bread, traditional baguette, poppy seed, etc.
My wife and I each had a price fix menu. For $89, we received the following:
The escargot was great. It had the texture of clams and a great truffle essence.
For my starter, I went with the oxtail soup. It was okay – not as robust in flavor as I hoped, but the use of truffle was generous, and the popover on top of the soup bowl was magnificent. French cuisine is great for shit like this.
My wife went with the lobster item, which came with a truffle broth, quail egg and some fancy foam.
For my entree, I went with the strip steak. It was cooked perfectly to medium rare. My only gripe is that I like my steak seared hard on the outside with a crust, whereas this was served almost like a sous vide style. It was still excellent though. I’d say an eight out of ten.
It came with some tomatoes, potatoes and asparagus:
And a nice truffle wine reduction sauce for the top:
My wife’s lamb rib chop was crusted with pistachio, and also cooked absolutely perfectly.
Some other guests at the table ordered the filet, which was equally delicious and nicely prepared. On top is a mushroom and bacon mash of some kind.
La Myrtille is a short bread base with a pistachio cake, topped with fresh blueberries and compote, vanilla cream, and creme fraiche ice cream. Not only was it beautiful, but it was the best dessert of the night, and we sampled a bunch from other plates. It was unique, and the right balance of sweet and savory for me. Perfect.
Here’s a look at the almond, mango yogurt and strawberry concoction that I also tried – pretty good!
And this was my wife’s dessert, L’ile Flottante, which was light meringue, vanilla creme Anglaise, rum raisons, toasted almonds and a vanilla tuile.
For our first meal down in Orlando, my wife and I tried this whiskey- and burger- centric place for lunch.
They had something like 200 types of whiskey, rye and scotch. Impressive.
The food turned out to be pretty good, so let’s get right into it.
We started with some cocktails and an order of whiskey sauce wings.
The wings were pretty good. Not QUITE as crisp as I like, but the flavor was tangy, garlicky and sweet from the sauce.
I ordered “the whiskey” burger, which has smoked gouda, bourbon bacon, whiskey onions and a dill aioli. Pretty solid burger!
It was cooked to about medium well, despite my order of medium, but the burger was good and juicy from all the toppings.
I had the regular fries with my burger, which were crispy and well seasoned.
My wife ordered “the royal,” which was similar to mine, only with wagyu beef and garlic aioli.
Her’s was cooked to medium rare, nice and pinkish red throughout a thick patty.
She also went with truffle parmesan fries, which were a nice touch.
My wife and I went to Disney with her family for a short vacation. While there, we hit this steak joint.
Flavor: 8
We tried nearly every cut of steak, so I was able to get a good feel for the quality of the beef as well as the skill of the chef. This place can definitely hang with NYC’s greats. I wasn’t expecting much after my last experience at a Florida steakhouse, but my wife really did her research on the dining options for this trip.
First, the rib eye, which I didn’t order but I tried a good amount. It was perfectly cooked and remained tender and juicy, with a great crust on the outside as well as a creamy blue cheese butter. This was probably a nine, and it came with a beautiful, big serving of bone marrow!
My wife and I tried the porterhouse for two. This was an eight. It was cooked nicely but just fell a slight bit short on seasoning. Otherwise, top notch. Both sides were tender and juicy, with just a few areas where things got over cooked along the edges.
My brother in law had a chimichurri strip steak, which was ordered medium well (he’s not a good steak orderer), yet it still retained flavor and some juiciness despite the ruination. Eight.
My other brother in law had the filet, which was big and juicy. Also an eight.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9
They have a lot of options here, and several variants within – like aged and prime. Take a look at the menu. All that’s missing, really, is an aged bone in rib eye. Arguably the most important cut, but I only took a point.
With a few tweaks in preparation, and some longer aging times, this place could be incredible. They even have an aging room on the premises, visible to diners, where they age the beef and hang the charcuterie:
Portion Size & Plating: 9
Portions here are large; plating is nice without being overly elegant. High marks on the charcuterie board, porterhouse and pork belly with clams plating in particular.
Price: 8
The prices here are pretty steep for Florida, but then again you are at a Disney resort, so a mark-up is expected. On the other hand, the food is well worth the money here. This is comparable to a NYC steakhouse, both in quality and price.
Bar: 10
This joint has a full separate-but-attached bar called the Crew’s Cup that adjoins the restaurant. It’s a great looking country club kind of place, and the drinks are pretty good and cheap as well ($8.25 for a Beefeater martini is very fair in my eyes, being used to NYC).
Specials and Other Meats: 7
There were no specials read to us, and the menu is pretty bare when it comes to other meats aside from beef: only chicken. I don’t mind much though, because I don’t go to a steakhouse to eat any other protein but beef, and the showing of beef here is pretty excellent; it even includes prime rib and bison (which I still consider to be beef, in a weird way).
My mother in law tried this vegeterian pasta dish, which was beautifully plated:
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 8
The first appetizer that we tried was a charcuterie board. Here’s what was on it:
I’m always a bit underwhelmed by the amount of stuff on charcuterie boards at restaurants these days, but I get that this stuff is expensive and difficult to make. Anyway, this was all very good:
We also tried this pork belly and clams appetizer, which was incredible, although a bit salty.
The hunk of pork belly in the center was generous, and perfectly braised yet crispy on the outside. The fried lotus root was an elegant touch, and the broth was great to soak up with bread.
The sides here were great. Our porterhouse came with beef fat roasted potatoes and a trio of sides: caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms and creamed spinach. I enjoyed them all. The creamed spinach was more creamy than I usually like, but it wasn’t overpowering. The beef fat potatoes were incredible – the beefy marrow flavor really took me by surprise. They were just a bit greasy, unfortunately.
The last side we tried was the truffle mac and cheese. This was made with orecchiette pasta and some fried onions. It was really delicious, and probably one of the better truffle macs that I’ve had.
Unfortunately we had to skip dessert. Too full!
Seafood Selection: 7
There’s red snapper and scallops on the menu here in the entree section. Other than that there’s just the usual shellfish apps. I was a bit surprised not to see any lobster on the menu.
Service: 10
This place is over the top and excellent. As you might expect, this kind of thing happens all over Disney. The people who work here are amazing, and they really, sincerely want you to enjoy your time there. Our waiter, Ricardo, was fantastic.
I guess I should mention the bread here. It comes with a really nice soft and salty butter, as well as a head of roasted garlic for spreading!!! You can choose onion pull-apart bread, or baguette style bread – or both.
Ambiance: 9
The building and all surrounding areas are amazing at this part of the resort. When you enter the yacht club area, you’re greeted with an amazing, huge old fashioned globe in the entryway.
The Yachtsman Steakhouse itself (which is within the club near some other restaurants) attempts to hit the mark with the country club / yacht club look. It ALMOST nails it, but not quite. Something was missing, and I can’t put my finger on it.
This little hole-in-the-wall in Key West serves up one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches I’ve ever had. A lobster grilled cheese!
Essentially it is the meat they use for their lobster rolls, but slapped between two buttery toasted sliced of bread and covered with melted cheese. Fucking insanely buttery and delicious. I could eat this every day!
The lobster rolls are pretty good too. We went with the diablo roll, which has a spicy sri racha and jalapeno kick to it.
Definitely get to this place if you’re ever in Key West. Look for the lobster cut out:
The owner of Kingston’s on Long Island opened up shop down in Key West with this little shack on the main strip of Duval Street.
The menu is really basic: mostly fried seafood baskets with a lobster roll to boot. The lobster rolls here is pretty great – lots of really good lump claw meat!
My wife and I tried the cracked conch and clam strips, both of which were nicely batter-fried and served on a bed of seasoned crinkle-cut french fries.
I enjoyed it. I’d definitely hit this place again if I’m ever in Key West.
