Harvey's/News Lounge

Went back to Harvey's last night. I was pretty psyched to see the bar show up in Thrillist even though it means it will soon be overrun with hipsters. In any case, I want them to be successful so I'll deal with whatever crowd comes, attracted by $2 drafts and free parking. We drank way too much, shots of nasty aguardiente because new-guy-friend from the last Harvey's post (he's like a permanent fixture at Harvey's, I think) is Colombian so he inflicted his cultural swill on us.

Met my friend's partner, who I really liked a lot and am glad to welcome to the inner sanctum. Afterwards, we all went to The News Lounge again, where we had some type of carpaccio with avocado and some type of bruschetta with proscuitto appetizers. I would write the exact name of the dishes but The News Lounge stupidly does not post their menus online and I was in no state to remember the names of dishes...or even order, actually, someone else took care of that.

The carpaccio was tasty. (Quality) beef and fish are really almost always tastiest either raw or in a near-raw state. Or smoked. Or marinated like in ceviche. I really dislike cooked salmon but it's my favorite fish for sushi. Chicken is a poor, depressing excuse for a meat, and of course you can't do anything edible raw with it. Pork you can't eat raw, but at least all sorts of yummy things come from pigs, like bacon, proscuitto, jamon serrano, and Cuban Style Roast Pork, which I'm sure they serve in heaven.

I made a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache (modified box cake recipe, NOT from scratch) a couple weeks ago for my coworkers that met with success, so I'm going to attempt a new cake this weekend. This one was suggested and since I am easily influenced by my friends, it's the one.

Flamingo Plaza

I just heard that the foodstand at Grubstakes Resources was featured on Channel 6 news. Awesome! They may need an extra table...

Spent a happy/lucky day with my friend yesterday. We went to check out Educating Hands, the massage school, because of potential layoffs/job satisfaction issues. Damn if it wasn't like that scene in the Shining, where those creepy twins freak Danny out...all these happy people, seemingly enticing us to join their alternative medicine cult where they worship the River Stone, asking us to play with them forever...and ever...and ever...Seriously, everyone was super happy and it seemed really interesting. So, of course, since I must be unhappy in my work, it's not an option for me.

After that we went thrifting to Flamingo Plaza in Hialeah, pretty much the mecca of thrifting in Miami. We had stupidly good success, found a bunch of brand new target dresses at New York Thrift Store there, and in my size!!!
After exhausting ourselves thrifting, we went to grab lunch at One Burger where I had the Frita Cubana burger and she had The Globe. Of course, hers was awesome and mine sucked, was burnt and dry. I never have luck there, but other people swear by it. The guy working the front counter was also surly as hell. Half of my friend's cupcake sort of made up for it. God, I wish we had an In-N-Out Burger here!!!

We (well, she) had had such a lucky/happy day that we bought lotto tickets in case our luck held up (I won $4!). We ran into an old friend who I bummed a cigarette off of, which made MY day look up. After that I tried on all the stuff I bought and passed out.

Home cooking trials

July 20, 2009. Sometimes, you gotta cook. You know, frugality and all. I made a chicken stir fry that was perfectly respectable but I just didn't like it much. Lately I'm not into meat, especially chicken, especially when I cook it myself. I blame my healthy friend for this, she of the Master Cleanse and Raw Foods Diet and all. She's a terrible influence! I took some of the white rice I made for the stir fry and made a recipe for fried rice, which is one of my favorite comfort foods...and it was actually pretty good!

Quick Fried Rice
From The Starving Students’ Vegetarian Cookbook
by Dede Hall

Ingredients
2 tbsp butter or margarine
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 egg
1 cup cooked rice
Handful frozen peas
1 tbsp soy sauce

Directions
In a skillet, on med-high heat, melt butter and add onions. Cook 1 minute. Crack egg into skillet. Stir and drag egg lightly with fork until egg is cooked in “strings”. Add rice, peas, and soy sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes, or until rice is browned and all ingredients are hot.

I had to substitute edamame for peas, and added extra onion. Recipes never have enough onion or garlic, I've noticed. I liked it because, well, it tasted good! But also because this cookbook has small portion sizes, which is great when you are a single mother with a finicky child. The recipes are also easy and don't have obscure ingredients. Still have that recipe for Caramelized Figs with Orange Flower Water in my purse. I'll have to take a trek to Lorenzo's for orange water; it's the only place I can think will maybe have it.

The News Lounge

July 16, 2009. Went here after Harvey's though I REALLY just wanted to go home since I did have to work the next day. I had cheeseburger sliders and shared some of my friend's fries. Everything was pretty good but I was at that point you reach after a night of drinking where you are hungry but kind of feeling crappy and just plain exhausted, so I didn't enjoy it as I might have normally. The service was good; I read in Yelp that it's hit or miss there so I guess we lucked out. My share was like, what, $11 or so? We dragged a new-guy-friend from Harvey's along who I wish I had an appropriate single friend to introduce to, but he seemed kind of normal for my friends. Oh, well.

The News Lounge
5580 NE 4th Court
Ste 4B & 5A
Miami, FL 33137
(305) 758-9932

Harvey's

July 16, 2009. Went here with a couple of coworkers to drown our recession sorrows. This place is in an American Legion building and very old school and laid back. It's also filled with the enchanting smell of mildew (I have a mild fetish for the smell of old books, what can I say). I had three beers for $8, beat THAT! The bartender, Shawn, is super cool and apparently quite a catch: friendly, cute in that bear-like, fair, beefy-American-guy way, relaxed, can mix a mean drink, and cooks too (and willingly shares with cute female bar customers). It's got a pretty good jukebox and lots of friendly regulars. Seems like a big draw for the hipster crowd. Hell, anything to keep Harvey's in the black!

Harvey's By The Bay
6445 NE 7th Ave
Miami, FL 33138
(954) 394-2763

Go-Go Fresh Food Cafe

July 16, 2009. Went here for lunch with my coworker during which we talked about soul searching and knowing yourself and careers and such. Had a steak mini-salad and a roast pork and plantain empanada with their strawberry lemonade. It was nice and fresh and light, like a salad should be. It was a little over $13, a bit much for lunch, especially when I really SHOULD be eating that TV dinner in the freezer. A bit much when considering too how they are threatening layoffs, pay cuts, and shorter hours. It's a recession, baby.

Go-Go Fresh Food Cafe
926 alton road ~ south beach ~ 305.673.3137

Tien Kue Inn

July 12, 2009. I was feeling massively meh so I decided to grab some Chinese fried rice take-out from this place. Sometimes only fried rice will do. It was around 5:30pm so on the spur of the moment I decided to eat at their buffet. I NEVER eat out alone (armed only with a book, The Master and Margarita) so I felt very brave and independent. Maybe a little bit like a loser. I didn't bother watching my table manners, in itself rather freeing. The buffet is $9.95 and I ate a couple plates and some dessert. It was what you'd expect from a buffet, no revelation there. Decent seaweed salad, some rolls and sushi, fried rice, miso soup, etc. At the end, I was full but still meh, and took one of my hour long walks to settle it all down.

Tien Kue Inn Chinese and Japanese Restaurant
2860 Coral Way
Miami, FL 33145
(305) 444-2717

Red Koi in Coral Gables

July 10, 2009. I didn't feel like going to the races at the Homestead Speedway (experiencing these quintessentially redneck experiences are like conducting an anthropological study) and dealing with the noise and staying up late and having to work the next day, so I went with a couple people to eat dinner at Red Koi. One of them had been laid off recently so we were determined to make an effort to forget all our problems and enjoy ourselves. I had the Tuna Tartar (I've been obsessed with this dish lately after having it at Moonchine) and it was tasty and beautifully presented. Even the leftovers I had for lunch the next day were great, and I didn't get food poisoning from eating old raw fish. I also had a salmon roll and a green salad, mostly because they were cheap and raw salmon is my favorite. My share was about $30 with tip, I guess I'd call that moderately expensive, and then I bought a bottle of $10 Publix wine which we drank at home, with Rum and Diet Cokes, and watched a few Season 2 Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes. Perfect!

Red Koi Thai and Sushi Lounge
(786) 871-7969
317 Miracle Mile
Coral Gables, FL 33134

The Food Stand Outside Grubstake Resources

July 10th, 2009. I read about this place in a Daily Candy Miami email, noted the operative information (not-South Beach prices) and went over with my son. He had Doritos (the blue bag) and orange soda (he's finicky and spoiled, I admit) while I had a Chilean style hot dog that came with mustard, mayo, ketchup and this homemade avocado salsa. Tasty! And cheap. For everything, including my Diet Coke, it was, I believe, $5.50. Awesome, right? At least I can feel generous and tip nicely. There are a couple rusty tables but all in all, a satisfying low rent experience.

The Food Stand, outside Grubstake Resources, 2401 North Miami Avenue, Wynwood. For more information, call 305-573-2976.