Pizza Rustica and Van Dyke Cafe

What's a late night out on South Beach without a stop to Pizza Rustica? Sucky, that's what. When you are in that semi-tipsy, quasi-queasy state after drinking and walking aimlessly, nothing is better than that pizza. That fat in it is liver repair, according to Allegra's mom. And it's such tasty medicine! I had the tomato basil and my friend had the blue cheese spinach. I don't even like blue cheese and his pizza tasted great; the sharpness of the blue cheese complemented the richness of the spinach. I'm glad to report that my friend passed hurdle number one to friendship with me: he let me eat off his plate. That's a definite deal breaker with me.

Before that, we went to have a couple of drinks at the Van Dyke Cafe. There is a serious dearth of just regular bars to hang out at on Lincoln Road. They are all so damn chichi. We sat there and I mocked the jazz piano band playing. They were so earnest, for goodness sake. And, of course, they were all super suave with the ladies. Because, why else do guys become musicians?

Hiro's Sushi Express

Why is there not one of these within walking distance from my apartment? I admit, I don't have particularly discriminating taste, but the sushi there tastes as good as any I've had. I went there for lunch today and had their cold spinach salad with peanut sauce and their Double Hat Trick, and Allegra had Tekka Don and an Egg Roll. I'm not fond of clever names for menu items, by the way. I'm trying to get used to drinking water with my food and not wasting money on a soda, which is tough. It's healthy, affordable deliciousness that really makes my tummy's day!

I went to a couple of bars in Hollywood, Kelly's Pub and PRL Euro Cafe. I wasn't in the mood for drinking but they seemed like your typical cool local hangout. After just a couple of drinks we went down to the beach, where I heroically resisted the urge to jump in the deliciously warm ocean. That area of Hollywood Beach has a ton of little restaurants, bars and shops and is the antithesis of South Beach's excruciating hipness. There were lots of people, just walking...which is my favorite thing to do!

Speaking of walking, I went to Greynolds Park in an attempt to branch out from my normal, though totally awesome, walk route. It was nice to walk through, if you just ignore the homeless guys BBQing at the entrance.

Cacique's Corner Restaurant

When it comes to Cuban food - the cheaper, the better. It seems that the less you spend on Cuban food, the better it tastes. There's no point in getting fancy about it. I went to lunch with Allegra at Cacique's after a work meeting, downtown, yesterday. She had Chicarron de Pollo, and I had a Pan con Bistec (it floors me how the Spanish spelling for steak is the phonetic spelling of "beefsteak"...of course, it doesn't take much to amuse me). It was good...how could it not be? With my Diet Coke my portion of the bill, including a more than 20% tip, was $9. And, I had leftovers for the next day!

The day before I ate at Pollo Tropical, where for $4.13 I had a quarter chicken, dark meat, with black beans and rice, and all the chopped onion, salsa, BBQ sauce, vinegar, and lemon juice I could douse my food with for free. Who does NOT think that a Pollo Tropical franchise would make a killing just about anywhere outside of Miami? I mean, when's the last time you ate there? That chicken is fricking tasty!

Labor Day @ the Keys

Went down to the Keys with the crew. I sat around reading trashy novels and drinking beer while the others cooked, which is ideal, of course. Evil G made lasagna, Lydia made Greek salad, and Mouse grilled all the goodness that was gifted to us, including marinated alligator tail, lobster tail, and freshly caught grouper. The alligator had a very faint fishy taste and was actually pretty good. Mouse said it tasted like snake, which I haven't had but it makes sense since they're all reptiles, right? My powers of deduction amaze even me, sometimes.

Chalan on the Beach

There are certain foods that you start craving if you've gone too long without them...for me it's sushi, raw oysters, and ceviche. Now, I've had fancypants ceviche at Jaguar and Vietnamese Ceviche at Sushi Saigon and have even eaten the ceviche at the Books & Books cafe, but for good, authentic ceviche, you have to go to those inexpensive Peruvian restaurants on the beach. I had lunch today at Chalan with my coworker, and believe me, it had been a long, dry spell without. We were sopping up the ceviche marinade with the bread, it was so tasty. My coworker had the Lomo Saltado, which is a kind of stir fry of steak, tomato, onion and french fries, and it's out of this world. It would take a long time before I got tired enough of these two dishes to venture into the rest of the menu.

I saw Mamma Mia! and Pretty in Pink on DVD last night. Mamma Mia! was fun and adorable, and a great film adaptation of the musical, which I happened to see when it was in town a few years back. I knew almost all of the lyrics to all of the songs. Sad, I know. I rented Pretty in Pink after John Hughes died and just got around to watching it. God, they (we) were all so young, once!