Up, down and all around South Beach

Aug 5, 2008

At Michy’s last night, we mentioned to our waitress, Bonnie, that we were just in town and eager to learn of other good Miami restaurants.

“Hang on,” she said. “I’ll ask David to come and talk with you.”

A few minutes later, David Martinez, co-owner of the restaurant and husband to chef Michelle Bernstein, was tableside, where he spent the next 10 minutes answering our questions and listing off a number of his recommendations for good eating in South Beach.

When I asked him why an out-of-town foodie friend would recommend his restaurant to us, he said only that Michy’s was trying to use local ingredients for fun, fresh tastes. When Martinez walked away, the couple beside us, down from Palm Beach for a return visit to the restaurant to celebrate their 23rd anniversary, told us Martinez was being very modest. (As our meal would attest to so shortly.)

Tonight, we walked down to his suggestion for sushi: Bond St. Lounge, in the basement of the tres cool red-and-white-appointed Townhouse Hotel, where we had the special mango tango spicy tuna roll, Chilean sea bass skewer, goat cheese crab cakes, sesame-crusted shrimp roll, and a few other nagiri choices.

From the Bond Street basement to the rooftop Plunge, a poolside bar atop the Gansevoort South Hotel. Erin and I snuggled in an oversize round ottoman, sipping lychee mojitos and sharing a slice of key lime pie, reveling in our love affair.

Tomorrow, another long walk down to the Art Deco district for cappuccino and breakfast, then back to the beach for more reading. I’m on a jaunt with my friend Scott Huler in his new book, No-Man’s Lands, about Homer’s Odysseus and a journey through the Mediterranean.

Anton Zuiker ☄