40-some-hours-in-Miami, part 1

Chris and I just celebrated our 5 year anniversary of our first date on Tuesday. Since it's still winter, we decided that heading south to Miami would be nicer than going north to Chicago. Good choice since it had just snowed in Lawrence and we lucked out with some sunny, gorgeous weather. We had just gone to Miami in May 2008, where we fell in love with food, people and city. It's such a great place for foodies especially fans of seafood and/or Latin cuisine.



Luckily for us, Latinos love to eat late at night since our flight didn't arrive till 9:30. Our first meal was at Versailles Restaurant, a late night joint that has been a Miami institution for years now. We didn't get there till about 10:30 and were surprised that it was still a pretty packed place late on a Monday night. I got one of the Cuban plate specials, so that I could try a little bit of a bunch of stuff. On my plate is the yellow Cuban rice, yuca (the white pile and not to be confused with yucca), fried pork chunks (meat under the onions), tamale, fried plantains (the left side of the rice), some sort of shredded pork and a croquette (top by the pork chunks). Chris ordered the palomilla steak dish, but our pic didn't turn out so appetizing, so I decided to leave it out. It was all quite tasty, but my favorite was the fried pork chunks. They were incredibly tender and juicy while being lightly fried (not breaded). Plantains are also a favorite of ours and these were delicious.

The next day, we decided to pick up some sandwiches before the spring training game. I had read up on restaurants with a website, Three Guys from Miami, that I had used when we were in Miami last. We needed something quick and easy since we needed to drive over an hour to get to Jupiter for the game. Enriqueta's Cafe seemed to be a good choice and when we pulled up to it, Chris was already smiling (he loves the hole-in-the-wall locations). It had been written about in Food & Wine magazine back in Dec 2004, so why not give it a try? The Cuban style chicken sandwich was what the Three Guys website raved about, so we both ordered it. The chicken was perfectly seasoned and juicy, topped with tomato, lettuce, cheese and super crispy french fries. For about $5.50, you couldn't go wrong! Delicious!