miami 2

Time to pick up where I left off with our trip to Miami. After two nights at the very stylish and luxurious Mandarin Oriental, we headed to South Beach to stay at the Angler's Resort, a newly restored Art Deco style boutique resort located in the heart of South Beach and only 2 blocks away from the beach. The location was ideal as our base of operations as we set out to explore all that South Beach has to offer: swanky nightclubs and bars, colorful art galleries, fine dining. Not to mention a jaw-dropping combination of fabulous beaches and beautiful people -- people watching is a major pastime in this town. There are scores of cafes along Ocean Ave where you can just sit for hours and watch the playas and hotties pass by, whether on foot or rolling in a Maserati.

I'd be lying if I said we didn't eat well in South Beach. We went to some pretty fantastic spots and ate some pretty expensive food. I'll just try to hit some of the highlights. The Blue Door in the Delano Hotel was very cool; it's a sophisticated and classy place owned by Madonna. I had the Kobe Beef Sliders with White Truffle Fries, and V. had the Cobb Salad. The food was so good, we went back there at the end of our trip and ordered the same meal again.

We also made reservations at Prime 112, one of the popular steakhouses in South Beach. V. had a large glass of ceviche and grilled sea bass, while I had a belly-busting 22-oz. ribeye steak and some massive stalks of asparagus. I swear the asparagus in Florida is HUGE. One thing's for sure though, fabulous eats don't come cheap -- even the sauces for the steak came separately at $2 - $5 each. But I guess you don't order a $48 steak and then skimp on the sauce, do you? No way man, I'm all in!

But perhaps the real highlight of our dining experiences in Miami had to be our visit to Joe's Stonecrabs. Joe's is one of the oldest restaurants in South Beach, and all the locals will say, you gotta try the stone crabs at Joe's. And so we did, and oh was it good. So sweet, so tender. V. also ordered a seafood cioppino that she couldn't stop talking about. And we topped it all off with some tasty Key Lime Pie that just hit the spot.

Good times, good grub. After two days in South Beach it was time to pack our bags and head for the Port of Miami to rendevous with the largest cruise ship in the world, the Liberty of the Seas. Stay tuned for the next installment, where we set sail for the Eastern Caribbean!