Miami, Tacos and Blog Lies

JR and I spent the early part of this week in Miami, it was part birthday present, part "GET ME THE HECK OUT OF WINTER!" We flew down Saturday morning and were out by the pool sipping peach coconut pina coladas by noon!

I had never really spent any time in Miami before, but I knew the food was supposed to be great, so JR and I both did some reconnaissance before we went. By the time we got down there, we both had lists of recommended places to eat and the only restaurant on both lists was El Rancho Grande. It was of course a no-brainer, we had to go there to eat!


We started with the margaritas, which I heartily approved of, and then shared their guacamole and salsa with chips. I was thrilled because their salsa actually had a little zing to it, which I find to be rare in most restaurants.

I always order fajitas at Mexican restaurants, I love them and it's fun to compare. These were without a doubt some of the best. It wasn't anything fancy, but the seasoning of the chicken, steak, pepper and onions was awesome.


JR got the El Rancho Grande Taco Special which was a chicken taco, a beef taco and a pork taco. The soft taco shells were fresh and again the flavors were rocking. It was the perfect dinner before the NCAA mens basketball finals and we were both thrilled with the recommendations.

On the other end of the spectrum, we went to Wish at The Hotel. Their outdoor patio dining room was beautiful (the photos really don't do it justice.) I didn't do photos of the food, I forgot because I was too busy eating it. I ordered their heirloom tomato salad which blew me away because the tomatoes were August-delicious and it's only April!! I would pay tons of money for tomatoes like that this time of year!


For my meal I had the branzino, which was done perfectly on a bed of Israeli couscous with currants, onions and olives. JR had a scallops which were big, plump and tender. JR asked the host to take a photo of us, and then proceeded to tell him I was a "famous" food blogger and would write a rave review of the place. For that we got to go to their roof top bar (which was closed for the evening) and watch South Beach pass us by from above. It was so spectacular I might have JR lie about my blogging status more often!