Florida - South Beach and the Keys

Greetings,

My wife and I will be traveling to the South Beach area of Miami and all
through the Keys for a week in February. Does anyone have experiences
or recommendations for places to stay or eat they'd like to share? I
know I could pick up one of the many guide books but I would like to
hear first hand from folks who've been there and done that.

Thx in advance for your help.
Mike Chmura

On 01/06/2004 2:05 PM Mike Chmura plucked Senior Frog's Magic Twanger
and said:

Greetings,

My wife and I will be traveling to the South Beach area of Miami and all
through the Keys for a week in February. Does anyone have experiences
or recommendations for places to stay or eat they'd like to share? I
know I could pick up one of the many guide books but I would like to
hear first hand from folks who've been there and done that.

Thx in advance for your help.
Mike Chmura

A week is not really enough for South Beach and the Fla Keys, that is if
you want to get any R&R time in. You could spend three to four days
alone in Key West. Not that you couldn't do it. During high season it
takes 2 to 4 hours to drive one way to Key West. That's if you don't
stop anywhere along the way to eat, shop, or sight see.

Choose to focus on Miami or the the Keys, then you can do things in a
leasurly manner. South Florida, especially the Keys is all about a
mañana laid back way of doing things. You'll see once you arrive.

Along the way, scuba or snorkle in John Pennekamp Coral Park - Key
Largo. nosh on one of the famous pies made on the premisis at Mrs.
Macs. See a Sunset at Mallery Sq - Key West, eat at Half Shell Raw
Bar, go nude swimming at Atlantic Shore's largest clothing optional pool
in Key West. See Hemingway's House, Audobon House, actress Kelly
McGillis pub and restaurant, the Southern most point, tour the grave
yard, Nancy's Secret Garden. Go shopping on Simonton Street, eat Key
Lime Pie. Return to Miami and do some beautiful people - boys & girls
in thongs and inline skates gawking. Eat someplace extravagently
expensive, go to a disco - party hearty and pass out on the beach .

Whatever you do, make your reservations like yesterday. Things tend to
get booked up during high season, so as soon as you figure out where
you're going and where you want to sleep... make those reservations.

--
________
To email me, Edit "xt" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

Mike Chmura wrote:

Greetings,

My wife and I will be traveling to the South Beach area of Miami and all
through the Keys for a week in February. Does anyone have experiences
or recommendations for places to stay or eat they'd like to share? I
know I could pick up one of the many guide books but I would like to
hear first hand from folks who've been there and done that.

Thx in advance for your help.
Mike Chmura

We stayed in Homestead, which saved money,
and drove into Miami, also down to Key West.

We enjoyed Coconut Grove. If you like shopping
there's Aventura Mall. Parking in S Beach can
be a problem.

The snorkel trip from Key Largo was excellent.

Crack'D'Conch restaurant just north of Key
Largo on your left, if headed south, is good.

As we landed at Lauderdale and had a late
departure, we drove up to W Palm Beach on I-95,
then back to the airport along the ocean road.

Very scenic.

Brian K wrote in message ...
On 01/06/2004 2:05 PM Mike Chmura plucked Senior Frog's Magic Twanger
and said:

Greetings,

My wife and I will be traveling to the South Beach area of Miami and all
through the Keys for a week in February. Does anyone have experiences
or recommendations for places to stay or eat they'd like to share? I
know I could pick up one of the many guide books but I would like to
hear first hand from folks who've been there and done that.

Thx in advance for your help.
Mike Chmura

A week is not really enough for South Beach and the Fla Keys, that is if
you want to get any R&R time in. You could spend three to four days
alone in Key West. Not that you couldn't do it. During high season it
takes 2 to 4 hours to drive one way to Key West. That's if you don't
stop anywhere along the way to eat, shop, or sight see.

Choose to focus on Miami or the the Keys, then you can do things in a
leasurly manner. South Florida, especially the Keys is all about a
mañana laid back way of doing things. You'll see once you arrive.

Along the way, scuba or snorkle in John Pennekamp Coral Park - Key
Largo. nosh on one of the famous pies made on the premisis at Mrs.
Macs. See a Sunset at Mallery Sq - Key West, eat at Half Shell Raw
Bar, go nude swimming at Atlantic Shore's largest clothing optional pool
in Key West. See Hemingway's House, Audobon House, actress Kelly
McGillis pub and restaurant, the Southern most point, tour the grave
yard, Nancy's Secret Garden. Go shopping on Simonton Street, eat Key
Lime Pie. Return to Miami and do some beautiful people - boys & girls
in thongs and inline skates gawking. Eat someplace extravagently
expensive, go to a disco - party hearty and pass out on the beach .

Whatever you do, make your reservations like yesterday. Things tend to
get booked up during high season, so as soon as you figure out where
you're going and where you want to sleep... make those reservations.

I've been going down for the last coupla years and it's my fav
place....

A lot depends on how long you will stay, the number of days and nights
and what you will do there. But if you have one sit-down dinner, go to
Blue Heavan on Petronia on a week night. (Too long a wait on weekends)
It has a bar inside and outside, but the dining area is just enclosed
by a fence with no roof. They have strung sails overhead to provide
shade in the afternoon, but otherwise it's nice and cool in the
evenings. (If I have one rule-of-thumb about Key West, it's never
eat/drink in a place that has four walls and/or a roof. Too many good
open air places) And the ground is simply dirt. Nice dirt, but dirt
none-the-less. It's so the chickens can peck around while you eat and
the cats can sleep underneath the tables. It sounds weird but it's a
great place. Supposedly, in the old days, it is one of the places
where the cock fights took place and that Hemingway used to referee
them. Take a look upstairs at the art gallery. This used to be a "cat"
house. Suggestions for food include the blackened grouper, the veggie
platter and an appitizer of shrimp. You can also try a Kalik
(pronounced Klik) beer. It's brewed in the Bahamas and is like an
India Pale Ale - very refereshing. For some reason if you ask people
who have been to Key West for a place to eat, they suggest Seven
Fishes, but this place is too upscale for me. (And it has a roof!) You
could walk to Blue Heaven and either eat in your shorts and not feel
out of place. You can't at Seven Fishes, IMO.

Another good place for a diner is Pepe's on Front Street (Not El Meson
de Pepe). They are a small place with limited seating and a different
special each night. Try to hit the Bar-B-Q night if you can, but most
of the food there is good. And they are one of the best places to have
a breakfast. You will have to wait a while but the pancakes are
home-made. And they sometimes have a turkey/cheese/eggs wrap that is
out of this world. You can go in the middle of the morning and have a
Bloody Mary while you wait. This place used to be a garage. Check out
the chandeliers. Another good breakfast place is Coissants de France
right on Duval. Ask for a table in back in the garden, have a
cafe-au-lait, and the brioche. But for a breakfast (or lunch) with
that special someone, ask about taking the launch to the otherside of
sunset key. They drop you off and you can eat on a veranda of a hotel
overlooking the ocean where all of the rich people dock their boats.

And El Meson de Pepe has the best Cuban food - ceviche, Cuban Bread,
Cuban shrimp, plantains (ask for them "wet"). They have Happy Hour
from noon till 4:00 where all of the bar-food is 1/2 price. They
should call it happy half-day. Try an Hatuey beer here. It used to be
brewed in Cuba but has been bought out by Bacardi and now is too
expensive for them to bring in in kegs, but the bottles are good, too.
This use to be Hemingway's fav. beer. The place is on an alley that
leads to the Mallory docks so there is always a nice breeze coming off
the ocean. They have a 2 or 3 or 4-man Latin band (according to how
well the economy is doing) and you have to sit at the bar at night
about 9:00 and watch the people coming from watching the sunset at
Mallory Docks. Usually touristy people who have had a long day, are
sun-burned, and the kids are antsy. They mope along, then......they
hear the beat of a tango and they can't help themselves. They start
bopping and jiving to the beat, their arms swing, and they might even
try a few steps. Then they pass and it's back to normal.
If you are there two nights, watch the sunset from Mallory Docks the
first night (everybody does) but go to the top of that 7 or 8 story
hotel right in the middle of Duval (I forget the name, La Conchita, or
some such) the second. You can see all of Key West from the
observation deck up there.

And I think the best place for having the first drink early in the
evening is Kelleys on Whitehead. They have a micro-brewery which makes
4 different beers and the best margueritas. It used to be owned by
Kelley MaGillis (Witness) and is in the old HQ of Pan Am airlines. Sit
at the bar overlooking the garden. (There seems to always be a guy
there, smoking a cigar, who says he was with the CIA and was part of
the Bay of Pigs invasion. Dubtful. But check out the photos around the
walls and that ceiling fan.

Things not to miss, and you can choose for yourself any place on the
Key West bight, are conch critters, boles, conch chowder, pretty much
any local seafood item. Try Turtle Kraals and the Half-Shell Raw Bar.
Alonzos and the A&B Oyster Bar are OK, but more expensive and not any
better.

If you want to go snorkling at the reef, they now have combo
snorkling/sunset sails. These are good deals, esp. if some people
snorkle and some don't. The sail out to the reef is half the fun. For
beginners or if you want to be with a lot of people, take either the
Sunny Days or the Fury cat. I say for beginners because these boats
have a big ramp that they let down from the bows into the water, so
it's easy to get in/out. Otherwise they have to try to climb down a
ladder with their gear on or take that one step from the rail. But if
you want a more personal trip, take the Floridays which berths at the
Mariott. It's a smaller ship, maybe 46', and only holds 14 people. You
get a much better feeling of sailing and you can steer the ship for a
while.

And one other odd thing. Souviners. You can get a cap or a T-shirt
(look for the 3/$10.00 or you'll pay too much), but when you get back
check out a web page called GALLERYKEYWEST. It has photos or ink
drawings or multi-colored paintings by local people. They are $15.00
each and you can look through them and try to recognize places. Then
get your fav.

Good luck
Pjk

On 01/07/2004 12:44 PM Peter Krynicki plucked Senior Frog's Magic
Twanger and said:

Brian K wrote in message ...


On 01/06/2004 2:05 PM Mike Chmura plucked Senior Frog's Magic Twanger
and said:



Greetings,

My wife and I will be traveling to the South Beach area of Miami and all
through the Keys for a week in February. Does anyone have experiences
or recommendations for places to stay or eat they'd like to share? I
know I could pick up one of the many guide books but I would like to
hear first hand from folks who've been there and done that.

Thx in advance for your help.
Mike Chmura



A week is not really enough for South Beach and the Fla Keys, that is if
you want to get any R&R time in. You could spend three to four days
alone in Key West. Not that you couldn't do it. During high season it
takes 2 to 4 hours to drive one way to Key West. That's if you don't
stop anywhere along the way to eat, shop, or sight see.

Choose to focus on Miami or the the Keys, then you can do things in a
leasurly manner. South Florida, especially the Keys is all about a
mañana laid back way of doing things. You'll see once you arrive.

Along the way, scuba or snorkle in John Pennekamp Coral Park - Key
Largo. nosh on one of the famous pies made on the premisis at Mrs.
Macs. See a Sunset at Mallery Sq - Key West, eat at Half Shell Raw
Bar, go nude swimming at Atlantic Shore's largest clothing optional pool
in Key West. See Hemingway's House, Audobon House, actress Kelly
McGillis pub and restaurant, the Southern most point, tour the grave
yard, Nancy's Secret Garden. Go shopping on Simonton Street, eat Key
Lime Pie. Return to Miami and do some beautiful people - boys & girls
in thongs and inline skates gawking. Eat someplace extravagantly
expensive, go to a disco - party hearty and pass out on the beach .

Whatever you do, make your reservations like yesterday. Things tend to
get booked up during high season, so as soon as you figure out where
you're going and where you want to sleep... make those reservations.



I've been going down for the last coupla years and it's my fav
place....

A lot depends on how long you will stay, the number of days and nights
and what you will do there. But if you have one sit-down dinner, go to
Blue Heavan on Petronia on a week night. (Too long a wait on weekends)
It has a bar inside and outside, but the dining area is just enclosed
by a fence with no roof. They have strung sails overhead to provide
shade in the afternoon, but otherwise it's nice and cool in the
evenings. (If I have one rule-of-thumb about Key West, it's never
eat/drink in a place that has four walls and/or a roof. Too many good
open air places) And the ground is simply dirt. Nice dirt, but dirt
none-the-less. It's so the chickens can peck around while you eat and
the cats can sleep underneath the tables. It sounds weird but it's a
great place. Supposedly, in the old days, it is one of the places
where the cock fights took place and that Hemingway used to referee
them. Take a look upstairs at the art gallery. This used to be a "cat"
house. Suggestions for food include the blackened grouper, the veggie
platter and an appetizer of shrimp. You can also try a Kalik
(pronounced Klik) beer. It's brewed in the Bahamas and is like an
India Pale Ale - very refreshing. For some reason if you ask people
who have been to Key West for a place to eat, they suggest Seven
Fishes, but this place is too upscale for me. (And it has a roof!) You
could walk to Blue Heaven and either eat in your shorts and not feel
out of place. You can't at Seven Fishes, IMO.

Another good place for a diner is Pepe's on Front Street (Not El Meson
de Pepe). They are a small place with limited seating and a different
special each night. Try to hit the Bar-B-Q night if you can, but most
of the food there is good. And they are one of the best places to have
a breakfast. You will have to wait a while but the pancakes are
home-made. And they sometimes have a turkey/cheese/eggs wrap that is
out of this world. You can go in the middle of the morning and have a
Bloody Mary while you wait. This place used to be a garage. Check out
the chandeliers. Another good breakfast place is Coissants de France
right on Duval. Ask for a table in back in the garden, have a
cafe-au-lait, and the brioche. But for a breakfast (or lunch) with
that special someone, ask about taking the launch to the otherside of
sunset key. They drop you off and you can eat on a veranda of a hotel
overlooking the ocean where all of the rich people dock their boats.

And El Meson de Pepe has the best Cuban food - ceviche, Cuban Bread,
Cuban shrimp, plantains (ask for them "wet"). They have Happy Hour
from noon till 4:00 where all of the bar-food is 1/2 price. They
should call it happy half-day. Try an Hatuey beer here. It used to be
brewed in Cuba but has been bought out by Bacardi and now is too
expensive for them to bring in in kegs, but the bottles are good, too.
This use to be Hemingway's fav. beer. The place is on an alley that
leads to the Mallory docks so there is always a nice breeze coming off
the ocean. They have a 2 or 3 or 4-man Latin band (according to how
well the economy is doing) and you have to sit at the bar at night
about 9:00 and watch the people coming from watching the sunset at
Mallory Docks. Usually touristy people who have had a long day, are
sun-burned, and the kids are antsy. They mope along, then......they
hear the beat of a tango and they can't help themselves. They start
bopping and jiving to the beat, their arms swing, and they might even
try a few steps. Then they pass and it's back to normal.
If you are there two nights, watch the sunset from Mallory Docks the
first night (everybody does) but go to the top of that 7 or 8 story
hotel right in the middle of Duval (I forget the name, La Conchita, or
some such) the second. You can see all of Key West from the
observation deck up there.

And I think the best place for having the first drink early in the
evening is Kelleys on Whitehead. They have a micro-brewery which makes
4 different beers and the best margueritas. It used to be owned by
Kelley MaGillis (Witness) and is in the old HQ of Pan Am airlines. Sit
at the bar overlooking the garden. (There seems to always be a guy
there, smoking a cigar, who says he was with the CIA and was part of
the Bay of Pigs invasion. Dubtful. But check out the photos around the
walls and that ceiling fan.

Things not to miss, and you can choose for yourself any place on the
Key West bight, are conch critters, boles, conch chowder, pretty much
any local seafood item. Try Turtle Kraals and the Half-Shell Raw Bar.
Alonzos and the A&B Oyster Bar are OK, but more expensive and not any
better.

If you want to go snorkling at the reef, they now have combo
snorkling/sunset sails. These are good deals, esp. if some people
snorkle and some don't. The sail out to the reef is half the fun. For
beginners or if you want to be with a lot of people, take either the
Sunny Days or the Fury cat. I say for beginners because these boats
have a big ramp that they let down from the bows into the water, so
it's easy to get in/out. Otherwise they have to try to climb down a
ladder with their gear on or take that one step from the rail. But if
you want a more personal trip, take the Floridays which berths at the
Mariott. It's a smaller ship, maybe 46', and only holds 14 people. You
get a much better feeling of sailing and you can steer the ship for a
while.

And one other odd thing. Souviners. You can get a cap or a T-shirt
(look for the 3/$10.00 or you'll pay too much), but when you get back
check out a web page called GALLERYKEYWEST. It has photos or ink
drawings or multi-colored paintings by local people. They are $15.00
each and you can look through them and try to recognize places. Then
get your fav.

Good luck
Pjk


I forgot to mention, for souvenirs on Simonton St. is the T-shirt
Factory. There for half the price of the T-shirts and Caps you'll find
on Duval St. you can buy caps T-shirts, and sweatshirts that have been
hand silk screened by local artisans. All the designs are original
artwork, and at the T-shirt Factory they change them periodically. When
they do a major run, there is always a card board bargain bin where you
can find one of a kind "silk screening accidents" that sometimes look
better then the regular stock. These one of a kind shirts, etc can be
had for less then $8.00.

You should also check out Fausto's on Flemming Street. It's a
supermarket and much much more with all kinds of nice things for the
budget gourmet.

--
________
To email me, Edit "xt" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

"Mike Chmura" wrote in message
...
Greetings,

My wife and I will be traveling to the South Beach area of Miami and all
through the Keys for a week in February. Does anyone have experiences
or recommendations for places to stay or eat they'd like to share? I
know I could pick up one of the many guide books but I would like to
hear first hand from folks who've been there and done that.

Thx in advance for your help.
Mike Chmura

If you fancy crustacean, try Joe's Stone Crab in South Beach
(http://www.joesstonecrab.com/).