WHERE WERE YOU BORN: Miami Beach – an island native
HOW LONG IN MIAMI: All 31 years
NEIGHBORHOOD: grew up in Surfside, but have roamed from Aventura to South Beach
OCCUPATION: professional raconteur – more specifically, the co-founder of the content studio rakontur (“Cocaine Cowboys,” “The U”)
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Joe Allen, my home away from home
BEST SUSHI: NO THANKS – GOTTA BE COOKED
BEST ETHNIC FOOD: Chef Creole’s oxtail, sak pase!
BEST ITALIAN: Macaluso’s for the meatballs
BEST PLACE FOR LATE NIGHT DINING: La Sandwicherie, turkey on a toasted baguette, loaded with cornichons
BEST DESSERT: Joe’s key lime pie
BEST SUNDAY BRUNCH: Nemo has owned this category for years – still going strong
COOLEST CLUB/LOUNGE: Waiting until we reopen the Bella Rose
BEST PLACE FOR A POWER BUSINESS MEETING: It begins and ends with Joe’s Stone Crab
ALL-AROUND FAVORITE SPOT IN MIAMI: Cuban coffee windows – David’s, Enriquetas and Versailles – the true essence of Miami
IF YOU HAVE OUT OF TOWN GUESTS, WHICH HOTEL WOULD YOU RECOMMEND? The Raleigh, still the classiest and best pool on Miami Beach, or The Standard
BEST SPA: The Standard
FAVORITE CHARITY EVENT: Hope for Vision
FAVORITE CULTURAL EVENT: the first Canes football game of the season
BEST ASPECT OF MIAMI: The history and the characters – I don’t think rakontur will ever run out of great Miami stories to tell
BEST STEAKHOUSE: Waiting patiently for Shareef to reopen The Forge – even closed, it gets my vote
BEST PIZZA: Sosta is the new kid on the block, but the best pizza on the beach (I do miss Pucci’s “slice and a coke/you never go broke”)
BEST LUNCH: Anything from Epicure
BEST LIMOUSINE/DRIVING SERVICE: Red Limo
BEST MUSEUM/EXHIBIT: the Whitman Family Museum – one of South Florida’s First Families
FAVORITE HISTORY/LEGENDARY PLACE TO SEE OR EXPLORE: the Florida Moving Image Archive – the entire filmed history of South Florida hidden beneath the Main Library downtown
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Haute Secrets
December 30, 2009Haute Secrets: Clive Davis' Guide to New York
