Haute Secrets: Alfred Spellman’s Guide to Miami

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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