Photo: Eliot Hess

Our friends Ruth and Howard Greenberg took us to Avra Miami last Saturday night to celebrate Eliot’s birthday. If you love high quality Greek food in a beautifully designed space, this is it. There’s a Miami Beach swimming advisory in the waters next to South Pointe Park. If you love to read books and meet the people behind all those words, check out Books & Books authors’ evenings. If you want to celebrate Halloween the mature way, the Eden Roc is inviting you to the Pompeii Cabaret, a special Halloween Edition.

Yes, There Is an Avra in Miami

Our friends Ruth and Howard Greenberg took us to Avra Miami last Saturday night to celebrate Eliot’s birthday. It’s located at the Estates at Acqualina in Sunny Isles Beach, about a 20-minute ride from South Beach. Bal Harbor is just south of Sunny Isles. It’s a great location because there are so many independent stores in the area. That’s a great place to live if you just want to shop, shop, shop all the time. Nothing wrong with that.

Avra Miami, 17945 Collins Avenue, is adjacent to the Acqualina Resort. Hotel guests can walk to Avra through an exclusive sky bridge. It’s really so convenient. The bridge follows the coastline, so you have a great view of the ocean as you stroll along. If you enter Avra from the beach or Collins Avenue, you are still walking into a very large space that welcomes you with elegance.

Avra started in New York by Nick Tsoulos, Marc Packer and Nick Pashalis. The first location opened in 2000 on East 48th Street in Midtown. After 16 years of continued success, a second Avra debuted on East 60th Street and instantly became a go-to hang out well known business executives and celebrities. Avra is now also making it big in Beverly Hills, Miami and a new New York location in Rockefeller Center.

It’s easy to see that everyone loves high quality Greek food in beautifully designed spaces. The menu features fresh branzino and black sea bass as well as rarer Mediterranean gems like fagri, lithrini and wild branzino. The carpaccios are garnished with nothing more than micro-herbs and olive oil, ceviche with gigante beans and whole fish grilled over charcoal or baked in salt. Vegetables and cheeses include the classic horiatiki with plump tomatoes, crisp cucumbers and creamy feta and in cooked dishes like spinach rice and baked saganaki cheese. Everything is topped off with traditional Greek and Mediterranean desserts. Look for olive oil and walnut cakes, baklava and custard, plus French vanilla ice cream flecked with Tahitian vanilla beans.  Yum!  GET THE DETAILS.

A Miami Beach Swimming Advisory 

We don’t get notices like the one below very often, so I wanted to make sure that readers of The Three Tomatoes newsletter know not to swim in the waters next to South Pointe Park. More importantly, don’t allow your pets to go swimming. Apparently, the waters, where the ocean meets the bay, are contaminated. The Florida Health Department is investigating the situation now.

The reason why I mention pet safety is because more and more visitors to Miami are bringing their dogs with them. Not sure about the rest of the world but Miami loves animals. Most hotels and restaurants welcome them with open arms.

Out-of-towners used to tell me they picked Miami for their vacation spot because of the sun, now they say because we are pet friendly. Pet owners like to have their babies with them. The good news is that owners and pets can go swimming a few blocks up from the South Pointe Park. I would recommend playing it safe, don’t go lower than 8th Street. I also suggest keeping up to date on Miami’s sanitary conditions with your hotel concierge. They know everything.

Miamians Love to Read

When Eliot and I first came to Miami on vacation 30 years ago, we were told by local bookstores that most people who live in South Florida don’t like to read. I thought that was the most absurd thing I ever heard. There must have been some truth to it because the bookstores we were familiar with were closing and moving away. There was one guy who decided to stick around 35 years ago when he opened Books & Books in Coral Gables. Today Mitchell Kaplan runs one of the most successful bookstore chains in the country. He has locations in:

• Coral Gables, Bal Harbour
• Suniland Shops, Coconut Grove
• Miami International Airport and
• The Studios of Key West

For the last 10 years, Books & Books Coral Gables has turned into a social destination for everyone who loves to read and meet the people behind all those words. Several times a week, Books and Books conducts interviews with the best authors in the business. Just look at the notices below to see the exciting lineup. It just keeps getting better and better.

Eliot and I signed up for at least six author meetups in the months of October and November. We would have done more but we have a number of trips coming up. I sent out an email to local friends asking them to join us for all that we picked,  or just some of them. We had a great response to the following:

Books & Books Events

• Oct 11  7pm. Eric Ripert
• Oct 16  7pm  Michael Lewis
• Oct 17.  12:00 pm
• Lunch Nelson and Alex DeMille
• October 17.   7pm.   John Grisham and Mitchell Kaplan
• October 25.  6pm Adam Kinzinger Univ of Miami

I promise you that all of the author evenings are an absolute delight. They make you feel so exhilarated. It’s wonderful to meet writers and hear all of the behind-the-scenes stories that take place in their lives.  You hear some mighty tales. Many of them are better than Broadway shows and a lot cheaper. GET THE DETAILS.

Celebrate Halloween the Mature Way

When was the last time you went out for a night of dining and dancing? I bet you can’t remember. The iconic Eden Roc Hotel (wow, you haven’t heard that name in a long time) is going to give you a chance to get back into the swing of things on the weekend when many folks are getting dressed in goofy costumes to celebrate Halloween.

If you want you can do both because the Eden Roc is having their celebration on the Saturday night (October 28th) before most of the official Halloween parties and parades.

The Eden Roc is inviting you to the Pompeii Cabaret, a special Halloween Edition. Claiming it will be one of the best parties in town, and presented by Moët & Chandon, the evening will whisk you back to the swinging 50’s, golden era. The Eden Roc was the go to hangout for the Hollywood’s elite such as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Elizabeth Taylor, Harry Belafonte, Lucy & Desi, Sammy Davis Jr. and Humphrey Bogart. They actually  danced and dined in the famous Pompeii Ballroom.

Here is your chance to do it all again. Dance the night away to music by Les Greene and The Swayzees, alongside talented, Martini dancers. Mingle under lavish white palms, sip handcrafted cocktails presented by Moët & Chandon and enjoy additional entertainment including the black & white photo booths and secret special acts. The Eden Roc told me to tell you to dress “retro glam.”

Doors open at 9PM until 12midnight. If you want to start partying earlier, consider dinner at Ocean Social Miami Beach (could become your new favorite hangout!) with stunning ocean views and delicious cuisine and cocktails.

Take advantage of our limited-time, EARLY BIRD pricing: https://brnw.ch/21wCMnV

The Eden Roc is located at 4525 Collins Ave, right next to the Fontainebleau Hotel.