Florida Dining: Versailles

Versailles Restaurant
3555 SW 8th St Miami, FL 33135
(305) 444-0240

Web Site: http://www.versaillesrestaurant.com

Full-size photo gallery available on Flickr

If there’s one iconic Cuban restaurant in Miami, and if you ask anyone where the center of activity is for food on Calle Ocho past 9PM, then that place is Versailles.

Like the French palace from which it gets its name, Versailles is a HUGE restaurant. On weekends and in prime dining hours the place gets absolutely packed with people, including large number of out of towners looking for authentic Cuban food.

This is where Cuban food gets real in Miami. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Miami Dining: Late Night on Calle Ocho

South Florida may be the land of senior citizens and early bird dinners, but late at night, Calle Ocho is hopping with activity.

Last week I went on a last minute business trip to Florida, with my base of operations being very close to Miami International Airport.

While I dreaded the idea of having to work what would certainly be very long days confined to conference rooms and then emerging late at night ravenously hungry, there was some consolation in the fact that unlike other parts of South Florida, where your food options late at night are restricted at best, downtown Miami and the neighborhood surrounding 8th street (“Calle Ocho”) which calls itself Little Havana (home to Free Cuba in Exile) has some of the best late-night eating anywhere in the state, and probably in the entire country.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

NJ Dining: Havana’s Cuban Cafe (UPDATED)

Havana’s Cuban Cafe
1040 River Rd, Edgewater, NJ
(201) 886-2100

Updated: October 2009

I guess I’ve got Cuban sandwiches on the brain this week, but what can I say, I can’t stop eating them — and apparently, some more accomplished foodies than myself can’t either.

Northern New Jersey certainly has its share of Cuban restaurants, but most of them are in Union City (click here for more) or nearby West New York where most of Jersey’s Cuban population resides. However, getting into the northern part of the Hudson County area can frequently be a bit of a challenge, as there’s no highway or express route or other major thoroughfare to get there, its all local streets and parking can be a serious issue, as its one of the most dense (if not the most dense) urban areas in the entire country.

Fortunately I’ve found a great little place (with a nearby parking lot) where you can get your Cuban sandwich fix in North-Eastern Bergen County — its at Havana’s Cuban Cafe in Edgewater. And I’d have to say they are making some of the best Cubans I’ve tasted in the area.

Havana’s Cuban Cafe has a small storefront on River Road in Edgewater. In 2009 they built a dining room taking over the adjoining retail space which used to be a Jamaican restaurant.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.