Whenever I travel on a cruise these days, I try to get to the city of embarkation the night before so I don't have any undue pressure the day of the sailing. Seems most ships I travel on these days pull out of the Port of Miami, and so several times I have flown in the day prior to. This time I was leaving on the Norwegian Cruise line's Breakaway, and so my friend, Michael and I decided to stay the night before in the Avalon Hotel in South Beach.
South Beach cracks me up. When I was a young boy, my grandparents used to go there for the Jewish holidays and celebrate Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur at one of the many, many fancy hotels that used to be down in that area. Everybody there was Jewish! Then suddenly in the '70s, everybody took flight from that area and it became a ghost town. You could not give those old hotels away. Now you walk along the beach and it is one gorgeous Deco hotel after the other. Where you could buy a whole hotel for $10,000, now would cost $250 to stay for just one night in a room. The Avalon is a cool Deco hotel right there on the strip. While I was waiting for him to arrive from LA, I decided to take a recommendation and go get some lunch nearby.
I asked my receptionist at the Avalon where would be a place I could go that is walking distance and not a tourist trap and he recommended Las Olas. He said it's the real deal and I needed to order a Cuban sandwich, which I have never had! The walk from the hotel was less than 5 minutes and there was Las Olas, sitting on one corner. When you step inside, you could swear you were in another country. Not a word of English is spoken and everything on the menu and all the signs are in Spanish. Even when I asked one of workers a question in English she was not able to understand me. It had a a charm to it, as if I were in Spain or Cuba or a Spanish-speaking country. Sometimes it's fun to be the minority. Gives you a whole different perspective!
Anyway, although they had really nice looking trays of hot cooked food, I decided since it was lunch and based on the recommendation of my hotel receptionist, I ordered their Cuban sandwich. That sandwich had everything in it that I should not be eating. Pork, cheese, lots of fat and bread and absolutely delicious! LOL The Cuban sandwich was quite large and at first I thought I might only eat half and take the back to my room, but as I continued to bite into this delicious concoction, I suddenly realized that I had eaten the whole thing. I did notice that Las Olas is also very popular for coffee and snacks. Besides their inside restaurant, I noticed they had an open area where one could walk up and order a hot cup of coffee. It's it seems they are known for their espresso and people were lining up for it.
After my tasty but fattening lunch, I walked back to my hotel for a nice afternoon nap. When I woke up with my full belly, I sat down in front of the hotel and did my infamous guessing game as people of all types and ethnicities and ages strolled by. You will marry the 5th person that walks by, the 10th person that walks by is a murderer, the 4th person that walks by Is in love with you, etc. It kept me busy until Michael arrived that evening and we enjoyed our dinner. South Beach is certainly different than it was when I was a young Jewish boy. Instead of the sounds of Yiddish and the smells of matzo ball soup, now you hear the sounds of Spanish and the smell of Las Olas' Cuban sandwich. Do yourself a favor, and next time you are in the area, stop by and enjoy this local establishment that seems to be the real deal! read more