by Angela Betancourt
If you like the concept of bar crawls and you like food, then you are in for a treat. Dishcrawl, a premier culinary experience taking over the nation, recently arrived in Miami. Dishcrawl is all about “food, fun, and exploration” and takes all participates on walkable gastronomic adventures in popular cities across the country. It’s an amazing opportunity to explore new restaurants and meet fellow foodies.
Miami’s first Dishcrawl featured the Brickell neighborhood and it was so popular that they did a second Brickell event just a few weeks later. I was thrilled when Vicky, Miami’s Dishcrawl Ambassador, told me about their third dishcrawl in Midtown/Wynwood on June 25th. I registered on the website immediately: http://dishcrawl.com/miami/ . The cost for this food adventure was $45 and I discovered that the evening was going to feature four restaurants. However, the names of the restaurants were kept secret until the night of the event. Even the meeting destination was not revealed until about 48 hours before.
The meeting destination and first restaurant of the night was Pride and Joy BBQ located at 2800 North Miami Avenue. The self described draft house and honkey tonk is the creation of Myron Mixon. Mixon, a three-time world barbecue champion, is also the star of TLC and Destination America’s BBQ Pit masters and CBS’s Ultimate Barbecue Showdown. All of the dishcrawlers gathered at the bar to enjoy happy hour specials until the event started. It was wonderful to see such a diverse group of people. The age range seemed to be 21-60. And as the night went on, I discovered that everyone’s professions and backgrounds were really diverse as well.
Pride and Joy’s Chef Michael was on hand to greet our group of about 40 people and tell us what deliciousness we were about to experience. We were served a brisket slider, two St. Louis Ribs and their famous macaroni and cheese. It was a lot more food than I expected. I sat at a table with my new friends and ate and shared stories about all of our amazing travel adventures. Only shortly before we were all done did we find out where we were off to next.
The second stop was Machiya, a Japanese restaurant that fuses traditional and contemporary styles located on 3252 NE 1st avenue. The general manager Juan Angulo greeted us and told us that we would be having a chicken lettuce wrap, Hokkaido ramen (which takes a very long time to make) and a Machiya Japanese taco. To drink, I split a hot sake with one of my new friends. Again it was a lot of food but it was delicious. By the time I finished, I wondered how I would have enough room for two more restaurants!
Next stop was Kouzina Bistro at 3535 NE 2nd Ave. Kouzina is a home-style Greek Restaurant founded by Greek hospitality entrepreneurs, Yannis Sotiropoulos and Makis Paliouras. There we were greeted by Chef Alex who gave us the menu for the night: hummus, tzatziki, bacalao croquettes, manouri cheese envelopes, and grilled keftedes. Their house white wine was a great fit for this meal. Time definitely flies by when you are having a great time and Vicky notified us that our fourth and final destination was actually coming to us. Dessert was scheduled at Feverish Pops (3252 NE 1st Ave) but with the time pushing past 11, Vicky picked up these amazing gourmet popsicles and brought them to us. The popsicle flavors included interesting combinations like pineapple basil, and peanut butter and jelly. I stayed safe and went with the chocolate and banana.
As the group started to disassemble, I hoped that everyone else had as much fun as I did.
It was a fantastic evening that I didn’t want to see end yet. So three of my new friends and I decided to stay out a little longer and continue the random and very hilarious conversations were having all night.
To sign up for a dishcrawl visit: http://dishcrawl.com/miami