Burger & Beer Joint via Facebook

Mama and baby burger. We'll eat the whole family.

​"I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today," said Popeye's pal Wimpy. He was clearly the smarter of the pair.

Burgers these days can be made from anything -- lamb, turkey, pork, tuna, vegetables, ostrich. But as most will agree, the best ones are the classic. Give us a good-size hunk of beef, charred on the outside, pink on the inside, seasoned with salt and pepper, and we're in beefy heaven.

JR's Gourmet Burgers in Doral won our 2011 Best of Miami prize, while Five Guys won the Readers' Choice. Here are ten others we love. Please pass the ketchup.
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Brown Eyed Baker

Who doesn't love a good cupcake?

​Here at Short Order we strive to bring you lists you can't live without. For this particular roundup, we visited many, many places, trying both a standard vanilla (because if they can't do that right, what can they do?) as well as the shop's best-selling flavor. We checked moisture content, consistency, density, and icing-to-cupcake ratio. We scoured the streets and sampled many a treat, all to give you a certified guide to find Miami's best cupcakes.More >>

​It's the crack of dawn and somehow you are hearing roosters crow though you are nowhere near a farm. You have a crazy morning ahead dealing with an especially difficult client and you realize the rooster you hear crowing is actually your brain periodically sobbing inside your head. A cup of coffee would help, but el Americano no vale.

Coffee is an indelible aspect of Cuban, and by extension, Miami culture. Cuban coffee is usually made from Bustelo or Pilon, both owned by Miami-based Rowland Coffee Roasters, a company founded by a family of Cuban exiles. There is no shortage of places in the area to find an accept­able cup of coffee. But what do you do when just "acceptable" won't cut it?

You visit one of these:

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Laine Doss

It must be Sunday.

​It's a beautiful Sunday morning. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and you have a long day ahead of you to do nothing at all. There's only one thing on the calendar -- brunch with friends. That also means a cold, spicy Bloody Mary. 

The origins of the bloody mary are hazy, but most believe it originated in the roaring 20's as a morning-after remedy for hangovers. A base bloody is simple -- vodka, tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, a little lemon juice, but that's merely the canvas upon which a truly artistic bartender begins his masterpiece.

Bloody marys in Miami range from sophisticated martinis to something that mostly resembles a salad bar.  GreenStreet in Coconut Grove won the 2011 BOM prize for best bloody mary. Here are ten others you should try. Think of it as ten Sundays worth of research.


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Bagel Emporium

​A small part of my youthful days were spent as a bagelmeister in Queens, New York. The name of the place was Bagel World, and it produced thousands of hole-filled rolls each day -- mostly for wholesale to New York restaurants. We also made bialys and "bulls," which is the industry word for extra large bagels used for sandwiches (I haven't seen any bulls in Miami). The crew was entirely composed of African-Americans, and because my first name is the same as that of a certain confederate hero (although not to them) they called me "General" -- easily the best restaurant nickname I ever got tagged with, uneasy racial overtones notwithstanding (just kidding; it was done in good spirit). I'm pretty sure I had a point to make when I started this paragraph.

Now I remember: Bagel World made the most delicious, malt-laden, crisp-crusted bagels I've ever had -- meaning I know a good bagel when I see and taste one. The winner of our 2011 Best Bagels award was The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co., which does make a great specimen. These five will do as well.
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​One way to tell a sports bar from any other is the array of 20-plus TV sets with live broadcasts of every college or professional football/basketball/soccer game or pay-per-view game known to man.

However, you can't simply judge a good sports bar by its flat-screens; some actually have kitchens that serve great food. With Miami Heat basketball in full swing and the Super Bowl quickly approaching, you also need to check out the décor and happy hour.
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Food Network

Macaroni and cheese: childhood favorite elevated to cult status.

​Macaroni and cheese. What began as an inexpensive school cafeteria lunch for most of us has turned into an adult's obsession: the search for the ultimate dish of firm noodles engulfed in creamy béchamel sauce and topped with a layer of golden-brown cheese.

Though the classic mac 'n' cheese consists of elbow noodles and cheddar or American cheese sauce, there are so many variations -- topped with breadcrumbs, baked into individual mini casseroles, made with upscale ingredients such as truffle oil and lobster. Frankly, we love them all.

Here's a list of our top ten favorite mac 'n' cheese dishes, from classic to epic. All have one thing in common: bubbling, cheesy goodness that warms both heart and stomach.
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​After the party winds down and clubs close, you still need a place to finish off the night before passing out with a half-eaten gas-station egg-salad sandwich in your hand. Thank God for dive bars.

It's hard to pin down exactly what a dive bar is -- you just know it when you step into one. It's all about the ambiance. It's dark, dirty, low-key, and smells like cigarettes. The term might have originated during Prohibition to describe basement-level speakeasies.

They open early and close late. They might have a kitchen, and if you're really lucky, you might get laid with a drunk tourist in a bathroom stall.

In 2010, Playboy described a dive bar as "a church for down-and-outers and those who romanticize them, a rare place where high and low rub elbows -- bums and poets, thieves and slumming celebrities."

What else can you expect from a dive bar? How about some pool, darts, and karaoke? Aside from the low expectations and high ATM fees, dives are complete with activities that should keep you from dumping $500 to bail yourself out of jail.
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Good Food Buzz

So good you'll wanna put it on cereal

​It's the holiday season in Miami, and the best gift you can give someone to beat this heat is a scoop from our top picks. We journeyed everywhere from Homestead to North Miami in search for the best creamy frozen treat. We covered the entire spectrum from gelatto, creme glacee, helado to yes -- good old fashioned ice cream.
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Caffe Abbracci

Route 9 ran down the highway with our Best Restaurant in Coral Gables award in Best of Miami 2011. But Coral Gables has a whole lot of excellent dining establishments. Well, maybe not a whole lot, but certainly more than these five favorites of ours. So with apologies to Ortanique on the Mile, Christy's, Francesco Restaurant, Romeo's Cafe...

5. Caffe Abbracci
Venetian Nino Pernetti has been one of Miami's finest and most charming restaurant hosts since opening this fine dining Italian venue in 1988. The ambiance is Old World elegant, with burl wood ceiling blooms, green marble accents, and a stainglass ceiling in the bar/lounge area...
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