When a new brewery makes its way to Miami, we're super stoked. Hell, there are two or three on tap to open this year, and the city's practically in a tizzy. Drinking anything cooked up in our own backyard is totes exciting, given the serious lack of local beers we've had available in past years.

But in other major cities, microbrews are like McDonald's -- popping up on every corner. One such beer Shangri-la is San Diego, where dozens of locals are brewing up IPAs, porters and ales aplenty. Here are our top five to try. But don't worry, you don't have to trek the 3,000 miles to this sunny city -- you can just take a quick trip to Total Wine.

See also:
- Top Five Recent Beer Inventions
- Donut-Hole Beer? Coffee-Infused Suds? Meet the "Randall" at World of Beer Kendall This Weekend

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Poorpaulspourhouse.com

To the surprise of many Miamians -- the confines of Florida stretch above and beyond the 305. And while the rest of the Sunshine State might be a little more, ahem, rural, than we're used to, other cities do have their unique charms.

Take Tallahassee, for example. Our illustrious state capital, also a college town, is chock-full of ways to stretch your proverbial dollar. So while you might turn your nose up at the notion of North Florida, remember that up there, $15 drinks are unheard of. In fact, for $10 you can get white-girl wasted on any given night of the week.

Find out where after the jump.

Read also:
- Free Shots, Cheap Drinks, and Debauchery: Inside the World of Organized Pub Crawls
- Tallahassee Is America's Pot-Smoking Capital, Miami Isn't Even On the List

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Emily Codik

Real deal gelato at Fatamorgana in Rome, including Kentucky with chocolate and tobacco

A five-foot fluorescent sign depicts an ice cream cone topped with pink, green and ivory gelato. Across many of Rome's narrow cobble-stone streets, gelato shops announce their presence with illuminated signs that also list words like artisanal and natural. Inside the shops, displays feature overflowing ribbons of classic flavors like pistachio, hazelnut and vanilla -- all packed artistically into steel tubs. The setting suggests that you're just a few moments away from the city's most delectable scoops.

But the truth about gelato isn't so sweet. In fact, fewer than 50 of the 2,500 gelato shops in Rome use all natural ingredients, according to Katie Parla, the Rome-based blogger behind Parla Food, travel writer for publications such as the New York Times and National Geographic, and creator of the app, Rome for Foodies. More than 98% of all shops opt for artificial ingredients. For this reason, Parla believes that Rome is studded with low-quality gelato.

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Emily Codik

Chiringuito Aqui Te Quiero Ver

"150 euro for each," demanded a tall Romanian prostitute. She stood on the side of a bustling alleyway in Marbella, Spain's Puerto Banús. Her hair was greasy, streaked with blonde highlights with creeping thick dark brown roots. Her accent was thick and her clothing was tight -- jeans studded with crystals and a black spandex shirt, lustrous with glittery material.

She spoke to an inebriated, red-faced male out-of-towner. The tourist sweated profusely while holding a plastic cup overflowing with warm beer. He had just summoned her fee, along with that of two other ladies. The other prostitutes reclined against the white-washed wall.

In front of the alley, other sloppy drunk tourists hooted and laughed to inaudible sneers and jokes. Among the crowds, no one took notice of the bartering occurring just a few steps away.

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Photo courtesy of Julio Cabrera

Just hanging out outside of Constante's grave.

When you woke up this morning, you probably didn't think you'd get the opportunity to visit Cuba and tour rum distilleries.

Neither did Julio Cabrera. But he recently got the chance to do so and he's got the pictures to prove it.

The Miami mixologist, most recently from the late Sra. Martinez, had quite the experience touring Havana, Cuba -- but what might have been one of the most memorable parts of his trip was sitting on the steps of Ernest Hemingway's favorite bartender's gravesite, shaking a drink and basking in the pure awesomeness of it all.

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Yum...

It's such a challenge to select only ten little restaurants in a culinary mecca like New York City, but I don't want to overwhelm you (or embarrass myself by publicly declaring every item I consumed over the summer). If you didn't catch the first part of my back to school essay on 'What I Ate This Summer," click here. If you've already been there, read that, let me know what you think!

See also My Top Ten NYC Restaurants, Part 1

What's not on this list are the fantastic places that might not necessarily exude ambiance, or those that deliver a specific product that lures fanatics. Like Porchetta, which does nothing but glorious roasted pork, offering it in plate or sandwich form (the "burnt ends" end up in a cup of crispy potatoes. Do not, repeat, do not, leave without ordering the potatoes.) It's miniscule though, decidedly un-fancy.

Don Antonio's pizza got a best pie nod from New York Magazine, but it's not in a cool area (Midtown, West 50th Street), and the restaurant itself is only moderately decorated. You won't care. I suggest the Vesuvio, stuffed with homemade mozzarella, ricotta and salami, then topped with tomato sauce, more mozzarella, ham, artichokes and mushrooms and fresh basil.

Can't forget The Meatball Shop; when you land on their homepage, you'll hear "ummm, balls." And from classic beef to pizza to bolognese style made with mortadella, these balls are damn good, and that's what you'll be saying too.

Now that I've paid homage, let's get back to the task at hand. What I ate this summer...

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Flickr.com

Recette's Bershire pork belly topped with rock shrimp.

On occasion, I really do miss elementary school. Recess, art class, field trips...and of course, a time honored tradition of "What I Did This Summer," the all important back to school essay. I have been on a food sabbatical of sorts this summer, eating my way through Manhattan. Most often asked question upon my return to Miami? That would be, "what were your favorite restaurants in the city?"

Eating is such an extreme joy for me; I worked in the fashion industry for a long time, so while I lived in NYC for years, I spent a ton of time with people who don't really EAT with a capital "E." Kate Moss, the uber-waif that took the modeling world by storm with her special brand of heroin chic, once said that "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." Everyone was up in arms over the comment at the time (9 out of 10 doctors agree that anorexia is bad, the 10th doctor worked backstage during Fashion Week). However, no one seemed to latch on to her follow up comment, "you try and remember, but it never works."

See? Even supermodels have a tough time saying "no" to food (makes me feel a bit better about the gross amounts I've consumed over the last three months; keep that in mind for your future eating endeavors as well). And I have to say, I was skinny once upon a time, and it did feel good, but exceptionally good food tastes...physically sublime, emotionally fulfilling, even other-worldly on occasion; like having your tongue sprinkled with culinary fairy dust.

So for the first time, I was presented with an opportunity to eat everything on my plate, over and over again, without fear of the bulge, which we actually encourage here at New Times. New York City is seriously like Disney World for gastronomes, with such a wide variety of flavors and interpretations of the same plate that you can explore every menu, each time, with a fresh eye (and stomach).

What I ate this summer...

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Bravo

Calling all Miami Top Chef fans. Clear your calendars because you're about to set sail on the Top Chef cruise.

That's right, mateys. Top Chef: The Cruise sets sail April 11, 2013 from the Port of Miami.

The cruise, on board the Celebrity Constellation, will give fans of the Bravo cooking competition a chance to mingle with their favorite cheftestants, enjoy food, and get into interactive drinking contests with the cast.

The four night cruise visits Key West and Cozumel... but shopping for t-shirts and snorkel day trips isn't what this cruise is about.

A cornucopia of Top Chef-related activities are planned featuring some of your favorite cheftestants, hosts, and master chefs including:

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All photos by Emily Codik

Motorcyclist on the road in Las Terrenas

See also "Scenic Beaches, Dirt Roads, Fresh Fish."

Sun-burned tourists ride atop ATVs or horses, casually passing through Las Terrenas' busy, bustling roads. At the former fishing village, both methods of transport coexist naturally, blurring a sense of magical realism within its tropical surrounding and somewhat urban experience.

It suffices to say that Las Terrenas doesn't boast the usual symptoms of a hectic town. There are no rushing buses, screeching taxis or angry pedestrians. This village is hectic in a different way, with swarming motorcyclists, blaring bachata tunes and barking stray dogs. Occasionally, "Only in Dominican Republic" moments occur, like when we looked past the ATVs and spotted an overzealous motorcyclist balancing a trunk of wood with his spare hand.

But, in the middle of all the chaos, I found myself loving this lively village. The only problem was that finding a dose of my beloved typical, comida criolla wasn't as easy as I had originally thought.

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All photos by Emily Codik

Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic

A lone motorcycle raced through the coral dirt road, unraveling misty gusts of powdered sand. We were lost, and had already given up on reaching Playa Cosón, a beach off of Las Terrenas in the Dominican Republic.

We waved the driver down. "Hey! Excuse me!" my father shouted in his loud, Dominican-style Spanish, peeking his head out the car's window. "Which way to the restaurant, The Beach?"

The charming driver smiled, slowly took off his Aviator sunglasses, and answered, "You mean my restaurant?" A closer look at our guide revealed he was wearing an impeccable chef's coat -- a paradox amid the palm trees and unpaved roads surrounding this cool beachfront path.

Giancarlo Fiori, the Chilean executive chef of The Beach, arrived in this lax beach town after extensive stints in kitchens all over Europe. His restaurant is difficult to find, with only a teeny wooden sign announcing the entrance to the plantation style, open air property. The Beach serves as the club for the hilltop luxury hotel, The Peninsula House. Both locations were probably selected because of their natural, native exclusivity. Both places are impossible to find.

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