Horseplay

Cafe La Trova, High Pines listings, World Equestrian Center, The Surf Club, Baker's Cay, pod life, best omakase, MORE

Aug 08, 2024

∙ Paid

BARS & RESTAURANTS • FOUND Table

Life’s a carnival

As the black suit-clad bouncer opens the door for me, I hear the opening notes of Celia Cruz’s “La Vida es un Carnaval.” Ba dadada, da ba dadada. Before I can squeeze my way to the main bar, an older Cuban gentleman takes my hand and leads me into a salsa. Welcome to an average Saturday night at Cafe La Trova.

The joint effort of James Beard Award winner chef Michelle Bernstein and Cuban cocktail guru Julio Cabrera, Cafe La Trova is, first and foremost, the best place to have a drink in Miami. It’s consistently named one of the World’s 50 Best Bars, and in 2024, it was Florida’s only bar to make the cut. Cafe La Trova is also a pretty damn good Cuban restaurant and a fantastic place to dance.

It can be a bit of a sensory overload, but once you settle in, it’s easy to give in to it all. The live rumba band, 8th-Street locals, the buttery scent of slow-roasted pork, the rhythmic sound of cocktail shakers somehow on beat to the music — you could only find this combination in Miami (or Cuba).

Reviving the lost art of Cuban cantinero cocktail culture, Cabrera places dual emphasis on artistry and flavor. Cantineros dressed in white button-down shirts, bow ties, and waistcoats execute bar acrobats by tossing, flipping, and spinning cocktail shakers before pouring drinks. Every hour on the hour, they perform a choreographed dance complete with a trumpet and maracas. This is where high-end cocktail culture meets Cuban salsa.

Order any drink here and be impressed, but let the clasico cubanos and house cocktails lead the way. The Hotel Nacional, made with pineapple rum, apricot liqueur, pineapple juice, and lime juice, pays homage to Havana’s famous Hotel Nacional de Cuba (there’s a sister hotel in South Beach on Collins Avenue). And you likely won’t find a better mojito in Miami. Stepping away from tradition, Cafe La Trova infuses innovation into your more standard cocktails like the Yin y Tony. It’s a G&T but made with strawberry gin, elderflower liqueur, lime juice, and grapefruit bitters. However, I recommend an off-menu item: a rum-old fashioned with La Marielita. Served with chocolate or orange bitters (depending on the barman), a black Amarena cherry, and 18-year white oak cask aged rum, it might be the best drink I’ve ever had in Miami.

And to eat, arroz con pollo (with bomba rice and saffron) alongside gourmet tapas (like seared foie gras with maduros and lobster croquetas) showcase Bernstein’s culinary talents and her ability to seamlessly integrate fine dining staples into traditional Cuban dishes. From salsa dancing barmen to Bernstein’s craveworthy cuisine, it makes for one of those — if not one of the best — only-in-Miami Saturday nights. –Katelin Stecz

→ Cafe La Trova (Little Havana) • 971 SW 8th St • Sun-Thurs 4p-12a, Fri-Sat 4p-2a • Reserve.

MIAMI RESTAURANT LINKS: Wood-fired seafood restaurant Ahu Mar debuts at Dua Miami hotel in Brickell • Also new in Brickell: Omaki Hand Roll Bar • Square pizza purveyor Old Greg’s closes in Design District, seeks new home • Season your cocktail with… soy sauce?

REAL ESTATE • On the Market

Attention seekers

After almost two years on and off the market — and almost $2 million in listing price reductions — 7421 SW 53rd Ct. made it into contract in late July. Last listed for $5.29M, the 6K-SF, six-bedroom listing was one of a handful of properties vying for attention in the low- to mid-millions in the gated community of High Pines, tucked between Coral Gables, South Miami, and Ponce-Davis.

Here, for your late-summer review, three of those High Pines listings currently looking for a buyer:

→ 7560 SW 56th Ct (High Pines) • 3BR/3.1BA, 2678 SF townhouse • private garden, wet bar with dual beer tap • Ask: $2.95M • Days on market: 10 • Agent: Judith Zeder, Coldwell Banker.

→ 7300 SW 52nd Ct (High Pines) • 6BR/6.1BA, 5435 SF house • contemporary new construction with ‘spa-like’ primary • Ask: $5.95M • Days on market: 51 • Agent: Angel Nicolas, Compass.

→ 7745 SW 54th Ave (High Pines, above) • 7BR/7.1BA, 5797 SF house • Cesar Molina design in the Dutch Caribbean style • Ask: $5.49M • Days on market: 129 • Agent: Maria Vina Rodriguez, BHHS EWM.

MIAMI WORK AND PLAY LINKS: New renderings revealed for 12-story residential development Cassia in Coral Gables • 33-story The Crosby at Miami World Center tops off, all condo units sold • Trending: PowerPoint parties.

GETAWAYS • Ocala

Saddle up

Driving into the World Equestrian Center — the 338-acre resort dedicated to the sport of equestrian, complete with two luxury hotels, a spa, seven restaurants, two swimming pools, and 14 competition arenas — feels like rolling up to a grand old property, where a circular drive leads to a white, multi-story palace. In reality, the Equestrian Hotel has only been open since 2021, and the center’s other hotel, The Riding Academy, just opened in April. But one step inside either lobby may as well be a trip to the Victorian English countryside.

Horse People are everywhere, riding dogs in tow, decked out in their gear or derby day finery. They’re not snooty or exclusive. To the contrary, it’s easy to strike up a conversation over drinks at the Yellow Pony Pub (above), and learn the difference between hunter and jumper competitions from a man who’s owned horses since he was 12. Over glasses of sparkling wine on the patio of the center’s main arena, a well-attired woman one table away explained how dressage is a little like figure skating for horses, though sometimes they compete without music.

The next afternoon, I wandered the indoor arenas and happened upon a paso fino competition, wherein horses take short, choppy steps over a wooden platform. I tried on my own sporting analogy with the man in a large cowboy hat next to me: It’s a little like equine tap dancing, I ventured. (His reply: It’s a lot more complicated.)

The WEC isn’t all about watching other people play with ponies. The seven onsite restaurants range from fine dining at Stirrups to Filo’s Mexican Cantina — WEC’s answer to Chipotle. My advice: eat dinner every night at the Yellow Pony, not only because you can enjoy a burger while seated at a bar stool made from a horse saddle, but also because there’s nightly live music.

Rooms here are spacious and elegant, with the Equestrian slightly more upscale (rates from $357 for a September weekend) than the Riding Academy (from $249). Both boast more style and attention to detail than your standard corporate chain. The pools are large, lagoon-style spaces to enjoy the sun in between competitions — or anytime, really, on the off chance you’ve gotten your fill of horses. –Matt Meltzer

→ World Equestrian Center (Ocala) • 1750 NW 80th Ave.

GETAWAYS LINKS: Western Air adding new daily flight from FLL to FPO (Freeport, Grand Bahama) • New boutique Alexander Hotel opens in CDMX with caviar bar • Six of the best things to eat and drink in Asheville, NC.

WORK • Offices

Pod life

Fifteen years ago, when we leased 3K square feet of space off Cooper Square in the East Village for a team of 20-30 people, we kept the room open. Since it was a digital media company, everyone was very much online and mostly library quiet, banging away on their laptops and chatting on AIM (pre-Slack!). We also had desk phones, which were mostly for the sales people, who had to cut through the silence to perform their pitches. It was incredibly awkward, even for the extroverts in the group.

Eventually, we commissioned a couple of “private” spaces, a corner boxed in by a glass wall — a semi-soundproof terrarium of sorts — and a carved out “conference room” with an opaque pleated wall that didn’t make it to the ceiling (and wasn’t at all soundproof). All meetings were unintentional all-hands.

We were resisting the office culture of our parents’ generation, breaking down walls or some such, and even though the office was generally full of good vibes, it was all very clumsy, and definitely not for everyone.

If we were blocking out that space today, we’d have considerably more options. Boosted first by a tech-led shift to flexible working environments and then the pandemic — when employees got used to the privacy upgrades their home setups provided — makers of pods and other adaptive furniture have flourished over the last decade. Companies like Framery, Nook, and OmniRoom are pushing the form with space-age single-user phone booths and modular rooms that fit together like Legos.

The result can be awkward in its own way: employees posted up in a series of isolation chambers, in offices where attendance is required to foster teamwork. But the modern workplace is an evolutionary process, and we’ll support whatever it takes to keep the cubicles at bay. –Josh Albertson

CULTURE & LEISURE • Hi/Lo/Mid

UB40 Red Red Wine Tour • Pompano Beach Amphitheater (Pompano Beach) • Fri @ 7p, section B, $70 per
Def Leppard • Hard Rock Live (Davie) • Fri @ 8p, section 114, $283 per
Ballet Festival of Miami - Grand Classical Gala • The Fillmore (Miami Beach) • Sat @ 8p • mezzanine C, $71 per

WORK • Thursday Routine

Brace for impact

STACEY GLASSMAN MIZENER • chief development officer • Playing for Change Foundation
Neighborhood you live in: Miami Beach

It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
On this summer morning in Miami Beach, I’m packing lunches, dropping off my kids at camp, rocking a morning workout, and priming myself to bring my A-game to work. My office is at my home (beyond grateful), and I have all of my favorite things surrounding me, from photos of my loved ones to the celebrity honorees who have used their voices to support our work, to orchids and plants and, lastly, my adorable doggie (Maddy Mae), who sleeps under my desk and occasionally pops up to join Zoom calls.

I love my work with a passion. I’m inspired by the impact the Playing for Change Foundation makes on children and their families worldwide, by using music as a tool for social change. We currently support 62 locations across 22 countries and strive to support the children, their families, and their communities. A big part of my job is working with people and brainstorming with them to see what inspires them, and how they may want to be involved in PFCF, and support our mission to create social change through music. So when I’m not at my home office, I have the pleasure of meeting people around town, whether at restaurants, hotels, boats, ocean walks…

What’s on the agenda for today?
I’m planning to welcome back the PFCF family to a new season and cultivate new friends for the organization. We’re firming up the details for a very special wine dinner and concert at a vineyard in Napa Valley, along with an intimate dinner and performance at a private residence on Miami Beach, and our biggest event of the year: the 2025 Impact Awards Gala.

Then, I switch gears from splashy events to global impact — the heart of what we do. I’m working with key supporters to bring them to visit our program in Uganda at the Bidi Bidi Refugee Camp, where more than 285,000 people (mainly minors) live. It’s now home to many people from South Sudan who have escaped war crimes. There, we use music therapy to heal, and help build their new futures. I’m also organizing a trip to Costa Rica to show donors from the Natalie Cole Foundation the new school that their gift helped procure, which will offer hundreds more children access to education, music and dance.

Any bar or restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
I love relaxing with my family at Soho Beach House and enjoying the food from Cecconi's. This weekend, my husband and I are headed to The Surf Club for drinks at the Champagne Bar, followed by dinner at Thomas Keller’s restaurant. We love the violin and DJ in the Champagne Bar, and the live jazz at the restaurant.

How about a little leisure or culture?
As a working mom who also shuffles my kids to their after-school activities and sports, I’m always on the go. So, my happy places are mostly centered around the water and relaxation. I love the massages at The Standard Hotel + Spa, followed by a swim in the bay.

We have some exciting concerts and sporting events coming up, including the Imagine Dragons and Taylor Swift concerts and the Savannah Bananas. My son’s team won the Miami Beach baseball championship last month. To celebrate their victory, their team got to go on the field at the Marlins stadium and high-five all the Marlins players as they were coming out of the dugout. Score.

Any weekend getaways?
I love heading down to Baker's Cay with my family and my dog. We will also head to Asheville in a couple of weeks to stay at the Glamping Collective. I have had my eye on this resort for a while.

What was your last great vacation?
Costa Rica. We stayed at a private Balinese-style tree residence, called the Tree House, at the top of a mountain above the Jose Antonio National Park. The open-aired home was next-level, and we had monkeys (and their babies) sharing our living room and pool areas. This was the most authentic and special connection to animals any of us have ever had. It was a mix of luxury, water and nature, my absolute favorite combination.

What store or service do you always recommend?
I love Maria Tash and her entire team at the Bal Harbour boutique. It’s such a fun store for piercings and cool jewelry pieces.

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What’s your favorite Miami flower shop (or flower delivery service)?
I need a wardrobe update. Can you recommend the best women’s boutiques?
What is your Restaurant of the Summer?

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GOODS & SERVICES • The Nines

Omakase

The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of Miami’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundmiami.com. For the full archives, click here.

The Den at Azabu (SoFi), Tokyo-trained sushi chefs in minimalist den tucked inside, 15-16 courses, $185 per