Yardbird – Southern Table and Bar (Miami Beach)
1600 Lenox AvenueEight long days in Miami. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun too. I can’t complain about being sent to Southern Florida where it was 70 degrees all week at the end of January.
We hadn’t had any time to just relax while we were there. Our work days were typically 14-17 hours long. Our last day of work was Sunday. We got back to the hotel at 3:30 AM.
We had to be out of the hotel by 11 AM on Monday but our flight didn’t leave until 9 PM. This was the day we had kind of been looking forward to. A day we could actually make it to the beach.
We left the hotel a little after 11:30 and set course for South Beach. My co-worker told me to pick a spot to eat along the way. Lucky for us, I had been eyeing one all week.
Yardbird -Southern Table and Bar is a group of six James Beard nominated restaurants located in major cities around the world. The Miami location is in Miami Beach on Lenox Avenue and 16th Street just off Alton Avenue which is a major thoroughfare of Miami Beach. We passed this restaurant everyday on our way to a parking ramp a little farther down 16th Street and I couldn’t wait to get back.
We found street parking right near the restaurant then headed to the entrance on the corner of Lenox and 16th. I was a little shocked when we walked in to a packed restaurant and the hostess asked if we had reservations.
We didn’t have reservations because it was 1 PM on a Monday and I didn’t know that we’d need them. We were given the option of sitting at the bar or sitting at what they called a side-by-side table. That was a long table near the bar that only had seating on one side. There were two seats on the end so we took this instead of sitting at the bar which didn’t have two seats together.
There was so much on the menu I wanted to try and so many incredible looking dishes coming out of the kitchen but it was a sandwich on their specials list for that day that ended up winning out.
I ordered The Great American Burger. Yeah, I ordered a burger at this fancy bar but it was a pretty amazing burger. The meat was a blend of short rib, brisket and chuck and holy cow was it tender, juicy, and packed with an incredible amount of flavor. There two patties of this meat blend topped with house-smoked pork belly, American cheese, house pickles and some sort of special sauce that I didn’t even notice. The house-smoked pork belly could have been a sandwich all it’s own. It was cut pretty thickly, crispy, and smokey. I felt a little bad about ordering a menu when they had an incredible menu of things until I took that first bite. This burger was pretty amazing. The sandwich came with a small side of house fries. They were fresh cut fries but pretty simple and pretty standard. Still delicious and a perfect side to a pretty perfect burger.
My co-worker ordered the Smoked Brisket Sandwich and a side of Macaroni and Cheese. He let me try a little of both. The brisket was shredded and covered in a smokey tomato jam, mayo, and Swiss cheese. It was a good sandwich and probably what I would have ordered had I not gotten the burger but the burger was way better. The Macaroni and Cheese is trottole pasta with a cheese sauce made of five artisnal cheeses and covered with an herb crust. I really wish I had gotten my own side because this was pretty good…..I also wish I would have ordered the Classic Buttermilk Biscuits because holy cow did the table’s next to us look good.
My co-worker and I both ordered Coke’s to go with our meal and we were brought a glass bottle Coke with a glass of ice. We didn’t ask but we assumed that meant no free refills so we didn’t drink too fast.
The bill for my lunch was a little over $20 before tip. My colleague got a little bit of sticker shock from the prices but I knew we were going to get a delicious meal and we were eating on the company. We hadn’t had a good meal in eight days so I figured we deserved this.
I drove by Yardbird all week and all week I was mad we didn’t have time to stop. I really wanted to get home Monday and was a little annoyed a the 9 PM flight out of MIA but it was nice to actually get to sit down for a really delicious meal and hit the beach for a few hours afterwards.
SW Michigan Dining 