Texas de Brazil - Dolphin Mall

Early this month we decided that a nice evening was long overdue. Now, if you know us, you probably know that we tag along with our tiny hurricane everywhere we go. We believe that children need to be as involved in all social activities as possible, this is why we have taken Mia with us to bars, clubs and were contemplating on Vegas until we heard about the pesky 21 and over rule....I mean, what gives??!!

All kidding aside (I WAS kidding) we believe that Mia should be exposed to different dining experiences in order to learn how to properly behave in different situations. From relaxed dining to nice restaurants, our tiny hurricane has made her parents very proud.

On a previous get together Silvia and I had stamped Sunday as "Death by Meat" day, aka Texas de Brazil. We have been there plenty of times, and we always leave with the uneasy feeling that we may just have overdone it this time. But it is so good that we keep coming back for more.

This time we made a date with the Lluberes again and brought Danny as well in order to thoroughly thank him for his help in moving us to and from Memphis. Danny, YOU ROCK!. He moves us, we buy him half a cow, and suddenly its even, this is a true friend indeed.

We headed over in the early afternoon (around 4pm) for two reasons, shall Mia act up, we wouldn't disturb a crowded restaurant but most importantly, we needed time for digestion before heading off to sleep. We met with Carlos and Silvia at the door and were promptly seated and our drink orders were taken a few minutes later. The passion fruit Caipirinha is to die for, if you do go to TdB this is THE drink to get. Its refreshing, crisp and tangy all at the same time, the nice buzz is just an added plus.

Then, THEY SHOW UP...countless numbers of sword wielding servers armed with the most debilitating weapon for a hungry person, meat. And damn good meat at that. So many of them that it almost becomes a sea of...well, cow. The meat is so tender that a knife is not needed, the fillet Mignon can be cut with a spoon, the picanha juicy, and the short ribs tasty and greasy like they should be.



By this time, Mia is off in her own little world, coloring and/or covering Carlitos with every My Little Pony sticker she can get her hands on. And this is good, because I'm too busy stuffing my face to pay attention. She actually ate very well, she had two bowls of lobster bisque and a Parmesan crusted chicken as well as some of my meat. Children under 5 eat free so this is a great restaurant to take your kids to. They will be impressed with the swords and the grown ups will be rolling out with a full belly of food. Please take the rolling out part literally.

After an hour of eating, we decide we've had enough, so we go ahead and order dessert. What?? Nothing wrong with a little sugar. Danny orders the Brazilian Caramel cheesecake and Silvia a slice of chocolate cake a la mode. We all eat. Both were scrumptious. The perfect end to a great meal.

The service, as always, was excellent. Texas de Brazil must take great pride in this and train their waiters very well as we've yet to receive even mediocre service, its always been top notch.

So we walk out to peruse the adjacent Dolphin Mall, in full hopes that this will aid our digestion...and we leave thinking, we may have just overdone it this time...

Pros: Large quantities of meat, great service, great food and drinks, beautiful ambiance, clean bathrooms, kids eat free until 5 years old.
Cons: Large quantities of meat, a bit expensive (but if you sign up for the TdB e-club they will periodically send out 50% off coupons for up to 6 people!), obviously not recommended for vegetarians!

El Senorio Peruano

I've meaning to visit this restaurant for a while since there were several people who had recommended this place to us. So after a day of lounging at the beach we decided to check this place out. We asked a couple of good friends to join us and insta-plans were made for a lovely afternoon.

El Senorio Peruano is located in 1127 N.E. 163rd Street, North Miami Beach. When we arrived, our tiny hurricane Mia was sound asleep after an exhausting day at the beach. Unknown to us, this would turn out to be a huge blessing.

We met up with the Lluberes family and sat ourselves in an almost empty restaurant. Normally this can be a bad sign, but it was around 3pm, so the lunch rush could have gone and obviously it was too early for dinner. I saw they had a ceviche that I really liked in the menu, but since nobody was willing to share with me, we all decided to get the anticuchos, which is basically a kabob made out of meat which has been marinated in a chili paste overnight. So an order of anticuchos and a pitcher of chicha, a corn based drink, was made and we waited, and waited...and then waited some more. Now, I am not the impatient kind at all, my husband may disagree, I can understand an order taking long because its a busy day. But again, it was an almost empty restaurant! There must have been two other tables (TOPS) who were being serviced!

The food and drinks finally arrived and it was very good. The chicha was refreshing and sweet and the anticuchos were seasoned and grilled so that they were juicy and very tasty. Alfredo also ordered some fried yuccas with Huancaina sauce, which is a cheese based sauce, and also no complaints there. I appropriated the corn, claiming that it would be for Mia when she woke up. It was a blatant lie, I ate that up, shamelessly denying my poor hubby of any taste.

We put in our orders for the main course (we Peruvians eat ALOT) and I shared a Jalea, a plate of fried seafood, with Silvia, Alfredo got a Lomo Saltado and Carlitos a Fish and salad. Now, this is probably my own pet peeve, but I HATE it when restaurants bring the food separately. It puts everyone in a bad position, the person who got the plate first is hungry, but wants to be polite and wait for everyone to get their plate...but really who wants to wait and then eat a cold plate of food? Well, they brought in Carlitos' food first, we told him to eat while we...waited....

Finally our food arrived, and Mia woke up on cue. Had our tiny hurricane been awake the entire time, we would have had a horrible time with a hungry, bored and irritated toddler. But the food was there and she ate up, shrimp, scallops, fish, calamari all perfectly fried to golden perfection served with yucca fries and a onion/cilantro/lime sauce on top. YUM.



I asked for some tartar sauce, and our waitress actually looked at me blankly and asked Carlitos (to whom she had brought some tartar sauce earlier) "Was your tartar sauce OK?" why? was it supposed to be bad? whatever the reason of her question, it was just awkward. We also asked for another pitcher of chicha and she said that there was no more.

Gluttons for punishment that we are, we decided (actually, it was Silvia and I) to get dessert and got some Picarones which are basically Peruvian doughnuts. Again, very good. Somewhere between the food and dessert Mia needed to use the restroom, which was located in the back of the restaurant and was not very clean.

While we had a great time with Team Lluberes (we always do) it was just a shame that a restaurant with such good food had such poor customer service. I really wouldn't go back there because of this. I can cook Peruvian food at home, if I'm going out to a restaurant what I am expecting is a certain attention that I can't get at home, and unfortunately for us, this time such attention was not given to our table.

Regardless, the company rocked and we made plans to see the Lluberes again, over a plate of food of course!

Pros: Good food
Cons: Poor service, slow, bathrooms were not clean

Flanigans - West Pines

So, when I was young-er, Flanigans was our meet up spot, our "go to" place when we had no plans, or just a place to get some decent ribs and beer. This past weekend, hankering for the good ol' days I ventured back.

The hubby was working the night shift this specific day so it was just Mia and I, but not to fear, two additional parent re-enforcements were joining us with their tiny hurricane. We outnumbered the tiny hurricanes 3 to 2, not excellent numbers, but still a hand up.

Upon arriving I realized that poor Mia had not taken a nap due to her being overly exited and playing with her buddy all day long. I had a chance to take her home and nap, but decided a girl convo with the Archbold's main lady was a much better way to pass time. Will she be cranky and ruin dinner? Will she pass out and let me eat and drink to my heart's content? Its such a toss up in times like these. Its like Russian roulette...minus the bullets of course.

We were seated fairly quickly for it being a weekend game night, but its the location that makes the difference. Had we gone to the Flanigans in Hialeah, we would have waited at least 45 minutes, no doubt about it. That is "the" Flanigans, that was the hangout spot I spoke about earlier. All the young kids go there. Its like Mecca for college students and college drop-outs alike. Alas, we are not that cool anymore, waiting anywhere for 45 minutes with a hungry sleepy child is not highly recommended in any of the parenting for dummies books I've skimmed through.

Quickly seated, we knew what we wanted, an all out consensus of wings. I liked the Archbold's even more when the adult drink orders all contained some percentage of well earned alcohol. Kids will drive you to drink.

Drinks and wings at hand we dug in. Juicy and hot, freshly fried. Mia also loved the chicken and the fact that she got to dip it into blue cheese all by herself. Next up, Ribs. Now, I've lived in Memphis, who claims to be the BBQ capital of the USA. I'm probably going to get hell for this, but Flanigan's ribs totally rock. Maybe its the fact that they take me back to my college days, maybe its just that they really are plain ol' good, or maybe a combination of both. Fall of the bone, saucy, finger licking good. Mia seem to like them also, as after not paying any attention to her for a few minutes I found her sucking on a meatless bone.

There were no complaints from our table in regards to food. The Archbold's also seemed to enjoy their plates as all was quickly consumed and no to-go boxes were needed.

I know that Flanigans is a chain restaurant, but sometimes you just want to go somewhere where you know they have both crayons for the kids and a cold drink for you. On Saturday night, this was the place for us.

I'd like to take this time to say thanks Angelo for the tomato slice that Mia swiped from your fish sandwich, I hope the experience was still enjoyable without it.


Pros: Consistent food and service; good beers.
Cons: It is a restaurant/bar, so if you don't want your kids to hear the occasional sh!t or f@ck when the game is on, I suggest you stay away; no drink specials!; the bathrooms could have used a clean up.