Maya Tapas & Grill

 Located along the famed Lincoln Road walkway in Miami Beach, Maya Tapas and Grill serves Spanish-style tapas and Argentinean inspired dishes.  Its central location makes it the ideal spot to grab a delicious dinner before a big night out, but its ambiance is relaxing enough to spend an entire evening enjoying the food while reveling in the South Beach scene.

 Maya’s signature feature is its large selection of Spanish tapas, small plates that can be shared among groups of diners.  There are over thirty options including Chorizo & Garbanzo ($7.95), garbanzo beans and Spanish sausage, Morcilla Argentina ($8.95), Argentinean blood sausage with marinated onions and Beef Carpaccio ($10.95) – thin layers of beef with baby arugola, manchego, smoked sea salt and truffle oil.

 809 Lincoln Road

Miami Beach, FL 33139

Phone: 305.538.0058                                        

Website:  www.mayatapasandgrill.com

 Cuisine: International fare with Argentinean influences and specialty in grilled meats and tapas

 Restaurant Hours: Open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.

(1:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays)

Café Prima Pasta

A relaxing escape from the typical South Beach restaurant scene, Café Prima Pasta is the ideal location to enjoy superb home-style Italian cuisine in a comfortable, yet refined atmosphere. 

Now considered one of the best restaurants in South Florida, Café Prima Pasta’s innovative menu includes signature dishes such as Carpaccio di Manzo ($12.95), slices of filet mignon, virgin olive oil, lemon, and Parmesan cheese, Black Linguini Seafood ($20.00), squid ink pasta with fresh seafood in a creamy lobster sauce, Veal Saltimbocca ($23.95), veal with a special cover of spinach, prosciutto, and melted Mozzarella cheese with brown sauce, Corvina Livornese, fresh white filet of fish sautéed with light tomato sauce, capers, olives, and onions, and Flan Cream Caramel ($7.00), served with Argentinean Dulce de Leche ice cream

This street side café brings the rich and flavorful traditions of Italian cuisine by way of the Argentina-born owners, Arturo and Carla Cea, who have continually expanded this family owned business, attracting significant fanfare along the way.

Café Prima Pasta opened in 1993 as a 28-seat restaurant, and now stands as a multi-room haven for fine dining, immersing customers in a traditional Italian setting with warm wooden tables, candlelight glow, and walls full of framed photos of Cea with his celebrity clientele such as Lenny Kravitz, Matt Damon, Shakira, Jessica Simpson, Iggy Pop, and John Travolta (just to name a few). While Papa Arturo Cea and Mamma Carla Cea are cooking in the kitchen, their children, Gerardo, Fabion, and Marcela, take care of the bookkeeping, finances, serving, and maintaining the restaurant’s image, creating a familiar and comfortable atmosphere with a home-ease feel.

414 71st Street

Miami Beach, FL 33141

Restaurant Hours: Open daily for dinner from 5:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. 

For reservations (only available for parties of 6 or more) call 305.867.0106.

The Miami International Wine Fair returns for a larger, more mature, eighth edition.  Slated for September 26 and 27, 2009, more than 500 producers and 1,500 wines representing 20 countries will pour into 85,000 exhibitor-square-feet, therefore transforming the Miami Beach Convention Center into pure “wine country.” 

 U.S. wineries, including E. Beaver, Franmara and Miami Winery will join European producers such as Poggio Al Santino (Italy), Aragon Exterior (Spain) and Cote Du Rhone (France) to name a few.  In addition, the Fair is anticipating an increased presence from South America, of which Argentinean wineries will provide an enticing selection of Malbec – an increasingly popular varietal amongst Americans.   

 Open to the public, the Miami International Wine Fair will host a series of events, wine tastings and seminars designed with the greenest gulpers to the ripest connoisseurs in mind.  Florida is rapidly emerging as one of the world’s most important wine markets and with U.S. consumption leading the global industry, the Fair has created its very own stimulus package with tickets priced at $75 per person. 

 Proceeds from admission fees benefit Educate Tomorrow, a Florida-based, non-profit organization that supports 16, 17, and 18 year olds who are aging out of the foster care system by matching them with mentors.  Educate Tomorrow’s mentors help its youth to enroll in college and training programs, find housing and jobs, as well as apply for educational and social assistance that may be available to them. 

For more information please visit www.miamiwinefair.com or call 1-866-887-WINE.

Shay Todd 2010 Swimwear show poolside at the W Hotel

Read the rest here »

Celebrity sightings:

Entourage‘s Perrey Reeves (AKA “Mrs. Ari”) attended the kick-off party at the Raleigh and her sister-in-law, Marysia Reeves’s show. Cindy Taylor strutted her stuff on the catwalk at the inca 2010 cruise collection show at the W South Beach on Thursday night. Seen at W on Thursday and Friday for the Shay Todd show, Tara Reid, who didn’t mind the rain one bit. “It’s only water? What’s all the fuss about?” she said. After the show, she partied with her boyfriend, Michael Axtmann at the Wall.

Olivia Palermo and Whitney Port from The City attended Mara Hoffman’s show.  Port was also front row at L Space and seen lounging by the W pool on Monday. Donald and Lisa Pliner enjoyed Red Carter’s show on Friday.

Burn Notice star Jeffrey Donovan was seated first row at Ed Hardy and later seen drinking Patron shots out of champagne flutes at the Mercedes Benz Star Lounge.   Bravo’s ubiquitous Real Housewives, Kelly Killoren Bensimon (New York) and Dina Manzo (New Jersey) were all over the place.  Bensimon attended the kick-off party at the Raleigh Hotel on Wednesday, Caviar Kaspia at The Webster on Thursday, the Wall on Saturday and numerous shows.  She was also seen at the Mercedes Benz Star Lounge. Manzo followed suit attending many shows and hanging in the Star Lounge with her daughter. 

Hotelier Andre Balazs was front row at the L Space show and hit the Wall at the W South Beach on Saturday. Artist, Romero Britto, director, Michael Bay, and rapper, Lil’ Jon, also took in shows during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Swim.

At the Living Room on Saturday, Belkys Nerey celebrated her birthday alongside good friend, Marysol Patton. Supermodels, Angela Lindvall, Erin Wasson and Nicole Trunfio were seen at the Standard throughout the weekend.  Andy Roddick’s wife, model Brooklyn Decker, attended a few shows and had brunch at Asia de Cuba at the Mondrian Sunday afternoon. Lennox Lewis dined late along with a group of 15 at Smith & Wollensky. Latin Pop Star, Elvis Crespo and starting third baseman for the Florida Marlins and 2007 World Series MVP, Mike Lowell attended the smash-hit show, Fuerza Bruta, as did Miami Heat Coach Eric Spoelstra over the weekend.

As usual, the Mercedes Benz Star lounge in the Raleigh’s seventh floor Esther Williams’ suite was the place to see and be seen, and take in much needed A/C and refreshments in between shows. At the lounge, we had the opportunity to talk to Sex and the City film hunk and part-time Miami Beach resident Gilles Marini, (made famous by his steamy outdoor shower scenes that got Samantha all in a twist in the movie) whom we barely recognized with clothes on.   The charming Marini, a spokesman for Mercedes-Benz, and Dancing with the Stars runner-up, is scheduled to appear in the upcoming seasons of Brothers and Sisters and Nip Tuck.  He said he loves Miami and was enjoying the shows with his wife, Carole and two gorgeous children.

The Shay Todd show, held poolside at Wet at the W Hotel was delayed by a brief downpour with gusty winds that toppled part of the stage and an alarm that brought out the Fire Marshall.   Despite the setback, the folks at Tara, Ink., including partner,  Nick D’Annunzio, who helped rebuild the stage on the pool, kept the crowd happy and put on a great show.  We couldn’t help but wonder, “Why all the fuss over a little rain?”  After all, the place is named WET! Celebrities who braved the rain delay included actress, Tara Reid and German boyfriend Michael Axtmann; The Howard Stern Show co-host, Robin Quivers; BRAVO TV’s The Real Housewives of New York, Kelly Bensimon; The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Dina Manzo, and BRAVO TV’s Miami Social, Maria Lankina.  After the show, Shay Todd held the after party for her show at the Wall at the W, which opened officially to the public on Saturday night.

As expected, de rigueur after parties took place all over South Beach, including the Raleigh penthouse, WALL at W South Beach, Le Cote at Fontainebleau and Louis at the Gansevoort South.

Mary Jo Almeida-Shore