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Looking For Best Street In Miami For Cheap Ethnic Eats

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I am working on a story for Good Magazine where I find the best ethnic food street in various cities. I am looking for a street in Miami or surrounding environs that features cheap food from various different countries and, if possible, is walkable. The model is Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. Does anyone have any suggestions?



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  1. Calle Ocho (Eighth street) in Miami has lots of inexpensive, authentic Cuban fare.

    1. Tough... there's a lot of ethnic eats...

      163/167th Street - North Miami Beach
      Bird Road - Miami
      Calle Ocho - Miami
      Collins - Miami Beach
      Coral Way - Miami
      Flagler - Miami
      Washington - Miami Beach

      But of all these, I probably would go with Collins. You can find Argentinian (bakery, cafe, steakhouse), Brazilian, Colombian (hot dog (with whipped cream, or the classic Colombian dogs), bakery - although a Colombian burger place would rox), French, Greek (?), Israeli (?), Japanese (sushi joints), Russian, Uruguayan (chivitos), Venezuelan (bakery).

      ? - not sure but i have a hunch they're there too.

      But really, you can also find a lot of the similar places also on Washington Avenue as well, in a smaller stretch except for East European foods.

      So if you're looking for Pedestrian-friendly streets, I probably would go with Washington Avenue in South Beach first and then Collins in Mid-Beach. Flagler and Calle Ocho also have a lot of eats in a pedestrian friendly area, but the ethnic eats are not as diverse. Bird Road is a good street with lots of ethnic eats, but you gotta drive down the road to take advantage of what it has to offer. The same thing goes with 163/167th Street corridor - but this is where you can find more variety of Asian cuisines (Filipino, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Indian, etc) as well as Caribbean, Italian and Israeli foods. Coral Way is half pedestrian friendly and half car friendly with more national chains if you count also the Miracle Mile (part of Coral Way) in Coral Gables. Hope this helps!

      But for one of the underreported ethnic street eats... I love to talk about Colombian burgers - at MAO on Bird Road near Kon Chau (which everyone seems to know about nowadays) or Los Perros - a clubby-feel hot dog and burger joint on the far west side of Bird Road (near 137th Avenue) that's popular with a lot of people late at night and gives off a Colombian-Venezuelan burger joint / nightclub feel. La Perrada de Edgar on Collins don't offer burgers but their hot dogs are interesting - I actually thought the whipped cream hot dog really stood out, and it was actually tasty for what it is - it had peaches, plums, and pineapple on top of the dog with whipped cream. But their other offerings in the restaurant were not as good. But for classic monster Colombian dogs, you can them them at other places I just named. It may be possible there's one similar joint on Washington Avenue as well.

      And for the CHEAPEST street of all these, I probably would have to say it's Flagler first, and then Calle Ocho second. I actually think Flagler is more pedestrian-friendly than Calle Ocho, and also has more eats, but it's also more ghetto.

      2 Replies
      1. re: mialebven

        Mia, great list but I think you are combining collins and washington in a few cases, could be wrong.

        1. re: tpigeon

          No... I'm assuming you're questioning the South American eateries? Most are in lower Washington (but north of 5th).

      2. I tihnk Calle Ocho really sounds like what you are looking for. Collins/Washington are great, but pretty expensive for many of the spots. Ocho has standout Latin American of all varieties, as well as Vietnamese and other Asian spots.

        Though not in Miami, I did live in New Orleans for a while. For New Orleans, Magazine St, Maple St and Frenchmen all satisfy this, though Magazine really has it all.

          1. re: Miami Danny

            For what? A slice of pizza at Rustica, 4 bucks, a dinner at Osteria 60 minimum...

          2. flagler
            calle 8
            bird rd
            nw 7th St
            nw 36th st

            take your pick...start on one end and work your way to the other!