10 Best Local Dishes from Miami

Chicharron is a Portuguese dish of pork belly or pork rinds, fried until puffed and deliciously crunchy. It’s prepared differently all over the world, but American-style chicharron in Miami is usually made from pigskin and fat without meat and served as a finger food. Mexican and Southwestern restaurants serve chicharron with regional ingredients, like salsa or mezcal.

Though chicharron usually uses pork, variations include mutton, chicken or beef. To try some for yourself, El Palacio De Los Jugos on Calle Oche serves up the most delicious Cuban chicharron alongside generous portions, so be sure to arrive hungry.

Stone crabs are a delicious seafood option that’s renowned for its mild but noticeably sweet taste and firm texture. Commonly found on the Atlantic Coast of the United States, particularly in the shallow waters around Florida, stone crabs are offered in many restaurants in Miami as a popular delicacy.

While stone crabs’ inner meat is edible, most people seek them out for their sweet and tender claw meat. These claws are often dished up with a crisp salad, or with a classic mustard as part of a seafood cocktail. Joe's Stone Crab on Washington Avenue is famed for its prime specimens, and for its bisque. Alternatively, catch your own stone crabs in Biscayne Bay.

Arepa is a dish made of ground maize dough with meat, cheese, avocado and other accompaniments. Originating in South America, it's a flat, round and unleavened patty made from maize kernels and is grilled, baked, fried, steamed or boiled.

Though arepa may differ in colour, flavour and size, they're usually paired with ingredients like eggs, tomatoes, beans, meat, salad, shrimp and fish for a great street food snack. How the arepa is presented varies according to the region and the local ingredients, making it a unique culinary experience to have in Miami. We love chilled out Doggi's Arepa Bar on Biscayne Bvld for its huge range, and its fun atmosphere.

Ceviche is a Peruvian seafood dish that uses raw fish cured in citrus juices. The dish is typically seasoned with chili peppers, chopped onions, coriander and salt. Because the fish is raw, it must be fresh and of high quality, and it should be eaten quickly to avoid any foodborne illnesses and for the best flavour.

In the Americas and the Caribbean, including Miami, ceviche can be served with tostadas and may use ingredients like octopus, shrimp, squid, tuna and mackerel. Some countries use conch or tuna and a combination of different spices like bonnet pepper, cilantro and bell peppers. The sleek and modern downtown restaurant CVI.CHE 105 offers a classic ceviche that melts in your mouth.

A Cuban sandwich is made with ham, roasted pork, swiss cheese, pickles and mustard on Cuban bread; a unique concoction that came from Cuban immigrants in South Florida. This tasty sandwich is a variation on the ham and cheese sandwich that is believed to have been brought to Florida by Cuban workers.

Cuban sandwiches are very popular in Miami other areas of Florida. For instance, Tampa, which has a large Italian population, adds salami to the ingredients, sparking a friendly rivalry between the 2 cities for the “signature” Cuban sandwich. You'll find a huge range of Cuban sandwiches in Miami's Little Havana, but the real question is which variety will you go for?

Churrasco is a grilled meat that’s popular in Latin American cuisine and refers to any grilled meat that comes from a churrascaria, or a steakhouse. The name is derived from the Spanish and Portuguese name for steak. Churrasco has regional differences, such as barbecued meat in Brazil that’s cooked outdoors and thin steak prepared with chimichurri sauce in Nicaragua. In Puerto Rico, churrasco always refers to skirt steak cooked on a grill with sea salt.

You’ll find many variations of churrasco in Miami’s restaurants. We recommend the high-quality El Churrascaso Grill Wynwood for its huge portions and mouth-watering seasonings. For truly authentic churrasco with the finest meats, try Off the Hook Churrascaria just off the Tamiami Trail.

Mofongo is a Puerto Rican plantain dish found in Miami and features plantains fried and mashed with salt, garlic, stock and olive oil. Traditionally, mofongo is made using a wooden pilon. Once the plantain is mashed and absorbent, it’s used to complement pork cracklings, bacon, or other fried meats.

With seafood being so abundant in Miami, you’ll often find mofongo served with shrimp or octopus, and typically available in Latin-American and Pan-Latin restaurants. The wonderfully vibrant Mofongo Restaurant Calle 8 prides themselves on their signature mofongo, so be sure to stop by when you're near Little Havana.

Fried snapper may be sampled in the form of a fish sandwich, fried snapper bites or alongside fries, and is a common preparation technique for local fish in many of Miami's seafood restaurants. You’ll also find a wide variety of seasonings used to batter the fish, ranging from Cajun to Cuban to Jamaican to Dominican.

Snapper is known for its lean, firm texture with white flesh that has a delicate, mild flavour. Most restaurants use red or yellowtail snapper for their versions. Locals flock to the Rusty Pelican not just for its amazing views, but also for its whole crispy snapper with coconut orzo. Make sure you reserve a table in advance. 

Key lime pie uses Key lime juice, egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk to create a dessert that’s known for its crunchy and creamy texture. A dessert that's famous across America, key lime pie is a Miami tradition that's usually served with meringue made of egg whites, but whipped cream is also used.

You’ll find pies that have no crust, a traditional pie crust or a graham cracker crust, but they all share the sweet and citrusy key lime flavour. We've heard that the very best key lime pie in Miami can be found at Fireman Derek's bake shop in Coconut Grove. Alongside big flavours, you can expect a big smile to be served up too.

Alligator bites consist of alligator tail meat cut into bite-sized portions, much like chicken wing bites or chicken nuggets, that’s battered and fried with seasonings. Common in the Southern United States, and Florida, in particular, alligator is a healthy meat that's high in protein and low in fat, with a mild flavour and firm texture.

You’ll find many variations on the recipe throughout Miami’s restaurants, so why not challenge yourself to try as many as you can? To start, consider Brickell's Cajun Boil, where you can savour fried gator tenders in a blend of Cajun and Asian flavours.