Balans
1022 Lincoln Road 305/534-9191
A welcome import from London where the owners have four other winners, in Knightsbridge, Earls Court and two in Soho. Bangers and mash if you must, but I prefer the Thai treats -- Tom Yum Goong soup, sharp shrimp salad and phad Thai for starters, followed by Szechuan chicken salad, seared tuna Ni?oise, udon noodles with sesame glaze and bay scallops, herb-crusted Chilean sea bass or the sweet potato soufflé with garlic-fried spinach and crispy leeks. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, entrees $8.50 to $16, served daily.
Caffee Sambuca
1233 Lincoln Road 305/532-2800
This offshoot of the outstanding Oggi in North Bay Village is equally modest in storefront setting and just as impressive in its level of cheffing and serving. The house salad is wonderful, and I can never resist ordering the veal chop coated with gorgonzola or the outstanding osso buco after some of their porcini-packed pasta. All as prelude to the seductively sinful chocolate soufflé. Dinner, entrees $9 to $16, daily.
Da Leo Trattoria
819 Lincoln Road 305/674-0350
Best medium-priced Italian storefront on the beach with reliable pastas and risotto of the day -- my favorite is the asparagus-shrimp combo. Follow that with pesto poached salmon, veal Marsala or the fisherman's soup, Zuppa di Pesce, concluding with a made-fresh-out-back dessert. Dinner, entrees from $9 to $19, served nightly.
NOA (Noodles of Asia)
801 Lincoln Road 305/925-0050
Yet another China Grill outpost, this one outstandingly high-tech chic with architectural surfaces and stark, minimalist inspiration for a trans-Asian menu heavy on the noodles -- cool, wok-stirred and brothy, including a Bangkok bouillabaisse, stocked with squid ink noodles and rings, clams, mahi-mahi dumplings and plum tomatoes, sprinkled with basil, cilantro, mint and watercress. Lunch and dinner, entrees $10 to $20, daily. Next door is China Grill's low-tech wannabe, Lou's Real Philly Cheesesteaks & BBQ, serving mouth-bending hoagies and burgers in addition to the namesake steakouts.
Norma's on the Beach
646 Lincoln Road 305/532-2809
Tiniest of storefront settings with plenty of tables out front to indulge in a real Caribbean cruise, captained by the crews who put this Jamaican creation on the culinary grand tour. Norma's flies in the ingredients right from Jamaica for such boredom-smashing good stuff as pumpkin soup, smoked marlin, fresh fish flattered with lime-butter, lamb chops like no other and rum-glazed ribs. Lunch served Saturday and Sunday, and dinner Tuesday through Sunday, with entrees from $9 to $18.
Pacific Time
915 Lincoln Road 305/534-5979
Next Door
927 Lincoln Road 305/534-5979
Chef-owner supreme Jonathan Eismann pioneered the culinary counterculture circling the Pacific Rim, blending and beautifying spices and senses into such stunners as ginger-stuffed whole catfish tempura, veggie-loaded dumplings done in miso broth, Colorado beef charcoal-grilled on the hibachi and honey-roasted Peking duck. In the less pricey, more casual cafe Next Door, there are regularly scheduled fixed price salutes to the culinary traditions of Bali and Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Dinner, served nightly, entrees $15 to $32 at Pacific Time, $12 to $24 Next Door.
South Beach Brasserie
910 Lincoln Road 305/534-5511
One of film star Michael Caine's five restaurants, this 2-year-old slice of sophistication French style has had a chef parade out back but has settled down to a festival of such fusion fare as meatloaf and jerk pork tenderloin, thyme-scented snapper and Cuban marinated skirt steak with chimichurri sauce, crab cakes remoulade, shrimp-scallop fusili and, of course, good old fish and chips, served here with orange-spiked horseradish sauce. Lunch and dinner, entrees $8.50 to $21, served daily. During the summer, dinner only.
Tiramesu
721 Lincoln Road 305/532-4538
The move of this 11-year-old Ocean Drive fav into this brass-glass-gold-blue eye and spirit pleaser at the end of 1997 was a giant step upward and outward. It still offers a half-dozen pastas to order in three portion sizes and caters to vegetarians with nine selections, as overtures to red snapper in white wine sauce, shrimp and sea scallops sautéed in brandy and slices of grilled sirloin on a bed of arugula with mustard sauce. And for dessert ... What else? Lunch and dinner, entrees $11.75 to $18.50, daily.
Van Dyke Cafe
846 Lincoln Road 305/534-3600
Gracing the first two floors of the lovely seven-story Van Dyke Building and spreading out to a well-landscaped staging area for the See and Be Seen crowd, this 5-year-old magnet is as popular as its parent, Ocean Drive's News Cafe, and for all the same reasons -- moderate prices, consistently reliable menu delivered from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m., OK service and a lot of choices, from super salads and sandwiches to burgers and pizzas, seafood and fowl, beef, lamb and pastas, plus must-have desserts and good coffees. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, entrees $7 to $14.75, served everyday. Jazz nightly Upstairs at the Van Dyke.
YUCA
501 Lincoln Road 305/532-9822
Despite changes in the back room as well as in the chain of command, this is still cutting-edge Cuban, created for Young Upscale Cuban Americans (YUCAs), plus all those who want something more than black beans and white rice, lard-fried plantains and onion-smothered pork. Order the three-bean terrine, some skirt steak, guava-injected ribs, finishing with a splendid chocolate variation of "tres leches." Lunch and dinner, entrees $20 to $36, daily.