The Great American Bar Search: Miami
Maxim is on the hunt for the country’s best watering holes. This month we shake our maracas in Vice City. Bienvenidos a Miami!
Maxim is on the hunt for the country’s best watering holes. This month we shake our maracas in Vice City. Bienvenidos a Miami!
12 p.m. Puerto Sagua
Hit this old-school diner on South Beach’s famed Collins Avenue for Cuban food even Castro would float here to eat. Medianoche sandwiches, oxtail stew, fried plantains, serious coffee—all for cheap.
1 p.m. Raleigh Hotel
Let your gut hang out at the glamorous pool, where a man can sip piña coladas with impunity.
3 p.m. Ted’s Hideaway
This dive is a perfect place to pre-party before hitting Miami’s swanky clubs: cheap drinks, a great jukebox, and an all-girl bartending staff.
5 p.m. Joe’s Stone Crab
Settle in at this 98-year-old institution for—duh—the local specialty: stone crabs with Joe’s famous mustard sauce.
7 p.m. Nikki Beach
An open-air club of oceanside cabanas filled with beautiful people, like 2010 Hometown Hotties finalist Lisa Morales—it’s her favorite spot.
Miami is the closest you’ll get to Brazil, unless you pick up this cachaca – a rumlike spirit made from fermented cane juice – and make a caipirinha: Muddle a few lime wedges with sugar in a glass, add ice and two ounces of Leblon, shake, and pour. Arriba! Or whatever.
9 p.m. Tobacco Road
Miami’s oldest bar has the paperwork to prove it: liquor license No. 00001. Stop in for nightly live music from blues to reggae to electronica, plus mouthwatering burgers and ribs.
11 p.m. Mokai
Chic yet low-key, Mokai attracts models and the celebs who bang them.
1 a.m. Mac’s Club Deuce Bar
Take a break from velvet ropes at this rowdy dive (est. 1926), which once appeared in Miami Vice. Rather wait till morning? Happy hour starts at 8 a.m.
3 a.m. LIV
This two-floor “superclub” in the Fontainebleau is open till five. LeBron sightings are likely!
To see our favorites bars in other cities–including New York, Dallas, Austin, and Atlanta–check out more Great American Bar Search.