Valentine's Dinner Date

Parioli Cafe

Since Perla and I have been dating and married, we have had some wonderful Valentine dates. We fell in love with a little Italian Restaurant in Houston named Corelli's, which we visited two out of the last three years. However, with our new lives in Miami, the search for a Valentine's restaurant was on...

Doing my traditional search of scanning the Miami New Times (I just think it's written for the younger crowd- more modern, more rebellious) Valentine's Day advertisements. I only go for restaurants offering a complimentary bottle of wine with the meal. What is Valentine's without a bottle of wine?

And then, it hit me: Parioli Cafe on 73rd Street in Miami Beach. Reservations were made, and we headed out towards the beach, conservatively dressed. Perhaps one of the best parts of the night was driving into Miami Beach from I-95. The houses lining the road into Miami Beach were a mixture of Spanish architecture and modern decco flaire. Though some homes were quite small in Miami terms, they were easily worth millions. Some of the houses were so luxorious, we could have spent all night driving up and down that street. And I'm not talking River Oaks houses. I'm talking Heritage Park houses, but with style, with architecture, with class.

We finally arrived to Parioli Cafe, as it was located right on the beachfront, on Ocean Terrace. The restaurant itself seemed to be built out of an old hotel lobby. Nicely decorated, we were one of the first ones there and were seated in the middle of the restaurant, with Perla receiving a golden rose for the night. Immediately we were served what Perla called "hominy"(?) or what I would call "garbanzos." Anyway, it was a delicious teaser to the night. We ordered a bottle of red wine but before that arrived we were poured a complimentary glass of champagne to toast our love for the night and our lives... then bon apetit!

Oh, before I forget, the funny story of the night: Parioli Cafe exists in Rome. They actually have three restaurants in Rome and this one on Miami Beach is their first venture into the United States and abroad. So, you can imagine that family staffed the cafe. Everyone barely spoke English, so in my constant curiousity, I wanted to know more about the history of the family and the cafe. So, Perla calls aside the waitress and asks, "how long has this cafe been open?" The waitress replies, "I know no English", but comes back a few minutes later to report, shrugging, "about five minutes?" The waitress thought Perla was asking how long until the food was ready! How embarassing! Here we are coming across as impatient Americans at a fancy cafe! And on Valentines to boot! We just sat laughing about our miscommunication, not sure if we should attempt to set the record straight, or just let it be. We hoped our main course (heart of filet mignon) would not be rushed.

Our first plate (which I thought was the meal), an appetizer, I guess, had a collection of food I didn't know what it was. But I ate it anyway, including the spicy single large shrimp wrapped in wax paper. I did not eat the mussel. Perla did and almost puked because of the fishy aroma! The "albondiga" (obviously, our lack of eating culture and knowledge of fancy food shows) thingy on spinach tasted delicious. I seriously thought that it was my filet mignon, and that we were just in some super fancy cafe that you get a 2 oz filet for $100. Thank goodness I was wrong, though I could have eaten several. Ah, and the garlic (?) bread with feta goat cheese was yummy as well.

This plate followed with a choice of either a serving of fetuccini or stuffed eggplant ravioli. We both chose the fettuccini and it was perfect.

Finally, the main course: heart of filet mignon (Perla and I actually ordered the same main course). It was pretty raw-to-medium and was just delicate to the tongue. Delicious. Probably 6 ounces, but worth every bite. This followed with a cup of coffee (which was sublime) and then a dessert chocolate tart, which was pretty awesome as well. Man, I went in going in thinking $100 might be too much, but we got so much food and such a great experience it was well worth it...

And then our walk on the moonlit beach..