Miami Series: Buenas Tardes, Señora Martinez!

Señora Martinez

Tapas Design at it’s best in the Textile Neighborhood

Located at 4000 NE 2nd Ave, the Spanish influenced Señora Martinez tapas bar and restaurant is located a happy distance from the over the top glitz of South Beach. Opened in 2009 and set in an old stone building amidst art galleries and design centers in Miami’s textile neighborhood, Sra Martinez has once again done herself proud with this new venture.

Traditional in appearance from the exterior, the interior is anything but. High, vaulted ceilings with dark wood beams accent the décor in black and white: black wooden bar stools with bright silver tacks, black and white floral patterned tiles on one wall, black wooden shutters on another. Along the left hand side of the room runs a modern glass and steel staircase, stealing much of the focal point of the interior. The staircase leads to an upstairs dining area, a grey brick wall with red Kartell ghost chairs.

To offset the low lighting and dark colors, the restaurant tapas bar is lit with two naked orange light bulbs. Flanking the bar are beautiful bouquets of tulips and roses of all hues and shapes, accompanied by bright tropical fruits artfully displayed in glass jars.

The servers were all friendly and efficient. My waiter, Marcello helpfully recommended items off of the tapas style menu. The Spanish and South American inspired menu offers dishes such as the Shrimp Tiradito; a delightful combination of jumbo shrimp, soy sauce and aioli, with some freshly popped corn to decorate the plate, and the Garbanzo Stew; a hearty bean stew with chorizo and a raw quail egg to add some adventure to the mix.

The vibe in the restaurant is fun and upbeat, with lounge type music in the background. On a Thursday night, the crowd varied widely; from a business dinner in the upstairs quarters, to couples and groups of friends spread out among booths and bar style dining.

Out of all the Miami restaurants in which I ate, Sra. Martinez was by far a favorite. And no wonder... the restaurant was named in Esquire Magazine’s ‘Best New Restaurants 2009’. The only downside was the $30+ cab ride to and from South Beach... Although I did have Ralph as my cab driver on the way back!

Crazy Pirates

As I found out during a long weekend in Miami, a trip in a taxi differs substantially from that in New York. To begin with, the cabs in Miami are driver and rider friendly - in that they encourage conversation between both companies due to the lack of what I assume in New York is a bullet-proof (and thus mainly conversation-proof) partition. A description in an article by New York Times writer Sewell Chan from 2005 aptly describes the job of said partition in NYC cabs: “It emerged in the 1960's as an invention born of fear: the taxicab partition, meant to spare the lives of drivers at a time of gunfire, armed robberies and murders.” Chan best captures the loss of human to human contact with his observation, “with the partition closed, the classic cabbie conversation - the one about politics and local lore, current events and competing theories about the best way from, say, Midtown to Kennedy - would become all but impossible.”

Well my friends, in Miami the ‘cabbie conversation’ is fully alive and kicking. Almost every taxi trip was filled with colorful conversation, covering wide ranging topics, including; true to Chan, politics, local lore and current events. One particularly engaging man was Raphael, or ‘Ralph Taxi;’ accompanied by ‘Professional Service’ and ‘WE GO EVERYWHERE,’ as his business card reads.

Ralph is from Peru. In his home country he worked as a musician, composing and compiling pieces for advertisements and screenplays. Ralph loves to talk, and talk he does.

I learned that he has family members in far reaching places such as Paris, Germany and yes, even one starting school in Toronto next year.

Ralph takes his job very seriously. And he’s good at it. He drove at a comfortable speed and took the corners gently as he told me about what he does. “So many of the taxi drivers are nuts here,” he said. “They’re like crazy pirates on the road.” (He should go to New York).

As the Olympics were going on during my stay in Miami, I asked Ralph if he watched any of the sporting events. He said he didn’t, adding that he felt that it was his responsibility to “organize the other crazy pirates” on the road and make sure they were in the right locations.

It’s always so fascinating talking to cab drivers when you get the chance - often their stories are so interesting and filled with insightful anecdotes. Sit back, or forward, rather, and engage in conversation and share in a 5, 10 or 15 minute chinwag with a perfect stranger. What is there to lose?

WELCOME TO MIAMI

Miami: pronounced \mī-ˈa-mē,-mə\ is a major city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida in the United States (Wikipedia definition)

A long weekend in one of the Sunshine State's famous cities yielded some colorful characters and curious cultural adventures.