Miami - Escopazzo

Escopazzo Italian Restaurant in Miami. It is an organic, sustainable restaurant in the main part of South Beach. It is a quick walk from Ocean Boulevard, which is the street that runs along the beach. I thought Escopazzo was very good, with a very nice ambiance and great service. I had read a number of reviews before we went there, which rated it excellent, but I would only rate it pretty good. Surprisingly, there were very few organic restaurants in Miami, and this was one of three in South Beach. It was fairly expensive as well.

I started with a zucchini salad, which was zucchini with a cold tomato sauce on it, which I did not like. I had the fish bouillabaisse for dinner which was very tasty but I was still hungry after finishing it, so I think they needed to include a huge chunk of break in the stew, which is traditionally how it is served. We split a chocolate dessert which was ok. The Italian wine I had with dinner was excellent and reasonably priced. I was with two friends at Escopazzo and I think they both enjoyed their main entree, Rose had the pork loin and Vicki the cheesy rice, both very good and we had a great time. To sum up Escopazzo, not as good as the restaurant we went to the night before, the Nexxt Cafe (correct spelling) on Lincoln Road in Miami,(not organic) and Escopazzo was more expensive.

New York City

My husband and I went to New York City this past weekend to go to the Tino Sehgal live art exhibit at the Guggenheim Art Museum and to explore some new organic eateries. The Tino Sehgal art exhibit which had live people making out for eight hours in slow motion was cool when we first started out at the bottom floor. But, as we went up the spiral, open atrium museum for the next six floors, with nothing on the walls or anything else to see, we were totally scratching our heads. That was it, for $36, we could keep looking down at the two dancers slowly making out.

The good news is before we started our walk to the Guggenheim we went for breakfast at an organic Belgian eatery Le Pain Quotidien. I would rate it pretty darn good, almost fantastic. We had fabulous breakfasts and coffee, everything was organic and they included the calories of every breakfast and lunch which I thought was a good idea. It is a chain, however it is only located in the New York City area, which is why I wanted to try it. I typically hate chains, because I think the food is substandard and I feel the owners are not into fabulous food, but making fabulous amounts of money. I wanted to prove myself wrong because if they are totally focused on organic foods, it helps the organic farmers and that is a prime benefit. Eating organic which is healthier for everyone and helping American farmers work and profit from good food are the two goals I am working toward.

The downside of the restaurant was I didn't really like the bread. It was whole grain, but its consistency was too soft, not hearty and heavy, which is how I think a good breakfast bread should be. The coffee was very good and organic, so we definitely would go back. Getting a great cup of organic coffee, not at Starbucks is a big plus for us when we travel.