Before I went to Miami I had researched cheap eats in the Miami area and I kept finding restaurants that sounded great but they were off the strip. I find it irritating when my meal is off course from the rest of my day. I never rent cars when I go on vacation because I’m not willing to drive 40 minutes away from the beach to eat great seafood at a bargain price. If I have to spend twenty dollars on gas to eat cheap seafood then it’s not cheap seafood.
The last time I was in Miami, Florida I was lucky enough to have my friend Jessi Ballard from college meet me for lunch.
Ms. Ballard took me to a Food Find right in the heart of South Beach. Books & Books is a local, independent, book store located on the famous Lincoln road. It is the New York equivalent to Strand but with food; just a quaint, clean, local book store, with readings, affordable books, and great food!
I had actually passed it a few times and noticed there was a small café on the side of the book store where people were enjoying salads and drinks, but I underestimated the range in menu.
I ordered the crab cake sandwich with fries and a salad. The crab cake was cleverly shaped like an actual crab and golden fried on crusty, fresh focaccia bread with a generous side of fries and vegetables. Not bad for about thirteen dollars.
The crab cake tasted like it was pure lump crab meat, which is the key to a really fresh tasting crab cake. Other places often use claw meat, which some people prefer, but the flavor is a little too intense for me. Lump crab meat to claw meat is like comparing chicken breast to dark meat chicken.
I was too full for dessert but I never go to Florida without eating key lime pie, and I had been on a hunt for key lime pie all week. Finding a good key lime pie was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be so after confirming Books & Books served freshly prepped food I ordered two slices of key lime pie for the road, one for me and one for my honey who was back at the hotel.
Books & Books key lime pie tasted like fresh frozen key lime pie. The crust was a freshly crumbled graham cracker, butter crust. It truly tasted like a rustic homemade pie.
My second love to food is reading. Reading feeds my mind, and if I get the chance to eat while reading, well that’s just about as good as it gets.
$ | 927 Lincoln Road | Miami Beach, FL 33139 | (305) 532-3222 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (305) 532-3222 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
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