Sunday, April 4, 2010

My annual pilgrimage to Miami

I just got back from my annual pilgrimage to Miami for the Sony Ericsson tennis tournament. Another outstanding year, one of the highlights of the year for me. I have been doing this trip for 10 years now and this year was no disappointment. Despite a day of rain, I saw two full days of tennis and had a chance to see some of the greats, Nadal, Murray, Nalbandian, Bryan Brothers, Baghdadis, Henin and many more. This is one of my favorite tournaments of the year. This is just below the level of the US Open, held in NY every August. I just love this tournament! For me, it is the beginning of summer. Sitting in the sun in Miami at 80+ degrees with the ocean breeze blowing, watching the best tennis players in the world, it doesn’t get much better than this.

Our first evening there, it is a tradition to have dinner at the Blue Door in the Delano Hotel on South beach (www.Delano-hotel.com). It was a beautiful evening dining on the patio, overlooking the wading pool. The food is amazing and the service impeccable and the scenery, just as good! Everything about this experience is amazing and over the top!

This year our group of five stayed in Coconut Grove, which was a first. We loved this little town. Park your car and walk everywhere! We found ourselves gravitating back there every night for dinner. We discovered a great restaurant right on an outlying corner named Green Street Café, www.greenstreetcafe.net. What a great concept! The lounge is outdoors. Right on the sidewalk are couches and high back comfortable chairs with tables. Patrons are relaxing with their feet propped up and enjoying a drink or an appetizer.

Along two streets the sidewalks are donned with small tables for outdoor dining. I ended up eating there for the next three nights! A simple menu of Italian cuisine that was outstanding. Homemade pasta and a willingness on the part of the waitstaff to customize your dinner was the order of the day. Several lighter fish dishes, which a couple of my group ordered, were really great as well. I would have liked to have seen a few more Italian wines and more by the glass would have taken a great evening way over the top. During the course of our meal, we were enjoying the eye candy of Maseratis and Ferraris cruising the streets. Ah, the purr of that Maserati with a nice glass of Chianti!! What a great combo. For some reason, they just go together!

This was another great trip of remarkable tennis, revisiting a world class restaurant and hotel and discovering a great new little village. What a great way to escape the real world for a few days. I can’t wait for next year!!

Glen Agritelley
owner