7 Meals in 7 Nights: Friday - Zeke's & Casale (AGAIN!), Miami Beach

When I originally started these posts on 7 Meals in 7 Nights, I wanted to post every day for a week. Man, that was ambitious... For reasons that Ive noted before, plus some serious partying this weekend, I got a little behind. So, I'll pick up where I left off on Friday and report on my return to Casale after some Happy Happy time at Zeke's.

All day Friday I was hurtin. After consuming mass quantities of awesomeness at Naomi's, I just didnt want to eat. I woke up full again for the 2nd time this week. I could slowly feel the 11 pounds I'd lost recently coming back in one week-long eating binge. So, I skipped lunch and then decided to meet up with some friends at Zeke's to get happy after the work week ended. I effing love Zeke's. It's an oasis of $4 beer in the desert of getting raped by inflated prices that is Miami Beach. Every beer is $4. Guinness? $4. Bud Light? $4. Efes, my favorite Turkish beer? $4. They boast of having over 200 beers available by the bottle, all at $4 each. They also have some generic house wine for those that must bring their girlfriend/wife who wont drink beer. (Note: Im fully aware that my comment may come off as a tad sexist but in reality I just refuse to believe that a guy goes to a beer garden and orders wine without being severely beaten and covered in tampons.) Zeke's also serves up a few delicacies to snack on with your beer. They have bags of chips, microwave popcorn, and even one of those hot dog toaster machines for making hot dogs. They do not allow outside food to be consumed at their tables. In other words, youre here to drink beer and maybe have some popcorn with your beer.

While sippin suds with my friends, we got to talking about how I'd been eating out every night that week. I mentioned my visit to Casale for the Pizza Crawl and knew they would love the place. They got fired up to give it a shot and so we walked from Lincoln Road over to Casale for some Friday night pie and to sample the mozzarella bar. This time, we were seated in the main area by the windows, right in front of the pizza ovens. It wasnt hot but it was a tad uncomfortable. There was at least a 10 degree difference between this table and the one I'd sat at Tuesday night by the entrance. Much like my visit at Fratelli la Buffala though, it just helped the Morretti's go down easier. We started with the grand tasting from the mozzarella bar which came with 2 portions of bufala campana, burrata pugliese (the outer casing of burrata), stracciatella (the inside stuffing of burrata), treccione (a braided smoked mozzarella), and fior di latte (mozzarella made from fresh cow's milk). The dish also came with 2 sides so we chose bresaola and anchovies. The stracciatella was my favorite on its own but I kinda expected that since I love burrata so much. The best combo for me though was pairing the bufala campana and fior di latte with the anchovies. Those tiny fishies were loaded with flavor.

One of my friends is a vegetarian (or pescatarian as she does eat seafood), so I recommended that Funghetto pizza from the night before. This time they used regular white mushrooms and that robbed the dish of some flavor. The taleggio and sage didnt stand out as much as they had the first time Id had that pizza either. Not that it was a bad pizza but I doubt Id have been quick to order it again if this was the way the first one was made. The other pizza we ordered was the capriccioso which came topped with parma ham, artichokes, mushrooms, and arugula. It was a pretty good pie, no more, no less.

I left the Beach shortly after dinner and was in bed around midnight because I had planned to play golf early the next morning. It was a nice, light Friday night sippin suds, eatin pie, and catching up with good friends. I needed that because after golf I was planning to head up to West Palm Beach to visit some friends and family and things usually have a tendency to get outta control up in WPB...

7 Meals in 7 Nights: Tuesday - Pizza Crawl Final Round @ Fratelli la Buffala & Casale

After a nice night of sleep thanks to the burger from the Taurus, I was well rested and feeling good about tackling my day. Work was crazy busy all day and I made sure to limit myself to a tiny bowl of frozen yogurt, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries for lunch. The light lunch was pure strategy because I was planning to attend the 4th and final round of the Miami Pizza Crawl. That strategy definitely paid off...big time.

After downing a few Kronenburgs at Cafe Maurice (soon to be name changed AGAIN to Louis XIII I was told), I met up with the other crawlers at Fratelli la Buffala on the corner of Washington and 5th. The restaurant was cozy with scattered tables here and there and the pizza hearth in the back corner of the room. Our table was right next to the pizza cooking action so it was a tad warm (at least in my seat) but that just helped make the cold Moretti beer that much more enjoyable. Our pizza lineup was decided as:

La Reale - tomato sauce, bufala mozzarella, bufala smoked mozzarella, bufala ricotta & prosciutto crudo
Diavola - tomato sauce, spicy salame, mozzarella, basil & crushed red pepper
Vesuviana - fresh cherry tomatoes, smoked bufala mozzarella, bufala mozzarella, green olives & anchovies
The Special - sausage & broccoli rabe

Our server said the chef had a special pie ("The Special") for our group that stretched the pizza criteria for ordering. It was our first major dilemma. First, we had a special pizza made for the group which meant its a must order, right? On the other hand, said pizza was more of a pizza sandwich or double-decker pizza. You had a regular pizza crust, topped with fresh mozzarella, broccoli rabe, and sausage, then they took another pizza and slam dunked it on top of the 1st pizza. In the spirit of fun and to avoid insulting the chef who had made a nice gesture by offering something special, we went with it. It was pretty good. I liked the tartness of the broccoli rabe and the saltiness of the sausage together. I dont think I'd order it again though as it was really filling. Which brings up another Pizza Crawl 1st...full slices! We all were able to get a full slice of each pie at FLB because they cut the pies in 12 and we only had 11 for this stop on the Crawl. All aboard the carb caravan!

After "The Special", we moved on to the other pies. I liked the crust at FLB. It was thin with enough yet had nice stability in the middle to keep it from being too floppy when you picked it up. The sauce ratio was a good one too and I liked the thickness of the outer crust. Unfortunately, like another crawler has stated, none of these pies really blew me away. Ive had the diavola at Spris many times and didnt think this one was anything special. Not that it was bad, just not memorable. The La Reale was a nice pie but, then again, when isnt prosciutto on a pizza nice? I think my favorite here was the Vesuviana. Im a fan of more salty toppings on pizza to pair with the cheese and the combo of the olives and anchovies provided that for me. I did notice that some slices were devoid of one or the other though, so I guess I was lucky.

The next and final stop on the Pizza Crawl was Casale, a brand spankin new pizza joint conceived by Pietro Vardeu, owner of Sardinia right next door. This place had been hyped up rather epically on the Florida board of Chowhound, so it had a lot to live up to.

The restaurant itself is gorgeous. A lot of wood, brick, and stone features along with leather chairs lining both a crudo bar and an illuminated liquor bar that really stood out. Its a rather large space and Im only talking about the downstairs pizzeria right now. Upstairs, they have a lounge area with nice leather couches and chairs, a wine storage room, and another nice illuminated bar. A sweet outdoor patio also awaits diners and drinkers alike with more lounge chairs and couches and a giant umbrella "tree" that branches off into 4 large umbrellas and covers just about the whole patio. I could definitely see this place being a hangout for me if I lived in the neighborhood, thats for sure. Its casual without being too casual and has a nice vibe for chilaxin'.

We added about 7 new Crawlers to this stop on the Pizza Crawl for a total of 18. The menu had a lot of options and I like the creative combos of ingredients. Lots of pizzas you dont really see elsewhere. The pies we ordered were:

Smeraldina - braised fennel & bottarga
Atomica - spinach, artichokes, guanciale & quail eggs
Sag Harbor - mussels, clams, baby octopus & shrimp
Sagaponack - potatoes, anchovies & ricotta

Casale's pies have a nice thin crust, much like many of the pizzas in Miami, and the crust has a nice balance between crispy and chewy. They also use a nice san marzano tomato base for the sauce on most of the pizzas that provides a light flavor without stealing from the rest of the pizza. I'll also point out that the cheese is made in-house which is pretty frickin cool.

The Smeraldina had been hyped up from what I'd read but it really didnt do anything for me. I thought the flavors were sort of bland and nothing really stood out to me. We were splitting slices again, so maybe I didnt get all the ingredients on my 1/2 slice. I was really looking forward to the Sagaponack and found that to be a little disappointing as well. The potatoes either needed to be sliced thinner or possibly cooked a little longer because they were a little soggy and I didnt get any bite of anchovy on my 1/2 slice so I missed out on that flavor (I was crying on the inside). The Sag Harbor was a total trainwreck for me. Calamari on a pizza just doesnt work. It gets way too chewy. I also thought the sauce was off on this one. Sorry Frod, youre 0 for 2 on these types of pizzas. The Atomica was my favorite of this pizza lineup. I cut my own slice purposely so I could get all the ingredients and it totally paid off. The creaminess of the egg mixing with the saltiness of the guanciale was awesome and the texture and flavor of the spinach and artichokes worked well too. Id definitely order the Atomica again. Id probably try the Sagaponack again too.

But wait! We weren't done yet!

With a much larger group now, about 1/3 of which had not already housed 4 pizzas at Fratelli la Buffala, there were groans for more pie. So, we ordered 5 more! This time we went with:

Pugliese - rapini & wild boar sausage
Funghetto - wild mushrooms, taleggio & sage
Catalana - chorizo, manchego, tomato & olives
Buongustaio - baby zucchini, parma prosciutto & burrata
Super Margherita - prosciutto, bufala mozzarella & arugula

I didnt get to try the Super Margherita so I cant comment on that one but this round of pizzas really kicked the 1st rounds ass. The Pugliese was similar to "The Special" pizza we had at FLB yet much less hearty thanks to only 1 crust. I liked the wild boar sausage too. The Catalana was a real winner with the group and provided a nice taste of Spain. The chorizo bits were plentiful and who doesnt like that? The pizza of the night for me, however, was the Funghetto. This was the only pizza where the cheese really stood on center stage and was complimented by the other ingredients. The oyster mushrooms provided an awesome earthy flavor and really meshed well with the sage while accenting the saltiness of the cheese. It was just a great pizza.

I think the pizza crawl was an awesome experience. We had a great turnout during each and every round and the group was a pleasure to hang with. Even paying the bill was a simple process! Everyone had a great time and the costs were minimal considering the amount of pizzas we tried and the beers we sucked down while consuming said pies. I think the Casale visit was our most expensive at $18 apiece but we also covered Mr. 2top's portion since he had these awesome shirts made for the group. What a nice guy, huh?!?



This crawl proved that Miami really does house some great pizza joints that pump out great pizzas, regardless of what the naysayers from New York might say. Honestly, I'll take Miami pizzas over New York pizza any day but thats just me. Miami pizza is more my style - thin dough with a little bit of crust so you arent just eating all bread and getting full, minimal sauce, and fresh quality toppings.

Pizza Crawl - First Cheese, part 3

Thought Id get the comments going after round 3 of the multi-series of Pizza Crawls that have taken place in order to find what I will just call, "the most preferred" pizza in Miami. Though I didnt participate in round 2, Id have to say that last night's round 3 had to be the weakest of the bunch even though it was the most convenient since all the pizza joints we tried we all within walking distance of one another. Here are my thoughts on last night's contestants:

Sosta - Very sharp looking pizza joint, complete with high ceilings, metallic colors, wine bottles lining the walls, and a manager(?) donning a suit with an open collar, Miami style. I found that a tad funny. This is pizza we're talking about. There was also an ample amount of staff inside and outside to take care of all the diners. The one thing that kinda turned me off from the get go was the selections of pizzas on the menu. Many were the EXACT same pizzas as Spris, right down to the names. Now, I can understand that there are staple pies that every place is gonna have but this menu just seemed like the Nexxt Cafe/Cheesecake Factory kind of similarity. We ordered 4 different pies, including the namesake "Sosta". The only ones that were any sort of memorable were the Sosta and another one with anchovies and capers and those were maybe above average pies, nothing to write home to mom and dad about. There was also a carpaccio pizza that was decent. The other one was obviously forgettable because I dont recall what it was. Overall, this one got a "C+" grade from me for the pizza and an "A" for the gorgeous blonde hostess who sat our table.

Piola - I liked the vibe of this place. High ceilings, lots of booths and tables, and a little bar by the entrance too. No glitz or glamour, just a hangout spot. Unfortunately, I didnt like the pizza at all. I thought all of the 4 pies we tried were just bland. The carbonara pizza, my favorite kind of pizza, was loaded with cheese and little toppings. Tasted more like a sausage pizza, actually. The one white pizza we got with catupiry cheese, hearts of palm, and artichokes tasted like nothing. Literally zero taste except maybe a little creaminess from the cheese. One of the pies we had was a "Neapolitan style" that was supposed to be a thicker crust and had anchovies and some other veg on it. It did have a thicker crust, except I couldnt tell how much thicker since I forgot to bring my micrometer. It was more like, "we made a smaller pizza interior and just pushed more dough to the outside for crust rather than stretching it like we do on every other pizza." The other pizza we had I dont quite recall though I believe sundried tomatoes were involved. That or it was one with cherry tomatoes that was really, really watery. Overall, I give this place a "B+" for vibe and a "D-" for pizza.

Spris - Ok, so Im a huge fan of Spris and obviously my opinions were going to be skewed from the get go. Not for nothing, but I really wanted to find a place better than Spris because sometimes that place is just too damn crowded. Well, I didnt. Spris was the unanimous winner of the night. It was like watching an old Tyson fight where his opponent gets knocked out 23 seconds into the first round and fans sit there in awe, wondering why they just paid $29.99 for 23 seconds of Pay Per View. We shouldve just done 3 visits to Spris and tried 12 of their many pizzas. Having seriously hyped up Spris' Carbonara pizza in round 1 and earlier in the night, I was eager to get its awesomeness in my system while also slightly afraid that the other diners wouldnt share my admiration for this pie. For the most part, I think it stood up to the hype, although I gotta say that this is a pie that should be split between 2-3 people MAX in order to really enjoy the sunny side up egg in the middle and all its yolky goodness. The egg, thin sliced pancetta, and shaved parmesan just rock together. I think the group's favorite, however, was the "Patata e Panchetta" pizza that came with thin slices of potato, pancetta, mozzarella, rosemary and shaved parmesan. That one really impressed me as Id never had it and I could see myself possibly getting one instead of the carbonara next time Im there. The 3rd pizza was the Ortolana which came with tons of different veggies - portobellos, eggplant, zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes I think. This one just reminded me of why Spris kicks ass - they LOAD the toppings. The other places we ate at were tough to really sample because the toppings were scattered in various pockets of the pizza. Spris had awesome "topping management" with zero sample slices going without some "meat" on them. The only pizza that was a bust here, and it was a total crapshoot to begin with, was the Frutti di Mare pizza. Chewy calamari and other shellfish just doesnt mix well with an oven and a pizza for me. Just way too chewy. Overall, Spris still gets an "A" in my book for their pizza and another "A" for people watching on a busy section of Lincoln Road.

As we "crawled" from joint to joint, I kept going back to Round 1... Did I really like Pizzavolante that much better than Joeys? I was having 2nd thoughts. I may have to return to both again. I remember the pie at PV with the guanciale being the winner of the night for me, but I did like Joey's crust and thought their pies were somewhat creative even if they didnt do it for me flavor wise. Now with Spris in the mix, Im not sure which I like best. I can say this though, that Carbonara and Patata e Panchetta pizza at Spris are tough to beat for me. I dont think anything I had elsewhere measured up really. Nice thin, crispy crust and plenty o' toppings at a good price. I guess I just made up my mind. Spris is the winner for me so far. Mr. 2top says Casale is incredible though so Im looking forward to its opening and the next crawl.

*I missed Part 2 of the pizza crawl which ventured north to Anthony's Coal Fired, Racks, and Pizza Fusion. Though the gang at the crawl said Racks was pretty awesome, I cant really say I care to even include it. I dont consider that area part of Miami (its Aventura) and I'll never travel that far for a pizza unless its covered in $100 bills and served by nude Playmates.