Cleo South Beach

You will quickly cozy up to Cleo, the Redbury Hotel's eatery. Stellar cocktails and mezzes certainly help, while the affordable menu and reasonably priced wine list are impressive for South Beach. Then there's the enticing room replete with photos of starlets portraying Cleopatra. Tables, meanwhile, are set with butcher-block paper, a colored pencil for doodling, and mismatched antique plates. Then there's the pace — very fast. If you've never experienced a meal with this kind of food, the goal is to fill the table. The signature dish is Brussels sprouts. The vegetables' leaves are removed, fried, and bathed in a vinaigrette of capers, anchovies, chili, parsley, almonds, and red wine vinegar. There's nothing cutting-edge here, but when it's so delicious, who cares? The same can be said about the falafel. Seven lightly fried spheres are paired with tahini and tabbouleh, a classic Middle Eastern bulgur salad. Well seasoned and crisp even the following day, the falafel seems like a steal.