Cry Baby Creamery is a total misnomer. If anything, this shop will have you weeping with sugar-induced joy or demanding ice cream like, well, a big crybaby. With locations in Palmetto Bay and inside Thorn on Bird Road, this ice cream shop and bakery serves up Miami-inspired goodness like the viva pastelito cream cheese and mascarpone ice cream with guava swirls and caramelized puff pastry. There's also the espumita boss flavor with Per'La coffee cold brew. The brownies and cookies feature another local favorite, Exquisito Chocolates. Regardless of your craving, there's seriously no way to leave Cry Baby Creamery with anything other than a smile.

It's in Miami native Naomi Harris' DNA to run a successful South Florida restaurant. She's Pollo Tropical royalty, for God's sake. Her father and uncle founded the Miami institution in the late '80s, and her grandfather owned and operated Red Road Food Market in South Miami. Following in their footsteps, Harris pursued her passion for bread-making and baking, opening Madruga Bakery in 2017. It quickly became the kind of place where people line up for the scrumptious fresh baguettes, savory onion poppy rolls, sweet monkey bread, and more. Madruga's breakfast and lunch sandwiches are also swoon-worthy. For her work in the Coral Gables bakery, Harris was nominated as a semifinalist for the 2019 James Beard Award for Outstanding Baker.

Sometimes the simple things in life are the best. New York native Steve Hochman's Bagel Bar East is one such simple delight. It's a modern-day Rascal House (IYKYK), for those days your soul and belly need a good, old-fashioned Jewish deli. You'll feel nourished by their matzo ball soup, hand-rolled, double-toasted bagel, or bialy. Do not miss out on the housemade coleslaw or mouthwatering smoked pastrami. The to-go counter is clutch when all the seats are taken (and they often are on weekends), and Bagel Bar East caters with sandwich platters that are always a home run.

Thanks to Arielle and Omri Avrahami, Israel's most renowned shawarma chain recently opened in Hollywood. Off the beaten path and on-brand if you're glatt kosher (or just love a magnificent shawarma), this simple concept offers four ways to eat your meal: in a pita, half pita, laffa, or bowl. Stick with the signature turkey shawarma in a pita. The spit is prepared every day with stacked turkey chunks coated in a spice blend and topped with pineapple so the juices drip down the meat. Pair with a side of skinny fries and top with housemade tahini, schug, salsa, and pickled vegetables made daily.

Love Life Cafe is a breath of healthy fresh air in Miami's overwrought dining scene, thanks to its tasty, cruelty-free, plant-based menu. Owners Veronica Menin and Diego Tosoni wanted to bring healthy food that people actually want to eat to Miami. And they succeeded. Love Life Cafe is the kind of spot where vegans flock but everyone approves of it. All of the dishes are as creative as they are delicious, and you can pair them with wines, cocktails, or mocktails. Expect a pleasant meal with solid customer service and reasonable prices.

Is your bestie's new venture into vegetarianism making it a challenge to go out to dinner together these days? It's safe to say they'll find something they'll love on the menu at Blue Collar in MiMo. It's home to some of the absolute best veggie plates in Miami-Dade County — you won't miss meat for even a second. Options range from red beets with goat cheese and caramelized Brussels sprouts to charred sweet potato with chili brown butter and artfully sautéed mushrooms. There are also daily specials, like matzo ball soup and mushroom and goat cheese croquettes with fig jam. And if that's not cutting it for you, by the time you read this, Blue Collar probably will have moved across the street from its original home at the Biscayne Hotel to fancier digs with an expanded menu at the address listed here.

Clive's Cafe was a beloved hole-in-the-wall for homestyle Jamaican food with a long history in Wynwood before all of the art and then smoke shops. But now it has a new home in nearby Little River for those craving a taste of the Caribbean. Clive's serves all the staples like saucy curry goat, flavorful oxtail smothered in the most savory gravy, and jerk chicken that's perfectly seasoned and charred — each one is no-need-for-a-knife tender. Everything is served with hearty portions of rice and peas and plenty of other side-dish options. Just know whether you want to dine in or out, because that determines where you're going to stand to place your order.

It began almost 50 years ago with little more than a croqueta and a dream. Now, the Cuban restaurant Sergio's has 13 locations with authentic and time-honored menus filled with tasty, inexpensive, and nostalgic Cuban food. Naturally, they won New Times' "Best Croquetas" in 2022 — and now they have taken the main trophy. You can swing by for a proper Cuban breakfast (eggs, bacon, tostada, and a café con leche smooth as Chinese silk). Salty and soulful sopa de pollo heals the soul, and the housemade ropa vieja and vaca frita are emotional, stick-to-your-ribs cooking. And if you want to go modernized, try the croqueta pizza and picadillo flatbread. So many newer fancy restaurants with Michelin nods may be the jewels of Miami, but Sergio's is our city's heart.

Tex-Mex in Miami is best served in Homestead. For almost 40 years, family-owned Casita Tejas has been serving the best authentic, hearty Mexican plates down south, and they don't skip on the rice and beans. The colorful, plastic tablecloths set the stage for culinary satisfaction. You get free salsa and chips, but the move is to start with an order of super nachos to share. You can feast on the most popular menu item, the burrito norteño, a steak fajita with grilled onions, rice, and cilantro smothered with a flavorful salsa suiza and topped with melted Monterey jack cheese. Or enjoy other stand-outs, including a whole deep-fried red snapper and the chicken mole.

The best Colombian restaurant in Miami is a food truck. Why? Because if Colombia could be distilled to its very culinary essence, Frutiparty would encapsulate every inch of the South American nation's cuisine. Rightly a favorite among locals, this Kendall food truck boasts everything from Colombian perros (hot dogs with everything from melted cheese, bacon, and mayo-ketchup), to salpicón (a fruit cocktail/slushie with condensed milk) to arepas, and much more. Not only is the cuisine delicious, but the presentation of dishes is almost always an eye-catching surprise. If you're lucky, one of your Colombian friends will have already taken you here, but if not, be sure to stop by for a visit and get ready for a true taste of Bogota. Que chimba!