Last week, the food critic who travels the country made his way down to the 305 to review some low-key, "ma and pa," hole-in-the-wall food trucks, as well as one popular Wynwood spot. He made sure that each spot he chose "embodied the food scene in Miami."
Below, you'll find the exact hidden gems he hit up in the Magic City.
@keith_lee125 Braised By Kevin Lee taste test 💕 would you try it ? 💕 #foodcritic @Kevin Lee ♬ original sound - Keith Lee
1. Braised by Kevin Lee: His Brother's Restaurant
Keith Lee's first stop in Miami was at his brother Kevin Lee's restaurant, Braised by Kevin Lee, where he spent $38 on food. In order for his brother not to notice he was there, Keith hired someone in the parking lot to order the food for him. (This is why he gets paid the big bucks, people.) According to Keith, his brother Kevin first opened the restaurant as a pop-up in Las Vegas before he headed down to South Florida to open as a restaurant vendor at Yellow Green Farmers Market in Hollywood. Keith took to TikTok and Instagram to share his review of the experience. "The people that ordered for us said the customer service was really good," he says, since he wasn't able to order it in person. He ordered the short ribs with mashed potatoes and duck with potatoes and gravy — both came in major entrée-sized portions. "He braised all of this by hand," he adds. "This short rib is tender and falling off the bone," he says. However, when it came to the duck dish — he had mixed feelings. "It's tender and juicy, but I'm not a fan of the sauce because it's tangy. I'll give it a 7 out of 10," he says. "I couldn't be more proud."@keith_lee125 Coops Pit Bbq taste test 💕 would you try it ? 💕 #foodcritic ♬ original sound - Keith Lee
2. Coops Pit BBQ: Food Truck in a Gas Station Parking Lot
Let's just say that since Lee visited Coops Pitt BBQ, a food truck located between West Little River and Miami Shores, it's already gained more than 1,000 new followers on Instagram. That's the Keith Lee effect. In the review he posted on TikTok and Instagram, he explains that he and his family were driving around Miami on Memorial Day when they spotted the food truck "smoking up the whole block." He spent $75.90 on the meal. "He ran it by himself," Lee says of the owner of the food truck. "He's sweating, smoking meat; again, it smells so good." He ordered a whole chicken, a whole slab of ribs, a side of coleslaw and greens, and a "side" of baked beans that could feed about three people. "This is an excessive amount of food for $60 — you can feed a whole family," he says. Although he says the ribs were very fatty, they were tender and juicy, and he loved the sauce. "That is darn right delicious. That is gas," he exclaims. "8.7 out of ten." As he bit into a chicken wing, he had a similar reaction. "I don't know what he's doing — it don't taste like no barbecue I've ever had in my life. 8.8 out of ten."@keith_lee125 House Of Mac taste test 💕 would you try it ? 💕 #foodcritic ♬ original sound - Keith Lee
3. House of Mac: The First "Popular" Spot He Checks Out
House of Mac was the most requested restaurant in Miami Lee received via his Instagram direct messages (more than 60,000 requests, he says), so, he went to go check it out for himself. He spent $95. He ordered the truffle fries, the "Keith's Favorite Burger, a side of sweet cornbread, a mac & cheese sampler platter filled with flavors, and three different lemonades. As a self-proclaimed "truffle fry connoisseur," he was upset over the fry tasting as if it came from the freezer, so he gave it a three out of ten. Although the loaded mac & cheeses were pretty, he rated them pretty low, with some being a three out of ten and some a six out of ten.@keith_lee125 Mr Vert’s Kitchen taste test 💕 would you try it ? 💕 #foodcritic @mrvertskitchen @GG’s THRIVE GUIDE ♬ original sound - Keith Lee
4. Mr. Vert's Kitchen: Haitian Food Truck in North Miami Beach
Lee has tried plenty of different cuisines from around the world, but there's one cuisine he isn't truly knowledgeable of (nor is he too fond of): Haitian food. That's why he had to stop by Mr. Vert's Kitchen, a popular Haitian food truck in Miami, to see if it could change his mind about the cuisine. Here, he spent $48.25. He says his family gave the food a nine out of ten. He ordered a chicken pate kòde (a Haitian patty with pikliz, which is a Haitian vegetable relish, chicken, onion, and bell pepper), a platter of griot (fried pork meats) with fried plantains, and a turkey fritay (a fried dish composed of turkey, fried bananas, marinades, pikliz, and more). He also ordered a side of pikliz. He started with the pate kòde, which to his pleasant surprise, contained a whole boiled egg inside. Once he bit the chicken portion of the patty, he was surprised at how juicy and well seasoned it was, but he felt as though there was a lot of dough. Besides this, he said the dish was an excellent introduction to Haitian food and rated it 7.9 out of ten (a high score for Lee). Next, he went for the fried griot which he even exclaimed looked better than most fried turkey he had ever had (turned out it was pork and not turkey). When paired with the pikliz, he was ecstatic at the flavor combination. "That's really he good," says Lee. Then, he took another bite of the fried pork, but paired it with a fried plantain and pikliz. One bite was all it took for his eyes to widen and say, "8.5 of ten. That's the best food I've had today."@keith_lee125 @FatmanHotdogs Fat Man Hot Dogs taste test 💕 would you try it ? 💕 #foodcritic ♬ original sound - Keith Lee
5. Fatman Hotdogs & More
Keith Lee visited viral hot dog spot, Fatman Hotdogs & More, which had been going viral on TikTok. He says the founder, Antwan "Fatman" Multimore," reached out to him directly via Lee's Instagram direct messages asking for the food critic to check out his hot dogs. Lee went to go check out the food truck. He spent $49.51. Although he was concerned the food truck was pretty much empty, he tried the "Mac Daddy," the chicken, bacon, and ranch, and the "Fat Man Philly Sausage." He gave the mac and cheese hot dog an 8/10. He then went to try chicken, bacon, and ranch, which he gave an 8.2/10. Lastly, he gave the "Fat Man Philly Sausage" an 8/10. He couldn't believe how high quality each hot dog was. "With food this good, I don't see why he doesn't have a line around the corner," he says.@keith_lee125 @Private Chef Nessa✨ Chef Nessa Pop Up taste test 💕 would you try it ? 💕 #foodcritic @Couple of Foodies ♬ original sound - Keith Lee
6. Chef Nessa - Pop-Up in North Miami
He went to support a pop-up by a local chef, Chef Nessa, and he truly loved his experience. He ordered the lamb chop with mashed potatoes, asparagus, and mac and cheese. He thought it was a solid meal.@keith_lee125 King’s Miami Conch taste test 💕 would you try it ? 💕 #foodcritic ♬ original sound - Keith Lee
7. King's Miami Conch
Located in a gas station parking lot, he says King's Miami Conch took an hour to get. He got a conch pineapple bowl. The texture was not a hit among his family, who reviewed the spot with him (he couldn't review the conch himself because of a shellfish allergy).He rated Mr. Vert's Kitchen and Fatman Hotdogs & More as the best.
