Jewish in Miami

For a true New York deli experience in Miami-Dade County, visit Harriet and Bob's Bagel Cove in Aventura. It's like this restaurant was taken out time, with its classic diner look and feel. There are seats at the counter for the loners and tables and chairs for families. A takeout deli offers a variety of spreads, cold salads, and meats from which to choose. A large case of colorful desserts feature, among others, the always popular black and white cookie and rugala. There's also fresh breads like challah, rye, and pumpernickel. This deli is known for its hand rolled bagels, homemade bialys, onion boards, and pockets. The menu is extensive and includes just about every Jewish-American breakfast or lunch item you can imagine. There are lunch specials which include six free mini bagels, and soups du jour, including daily options like matzoh ball and chicken vegetable. Smoked fish appetizers feature nova or lox and herring and cream sauce. For the truly hungry, a triple-decker club sandwich will satisfy. A frank on a knish with a side of fries is a potato treat. There are also hot meals available like a vegetarian casserole or steak parmigiana. Whatever your liking, age, or religion, this deli has something for you.

Located across from University Metrorail station (in the same plaza as T.G.I. Friday's and Pier 1 Imports), this little deli is perfect for a student or alum craving a shmear of Jewish soul food. Bagel Emporium bakes their soft, savory, donut-shaped treats daily (a dozen costs $9.95), and uses them for sandwiches that include hot corned beef ($9.50), pastrami ($8.50), Reuben ($9.95), and tongue ($10.50). If chopped liver ($7.95) isn't your thing, Philly cheese steaks and tuna melts (both $8.95) are also on the menu. Belgian waffles and buttermilk pancakes (both $5.95) sizzle on the griddle, but what's the fun in that when there's golden brown blintzes ($6.25) with sour cream and blueberry sauce, and stacked potato pancakes ($5.95) with apple sauce waiting to be gobbled up as well? For a larger meal, start with a potato knish ($3.95) and end with an indulgent plate of the signature nova Benedict (an egg Benedict with smoked salmon) for $9.95. Or opt for an open-face beef brisket (also $9.95) that comes with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy.

When Goldstein & Sons opened at Collins Avenue and 74th Street 30 years ago, there was no shortage of competition with three other kosher butcher shops and deli markets in the surrounding North Beach neighborhood. Today, rechristened with a slightly different name, the mom-and-pop store is the last one standing. Jews and gentiles from all over Miami-Dade's northeastern communities trek here for a truly authentic deli experience that has become a part of Miami Beach's rich Jewish roots. Goldstein's significance was recently documented in a short film by a young Jewish auteur named Aaron Davidson, titled A Slice of Life. In the minidoc, family patriarch Joe and his customers share recollections as the butcher, his son, and his grandchildren prepare orders. The images convey the pride and hard work the Goldsteins put in six days a week. At the deli counter you will find homemade gravlax for $6.25 per quarter-pound. Salads range from $4.99 (potato or cucumber) to $9.98 a pound (all-white tuna). Deli sandwiches overloaded with corned beef, pastrami, bologna, salami, turkey, roast beef, brisket, or tongue are available for $7.95 or $9.95. You can also purchase deli meats to take home. For holiday dinners and special occasions, Goldstein's offers a 12-person food platter for $189 that includes five rotisserie chickens or a 14-pound turkey, four quarts of homemade chicken soup with matzo balls, 12 pieces of gefilte fish, a potato kugel, two pounds of carrot tzimes, and four pounds of hot or cold side salads. But if you have a few more shekels, go with the $249 brisket platter.

Like a parable, it's as if a thunderous voice from above spoke to a lost (and most likely hungry) tribe wandering in the brash wilderness of south Miami-Dade and said: "You must build a restaurant, serve the food of your people there, and make it extra tasty!" Because at Lots of Lox it's all there: grandma-approved matzo-ball soup, crisp potato pancakes, bagels, blintzes, white fish, starchy knishes, and mounds of perfect pastrami. Sandwiches include the schlemiel ($10.95) stuffed with turkey, salami, Swiss cheese, and thousand island dressing and the East Side ($10.45) filled with roast beef, tomato, onion, and (what am I?) chopped liver. If only the miracle of food this good happened more often.

A traditional Jewish deli without any of the unnecessary schmaltz, this Hallandale bagel shop has been a neighborhood institution since the 1970s. Hand-cut lox, homemade matzo ball soup, and fist-sized piles of shaved brisket, pastrami, and corned beef piled high in overstuffed sandwiches would make any bubbe proud, while a special section of the menu comes with a stamp of approval from the local rabbi.