The Most Classic Restaurants In Miami

"Shorty’s may not serve Miami’s best barbecue, but there is something essentially Miami about going to a 70-year-old barbecue spot in a log cabin under the Metrorail tracks in Kendall. Shorty’s transports us to a time when most of Dade was farmland, and the friendly service and communal wooden tables make us feel like we just crashed a cookout. The food is solid enough to give us a reason to keep coming back here, too. The spare ribs are the best thing to get from the smoker—the meat falls off the bone and has a deep hickory flavor. Make sure to ask for their vinegar sauce to slather over everything. And save room for a big slice of homemade key lime pie, which is custardy, intensely sweet, and mildly tart. Shorty’s does offer all this food to go and has two newer locations in Miami and Davie, but we always feel a little guilty cheating on the original Dadeland location." - ryan pfeffer, virginia otazo