11th Street Diner, Washington Avenue
It's fitting that South Beach's world-recognized Art Deco Design District is home to a shiny, stainless-steel, handsomely restored deco diner. The 11th Street Diner (1055 Washington Ave., 305-534-6373) is also a fixture in Miami's gay and lesbian community, open 24 hours and serving breakfast all day within its glimmering shell, complete with glass bricks and a neon "cocktails and dinners" sign (in fact, there's a full bar till midnight, Thurs thru Sun). The diner was actually built in New Jersey in the 1940s, before being situated on a street in Wilkes-Barre, PA, for more than 40 years. In the early 1990s, it was bought and moved to South Beach, where it's become something of an icon, as much for it's tasty, unfussy, greasy-spoon cuisine (along with quite a few more healthful, contemporary options) as for its authentic design, inside and out.
A few notable picks from the lengthy menu include Monte Cristo sandwiches, Philly cheesesteaks, a pear salad with Gorgonzola and walnuts, a wide array of impressively large burgers with creative toppings, Argentinian-style skirt steak, New York cheesecake, and such breakfast edibles as breakfast burritos, salmon and eggs, and eggs Florentine (available only on weekends, during the 11th Street Diner's popular Sunday brunch).
