Impressed at Preston's

The stretchy pants were out at a massive dinner at Preston’s Brasserie in the Loews Miami Beach Hotel last month, part of a Miami Spice press tour. Appetizers were served upstairs in a hospitality suite on the 17th floor as the sun went down over the famed, art-deco hotel strip. Irish-born Executive Chef Gordon Maybury, formerly of Fives restaurant at New York’s Peninsula Hotel, started us out with a smorgasbord of raw-fish delights – ceviche, sushi, oysters – all quite extraordinary. “Floribbean” fare continued downstairs with a seven-course meal that included a Bloody Mary sorbet in the lobster gazpacho, a zippy red snapper, the most flavourful organic green salad I’ve ever eaten (bar none), the signature apple/pomegranate ribs, a hot and spicy churrasco and, gulp, dessert.

The Loews is massive for South Beach (almost 800 rooms), yet that doesn’t seem to keep it from feeling quite cozy. Bonus: A new spa (underneath Emeril’s restaurant) still has that new-car smell.
– Doug Wallace, Deputy Editor

Preston’s Brasserie, Loews Miami Beach Hotel,