Good Taste is the Worst Vice

Radio South Beach, Miami

My favorite part of my recent trip to South Beach wasn’t the ocean, or the people watching, or even the gators – it was a game of giant Jenga. 


On Saturday evening, my sister, our friend E, and I headed a few blocks west of our hotel to  Radio South Beach, a former pop-up bar that’s just recently become a permanent resident of the South of Fifth neighborhood.

It’s easy to spot Radio, which is located directly beneath its namesake tower.  You step into a cool, laid-back space with a bar, couches, mismatched chairs, and a pool table; out back, there’s a secret little courtyard in the footprint of the tower.


And it was here that we discovered giant Jenga!


In contrast to the cold Chicago April I’d just left, it was basically heaven to sit outside with a cocktail and try to master the deceptively challenging task of stacking wooden blocks into an ever-taller tower.

My sister proved to have the magic touch and beat E and me handily.
But that was ok.  We headed back into the cool of the bar and ordered another round.  The Red Ginger was the perfect Miami drink – rum, strawberry, lime, and ginger beer, garnished with a sprig of mint.  And not just any mint, but mint doused with Bacardi 151 and set aflame. 

Since my defeat at giant Jenga hadn’t squelched my competitive fervor, we moved on to a different game.  No, not pool – a deceptively simple ring toss game imported from Key West.  Basically, you pull back a small ring tied to a string and release it, trying to get the ring onto a hook in the wall.


This is a staged shot!

Turns out I’m no more talented at the ring game than I am at giant Jenga.  Oh well!  It was still super fun.

As the sun started to set, we had some grilled cheese sandwiches to tide us over to dinner (reserved, Miami-style, at 930pm).  Sometimes there’s nothing more satisfying than greasy bread and American cheese.  Yum.


We had such a great time at Radio – it’s fun and relaxed, an antidote to the stiletto-and-Ferrari nightlife scene. 


Though there was a Ferrari parked outside; it’s still South Beach after all!


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