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News • Florida • United States • 2012-03-01

OUT AND ABOUT IN MIAMI March 2012

GMCVB LAUNCHES FIRST EVER MIAMI FILM MONTH – MARCH 2012: Miami is ready for its close-up, as the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) announces its first-ever Miami Film Month, a celebration of the destination\'s many contributions and close links to the Silver Screen. From being the home of internationally renowned film festivals and art cinemas; to its position as one of the most sought-after film locations in the world; to the countless movies that have featured the destination, Miami and the movies have what film mavens call \"chemistry.\" Miami Film Month will allow residents and visitors alike to enjoy members-only, cost-saving prices for tickets to screenings on select days through March as well as free popcorn at participating venues. More information can be found on www.MiamiFilmMonth.com. The month launches in conjunction with the Miami International Film Festival, one of the destination\'s largest movie gatherings and a major attraction for film-lovers from around the world. In total, Miami and the Beaches is home to 13 film festivals which take place throughout the year. Additionally, on March 1, 2012 to kick off the month’s activities, film strippers in a series of flash mobs will bring the inaugural Miami Film Month to life by engaging consumers and bringing awareness at Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road and in Downtown Miami’s Mary Brickell Village.

MIA WAS FASTEST GROWING U.S. AIRPORT IN 2011: Miami International Airport grew the fastest out of the top 20 airports in the US last year, +7.3%, and the airport has already this year seen the arrival of another new airline – LAN Colombia – suggesting that the end to the growth has not yet been seen. Anna.aero has collected 2011 traffic data for the top 20 airports in the USA, which reveals that between them passenger numbers grew by an estimated 2.5% in 2011. Of the top 20 airports, only two (Chicago O’Hare and Houston Bush) failed to record year-on-year growth, while only Miami recorded passenger growth of more than 6%.

MIAMI\'S FIRST-EVER POP-UP BAR: The Broken Shaker, the city\'s first-ever pop-up bar from the insanely crafty cocktail-ing duo at Bar Lab and Ace Hotel-owning Sydell Group, have totally transformed a former \"sorta broken\"-looking Indian Creek Hotel spot, in which they found an actual broken shaker on the ground. The result: a sultry New Orleans bordello-meets-mad scientist lab with walls covered in red cloth and caged shelves (stocked with their potions, antique radios, and vintage shakers picked up over a decade of cross-country surfing trips), which rolls into an al fresco tropical area packed with \'70s-era couches and an herb-lined tiki bar. Pretty much everything outside of booze (right down to the ice) is housemade, including ginger beer, tonic, and 15 original bitters, which are leveraged for weekly rotating cocktails like the Raisin Old Fashioned with bourbon and golden raisin-infused Mandarine Napoleon, the Agave Garden with seaweed-spiked tequila, and one with aged rum that\'s been jacked up with Lebanese coffee and Mexican hibiscus, called The Blossom, which you’ll want six of. There is a small component of the \"nibbles\" on the menu which consist of dips (raw Indian spread, spicy avocado, and tahini hummus $8) and mini empanadas (sweet plantains and pork, curry samosa, pear and brie $7) that come with a spicy salsa, green goddess dip and a chimichurri. It\'s a shame this place will only be around for six months. For more information, visit http://www.indiancreekhotel.com/broken-shaker/

TEMPO MIAMI IS HUMMING A NEW TUNE WITH A NEW NAME: The Tempo Hotel Miami is getting a new name starting March 1. After Rock Resorts pulled out a little over a year running the new property, Tempo is shedding its old image, ditching the Tempo, and will instead be called Casa Moderna Miami Hotel & Spa. It\'s all part of an attempt to re-brand the hotel as a more upscale place and, wipe the slate clean. The hotel is currently renovating its spa as part of the upgrade, but all other changes will be minimal, as the hotel is already a plush, still-new property, with some of the biggest rooms in Miami. www.facebook.com/casamodernamiami

HOME-COOKED PERUVIAN HITS WYNWOOD: Hatched by Peruvian wonder-chef Jean Paul Desmaison (La Cofradia), Jean Paul\'s House sounds like French existentialist Sartre’s favorite medical drama DVD, but actually is Wynwood\'s newest bistro, upping the hominess of a former, well, home with rustic farmhouse tables, a patio, and scattered potted plants, which stand in stark contrast to the trendy circular mirrors dotting the other, cafe-ish side of the joint. Often offering JP’s signature Peruvian flourishes, the seasonal menu gets down with mostly organic and locally produced ingredients in sharable plates like baked crab cakes w/ honey & whole-grain Dijon mustard, ricotta-topped veal meatballs, crispy pork belly w/ grapes & Pisco 100, and a white wine/tomato soup w/ spicy mussels. There’re also sandwiches like the Butifarra, which presses house-roasted pork leg, sweet potato rounds, mint salsa & mayo on ciabatta, ceviches like flounder tiradito w/ avocado, tomato & cilantro, plus a blue cheese-covered NY Strip, Cab Sauv-/port-marinated short ribs, and bouillabaisse w/ mussels, clams, shrimp, fried fish, and lobster stock. For drinks, it’s 30 reds and whites plus beer (pretty basic now, but a microbrew program is on the way), and within a month, they’ll be opening a small market in the back where you can buy olive oil, sauces, coffee, sandwiches, and cheeses, plus enjoy wine tastings, to get the party Sartre\'d. For more information, visit www.jeanpaulshouse.com/

THE BATMOBILE, BOND CARS & MORE IN MIAMI’S BACKYARD: Some 50 years after he started accumulating cars, developer Michael Dezer unveils his massive collection of automobiles (and other gadgets) together — valued at about $140 million — in more than 250,000 square feet of brightly painted, broadly themed warehouses in North Miami to display publicly at the Dezer Collection Museum & Pavilion. Divided into two buildings (which each cost $25 to tour), the museum boasts more than 1,000 pieces, including at least 600 cars. ―Cars of the Stars,‖ featuring vehicles that appeared on the big and small screens, will be most recognizable. But car buffs can also explore American oldies, European classics, bikes, motorcycles, electric cars, micro cars, military vehicles and — starting in April — a James Bond wing valued at $15 million. There’s also an on-site art gallery, which opened late last year with two exhibitions: one dedicated to the work of former model and photographer Bunny Yeager and another featuring art that originated in Berlin. Future plans include a wax museum and outdoor drive-in theater. Dezer, prevously kept some of the vehicles in a private collection at the Trump International Beach Resort that he developed with son Gil in Sunny Isles Beach. Other of the family’s properties, including the Howard Johnson Plaza Dezerland Beach & Spa in the northern part of Miami Beach, incorporate classic cars and 50s themes in their design. Built with events in mind, the museum features a synagogue and several rooms that can host birthday parties, weddings, corporate events, bar or bat mitzvahs or circumcision rituals. An indoor ―drive-in‖ theater with seats in old cars will be available for photo slideshows or videos of the honoree. When not in private use, the screen will show old Bond movies. For more information, visit www.dezercollection.com.

DELICIOUS GREEN GRUB INVADES BRICKELL: Greenspoon\'s a healthy full- and counter-service joint opening in an earthy-looking space in the heart of Brickell, and is run by a NY transplant who wanted to make eating healthy deliciously easy. The menu holds true to their \"we never fry anything\" ethos, and they also don’t use any heavy butter or creams in numbers like Mandarin/Asian vinaigrette-covered salmon, chicken tarragon, and turkey and black bean chili, plus whole wheat ciabatta sandwiches like roasted chicken parmigiana, a bison burger, and the Greenspoon cheesesteak packed w/ sirloin, caramelized onions, BBQ sauce, and plenty of low-fat Swiss. \"Large Plates\" include organic Peruvian blue tilapia, multigrain penne pasta w/ white wine-marinated chicken, shallots, and mushrooms, plus an onion marmalade grilled sirloin, and Israeli couscous and ratatouille alongside a slab of extra high-quality Murray’s roast chicken. They’re also doing breakfast, plus upwards of 30 fresh-squeezed juices and smoothies like the Jelly Banana Nutter Butter (peanut butter, milk, banana, grape juice), the pear/ orange/ milk/ banana/ yogurt Gym Junkie, and one with celery, parsley, beets, and spinach called Green Strength. For more information, visit www.greenspoonhealthbar.com.

A NEW LOUNGE WORTHY OF A PRESIDENT AT THE DELANO: Say hello to FDR Lounge, a subterranean cocktail spot in the Delano, ready to host your DJ-enhanced late-night whiskey runs starting Monday, February 27, 2012. So about the name: word has it that the 32nd president himself liked to come to the hotel with his mistress. Their cocktail menu\'s staying theme-correct with concoctions like the Bulleit/ peach/ ginger beer New Deal, the eponymous FDR (Appleton rum, St. Germain, lime, brown sugar), the Eleanor (gin, muddled strawberries, lemon), and the vodka/Prosecco-heavy Lucy, named after FDR\'s longtime mistress, which he presumably bedded in Liu of his wife. The joint, formerly the Florida Room, looks suitable for an executive romp: with two separate lounge rooms (one with padded, quilted black leather walls that would be in a really trendy insane asylum, the other with shimmering gold/amber ones), crushed velvet seating, and deep purple lighting. Because this is Miami and all, full bottle service will be readily available, and tunes\'ll be pumped by both \"big

name\" DJs and local up-and-coming artists, although things are kicking off with Mos Def for the opening festivities. For more information, visit www.delano-hotel.com/en-us/#/explore/?id=/delano-miami-fdr/

METRORAIL TO RUN DIRECT LINE TO AIRPORT FROM DADELAND: Miami-Dade Transit has decided to operate a new Metrorail line directly to Miami International Airport from the Dadeland South Station when the extension to MIA opens in the summer, transit officials announced. Originally, county transit officials had also considered running only a shuttle-like service between MIA and the Earlington Heights Station, which would have required airport passengers to switch trains. The decision to run a direct train, without transfer, came only hours after members of the Miami Downtown Development Authority voted unanimously Friday to urge Miami-Dade Transit to run the direct service. Neisen Kasdin, the authority’s vice chairman, said a service that required a transfer might have deterred many from using the new line. Passengers traveling from stations north of Earlington Heights on the existing Metrorail line will need to transfer at Earlington Heights if they want to reach MIA. Transit officials said more than 70 percent of Metrorail’s riders come from stations south of the Earlington Heights Station.

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