MIAGuide
Where To Have A Mango Moment This Summer
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
A mango moment is, according to us, an intense feeling of gratitude that occurs during (or immediately after) the consumption of a local mango, or a dish involving one. They seem to be happening all across town this summer, a.k.a. mango season, when the neighbor with that huge mango tree, no matter how previously annoying, becomes the most popular person on the block. If you’re lucky, your summer will be filled with mango moments. And if you don’t know where to start, hit up one of the places on this guide.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
You can have multiple mango moments at this incredible Indian restaurant—starting with a soothing mango lassi you’ll want to chug after stuffing your face with ghost pepper cheddar naan. Then you’re ordering samosas, which come with a mango habanero sauce you should squirrel away from everyone at the table. For dessert, there’s kheer, a rice pudding with chunks of mango. But Ghee’s most memorable mango moment is the mango cheesecake with cardamom spice and a cookie crumble bottom. It’s big enough to share (but don’t). Plus, Ghee will probably add more rotating mango dishes until these little dudes stop falling from the trees.
Fruit & Spice Park is not a restaurant. It’s a park in Homestead where the tree-curious can stroll through a stunning collection of fruit and spice trees. But here’s where it becomes a mango moment. The rule at Fruit & Spice is: any piece of fruit on the ground (that’s not rotten) is fair game to eat. And they have rows and rows of mango trees—so it’s essentially an all-you-can-eat buffet of ground mangoes. They even hand you a halved mango with a plastic spoon when you pay the $10 entrance fee. Just bring a tiny knife (or that friend who always carries one) to help you slice open the many varieties of mangoes you’ll find.
What’s more Americana than sitting down at a diner counter and ordering a slice of pie with a cup of coffee? But you’re in Miami (which should be its own country), and few restaurants represent the Cuban-American culture so essential to this city better than Chug’s. So here, you’re sitting down for a fluffy sour mango coconut pie with cafe con leche. And you are—under no circumstances—leaving without biting into a warm mango and queso pastelito. No other pastelito in the city will ever compare to this puffy, gooey mango masterpiece.
The mangonada—a frozen Mexican creation of mango, chamoy, and tajín—is a beautiful thing. And Mr. Tutis Fruties down in Florida City makes one of the best we’ve ever had. Plus, this place is an excellent Mexican restaurant (their burrito is one of the best we’ve had in recent memory). There are other mango moments besides the mangonada here, like mango flower fruit cups dusted with tajín, mango smoothies, and mango paletas. But please get the mangonada as well. It’ll make us sad if you don’t.
photo credit: Emily Schindler
Zak The Baker offered a very fun mango bartering situation throughout June (six healthy mangoes for one loaf of bread). But even if you don’t have six mangoes at your disposal, you can come here for a lovely mango parfait with big chunks of the mangoes locals have flooded this place with. Or come early (like before noon) for a slice of mango cheesecake that almost always sells out. If there’s nothing mango-related on the menu, don’t cry. There will probably be something delicious making use of local fruit, like the mamey cream concha that kind of made us want to create a guide to mamey moments.
