One night at the Gansevoort and dinner at STK!

A friend was in town this week on a short layover between cities and appointments; he gave me a call and invited me to join him for dinner at STK. After talking for a bit and trying to work out a time to meet it only made sense for me to stay in Miami overnight instead of driving back to BocaLand so late especially after a cocktail or two. So my rendezvous to the Gansevoort Miami Beach begins!

I must begin this post with a qualifer of immunity…I have an incredible love affair going on with Miami (even though sometimes I have trouble getting there) I think Miami is beautiful, sexy, impetuous, smart, delicious and funny, Hell if I could marry Miami and live happily ever after I would in a heartbeat! So to that end, The Gansevoort Miami Beach has swept me off my feet and here’s why.

I was at the Gansevoort on Monday night December 6; remember when it was 40-degrees in South Florida, yea well on the ocean with the wind chill it felt like 20-degrees. Getting around in Miami is always an adventure for me and trying to get to the Gansevoort was no exception; I got confused at 41st street and went the wrong way. I completely lost my bearings so I called the hotel and the operator actually stayed on the phone and talked me through the u-turn all the way back to Indian Creek Drive. Ten bonus points for the very patient and very wonderful phone guy at the Gansevoort. I finally arrive at the hotel and the poor Miami-frozen valet came up to my car and checked me in, I cut him a break, I took my luggage and he took my car. He looked at me like I had 3 heads and said “Really??” I smiled and walked through the blue door.

I checked-in, in under 3 minutes….everything in order, I get my key and off to the elevator I go. And BAM! just like “My Miami-Luck”, I can’t get out of the elevator; I cannot get the magic key to make the elevator move. I am now in the all out throws of a panic as I am to meet my friend in 10 minutes and I look like Phyllis Diller thanks to the 20-degree wind tunnel off the Atlantic Ocean. So after using my ‘truck-driver’ vernacular on the button console for not moving the elevator carriage I press the open door key and haul myself and my “entourage” back through the lobby; my valet friend sees me and comes running over “what’s wrong, Pretty Lady??” Ever so eloquently, I said “I don’t know how to get the elevator to move and I have to be at STK in 4 minutes!” My Personal Valet escorted me to my room. Another 10 points for the staff at the Gansevoort Miami Beach!

It’s always about the details and timing. My friend was finishing up his meeting so guess what??? I wasn’t late. HA! I sat at the Front Bar and had a vodka martini, (a glass of wine just wasn’t going to cut it at this point). The bartenders were amazing, entertaining and spot-on! Other than a fabulous glass of wine or champagne vodka martini’s are my drink of choice, very dirty with 3 olives. Until Monday night the martini’s I have always been served looked like a window after a hurricane and tasted like olive juice. I have discovered the perfect very dirty Vodka Martini and it’s at STK Miami. I asked the bartender “How??” He’s been doing it for 10 years, just like anyone one else who has perfected their craft, be it an attorney, a baker, a detective, a manicurist when you’re good…..you’re good. The bartenders at STK Miami are very, very good.

(click on photo for up close & personal)

One martini down and I needed something to take the edge off while waiting for my friend so I ordered the Shrimp Rice Krispies. Novel, entertaining and delicious! Perfectly cooked shrimp on a bed of Rice Krispies with shrimp bisque poured over it by the waiter as it is served…so you hear the SNAP! CRACKLE! POP! FABULOUS!!!!

(click on photo for up close, personal & delicious!)

Just as I ordered my second martini my friend comes up to the bar and we’re off to the dining room. I have been waiting for this dinner for days! This is not my first time at STK and I fell hard the first time back in June when my family was in town; we had dinner there and it was beyond one of the best meals and times we all ever had; little did I know I was about to fall head over heels, again. I had the Skirt Steak, no knife required! with sides of Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms. My friend ordered one of the dinner specials, Grouper with handmade Gnocchi in a Beurre Blanc sauce. I ordered Grouper the last time I was at STK and felt I needed to be WOW’d by its STK so I succumbed….but the Grouper…just as fabulous as the first time. (you never forget your first!) and the gnocchi’s I actually think I hit the high note, they simply melted in your mouth…no chewing necessary. This dinner at STK very much like my first one was about the entire cumlination of company, food and ambiance.

STK epitomizes the term ultralounge. When I first arrived there were a handful of people in the entire place then as the night moved on so did the people. It was like lemmings to the sea, in the blink of an eye the entire place was packed. The bar in the dining room was now 10-deep with all the party people, every table in the restaurant was taken with the beautiful people and the music pulsated to a hot, hip vibe that exuded sex and sexy making this restaurant the obvious go-to place on a Monday night. I’ve always said (go back and read my some 700 other articles) it’s not always about the food and the wine but the company and the overall experience and how each enhances each other. For me STK is a home run!

(click on photos for up close, personal & delicious!)

We passed on coffee and dessert at STK and went to Cafe Bustelo one of the tenants at the Gansevoort and walked around the property in 20-degree Miami weather. Plunge the rooftop bar was closed due the weather but a quick walk around the patio and one can tell right away just like its sister venue downstairs this place is serving sexy any way you want it. The Gansevoort is stunning, mod and super-fabu! How can you not have the time of your life?

My room was amazing; oceanview, the bathroom alone could have easily housed a family of 9, and the bed….well no one would EVER call me a sloth but let me tell you….if I didn’t have to check out at 11am on Tuesday I’d still be there! It was dreamy beyond belief. So all I have to say is I am GGGGGagagagaga over the Gansevoort as anyone would be with its impeccable service and dynamic attention to detail you cannot help but expect the perfect night, weekend, or South Florida Weekend Getaway at the Gansevoort Miami Beach.