In February, I had occasion to be in South Beach on business. Coincident to this trip was the Miami Beach Food & Wine Festival. So Jo and I decided to tack on an extra day or two to the trip. Before we left, Jo had seen Michael Schwartz on "Martha" talking about his restaurant in Miami. So after my meetings ended on Friday morning, we headed over to Michael's Genuine Food & Drink for lunch.
We drove over to the Design District and found a place that was packed to the gills and absolutely crawling with people. A combination of indoor and outdoor dining, we were seated at a table for two on the patio. I started with some chili chicken wings. Excellent. While we were enjoying the apps, we couldn't help overhearing the conversation at the table next to us: an older man, who liked like an extra from the Godfather II, talking with what we thought to be a much younger man, with a giant belt buckle that read "NERDS" and his ball cap on sideways. While we were there, several women kept walking up to them and telling the young man how much they liked his music.
Curiosity couldn't be held back any longer and Jo leaned over and asked him who he was. He turned out to the be the (extremely gracious) Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes and he then explained who he was. What a genuinely nice guy.
After they left, a thirty-something man sat at their table and struck up a conversation about who they were. He was obviously straight from the airport, based on his luggage. He turned out to be the food editor for Esquire, so, of course, I asked all kinds of questions about restaurants. He recommended a couple in Miami and we discussed the Atlanta restaurant scene. I ordered a braised beef penne pasta. Very well executed and extremely tasty.
Jo and I decided to split a dessert, so she chose: basil panacotta with grapefruit sorbet and gelatin. She has raved about this dessert ever since we had it. I think she'd drive back there for another tomorrow <g>. 
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