But first, School Board Member, Marta Perez, loves the old school charm and Awola approved
Cuban recipes served up at her goto spot for huge portions of comfort food at a great price.
Locals and tourists alike congregate at the South Florida Institution, which has been
serving up authentic family recipes since 1977. It's in Miami and it's called Islas Canarias.
My name is a Eileen Andrade and I'm third generation owner of Islas Canarias. Islas
Canarias, we serve traditional Cuban fair, no frills, traditional Cuban food, traditional
Spanish food. All of our recipes have been handed down from my grandfather. You come here,
you bring your family, you're gonna get a really good wholesome meal. The service is quick.
I'd say we serve the best croquetas which we serve in all the other the restaurants, but this is more
just sticking to tradition. We just renovated a couple years ago. We wanted to give it a light
old school Cuban, 1950s vibe. We have a beautiful mural where it depicts a lot of Latin singers, not
only Cuban, but Puerto Rican as well, Dominicans. Islas Canarias is tradition, family, and value.
Wow. I have to hear what you have. I have to hear how long you've been going.
It's been around for 45 years and it's known for it's croquetas,
that people drive all the way out West.
croquette nation.
Croquetta nation, right. It's been written up about, and I went for
breakfast. The breakfast is fast and a lot of local people, I really like to go by and enjoy.
It's a great restaurant for that community and for tourists as well.
They're really wonderful. In fact, I took
Anthony Bourdain there a few years ago when he did a show on Miami 'cause I thought it
was that important. So tell me a little bit about your breakfast that you had.
I'm always counting calories, so they have a vegetarian omelet. Very good, delicious.
[Michelle] But all the breakfast are completa. So they all come with..
Come with fries or whatever you want. I don't eat gluten.
[Michelle] Okay.
So I don't eat the bread, but I went with...
[Michelle] Which is really hard not to
[Marta] Which is hard not to
[Michelle] because it comes crusty and delicious.
[Marta] But I went with someone and they had the Abuela omelette, which has sausages
and plateins and it was quite delicious. He also ordered Edamame milkshake that is
staple in the Cuban Restaurant,
[Michelle] But six tier ribs. [participants laughing]
[Marta] Very Good.
Dennis, have you been?
[Dennis] I have.
And what do you think you, what do you think?
I did not have a vegetarian omlette I'd say.
[Michelle] I bet you didn't.
[Dennis] For me it's always about the Croquettas. [Michelle Laughing] and
there's no list of any kind anywhere in the world that doesn't have
yeast lacaradios on their list for croquettas. So I always get Hamon.
[Michelle] I love that taste serve them with a little wedge of lime too.
[Dennis] Yeah. [Michelle] Wendy, did you had Croquettes as well?
Yes, I had the poiyo.
You had the chicken,
chicken. That's the best. And I put the lime on it and I bite into it. It was full, it was moist.
It wasn't overcooked, it was perfect. And I've been there before just to get the croquettes.
Really, wow.
[Wendy] Yeah.
All right, so what else did you have that day?
One of my favorites is oxtails and they have oxtails there like
you've never seen. And of course you can try to eat them, daintly, knife and fork..
[Michelle] So they come on the bowl?
Yes. [Michelle] You pick them up.
Eventually you gotta pick 'em up and just kind of go after them. And they were very delicious.
Wendy, what else did you have other than the chicken croquettes?
I ordered the ropa vieja and the person I was with ordered the vaca frita.
I ended up eating his vaca frita. [all laughs]
Can you tell everybody what vaca fritas is?
I guess the translation is fried beef.
[Michelle] Cow. Cow, fried cow.
The true definition but nobody wants to call it that.
[Wendy] The definition of dirty clothes [Wendy laughs]
Yes, yes.
So they're both not translating very well.
[Michelle] Not so much.
I had to say I like the vaca fritas better than I liked the ropa vieja. It was very moist,
the onions were good. The rice was good, I'm a rice person. I will eat rice over anything. The
rice was nice and moist had a good flavor. The beans were good. It was really nice.
So Marta, you wanna talk a little bit about the service there?
Right away she was there to take our order and everything was, it was perfect.
[Michelle] That's wonderful.
[Dennis] They work so hard. They have so much
hustle there. They're really there to make sure you have a good time.
Should we even mention prices? I mean.
If you owe somebody a big meal and you're bringing a lot of people, this is the place to go.
[Michelle] Yeah. I mean, the prices are really extraordinarily low.
Yeah, the portions are very large.
[Michelle] Yeah.
We had a lot of leftovers, a lot. They also had their own juices. They bottle
squeezed their own juices. So we had the orange juice and we had the watermelon
and it was really fresh. It was really, really good.
The List of batidos, which are the shakes,
the milkshakes and the juices is quite extensive. Who had dessert?
[Dennis] Well, trace lites as always
between the cream on top and then the kind of custard part and then the sauce and how much
the cake part absorbs the sauce. it's just a happy moment. That's all I would say lovely.
Well Marta, Islas Canaris was George's choice, sum it up for us please.
It's a great family owned restaurant has been around 45 years. Great
service, great food. A delight parking should not be a problem.
Dennis, wanna sum it up for me?
For me, it's a Miami legend. I've been here as long as the restaurant has,
and it is an incredible place to go to taste authentic Cuban food
served by an incredibly great staff and it's a family business. You can't beat that.
Wendy?
You wanna have a good croquette, a good coffee. It's a great place to go try authentic Cuban food.
You didn't even talk about the Cafe Kendali. Well you can get a taste of
Cuban history at Isla Canarias restaurant and bar located at 13695, Southwest 26th street
in Miami with an additional location near Kendall, open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner
reservations aren't accepted. And the average price for dinner without drinks is about $30.