Where should I eat in Miami, and which local food or drink is worth trying?

Stone crab is unusual among seafood in that only the claw is taken and the animal is returned to the water. State regulation reflects that: the minimum claw size is 2 7/8 inches, claws may not be taken from egg-bearing crabs, and spears, hooks or anything else that can puncture or crush the body are prohibited. The rules are identical in state and federal waters, so a claw served in Miami is governed by the same standard wherever it was landed off Florida.

Recreational harvest is tightly bounded. The daily bag limit is one gallon of claws per person or two gallons per vessel, whichever is less, and a harvester may set up to five traps. Those traps need an unobstructed escape ring 2 3/16 inches across in a vertical exterior wall, and anyone 16 or older must complete a free annual online trap registration and attach their registration numbers, full name and address to each trap. Knowing the scale of a legal recreational take makes the restaurant price easier to read.

Key lime pie's status is legislative rather than culinary: section 15.052 of the Florida Statutes states simply that key lime pie is designated the official Florida state pie, enacted by chapter 2006-236 of the Laws of Florida.

What the statutes do not capture is the rest of Miami's table, and census figures explain why that table is so broad. In the city of Miami, 57.7 percent of residents are foreign-born, and 77.4 percent of residents aged five and over speak a language other than English at home, on 2019–2023 American Community Survey estimates. Across Miami-Dade County, with a population of 2,838,461 as of July 1, 2024, the proportions are similar. Cuban, Haitian and Venezuelan cooking are not themed districts here; they are the ordinary food of a majority-immigrant city.

Because only the claws are harvested and the crab is released, stone crab is sold cooked and chilled rather than live, and the shell is cracked before serving. That is why it appears as a cold dish with mustard sauce rather than as something steamed to order, and why a restaurant's claws can be excellent regardless of whether it has a kitchen built for live shellfish.

• Lunch — A Cuban counter is the default midday meal in a city where more than three-quarters of residents speak a language other than English at home.
• Dinner — Order claws by size; 2 7/8 inches is the legal floor, not the typical plate.
• After — Key lime pie has been the state's official pie since 2006, and it is served everywhere accordingly.

Stone crab is seasonal and priced by the size grade, so a quoted market price can move sharply between visits. Restaurants in the tourist corridors on the beach are not representative of the city's cooking, and the neighborhoods where the census figures above are most pronounced sit inland rather than on the water. If you plan to harvest rather than order, the recreational trap registration must be completed before setting a trap, not after.

The when-to-visit answer in this group gives the season dates for stone crab, and the things-to-do answer covers getting between neighborhoods without a car.