This Miami bar was just voted one of the best in North America
The ranking, unveiled at a live ceremony in Vancouver this week, celebrates the continent's top cocktail destinations, from Mexico City's reigning champ Handshake Speakeasy (number 1) to buzzy newcomers like New York's Clemente Bar (number 11). But Miami's lone representative on the list, Café La Trova, is no stranger to global accolades—and no ordinary watering hole.
The brainchild of acclaimed cantinero Julio Cabrera and James Beard Award-winning chef Michelle Bernstein, along with her husband, restaurateur David Martinez, La Trova is a blend of culinary craft and Cuban nostalgia. Expect your daiquiri shaken by white-jacketed bartenders who literally dance behind the bar while a rumba band plays on.
Cabrera's menu is a love letter to Cuba's golden age, with drinks like the Presidente (Havana Club Añejo Clásico rum, blanc vermouth de Chambery, dry curaçao and grenadine) and the tropical Hotel Nacional (rum, apricot liqueur, pineapple and lime) capturing the spirit of pre-Revolutionary Havana. Bernstein complements the cocktails with elegant twists on Cuban classics, like Serrano ham Cubanos and steak empanadas that some say are the best in Miami.
In a city brimming with beach clubs and rooftop lounges, Café La Trova stands out for its soul. And now, it's officially one of the best bars in North America. Salud to that.
The 50 best bars in North America in 2025 according to 50 Best Bars:
1. Handshake Speakeasy in Mexico City 2. Superbueno in New York 3. Tlecān in Mexico City 4. Jewel of the South in New Orleans 5. Sip & Guzzle in New York 6. Overstory in New York 7. Bar Pompette in Toronto 8. El Gallo Altanero in Guadalajara 9. Licorería Limantour in Mexico City 10. Kumiko in Chicago 11. Clemente Bar in New York 12. Mírate in Los Angeles 13. Café La Trova in Miami 14. Bar Mauro in Mexico City 15. Martiny's in New York 16. Pacific Cocktail Haven in San Francisco 17. True Laurel in San Francisco 18. Employees Only in New York 19. Double Chicken Please in New York 20. Baltra Bar in Mexico City 21. Civil Liberties in Toronto 22. Aruba Day Drink in Tijuana 23. Service Bar in Washington DC 24. Thunderbolt in Los Angeles 25. Best Intentions in Chicago 26. Botanist Bar in Vancouver 27. Arca in Tulum 28. The Keefer Bar in Vancouver 29. Selva in Oaxaca 30. Library by the Sea in Grand Cayman 31. Cloakroom in Montreal 32. La Factoría in San Juan 33. Maison Premiere in New York 34. Bijou Drinkery Room in Mexico City 35. Hanky Panky in Mexico City 36. Atwater Cocktail Club in Montreal 37. Bar Mordecai in Toronto 38. Meadowlark in Chicago 39. Bisous in Chicago 40. Kaito del Valle in Mexico City 41. Yacht Club in Denver 42. Katana Kitten in New York 43. Angel's Share in New York 44. Mother in Toronto 45. Allegory in Washington DC 46. Dante in New York 47. Café de Nadie in Mexico City 48. Silver Lyan in Washington DC 49. Bekeb in San Miguel de Allende 50. Cure in New Orleans
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
Amtrak reveals launch date for new 160mph tilting trains on the East Coast
Amtrak's new 160mph tilting trains serving stations on the Northeast Corridor will enter service on August 28, it has been announced. The next-generation Acela trains will run from Washington DC's Union Station to Boston via Philadelphia, New York Penn Station, New Haven, and Providence, a total distance of 457 miles. The current end-to-end journey time with the tilting Acela trains introduced in 2000 is typically six hours and 40 minutes. How much time the new trains shave off that hasn't been revealed yet, but they do have a top service speed that's 10mph faster — though this can only be achieved on certain sections of the mostly 110mph route — and an enhanced "anticipative" tilting system that not only allows for a smoother ride, Amtrak claims, but for faster speeds through curves. Amtrak also points out that the new Acela offers 27 percent more seating capacity per departure and upgraded interiors in standard, business, and first-class cars with more legroom. Features include onboard cafe cars, high-speed 5G-enabled Wi-Fi, in-seat USB ports and plug sockets, individual reading lights, winged headrests that Amtrak says "provide more comfort and separation," and seat covers made out of recycled leather. In first class, there are solo seats and an improved at-seat meal service featuring dishes by the current Acela meal provider — James Beard award-winning restaurateur Stephen Starr. New to Cafe Acela, meanwhile, is the addition of a grab-and-go self-service for "quick and easy checkout." A cart service will also travel the aisles on select departures. To book, passengers can use an interactive reservation system using the Amtrak app. Five new trainsets will be in service initially, with the number rising to 28 through 2027. Though the trains are designed by French firm Alstom, which makes France's famed 200mph TGVs, Amtrak revealed that the NextGen Acela fleet was assembled at Alstom's facility in Hornell, New York, using components from over 180 suppliers across 29 states, creating approximately 15,000 jobs. "NextGen Acela is more than a new train — it's an evolution of travel," said Amtrak President Roger Harris. "In just a few weeks, history will be made with the debut of NextGen Acela as we launch a new standard for American train travel."
Glasgow Times
2 days ago
- Glasgow Times
Sportscene turns 50 with special show on BBC Scotland
The programme will air on Saturday, August 9, at 8.15pm and will reunite some of Scottish football's most recognisable voices. Dougie Donnelly will return to the Sportscene studio as presenter, joined by current host Steven Thompson, with analysis from Gordon Smith. Dougie said: "It was a great time for Scottish football and the Saturday night sports programme was absolutely required viewing. Read more: Marseille reportedly eyeing loan move for O'Riley "I did 33 consecutive Scottish Cup finals – what a privilege to have been in the hot seat for so many of the big occasions, including all the World Cups and everything else. "I was hugely lucky and very much appreciate that. "I'm looking forward to going back on the show. "Fortunately, I'm still working in broadcasting, so it's not going to be as intimidating as it might have been. "It's live TV, what I've done my whole career, and it'll be fantastic to go back again and talk about Scottish football. "I look forward to seeing the reaction from the Scottish footballing public." The anniversary edition will feature archive footage dating back to the black and white television era and will include reflections and highlights from broadcasters who have helped shape the programme over the decades. Rob Maclean, who has worked on Sportscene for more than 25 years, will commentate on the Rangers v Dundee fixture. Archie Macpherson, who appeared on the inaugural episode in 1975, will provide commentary for St Mirren v Motherwell, while Jock Brown, a regular voice in the 1990s, will cover Livingston v Falkirk. Archie said: "I started in 1962 with Sportsreel – on Black Saturday, the weekend of the Cuban missile crisis. "My first report was Hamilton against Stenhousemuir at a time when the world was worried about nuclear warfare. "Programmes rely on the events they cover – and I was lucky enough to cover a succession of World Cups for Sportscene. "They gave the programme a great status in the public eye. "I'm very grateful for this opportunity to go back on the show. "It's quite a gesture after all this time away from commentating on Sportscene." Jock said: "I've done a lot of broadcasting since leaving Sportscene and I'm really looking forward to going back on the show. "It'll be good fun. "It's an iconic programme that has a big place in the story of sports broadcasting in Scotland."
Scotsman
4 days ago
- Scotsman
EIF music reviews Best of Monteverdi Choir Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Best of Monteverdi Choir ★★★★ Usher Hall An ensemble of soloists, some of whom featured at Saturday's EIF opening, the new generation of Monteverdi Choir has a surprising, fresh and distinctly modern sound. We are long past the somewhat over-manicured early music delivery mantras of the past: painstakingly enunciation and wowling phrases. These singers have formidable technique and pristine diction, and sing with open and unfettered joy. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Monteverdi Choir | Tommy Ga-Ken Wan Monday's programme was tricky - its title Best of Monteverdi Choir was a challenge – and pitching Purcell with Johann Sebastian Bach and his remote cousin Christoph in the concert's short first half didn't always deliver absolute success. Invigorating listening rather depended on the levels of woe in the texts and their settings, and the extent of the Lord's redemption. Purcell sounded a little tentative before a Christoph Bach rarity sung so gently as to be almost whispered, demanding wispy discretion from English Baroque Soloists' beautiful strings. JS Bach's Singet dem Herrn then set off at spanking pace, and both choir and orchestra seemed to find their pace. In Handel's Dixit Dominus the young composer's inebriation with all things Italian and operatic explodes into virtuosity with brilliant dialogue between voices and instruments. The texture, with matching violins and violas plus bass creates an ingenious match with the five strands of voices as equals. The 22-year-old Handel was certainly out to prove himself to Rome's diva strewn intellegentsia. Perhaps fueled by contemporary Papal disapproval of publicly played opera, florid cantatas were seeping into Church music encouraged by wealthy palazzo-owning clergy. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Handel, lover of word-painting, sets off, a fearless adventurer into a theatrical psalm of stern judgement swerving from wild pulsing choruses with stuttering repetitions to soloistic sweetness. Jonathan Sells, conducting a skittering tempo, gave us poise and agility. As encore, JC Bach's touching personal epilogue Gutte Nacht restored slow-breathed calm. We returned home serene and blessed. Mary Miller NYO2: Family Concert ★★★ Usher Hall Now in its second year, the EIF's Family Concert concept is a good thing. How to stage it, however, remains work in progress. NYO2, a youth orchestra of almost 100 instrumentalists from Carnegie Hall New York's trailblazing education programme, were ideal inspirational role models for any child present, audience numbers of which looked sadly depleted thanks to Storm Floris. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad With lighter style breeziness in impressively agile playing, the performers' joy in being part of the amazing phenomenon of what makes an orchestra was delightfully evident. Yet, a bitty programme of very short pieces with too many stops, starts and interruptive calls to stir up applause - deserved though applause was - didn't make for an optimum sense of musical satisfaction. A loose thread of music from America and Scotland, with participatory Piobaireachd humming, wasn't sufficient to weave together a coherent whole, despite NYO2 being completely at ease in surefire favourites such as Mambo or Encanto. With slick direction from conductor Josè-Luis Novo, an appropriately triumphant main theme from Star Wars meant time for storm-delayed free ice-cream and reflection on an unusual highlight, a rumba version of Ca' the Yowes by Thea Musgrave. Carol Main First Night at the Hub ★★★★ The Hub Finishing just before midnight, the opening night of The Hub's informal performance series felt like being at a party with an abundance of exceptionally talented guests. An intimate soiree of EIF friends, hosted by Festival Director Nicola Benedetti in the organisation's own front room, Monday's curation became a sort of mini festival in its own right. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad With party turns from many of this week's artists, including Roby Lakatos and his Hungarian ensemble, a wind quintet from NYO2, the Monteverdi Choir, trad legend Dougie McLean and the storm-cancelled Barokksolistene from Norway, and everyone getting together along with Benedetti's own in-house ensemble at the end, spontaneity and adrenaline fuelled energy were never far away. Hard though it is to pick out a favourite, Benedetti and Lakatos in the Csárdás by Monti nailed how to pull off virtuosity with wit and charm. Even the audience created its own suitably gentle chorus rendering of This Love Will Carry Me led by McLean. In flawlessly blended singing, the Monteverdi Choir, after a full performance at the Usher Hall earlier the same evening, brought the serenity of vocal perfection to Tavener's Song for Athene and Bruckner's Locus Iste. Carol Main Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy ★★★★★ Queen's Hall Head and heart collided and intermingled to breathtaking effect in Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy's magnificent recital of piano duets and duos - though even that paltry description doesn't do justice to their elegant, evidently choreographed movements across keyboards, sometimes intimately sharing a single instrument with wrists and fingers intertwined (it no doubt helps that they're real-life partners), sometimes hammering imperiously at their separate pianos. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There was little hammering, though, in the concert's limpid first half, which contrasted Hungarian composer György Kurtág's intricate, subtly adapted arrangements of Bach with some of his own more playful, gnomic pieces. They drew inspired accounts from the two men, who brought a similar sensitivity to Bach's eloquently rippling melodic lines and Kurtág's ghostly clusters. Heart came after the interval, however, with an overwhelmingly passionate account of Messiaen's monolithic Visions de l'Amen, which again felt revealingly choreographed in Kolesnikov's showy soloing standing in sharp contrast to Tsoy's granitic, motoric figurations. But their respective spectacular techniques aside, it was a vivid, visionary account, leaving no doubt as to the authentic passions of the 'Amen du desir' and pushing the concluding 'Amen de la consommation' to ever greater heights of euphoria. Their softly spoken encore, 'The Fairy Garden' from Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, blossomed from elegant restraint to joy and wonder. Unforgettable. David Kettle
