Miami has an expansive bakery scene including American, Cuban, French, Haitian, Jamaican, Italian, Mexican, and Portuguese bakeries.
In mid-January, I traveled to Miami for work. As is my custom, as soon as I landed, I began my search for the best bakeries in the area. To my surprise, my first referral came from two guys at the Enterprise Rental Car counter at the Miami International Airport. They recommended Firemen Derek’s in South Miami and it didn’t disappoint. (They also recommended Tasty G’s for breakfast, though I didn’t have time to visit this fan favorite.) I was drawn to the name of the bakery and the fact that it was started by firefighter and former Division I football player Derek Kaplan. I love a good story.
Story aside, Firemen Derek’s offers a plethora of pies, brownies, cake, and other sweet treats. Their website notes that they focus “on bringing big flavors and big smiles to all of our customers.” Visiting this bakery was honestly overwhelming, but in the best way. While I opted for a decadent chocolate brownie, my colleague bought pecan pie and carrot cake for our group. The pecan pie was finger-licking good, and finger-licking is likely an understatement. It was magnificent.
In addition to visiting Firemen Derek’s, I also visited a few other bakeries, including Vicky Bakery. This Cuban bakery is family-owned and has five locations in Miami and 23 in South Florida. It was likely the first, family-owned Cuban bakery I’d ever visited. I purchased flan, which was incredibly rich and sweet. While Vicky Bakery had a ton of goodies, what surprised me most was that one of their locations has a walk-up counter. I’ve never seen a bakery where you could walk up to the counter and be served. This was such a cool experience.
In addition to visiting these spots, I also enjoyed homemade baked goods from Adams’ Catering which provided dinner and dessert for one of our meetings. They served fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, cabbage, green beans, cornbread, and peach cobbler. I fell off the wagon three of the four days I was in Miami.
Overall, I was delighted to visit bakeries in Miami. The city has an expansive bakery scene including American, Cuban, French, Haitian, Jamaican, Italian, Mexican, and Portuguese bakeries. I didn’t consider the many cultural influences in Miami and how that might impact the bakery selection. When I visit a bakery, I’m typically looking for cake, cupcakes and sugar cookies. I didn’t have enough time to truly explore all this city has to offer.
I realized that when visiting larger cities for work, I need to arrive a couple days prior to my meeting in order to truly take in the city and the bakery scene. Lesson learned.
