Carnitas with a literal twist, or how I succumbed to this S. Florida charmer.

Let me just say that the lobby and rooms of the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne are not my favorite. The lobby feels like an early 2000s spec home, and the furniture and carpet in the rooms are coarse, in the way that a bale of straw is. But within the genre of plantation-beach-rustic, the hotel is beautiful, and the meeting and outdoor space are just brilliant.

And when night falls, this resort slips into something altogether a little more comfortable.

I toured the grounds after dark with Grace Sanchez, Director of Sales. The Ritz recently converted its kids club into Dune, an "Oceanfront Lounge on the Sand." Think white cotton lounge furniture under palm-frond umbrellas on the white sand bordered by breezy dune grass.

While at Dune, I think about  The Cay, a book I read in 6th grade about a blind white boy and a black creole man washed up on some Caribbean island during a hurricane. Never mind the 500-room hotel immediately behind me. 

We end up at Cantina Beach, which has el mejor Mexican food I've ever eaten (with the exception of some guacamole I once ate in Ixtapa). The restaurant is set under a giant palm frond pavilion. With a huff and a puff, the pavilion burned down a few months ago. Apparently it's hard to find good Mexican in Miami with all the Cubans dominating the culinary scene. The restaurant was sorely missed.  But if we've learned anything from those fabled pigs, its that sustainable and combustable construction materials are easy to come by.  The restaurant reopened a few days ago.

We dine on shrimp, octopus, and grouper ceviche. The pork carnitas, however, steel the show. They arrive as bone-in ribs with directions from the server:

1. Put a corn tortilla in left hand.
2. Pick up a rib with the right.
3. Place rib on the tortilla in left hand.
4. Cover rib with tortilla.
5. Twist vigorously until all the meet melts away from the bone.

I almost included a picture, but didn't want to be associated with the Shake Weight  phenomenon of late.

The carnitas are worth the trip.