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JulioJulio Cabrera, the award-winning master bartender best known for bringing the art of the cantinero to Miami, has debuted his latest restaurant in Miami Lakes called La Cumbancha, featuring a menu of Cuban-American food and cocktails.

Cabrera, named Bartender of the Year at the 2019 Tales of the Cocktails’ Spirited Awards, says he wants to bring a high-energy restaurant to Miami Lakes, which has been his home for nearly two decades. “Everybody who wants to open a place looks to Little Havana or South Beach. I wanted to give something to my neighborhood. I know the potential Miami Lakes has, and it needs a restaurant that provides quality food and service.”

Cabrera describes La Cumbancha as a tribute to 1970s Miami. “This was the beginning of the Cuban community in Miami.” He cites ¿Qué Pasa, USA? a bilingual television series from the late 1970s, as his inspiration. “It was a show about a Cuban-American family living in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood.” The restaurant is decorated in bright citrus hues to set the mood, augmented by colorful murals.

The menu, created by chef Carlos Hidalgo, offers Cuban favorites flavored with influences from France, Spain, and Italy. Highlights include blood sausage and mozzarella croquetas served with Greek yogurt-dill sauce; pork tamales with serrano ham, avocado, and mojo criollo; rabo encendido (Cuban oxtail stew) with wood-fired oxtail, port wine, spicy sauce, arroz moro; tostones chilindron de chivo (goat Creole) with braised goat, red sauce, Hautey beer, red wine, and mashed potato; and a filet mignon finished tableside with a rum flambé sauce.

Cocktails, of course, will play a huge role at La Cumbanacha. The menu is a collaboration between Julio Cabrera, his son Andy Cabrera, and Cafe La Trova bartender Loiver Hernandez — with the bulk of the libations created by Andy and Hernandez. “From the beginning, they asked to be part of the team and create the cocktails. I wanted to have at least six cocktails on the menu, but they presented them to me, and they were excellent.” Cabrera wasn’t surprised by the events since he and his son had visited nearly every cocktail bar on the World’s 50 Best Bars list together.

Cabrera considers the cocktail menu so solid that he doesn’t yet have a favorite one. “We don’t have one yet that we consider the signature. We’ll learn that in a few months. So far, all the cocktails are really good.”

Cocktail standouts, according to Cabrera, include the Cumbanchero, a coffee tiki cocktail made with rum, toasted coconut syrup, coffee Campari, lime, and pineapple; and the El Caballo Daiquiri made with rum, Luzardo bitter blanco, apricot liqueur, calamansi, sugar, and lime. The restaurant will also offer a martini cart, which will allow bartenders to craft your cocktail tableside.

To further generate excitement, La Cumbancha will offer live music nightly by musicians from Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, and beyond. “The music is amazing, and we have one singer that sounds just like Celia Cruz,” said Cabrera.

In all, Cabrera is excited for Miamians to experience La Cumbancha – especially people who are fans of the now-iconic Cafe La Trova. ”I love this place, and I’m really excited. It’s different from La Trova, but it has the same energy. I want to bring the finest detail in food, service, and cocktails to Miami Lakes. I can compare the cocktails here with any of the top 50 bars in the world. We have a combination of food, drinks, and ambiance. It’s going to be special, I can assure you.”

La Cumbancha is now open at 6743 Main Street, Miami Lakes, FL, 33014. For reservations, call 305-456-5972 or visit lacumbanchamiami.com. Open Wednesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

MIAMI LAKES, Fla. – The holiday season is here, and while you might expect Santa Claus to come to town, there’s another less cheery Christmas figure that has made his way to South Florida.

The Grinch himself is taking over a speakeasy in Miami Lakes.

Speakeasys are typically hard to find, and this one is no different as it’s tucked away behind a restaurant.

From the outside, Chela’s Cocteleria looks like your typical restaurant in Miami Lakes.

But when you walk in and pull back the curtain, you step out of South Florida and into the Grinch’s layer where only the who’s who of Whoville can come inside.

The Grinch has taken over the Santa Diabla speakeasy, and the European-style spot is starting to look a lot like Christmas thanks to the green man himself.

“So the Grinch took all the decorations from Whoville and dumped them all here in Santa Diabla,” marketing director Vanessa Martinez explained.

Every nook and cranny is wrapped in festive paper and twinkling Christmas lights.

The Grinch’s mischievous spirit has run wild, transforming the sultry speakeasy into a wondrous Grinch-themed hideaway.

“We’re what you call a proper bar. We make all of our juices -- garnishes are made in house. All of our spirits are top shelf,” Martinez said.

They’ve created special cocktails dedicated to the guy we love to hate, and Local 10 entertainment reporter Alexis Frazier even got the chance to step behind the bar with the green man himself.

“You know, I’ve always wanted to be a bartender so I’m living out my dreams,” Frazier told the Grinch.

“You have terrible dreams,” he responded.

Besides dissing Frazier, he taught her how to make the drink that is true to Miami culture -- the Grinch’s coquito.

It’s made with coquito, milk, aged rum and winter spices, and this is just one of the festive drinks on display this holiday season.

“The Grinch may or may not make an appearance from time to time,” Martinez said. “I don’t know his schedule. He’s not like Santa, he doesn’t travel around the world. But the Grinch is also busy. He’s busy dealing with the whos in Whoville.”

The capacity inside is small so reservations are strongly encouraged.

But they’re staying open into the new year so more people can get a chance to run into the Grinch.

“We wanted people to be able to get their chance to see the bar, experience the cocktails that we worked really hard on putting together. So we wanted to make it easy and accessible for as many people to come,” Martinez said.

And drinks aren’t the only thing on the menu as there’s also a variety of small bites to choose from.

Click here to make reservations.

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A new Cuban-American restaurant from one of the creators of Café La Trova is bringing the spirit and sounds of 1970s Miami to Miami Lakes.

La Cumbancha — a term that refers to a lively gathering with food, drink and music — is now open on Main Street, with live music every night and a Cuban-inspired menu. One of the new restaurant’s partners is Julio Cabrera, who brought the Cuban Cantinero movement to Miami at the Michelin-recommended Café La Trova, his collaboration with Chef Michelle Bernstein on Calle Ocho.

Café La Trova, famous for its retro atmosphere and Cuban-style bartenders, was named the best restaurant bar in the United States at the 17th annual Spirited Awards in August and one of the best bars in the world by The World’s 50 Best Bars in October.

La Cumbancha is following a slightly different blueprint but still aims to be an all encompassing night out, with food, drink and music, Cabrera said.

“It’s a complete experience that engages all senses,” he said.

The 4,000-square-foot space, which has room for up to 200 diners, includes outdoor areas and private dining options.

The menu, created by Chef Carlos Hidalgo and partner Yoel Suarez, highlights influences from Italy, Spain and France on its Cuban-inspired dishes. You’ll find empanadas stuffed with picadillo a la habanera and maduros; croquetas with blood sausage and mozzarella, which is served with a Greek yogurt dill sauce and Spanish sausage with orange marmalade.

There are also pork tamales, rabo encendio with wood-fired oxtail and port wine and tostones with braised goat.

The restaurant also uses a wood-fired pizza oven from Italy Today, one of the first restaurants on Main Street, which means customers can order pizza, too, such as the La Cumbancha with sweet onion, mozzarella, aged goat cheese and bacon. The oven is also used to bake the restaurant’s bread.

The cocktail menu is, of course, of the utmost importance, highlighting tropical flavors and using modern mixology techniques.

“Each cocktail is a unique piece,” Cabrera says.

The after-dinner activities are important at La Cumbancha, too. In addition to desserts and after dinner cocktails, guests can order coffee and cigars from Cabrera’s brands, Café El Sacrificio and Sacrificio Cigars.

Where: 6743 Main Street, Miami Lakes

Hours: 5-10 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday

More information: www.lacumbanchamiami.com; 305-456-5972

A parent complaint says the poem is "not educational" and has "indirect hate messages."

"The Hill We Climb," the poem written by Amanda Gorman for President Joe Biden's inauguration, was moved out of the elementary section of one Miami-Dade County public school, the district confirmed Tuesday. It remains available to older children.

A parent of a student at Bob Graham Education Center - a kindergarten through eighth grade school in Miami Lakes - objected to the poem, for which they erroneously listed Oprah Winfrey as the author/publisher, documents obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project show.

It "is not educational and have (sic) indirectly hate messages," the complaint said, adding that the poem would "cause confusion and indoctrinate students."

The same parent made similar complaints about "Love to Langston," a poetry-based biography of Black poet Langston Hughes; "The ABCs of Black History" and two books about Cuba, complaints obtained by FFTRP show.

A materials-review panel at the school declined to remove the books from the school entirely, but did decide to move the Gorman poem and two other disputed items to the library's middle school section, which is for grades six through eight, minutes of an April meeting of the committee, also obtained by FFTRP, show.

Gorman, the nation's first-ever youth poet laureate, criticized the decision, writing on Instagram, "Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech."

In a statement to CNN Tuesday evening, Miami-Dade County Public Schools spokesperson Elmo Lugo said, "No literature (books or poem) has been banned or removed."

"It was determined at the school that 'The Hill We Climb' is better suited for middle school students and, it was shelved in the middle school section of the media center. The book remains available in the media center," he said.

Lugo did not respond to a request to verify the authenticity of the complaint documents released by the Florida Freedom to Read Project, instead saying the district would process CNN's inquiry as a formal public records request.

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A prominent Florida brokerage celebrates REALTOR® Rosa Nell Hammer, a local legend whose old-fashioned ways remain widely admired.

Talk about seniority.

Rosa Nell Hammer(link is external), a sales associate at The Keyes Company Miami Lakes Welcome Center, has worked in real estate for 56 years. On Oct. 2, Hammer turned 104—and she remains an active licensee and member of the National Association of REALTORS®. To celebrate her birthday, The Keyes Company threw a party.

“She’s probably the most amazing person I have met in my life,” says Alex Ruiz, who has been Hammer’s manager at The Keyes Company since 1983. She’s widely known and respected in the Miami Lakes community, he adds. In fact, the town recently renamed the street she lives on “Rosa Nell Hammer Parkway,” and in August, the local Veterans Committee planted an oak tree in her honor at Veterans Park.

Hammer was born in Mississippi in 1919. She told The Miami Laker(link is external) in a 2014 interview that she relocated to Akron, Ohio, during the early years of World War II to work in a Goodyear aircraft factory before moving to a South Carolina Air Force base to repair planes. She married Harvey Hammer, who was serving in the Army Air Corps, and they began a series of military relocations that would serve as the inspiration for her real estate career. They lived in Japan twice before settling in Miami in 1955 to raise their children. Today, Hammer is a mother of four, grandmother of eight and great-grandmother of six.

In the late 1960s, Hammer decided to pursue a career in real estate. She told The Miami Laker that her experience selling her own home and moving many times gave her the confidence to help buyers and sellers achieve their real estate goals. She earned her real estate license at age 48, and, in 1967, she started her career at The Keyes Company. Beginning in the 1970s, she spent 20 years selling new construction with The Graham Companies, the developer and builder of the town of Miami Lakes. After the death of her husband, Hammer intended to retire. But her love for the business kept her from leaving it. When her manager at The Graham Companies opened a real estate brokerage office, she went to work for him. Later, the brokerage was purchased by The Keyes Company, bringing her real estate career full circle.

“Rosa is very brilliant and knowledgeable,” Ruiz says. “She’s never used a computer in her life but knows the market better than most of us.”

Jane Gentile-Youd, a broker in Ormond Beach, Fla., and a close friend and former colleague of Hammer, says she’s always been struck by Hammer’s integrity and energy. “When we worked together in the early 2000s, she was the only agent who handwrote and hand-addressed every single one of her several hundred holiday cards,” she recalls. In her spare time, Gentile-Youd marvels, Hammer learned to cultivate orchids and make stained glass. In her 80s, she created stained-glass windows that now adorn her front door and kitchen cabinets.

Ruiz and Gentile-Youd aren’t the only colleagues to herald Hammer’s example. Allan Pelaez, broker-owner of Hammer Realty in Miami Lakes, named his company after her. “When I started in the industry, she took me under her wing,” he says. In return, he handled her computer work.

“She is a living encyclopedia and taught me everything I know about real estate—and everything she taught me, I wanted to follow,” Pelaez says. “The principles that made her successful would be my guiding light.”

One of those principles could very well be endurance. As recently as 2019, at the age of 100, Hammer completed a real estate deal. Despite recent hip and knee replacements, she continues to send referrals to the company’s property management division and maintains a desk at the office. According to Ruiz, Hammer plans to work for The Keyes Company as long as she can.

“I just love to meet people and hear their life stories,” Hammer says. There’s no surer proof of her genuine interest in others than her impressive track record in real estate.

As a professional writer for 20-plus years, Dina Cheney has authored six books for a number of publishers.