In case you don’t already know, I hate the beach.  And, not just the beach, but Miami Beach as a whole is just a cesspool of pretense and superficiality.  I hate the traffic.  I hate the parking.  I hate the parade of Botox and silicone.  Plus, I look terrible in a swimsuit.

That aside, every now and then, a restaurant garners enough buzz to get me off my lazy butt and off to a Miami Beach adventure.  Prime 112 was one such instance.  When I asked people what kind of food they serve, I was told “a little bit of everything.”  That worried me, because most restaurants that try to dabble in different types of cuisine usually don’t excel at any of them.  Still, with an open mind (and someone else’s wallet), I made my way over there.

This restaurant is situated right on Ocean Drive, so it gets a lot of foot traffic.  That is, in addition to the men with sweaters tied around their shoulders and trophy dates in their valet parking their luxury cars.

We had a reservation, but still ended up having to wait for our table.  Our host, who comes here often, said that this is normal.  Undaunted, we took a spot at the bar to wait.  Their bar serves an interesting alternative to cocktail nuts.

Yes, those are strips of smoked bacon in a wine glass.  At first, I thought you had to order the bacon.  When our host reached into a glass sitting next to some guy and took a strip of bacon, I thought we were about to have a fist fight on our hands.  But no, he assured me that the bacon is kept on the bar for everyone.  Darn good bacon, too.

Like most steakhouses, we received a basket of bread when we finally got to our table.

It was a nice variety of breads.  I really didn’t touch it, because I was planning on doing some serious damage with the actual meal.

I started with the fried chicken sliders as an appetizer.  Someone else ordered a crab cake.

These were definitely several notches above a KFC chicken slider.  Best of all, they used cheddar cheese.  None of that fake American cheese crap.

This was a solid crab cake, but definitely not the best I’ve had.  That dollop of tartar sauce (or, whatever it was), on top  didn’t appeal to me.  The bed of corn salsa was a nice touch, though.

Naturally, I ordered a N.Y. Strip.  They offered a selection of sauces to accompany the steak, so I went with the house steak sauce.

I am happy to report that the Prime 112 kitchens certainly knows their steaks.  It was juicy and had a robust flavor.  The steak sauce tasted a little bit like Shula’s steak sauce, but a little bit sweeter.

Since all menu items are sold a la carte, we ordered two sides for the table.  The scalloped Parmesan potatoes were pretty great.  Since these are the host’s favorite, I ate one or two bits and did not touch any more.  I’d hate to get stabbed over a casserole.  The creamed corn left  a little to be desired.  I wasn’t expecting it to have truffle in it, and it was an odd flavor combination.  I normally love truffle, but it can really take over a dish if misused.  I think that’s what happened here.

In addition to the food, the service was excellent.  Despite my initial apprehension from being surrounded by snobby rich people, the servers were all very warm and friendly.  The ambiance was still a little too stuffy for me, but I could just be too self-conscious.  That probably wouldn’t stop me from going back.  I’ll just have to steer clear of anyone in a sweater vest.

For more information on Prime 112 and its sister restaurants, visit their website at http://mylesrestaurantgroup.com/