Everything Including the Sizzle

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Graziano’s Cookout Leads a Fine First Friday Night

Talk about coming full circle: Graziano’s, which began as a Bird Road butcher’s shop that grilled their meats outside on weekend nights, is now barbecuing Argentine beef on First Friday nights at their third Gables location, in the courtyard of the Lifetime Building on US1.

Graziano’s barbecues Argentine beef on First Friday nights, holding a cookout in the courtyard of the Lifetime Building on U.S. 1

The Lifetime location is a reprise of the Graziano Mercado on Galiano Street (at the Eastern end of Giralda Plaza), an epicurean market-cum-deli with gourmet foods, wines, baked goods, meats, and tables where patrons eat paninis or empanadas for lunch, fish or beef for dinner.

Once a month, on First Fridays from 5 pm to 9 pm, Graziano’s Lifetime Mercado holds a cookout in the courtyard of the complex, where they offer a short menu of steaks barbecued in the traditional Argentine parrilla style. We went on a recent First Friday and were stunned by 1) the prices for their excellent steaks, from $29.99 for a 16-ounce marinated picahna to $39.99 for a 20 oz. porterhouse, and by 2) the quality of the live band, The Farm Boys, who played country and rock music with a “Beatles basic” lineup: lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, drums, and vocals.

As for the steaks, this is why our Argentine friends shop here: delicious, Aberdeen Angus Beef imported from a ranch in Cordoba Argentina, where the cattle roam free in the open grasslands. They also offer two-for-one beer and wine by the glass in a happy hour special. Everyone ate at tables under umbrellas, while kids played in an adjacent grassy square around a cylindrical steel sculpture (“Memoirs” by artist Blessing Hancock.)

The music was, bless Graziano’s, not deafening, but calibrated just loud enough to be rock and roll fun. The Farm Boys played a range of styles, from country tunes to a cover for the Rolling Stones’ “Miss You”, and they were talented.

Lower Right: Cernuda Arte had two shows at their locations on Ponce
Left : The Barranquilla Carnival display at the Coral Gables Museum with free admission and a full bar

As the sunset cast a golden light, we wondered why we were moving on. But it was First Friday, after all, and we wanted to see the latest exhibits at Cernuda Arte. These comprised of Tomás Sánchez show in one of their two adjacent buildings on Ponce, and a Gina Pellón centennial exhibition in the other. Both museum quality. Speaking of which, we also wanted to catch the Barranquilla Carnival display at the Coral Gables Museum, scheduled to leave after Oct. 3. With free admission and a full bar, the interior courtyard was jammed with smartly dressed revelers listening to the ‘80s new wave band Glass Blocs.

We ended the night calmly, next door at Books & Books, which had a solo guitarist playing in their courtyard. All the seats were taken, so we went inside, ordered two cappuccinos at the café, and perused the stacks. The music being piped into the (delightfully air-conditioned) interior was soothing retro rock; among the tunes played was the original “Miss You” by the Rolling Stones. Talk about coming full circle.