I no longer live in Miami but it will always be home. For the 10-plus years I did live there, it was never really considered a gastronomic hot spot. Of course you could get great food; a lot of Cuban cuisine, seasonal stone crab, Nuevo Latino, and lovely seafood, to name a few. You could also find a lot of farmer's markets during the cooler months and there was even a CSA (community shared agriculture) distributing fresh produce from the Redlands - but it never really had that food-town feeling that places like New York, London, Hong Kong, or Paris have, for example.
Although I am a little jealous that all this happened right after I left, I can say that a lot of it began while I was still there. Local chefs like Michelle Bernstein (my ex-boss at the Mandarin Oriental's Azul) continue to gain popularity along with talent like Michael Schwartz and several others. These names draw attention to Miami in a great way and bring the city closer to recognized food-town status.
I'm excited for my Miami and I hope to visit soon and eat my way around town...
