Chain Reaction: Has Miracle Mile Lost Its Soul?

Sunday, February 17, 2008
11:30 am (ish)

Chili’s Outlines Plans for New Venue in Gables

Remove restless torso from Stearns & Foster. Wash face. Wipe cold out of eyes. Back to Stearns & Foster.

Chili’s Outlines Plans for New Venue in Gables

Miami Herald headline remains unchanged. I guess Coral Gables wants their “baby back, baby back…”.

The development of the U.S. Interstate Highway System (Dwight D. Eisenhower’s baby) in the 1950’s facilitated many things. It allowed businesses to ship goods and services across the country, families to utilize the vehicle to vacation in far-away destinations, and facilitated the birth of the franchise chain. Motels, diners, gas stations, and fast food chain restaurants soon sprouted next to every highway in every town, every city, and (later) every suburb throughout America.

While Coral Gables has never been strongly adverse to big brands (remember the Burger King on the NW corner of Miracle & Galiano where Nexxt Cafe operated for what seems like 3 months?), the area’s restaurant scene, once dominated by independent “mom-n-pop” establishments, has changed considerably in the past few years.

Monounsaturated trans fats, monosodium glutamate (MSG), soy protein, high-fructose corn syrup, and yellow #5 are not what worry me most. The lack of fresh ingredients isn’t either. I mean, what you eat doesn’t make me _ _ _ _ (rhymes with sit).

My concern is the changing atmosphere in Miracle Mile. While the bar and restaurant landscape has become glitzier and shinier (think Tarpon Bend & Houston’s), the Mile’s texture, character, personality, and neighborhood feel have become endangered species.

When I walk the Mile and the surrounding area these days, I feel like I’m at an outdoor version of a suburban mall. The distinctive charm is gone. There’s a lack of energy. A lack of creativity. The entrepreneurial spirit of yesteryear is nonexistent. Miracle Mile could be anywhere. What happened to its identity? What makes me want to say: “This is where I want to live!”?

I have always felt (and still do) that the neighborhood north of the Central Business District - North Ponce (loosely defined as the area north of Minorca Ave, west of Douglas Rd, and east of Le Jeune Rd) - has the potential to become a quasi-urban neighborhood that attracts the creative 20 & 30-somethings in search of a place to establish the knowledge-based and creative-content industries that drive so much of today’s economic growth.

I hope local leaders and market forces find a way to create a community that fosters diversity, tolerance, and openness to new ideas. I hope they create a community that attracts the very people who will demand and establish authentic eateries along Ponce de Leon Blvd. I hope they create a community where mediocrity is not tolerated. I hope they create a community where mothers can walk their children to Coral Gables Elementary and stop at the bakery for a freshly baked baguette on the way back home, while fathers walk to the storefront office to make that dough.

I just hope they don’t recreate present-day Miracle Mile.

Adrian Salgado is a Realtor Associate with RED I Realty and can be reached at 305-491-7179 or SalgadoA@gmail.com.

This post does not intend to defame any of the restaurants mentioned above. As a matter of fact, you can catch me in a certain corner having lunch sometimes (even though they destroyed their menu when they removed the Hawaiian Ribeye, the pork chops, and the baked beans from their culinary repertoire). You may even see me in there on a Friday afternoon amongst the chickenhead convention taking place inside. Guilty pleasure. It entertains me.

By the way, although you’ll never see me eating inside the new Chili’s (when it opens), you may see me having 2-for-1 Killian’s Red amongst the 2-for-1 Cuervo (sorry, no Patron) margarita-sipping secretary/administrative assistant happy hour set that Chili’s is sure to attract. I’ll take that over the Grey Goose-sipping, Prada sunglass-wearing secretary/administrative assistant happy hour set at that certain corner 10 out of 10 times. I’m just saying.