Taste of the Beach on Lincoln Road is an annual festival where over 30 top restaurants (not chains) around Miami set up shop along the pedestrian outdoor mall of upscale shops, galleries, restaurants, and cafes on Lincoln Road (worth a visit on their own). The event is held over a mid-April weekend each year.

People can buy tickets ($1 each) to "taste" samples of each of the restaurants food ($1-$7 per taste), while enjoying live music from multiple stages, endless people watching, and window shopping at the shops and galleries...all in perfect weather.

Taste of the Beach at Lincoln Road is an excellent way to taste food from many different restaurants in one day or evening out, which was a real treat for us. We tasted many types of cuisine including, grilled meats, fried rice, sushi, and more. They even have treats for dogs, and they are welcome....we saw several.

We tasted food from more restaurants than we could have possibly visited in our vacation. It was great fun. In addition to the food and the music, there are demonstrations given by area chefs that are informative and entertaining. We had a blast visiting the casual galleries in between our tastes of food and drink.

There was even a Farmers Market (fruits and vegetables) the day of our visit to the Taste of the Beach on Lincoln Road.

Lincoln Road Mall (and the Taste of the Beach at Lincoln Road) is located in Miami Beach on Lincoln Road at 16th Street. Lincoln Road Mall has over 175 shops, galleries, and an art-deco style theater. It is next door to the Miami Convention Center. It has funky unusual gift shops, and art deco architecture, tropical gardens, and the art deco Lincoln theater, which has 1935 art deco architecture.

Don’t miss art gallery Britto Central (818 Lincoln Rd, 305-531-8821), home to Brazilian pop artist Romero Britto’s modern, colorful, and fun paintings, sculptures, and books. It has very friendly and helpful staff. They even gave our young daughter a postcard size reproduction of one of his paintings. Britto has been commissioned for advertising art all over the world. His work is seen on Pepsi cans and in liquor adverts.

Lincoln Road Mall is located on Lincoln Road in South Beach. To get there from Miami Beach, take Collins or Washington Avenue south to Lincoln Avenue and turn right. You can’t miss Lincoln Road Mall.