The hotel has a grand entrance. After you leave your car with the valet or exit your taxi, the walk back to the bar and restaurant, is like walking through a dream. There are long white sheer curtains everywhere blowing from the high ceilings around huge white columns, and over wood floors and trendy furnishings. There are beautiful people everywhere, and this is the kind of place celebrities probably frequent.

Along the hallway, there are semi-private lounge areas with contemporary furniture and art. There is a sushi bar and a billiards table, the Rose Bar, and some of the hottest nightlife in South Beach. Modern music is playing everywhere.

Out the rear of the restaurant, Delano has a great patio and beautiful gardens. They have a unique setting with a huge chess board, hammocks for two, and other nice touches before you get to their incredibly long and beautiful swimming pool.

Inside, the Blue Door has a small menu that constantly changes. It has appetizers ($14-$24) and Entrees ($29-$46). They have separate menus for dessert and after dinner coffees and cocktails. A full bar has just about anything available.

They were called fancy French names, but I had a generous-sized Small Leaf Salad ($15) as an appetizer, followed by their Pan Seared Lamb Chop ($39) served with garlic rosemary sautéed potatoes, tomato and mustard seed demi glace. The lamb was cooked a perfect medium (as ordered). My guests (I was with a large group) had numerous other things.

Seating is available inside and on the covered back patio. No wrong choices, the Delano is nothing but cool inside and out. Our group sat at a large long table with large luxurious chairs on each end, a plush white sofa on one side, and several chairs opposite the sofa.

The Blue Door at Delano is the coolest restaurant I have ever been to. Everything about it was different and distinctive, and very very cool. It epitomizes places to see and be seen. It's also a place to get great food. If you are looking for value, look elsewhere.

The Blue Door is located in the Delano Hotel at 1685 Collins Avenue in South Beach. To get there from the Hilton Fountainebleau resort (see my journal entry) or anywhere in Miami Beach, take Collins Avenue south to 16th Avenue and the Delano Hotel is on the left. Look for the 35 foot sheer white curtains blowing around the entrance and the blue door at sidewalk level.