Every major city in the US has a “Chinatown,” where one can go and experience the culture, taste the food and buy cheap, bootleg ass shit. Except for Miami. The closest thing Miami has to a Chinatown is the 1/2 mile stretch of shops on NE 163rd Street that’s across the street from that weird mall. For about 5 consecutive shopping plazas, there are Chinese restaurants, nail shops, Oriental markets, cheap photo places that Asian girls LOVE to take pictures at and one of the greatest bakeries ever - Mary Ann Bakery. 

Mary Ann Bakery sits between a liquor store and a tax preparation place and there’s a Dickies store in the same plaza. (Don’t let the red flags scare you off. There isn’t a baby selling weed on the corner, so it isn’t situated in the deep ghetto.) The bakery offers an array of Chinese pastries - cookies, buns and my favorite, roll cake. I’ve nicknamed this cake “Cloud Cake” because it’s the softest thing ever. The cake and creme is a perfect balance. It isn’t too sweet where it makes your cheeks shrivel up at the first bite. Mary Ann Bakery ships their roll cakes to other Oriental markets as far north as Lauderdale Lakes (this is how I first discovered the cake). They offer their cake in different flavors such as vanilla, chocolate and lemon (I think lemon, anyway..I just stick to the OG vanilla and sometimes mix it up with the vanilla cake that has vanilla creme with bits of chocolate in it. Ugh so good!)

The bakery also sells a variety of Dim Sum type snacks. I’ve heard good things about their curry puffs and beef jerky buns. I usually get one or two baked BBQ pork buns. I made a recent visit and got two pork buns and a slice of roll cake for only $3.50! 

This spot is open everyday from 8:30am-5:00PM.  It’s perfect for someone who wants a great snack that’s quick and cheap. Fuck a drive-thru, go to Mary Ann Bakery!

I love fried chicken. I love mashed potatoes. I love mac and cheese. I love soul food. I love cheap food. And I think I’ve fallen in love with Esther’s, where you can get cheap, delicious soul food.

I had my first visit today to their location that’s off NW 7th Ave and 46th Street (kind of in the hood, I guess). I was blown away with all the choices and it took me forever to finally decide to get the BBQ chicken combo. (I would have gotten fried chicken, but I ate it for lunch yesterday.) Be warned: this location is take out only! There are 4 Esther’s in all and only two of them offer inside dining. They make the food throughout the day, so nothing is made-to-order but you get your food fast!

There are a variety of lunch specials that range in price from $5-11 and all come with 2 sides. I got a 1/4 of BBQ chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy and mac and cheese. The price for this meal was under $6! I also added a corn bread muffin thing for 50 cents extra. 

I don’t know if the pictures capture the whole essence of the meal but seriously, it was really great food and I had a lot left over. The to-go container had to be at least 4 pounds! The chicken was moist and the BBQ sauce had great flavor. The mac and cheese was seasoned perfectly. The mashed potatoes might not be home-made (my boyfriend and I were wondering about that) but they were still good and the gravy had some hickory undertones to it. I kind of liked that everything was mashed together in a to-go box because all of the flavors mixed together to make it a yummy party. Oh, and the corn bread - FANTASTIC!  

I am definitely going to making a return trip because I want to try the fried chicken and oxtail. The hours kind of suck - on weekdays they close at 6pm, on Saturdays they are open until 3pm and they are closed on Sundays. I also wished they had some sort of home-made lemonade or fruit punch to go along with the soul food. They only offer fountain or bottled drinks (boooo). But I think the fact that the food is so cheap but still so tasty evens things out for me.