Style File: Restaurants

WSVN -- You don't have to fly to Tokyo to get some Asian flavor. At the Noodle Shop on Lincoln Road, things are really cooking in this open kitchen.

Scott Kurstin: "Very chill, very cool, like lounge type. Pretty different than what you mostly see on the Beach, especially down here."

It's totally casual! Just hop on a bar stool and choose from different soups and noodles. Try them stir-fried or have them served hot or cold.

Madeleine Kelly: "It's very much like the many of the noodle shops I went to in Japan. I'm very happy the chefs here are Japanese. I try to keep up my Japanese language as well, so I usually order directly with the chefs as well."

Get all the South Beach noodles you want in the daytime, but, at night, you can venture upstairs to O Asian Grill for a more South Beach scene.

Eric Levin, owner of the Noodle Shop: "If people want to come in for a casual lunch or dinner, come in shorts bathing suits or whatever, just come in and have some noodles. If they want to come in here and have more of an interactive, more of a South Beach experience, they'll come to the bar at O Asian Grill."

But if it's Cajun you're craving, head on down to Christabelle's Quarter in the Grove. With three floors of gas lanterns, stained glass and grand staircases, you'll feel as if you've been transported to the "Big Easy."

Sasha Sampaim: "Makes me want to throw beads, and makes me want to go back to Bourbon Street. It's wonderful."

Hurricane Katrina wiped out the famous restaurant of New Orleans Chef Alex Patout, so he decided to bring his authentic Creole and Cajun cuisine to us.

Christabelle's Quarter Executive Chef Alex Patout: "So, we have some exotic things like turtle, frog legs, rabbit, but we also have the incredible freshness of oysters, crab meat, shrimp, crawfish, all coming from Louisiana."

Sandy Hequin: "Yeah, it has that kick. I feel like I'm in New Orleans on Fat Tuesday."

They also serve up the only kind of hurricane we like, just don't suck down too many.

Waitress: "Feel like you could throw some beads?"

Michiel Vandekreeke: "No, I feel like I could lift my shirt, though."

OK, it's not that kind of party, but there's always live jazz or blues, so, as they say in New Orleans, "Let the good times roll."

Belkys Nerey: "Christabelle's Quarter offers live music every night, and Monday nights at O Asian Grill you can karaoke."

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Christabelle's Quarter
3157 Commodore Plaza
Miami, FL, 33133
Phone: (786) 517-5299

The Noodle Shop/O Asian Grill
330 Lincoln Rd
Miami Beach, FL 33139
(305) 531-2061