My friend and I were young sportswriters in Atlanta, watching “Varsity Blues” in the theater, and after the halftime scene where the coach walks out on his team, he turned to me and said, “Imagine having to write this game story.” Rest easy now, Mox.

"Volunteers are trained in what to do should ICE agents follow them ... including eating the slips of paper that contain the addresses of aid recipients." Meet the network feeding poor children as federal agents use them as bait to nab their parents: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/d...

Benito Bushes join the Super Bowl pantheon alongside Left Shark.

Sportswriters don’t cheer for teams; they cheer for the story. The best stories make you hold your breath, shake your head, think fast — and write your ass off. Lessons from a life in journalism: www.instagram.com/p/DUYkxqRERW...

Tom Petty, Carl Hiaasen, Zora Neale Hurston and Michael Connelly are some of the Florida writers whose short stories about growing up in Florida are included in the anthology, “Homegrown in Florida.” My story, “Twelve,” was among them. carlosfrias.com/blog%2Fsocia...

Godspeed, Pepe Peña. Fitting that Manolo Villaverde of ‘Que Pasa, USA?’ get a send off in @nytimes.com. Thanks to Times writer Richard Sandomir for referencing my obit to Villaverde. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/a...

UM played a great game, Fernando Mendoza, a Miami kid, had the toughest run of the night and a Miami Northwester kid (go Bulls 🤘), Jamari Sharpe, sealed the win with an INT. Miami, the city, won today.

Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators won the 2008 championship the night I covered the big game at Hard Rock Stadium, the site of this year’s title game between the Miami and Indiana. Tebow seemed super human in that game, which UF won 24-14 vs Oklahoma. www.instagram.com/p/DTtyeEKEXr...

“If someone serves you Cuban coffee without sugar, that person doesn’t love you,” is what I told The New York Times when they asked me about Miami’s cafecito culture. The Canes have embraced this Cuban-Miami tradition and incorporated it into their game day ritual. Story now in The Athletic.

It’s 54 degrees in Miami, and you know what time it is

Boos rained down on Hugo Chavez, throngs thrust their fists into the air, chanting, “fuera!” — and that was before he threw his first pitch. I was in Venezuela in February 2000 to interview Braves’ Andrés Galarraga at a celebrity softball game in Caracas. Chavez named himself pitcher. More on IG

Manolo Villaverde showed us through his sensitive cubanaso character on the landmark PBS show “Qué Pasa, USA?” that there was a little bit of his Pepe Peña in all of us. And it’s why we feel it today on learning that he has died at age 89. carlosfrias.com/blog%2Fsocia...

Manolo Villaverde showed us through his sensitive cubanaso character on the landmark PBS show “Qué Pasa, USA?” that there was a little bit of his Pepe Peña in all of us. And it’s why we feel it today on learning that he has died at age 89. carlosfrias.com/blog%2Fsocia...

David Anasagasti is the reason I got to say “a-hole” on NPR and write it in The New York Times. David is one of Miami’s longest-running street artist, Ahol Sniffs Glue. You’ve seen his spray-painted sleepless eyes. He presented me with one of 25 prints to celebrate Miami at his studio, Frame Art.

It had been a couple years since I soaked up the public art surrounding the annual Art Basel Miami. So we got up before dawn, drove over the causeway into Miami Beach before the tourists awakened and took in Es Devlin’s “The Library of Us.” It really is an impressive spectacle.

The best compliment I can offer Drinking Pig’s new permanent barbecue restaurant in Coconut Grove is that it evokes the original pop-up that five years ago I called “South Florida’s truest celebration of barbecue, from flavor to vibe.” That’s still true. www.instagram.com/p/DR2DmaGkSl...

In May 2019, No Name Chinese closed down & Chef Pablo Zitzmann had to figure out what to do next. After selling select dishes on Instagram @ZitzSum, Pablo opened Zitz Sum in Coral Gables in January 2021 & it became a hit. In April 2025, Pablo’s newest project, Dōjō Izakaya (small dish bar) opened.

When Miami Beach gets packed, follow the locals. The Financial Times asked me to create a survival guide for how to enjoy Miami Beach when more than 75,000 people come to town for Art Basel Miami. Locals know where to go to have a good time — without fighting traffic. #miami #artbasel

When Miami Beach is at its busiest, follow the locals. @financialtimes.com asked me to share a survival guide for how to enjoy Miami Beach when more than 75,000 people come to town for Art Basel — without crossing that traffic-filled bridge. www.ft.com/content/7405...

Restaurants in Miami, like hope, spring eternal. For the Coconut Grove Spotlight, I highlighted 11 new or upcoming spots to treat yourself or one of the many out-of-town guests visiting this month. coconutgrovespotlight.com/2025/11/24/g...

Support local because it matters. There’s a ripple effect when your favorite local restaurants & bars are busy (and not just takeout or delivery). coconutgrovespotlight.com/2025/11/24/g... @carlosfrias305.bsky.social

Dojo Izakaya is a quilt of chef Pablo Zitzmann’s cooking influences. He blends the pan-Asian cooking he learned in Hong Kong and Hawaii with the soulful influence of his Mexican grandmother’s food and the palate of Colombia, where he was raised. It sounds like a lot, but Dojo just works.

Before he opened Banh sandwich and boba tea shop inside Books & Books in Coconut Grove, Aidan Friedson feared he was done with restaurants. It was chef Marcus Samuelsson who got him to love cooking again. They met when Friedson won “Chopped Junior” twice. www.instagram.com/p/DQmXDPgka4...

There are many Miami’s. And many ways to see it. The New York Times asked me to map out one way to spend 36 Hours in Miami I wanted to balance an insider’s guide with some things a first-timer might enjoy. Free gift link to the guide here: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The @nytimes.com finds out how to spend 36 hours in the most fabulous South #Florida city, Miami. Start with a visit to a ventanita. www.nytimes.com/interactive/... via @carlosfrias305.bsky.social

The New York Times asked me to map out one way to spend 36 Hours in Miami, a city that continues to reimagine itself. There are many Miamis and many ways to take it in. I wanted to balance an insider’s guide with some things a first-timer might enjoy. Enjoy! www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Legal immigrants with TPS are leaving in the middle of the night, abandoning all their property. Some have been disappeared and others running before ICE agents grab them off the streets. www.wsj.com/real-estate/...

The lead investigator into the murder of Bryan Pata assumed a key witness in the case was dead. ESPN found him alive in Kentucky. Juan Segovia is on the 7-person MDC board of trustees that gifted the $25M property next to the Freedom Tower for the Trump library.

Turn a corner in the new exhibit, “Libertad,” at the reopened Freedom Tower, and suddenly your breath catches. The moment varies for each person. For me it was seeing a Singer sewing machine like the one my mother used to make a living in this country. Exhibit opens Friday.

I was among those who won the shoes, and along the way I earned something else: permission to create art every day, to rediscover a hobby and passion. That beats standing in a line for a sneaker drop. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/s...

I felt Marc’s Artisanal Pizza was going to be special when I saw the Bianco DiNapoli tomato cans lining the walls. The perfectly charred crust crackles. Chewy dough pulls apart. The freshness of the sauce comes through in every bite. More: www.instagram.com/p/DObOfAJDrv...

Humbled that my work was included in this @nytimes.com obituary for Cuban sandwich historian Andy Huse. He’s gone way too soon. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/d...

Doral’s liveliest food scene comes on at night. Past the curated food halls, Venezuelan food trucks light up the night. Arepas grilling. Venezuelan-style shawarma sizzling. Pepito sandwiches are piled high, like open-faced cheesesteaks. Same energy as Wynwood trucks, 2010.

A beautiful life and a tragic ending. Remembering the man who studied the origins of the Cuban sandwich, Andy Huse. I can’t help think if USF hadn’t laid him off… www.tampabay.com/life-culture...

Check the byline. Catalina Frías, my youngest daughter, wrote her first story for The Independent Florida Alligator — the newspaper where I got my start. To quote Hamilton the Musical: “Pride is not the word I’m looking for. There is so much more inside me now.” www.alligator.org/article/2025...

“If including children of diverse races and backgrounds in the show, or children with disabilities, is part of a “woke” leftist agenda, then, yes, we were definitely guilty of it.” www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-e...

I’m devastated for Andy family, friends and colleagues. I didn’t know him well — and even still liked and respected him immensely. This week alone, I referenced his work in story for Bon Appétit. My thoughts are with his loved ones and Andy, wherever his spirit rests. carlosfrias.com/blog/f/cuban...

Bottom line - there really is no “best” or “right way.” Just enjoy your sandwich!! @rayroa.bsky.social

Get around the paywall with this MSN link... www.msn.com/en-us/food-a...

The surest way to get on someone’s bad side in Miami is to serve them a Cuban sandwich with salami. Bon Appétit magazine asked me why that is. For their upcoming issue, I wrote about the “three Floridas” that claim the sandwich. @bonappetit.bsky.social www.bonappetit.com/story/best-c...

Doing my part to support local at Sra. Martinez in Coral Gables (one of the new 5 additions to @carlosfrias305.bsky.social’s NYT top 25 local list) (HH 🍔 & Baked Alaska making a Wednesday better).

I’d been buying Great Circle Coffee for more than five years before I decided to stop by their roaster in Little Haiti today to pick up my order for the first time. Sergio Boppel, whose family has been farming coffee in Guatemala for four generations, surprised me by giving me an impromptu tour.

Cool Cantonese, the return of a real ‘Miami girl’ chef and a chic bar with incredible pizzas. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/d...

Miami has seen a rash of restaurant closings, such that five wonderful places we highlighted last summer on our list of ‌Miami’s 25 Best Restaurants are now gone. Yet as a Miami native, I never tire of watching local owners fight. This made it easy to fill those five spots on our updated list below:

Happy to add my $0.02!

Use it or lose it - if you have a favorite local restaurant/bar, now is the time to visit it before it’s too late. Already this summer several outstanding favorites have shuttered (Erba, Matty, Itamae AO, etc). Make plans.

“International visitors to Miami are generally not visiting or spending as much as they did a year ago,” the Visitor’s Bureau concluded in a June 2025 report. It helps explain why Miami restaurants are closing in droves and Grove owners are losing faith. coconutgrovespotlight.com/2025/07/31/a...

Itamae AO, the Peruvian Nikkei sushi counter where Nando Chang won a James Beard Award and earned a Michelin star, will close Aug. 2, his PR rep just told me. It's part of a brutal economic situation in South Florida, with restaurants closing by the literal dozens.

For 12 years, I shared jokes and offices with my friend and colleague Leslie Gray Streeter at The Palm Beach Post. We're meeting up to discusses her first novel "Family and Other Calamities" at @booksandbooks.bsky.social July 10 at 7 p.m. Join us if you're in Coral Gables!

Carolina Quijano just improved on the Little Havana chocolate factory she opened in Miami nearly seven years ago. In this new location of Exquisito Chocolates, her chocolate-making is on display. The bon bons are like irressitible jewels. 1920 SW Eighth St., Miami