The great thing about having grandchildren (and children) is that you get to see the world through their eyes. Sometimes we forget that these little people “so fresh from God” don’t know about things we take for granted.

The other day I took my 9-year old grandson Wyatt to Dadeland Mall to get ice cream because he got a great progress report. We walked by the enormous and glowing Apple Store to the Chimney Cake Ice Cream store next door I’d been wanting to try. Alas, the owners were there packing the store up, as it is now closed.

We pivoted (word of the year?) to the Food Court in Dadeland, filled with all kinds of restaurants and cuisines. Wyatt was hungry so he got a Shake Shack burger and then a Haagen Daaz Dulce de Leche sundae. We then headed to the new, two-story Dick’s Sporting Goods store, where Nordstroms used to be. I liken it to a Bass Pro shop for sports enthusiasts, with lots of eye candy and interactive features. It has a rock climbing wall, batting cages and a golf driving range.

Wyatt wanted to do rock climbing, so he did that for 15 minutes and then we walked around the store, with it’s displays of Easter egg assortment of Stanley cups, shiny new bikes, tennis and paddle board equipment and electronic runners, displaying Nike gear and running shoes. I think we would’ve stayed there forever if Wyatt had his way, but my mission was to get him new shoes for school, so on we went.

We struck out at Macy’s (although they do have a Toys R Us outpost Wyatt enjoyed) and walked onward, past the perfume squirters, glittery stores and playground pits that I remember taking my children when they were little. Kid’s Footlocker appeared as our holy grail; we entered, encountering a nice guy who asked Wyatt if the shoes were for “stylin’, school or to impress the ladies.”

He got a new pair of shoes and immediately put them on. We headed to the new Fogo de Chao, across the street from Dadeland to meet Zeke. They have an all-day Happy Hour, which is almost unheard of in Miami. The service is excellent and our server told us Wyatt could get “the full experience” for half the price of adults. The full experience is the salad bar and all the meat you can eat, until you cry uncle. After the burger and ice cream, we stuck to the Happy Hour menu.

We got the Queijo Assado (Fried cheese with honey), Lobster and Shrimp Tacos (lettuce wrapped), which were so-so and the Braised Beef Sliders, which were good. Wyatt wasn’t too hungry, but he was happy about our day together and his new shoes.

“How far away are we from Dadeland?” he asked as we drove home, as if we had just explored an exotic, new continent.

“Only like ten minutes!” I told him.

We shall, I’m sure, return.

It was similar to my experience last week of going to Downtown Miami for a Villager’s outing to the MIAMI shoe museum. I NEVER go Downtown if I can avoid it, so getting me to drive out of my zip code was a feat. While I was interested in the Shoe Museum, (and it was quite interesting) I mostly went to check out the Julia and Henry Food Hall nearby.

It’s a three-story building, housed where the old Walgreens used to be. The person I walked in with told me she used to work nearby and would come to Walgreens lunch counter to get a great lunch for a cheap price. Julia and Henry’s is named after iconic Miamians Julia Tuttle and Henry Flagler, appropriate for a bunch of ladies into Historic Preservation.

The building now houses 24 restaurants and 4 bars. I entered, and it was like being a kid in a candy store, with every kind of food imaginable vying for your attention. There was Bar-B-Que, Middle Eastern, Ramen, Sushi, Crepes, Italian, multiple dessert places & a very funky bathroom area. Naturally, I researched it and read the Carbonara Dumplings at Hitcha Haika were delicious. It’s a restaurant by Jose Mendin of Pubbelly Sushi fame. I ordered the Bento Box, which came with the dumplings, Udon Noodles with Kimchi butter, a salad and miso soup.

It was all good (although I wasn’t crazy about the miso soup) but the Carbonara Dumplings, filled with a delicate filling, topped with something crunchy and swimming in a cream sauce, was the bomb. I could’ve bathed in the sauce and ended up dumping my Udon noodles into it, so as not to waste a drop.

The best part? Our party of about 15 was able to order exactly what they wanted, and then we all ate together. Kind of like a high-end Mall Food Court and I loved the fact that the flatware and dishes were not plastic, paper or styrofoam, but of materials to be washed and reused.

Our group reminisced about Downtown Miami and the places that used to be there, that are now gone. My grandmother worked at Burdines (the Florida store) downtown, my aunt Josie at the Kress 5 & 10 and we all missed department store Jordan Marsh. We were glad we’d taken the time to explore Downtown Miami again. Sometimes, you just have to get out of your comfort zone, even if it’s to Dadeland Mall!

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