Vis-à-Viz
A Daytime Date Spot in the Grove

This weekend you rediscovered something you had been neglecting for too long.

Yes, your seersucker Speedo (early reviews suggest you pulled it off).

Also: your love for day dates. And we’re here to help you keep the momentum going...

Say hello to Vizcaya Café, a waterfront garden of alfresco wine, chicken wings and turn-of-the-century seduction, now open at the historic estate in Coconut Grove.

You’ve no doubt been to your share of cocktail parties and black-tie events at the grand villa perched at the edge of the bay. And now the old winter home of bon vivant/millionaire James Deering is finally serving a higher purpose: as your new lunchtime rendezvous spot, or perhaps the last stop on a romantic scavenger hunt (recommended theme: Prohibition-era partying).

The café occupies the subterranean level of the mansion, in what used to be the old smoking room, with the original marble fireplace and mahogany ceilings still intact. But you’ll want to squire your date away to the outdoor terrace, with white iron tables shaded by umbrellas overlooking the bay. There you’ll crack open a bottle of Deering zinfandel, summon Smoked & Grilled Chicken Wings and homemade quiches and proceed to while away the afternoon.

Be careful: quiches make you do strange things.