More January Dreaming: À la Folie Café in Miami

January Dreaming is an ongoing annual series where we reminisce about (or plan) good times in warmer climes; click here for the archives.

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Brrrr! The holidays are over and I’m ready to put away winter along with the tubs of Christmas decorations. To keep my spirits up – and keep warm – I’m doing my typical January dreaming about good times in warmer climes. Today, I’m sharing the magic of À la Folie Café in Miami Beach, located in the lovely Espanola Way area.

Designed in 1922 as a copy of artistic and romantic Mediterranean villages in Paris and Spain, Espanola Way has a rich and colorful history of ups and downs over the past century, making its debut as “Spanish Village”. Originally intended as an entertainment enclave for Miami’s high society, Espanola Way has also been an artists’ colony, a frequent hangout for gangsters and gamblers, and a popular destination for vibrant nightlife for decades.

The area eventually suffered a decline in the 1970s, with empty, shuttered buildings and silent streets. But the foundations were still there, and various restorations since the mid-80s along with the visibility brought by the TV show Miami Vice put Espanola Way squarely back on the permanent ‘must-do map’ in Miami Beach (see this article from South Beach Magazine for more of the backstory). Today, Espanola Way is a happening place with brightly-colored buildings lining pedestrian-only streets filled with music and delectable aromas from the numerous restaurants.

I made my first trek there with my son during a warm early November Sunday in 2024, and it would have been really hard to choose a spot from all of the wonderful options if he hadn’t been set on introducing me to À la Folie Café. Just a reminder, he’s known as our Musical Millennial here in the blog, and is finishing his doctorate in Jazz Studio Arranging at the University of Miami this year. His time there has provided wonderful opportunities to explore Miami, and every trip promises to reveal new treasures. À la Folie Café was the most recent one.

My son had texted me during an October visit from his Austin-based girlfriend:

“for a second night this weekend we found a place i have to take you!! this time in miami beach—a small cobblestone street blocked off for pedestrian traffic called espanola way. we jetted over here to try and find some new friendly spots and stumbled on it—we went to a cuban place called havana 1957 and then ran over to this neighborhood bar called a la folie for crepes afterwards—we could just as easily be in copenhagen or amsterdam right now”.

He included pictures.

Sign me up! Thomas told me that the crepes at À la Folie Café rivaled the ones we’d had together in Paris, and I couldn’t wait to experience it for myself. We headed that way for a mid-afternoon dessert and coffee during my visit the next month.

The interior of À la Folie Café is welcoming with European/Parisian feel, and surprisingly calming after the liveliness of the Espanola Way street life.

Thomas enjoyed an espresso, but I was in the mood for bubbles.

There was never any question that we’d have anything other than crepes. It was understood. Thomas had the nutella crepe.

I had the crepe suzette, which was appropriately and expertly flamed tableside.

It was truly reminiscent of a European cafe—each bite a memorable sensation, the atmosphere, food and libations a perfect accompaniment to a rambling conversation about life, memories, the future—exactly what you want on a Sunday afternoon in Miami Beach.

À la Folie Café is more than the sum of its parts—it’s a feeling, a laid-back, stop-and-smell-the-flowers / joie de vivre vibe, and you know you’d be welcome even if you only ordered coffee and worked on your computer for 3 hours. When you enter the premises, it’s like there’s a shared understanding that sitting and enjoying a beverage or a meal in someone else’s company is one of the finest things you can do in life, and À la Folie Café is there to make it sparkle for you, in a quiet but memorable way.

I’m dreaming about that balmy November afternoon at À la Folie Café on this gray January day, and I’ll make my way back there next May when we celebrate the graduation, AKA #Miami2025. There will probably be about eleventeen family members with me, and we’ll decamp on all of the sidewalk tables, ready to make new memories.

And, Dear Readers, if you happen to head out to Miami Beach, you MUST make a stop there.

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