Post #5185 by SoBeTiki on Tue, Aug 6, 2002 6:27 AM

Ken,

I pass by the Banana Bungalow all the time. Visitors to Miami Beach should not miss it. You can even take an authentic Gondola ride down the bordering canal.

I once thought that area of Miami Beach would undergo a rebirth with the Bass Art Museum project and it still may do so, but then the venerable Wolfies Restaurant closed down. This area needs a good Tiki Bar!

Here's a review of Wolfies that ran in the Miami New Times awhile back:

Wolfie's Restaurant
Address: 2038 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach

In the restaurant's bygone heyday both the famous and infamous, from Jackie Gleason to Meyer Lansky, were regularly seated in the rounded vinyl booths of the Celebrity Corner. Although Wolfie Cohen hasn't owned it for quite some time, the 53-year-old institution still offers both old-timers and tourists a place to savor an authentic slice of Miami Beach's past, or maybe just a satisfying hunk of cheesecake. Even the waiters' uniforms -- black vests, white dress shirts, and bow ties -- appear to be circa the more formal Fifties. Miami Beach artist Stewart Stewart added a burst of color to the already character-filled place in 1991 with his Pickle People Promenade and a smorgasbord of 3-D paintings of Wolfie's standards, including Day-Glo borscht with a dollop of sour cream, matzo ball soup, and a perky BLT, all of which take on a surreal glow at 3:00 a.m. in the seemingly timeless 24-hour eatery.