Spanish Restaurant on Bird Road: Delicias de España Miami

In Miami, a search for spanish restaurant near me often leads west of the Gables to a place locals simply call Delicias. Delicias de España, at 7384 SW 40th Street on Bird Road, is three businesses in one: a sit-down Spanish restaurant, a bakery that has turned out cakes and pastries since 1997, and a market stocked with hams, cheeses and canned seafood from Spain. Founders Ernesto Llerandi and Isabel Miranda still run it, and it opens at 8 am every day.

The story is a family one. Llerandi and Miranda opened Delicias de España in 1997 to bring the food of Spain to Miami, and the restaurant now describes more than 40 years of combined experience in Spanish cooking and imports. When a fire forced the original flagship to close, the couple rebuilt rather than walking away, and Delicias has since operated from Bird Road and added a new Sunset Market Place in South Miami. The Miami Herald once summed it up as olive oil, sausage and camarones a la vinagreta.

Breakfast is where Delicias stands apart from most Spanish restaurants in Miami, because few of them serve it. From 8 am to noon, the kitchen makes huevos con jamón ibérico y patatas, fried eggs over potatoes with Ibérico ham, plus huevos a la flamenca baked in a Spanish tomato sauce and the farmer-style desayuno del segador with pork loin, fries and fried eggs. Add a tostada con tomate and a café con leche for the full Madrid bar breakfast.

Sweets at breakfast are just as Spanish. Chocolate con churros, the thick hot chocolate meant for dipping fried dough, is on the morning menu, along with palmeras, the palm-leaf puff pastries, plain or dipped in chocolate, and butter croissants. Pair them with an espresso or a café con leche, and a palmera at the counter becomes a quick weekday stop on the way to work, much like a breakfast in a Spanish town bakery.

At lunch, look for the menú del día, the Spanish set lunch that Delicias serves Monday through Friday. It changes daily and includes an appetizer, a main course and dessert, which is how office workers across Spain eat at midday. The restaurant says it receives fresh fish and seafood directly from Spain twice a week, so the daily menu often leans on seafood. It is the best way to eat here if you want home-style cooking rather than tapas.

The à la carte menu reads like a neighborhood bar in Asturias or Galicia. Hot raciones include chorizo a la sidra cooked in cider, chistorra sausage in wine, homemade callos (tripe stew), calamares fritos, pulpo a la gallega and camarones al ajillo. Croquetas come in full portions of six or half portions of three, filled with ham and chorizo or with salt cod. Cold plates include ensaladilla rusa, boquerones in olive oil and the camarones a la vinagreta the Herald praised.

For something to eat by hand, Delicias makes bocadillos on Spanish-style bread, from a plain tortilla de patatas sub to Ibérico ham, and serranitos with Serrano ham, tomato and olive oil on soft medianoche bread. Slices of tortilla are available to eat in, including a tortilla rellena topped with ham and cheese, and Galician empanadas come by the slice with tuna, salt cod, chicken or ham and chorizo. Caldo gallego and pote asturiano are on the soup list for a cooler day.

Save room for the bakery case. The house list runs from tarta de Santiago, the almond cake of Galicia, and tarta gijonesa to brazo gitano with strawberries and cream, tocinillo de cielo, torrijas and crema catalana. One guest review on the restaurant's site singles out the soufflé Delicias as the best dessert they had ever eaten. Whole cakes can be ordered for birthdays and holidays, and the bakery takes catering orders for weddings and corporate events.

The market is the reason many families visit before holidays. Shelves hold Spanish olive oil, saffron, turrón, canned seafood, piquillo peppers and hams from Serrano to Ibérico de bellota. The same products are sold through the Tienda Delicias online store, where a sack of Virgen de la Esperanza bomba rice for paella is $19.95, Fermín organic chorizo Ibérico de bellota is $19.95 for 7 ounces, and Palacios dry-cured chorizo is $11.70.

Hours at the Bird Road restaurant are long: Monday to Wednesday from 8 am to 8 pm, Thursday to Saturday from 8 am to 9 pm, and Sunday from 8 am to 5 pm. That schedule means you can come for breakfast, the weekday menú del día at lunch, a merienda of pastries in the afternoon, or a dinner of raciones, and on Sunday the kitchen closes early, so treat it as a brunch and lunch day.

Delicias also runs a second location, the Sunset Market Place at 5600 Sunset Drive in South Miami, open Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 7 pm and Sunday from 8 am to 5 pm. It focuses on the market and on breakfast, lunch and merienda. The former Dadeland location has closed, so use Bird Road or Sunset Drive. For special orders, note that catering menus must be paid at least 24 hours before pickup.

Make it a Bird Road afternoon. Tropical Park, the large county park just west of the Palmetto at 7900 SW 40th Street, has a lake, walking paths and sports fields where you can walk off a plate of callos. If you are heading to the Sunset Drive location instead, downtown South Miami around Sunset Drive and Red Road has shops and cafes within a few blocks, and it is close to the Metrorail's South Miami station.

Practical notes: Delicias de España is at 7384 SW 40th Street, Miami, FL 33155, email store@deliciasdeespana.com. Breakfast runs 8 am to noon, and the menú del día is served on weekdays only. Online ordering is available for same-day and future pickup, and the restaurant also does catering, including large paellas for parties. Delicias suits a Spanish breakfast, a long family lunch, or a shopping trip for the ingredients to cook Spain at home.