The Rusty Pelican at Sunset

3201 Rickenbacker Causeway, between Miami and Key Biscayne. The deck faces west toward the Brickell skyline with an unobstructed view restaurants in most cities charge three times for. At sunset the bay goes silver and the glass towers catch fire one by one.

The cocktail program is better than a waterfront restaurant needs to be — mojitos muddled properly, margaritas with real citrus, bartenders who treat ice as a variable. Stone crab claws in season (October-May) arrive cracked and cold with mustard sauce and the simple authority of a dish that doesn't need a backstory.

The evening crowd: island residents, causeway commuters who stopped for "one drink" and are on their third, Miami visitors who discovered the best skyline view is from a mile offshore. Nobody hurries because the bay doesn't hurry and the sky is doing something interesting. Sunday brunch with Biscayne Bay view makes bottomless mimosas feel like a civic responsibility.