There are two things that I love to do — eat and sing. Give me a way to put those two together and I'm in heaven — which is why I'm a karaoke junkie. Am I a good singer? I've been told "NO," but singing karaoke fulfills my need to be on stage performing in front of a live audience, whether they like it or not. If you're like me and want to enjoy some good food in between belting out power ballads, then head to one of your local eateries for "Karaoke Night." Here are a few ideas for every night of the week:

Mondays: Neighborhood Sports Grill, from 8:55 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Tuesdays: Bru's Room Sports Grill from 8:55 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Wednesdays: Quarterdeck Seafood Bar from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Thursdays: Duffy's Sports Grill from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Fridays: Upper Deck Ale & Sports Grill from 9 p.m. to midnight
Saturdays: Landlubber's Raw Bar & Grill starting at 8 p.m.
Sundays: The Coffee Scene (15955 Pines Blvd in Pembroke Pines, (954) 441-2364) from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Always call the night of to confirm. Fill your bellies and sing your hearts out!

Photo: Suzanne Gaudet Benefit

If South Beach prices and attitudes have you down, don't despair. There are two places that offer quality drinks for the cheap and thirsty on the dry dusty island of Miami Beach. Both of these places ditch the hype and the flashy signs for quality and anonymity.

The Abbey Brewing Company: It's easy to miss this gem amidst the glitz and glam. The dark tinted windows and generic sign (pictured) conceal a treasure trove of unique beers from around the world and an independent atmosphere. Once we found this place, we came back again and again for many a casual night of drinking and talking until the wee hours. Some of our favorites are the Apricot Ale and the Immaculata IPA. Both are refreshing and light.

Zeke's Roadhouse: Found right in the heart of Lincoln Road, Zeke's Roadhouse caters to a different crowd than the South Beach regulars. This is a no-frills kind of bar that draws customers in with astonishing prices. During happy hour, any beer from anywhere is only $3. Zeke's has a strict policy forbidding outside food and drink and often gets crowded on weekend nights, but the prices are still worth the trip.

The Abbey Brewing Company [Official Site]
Zeke's Roadhouse, 625 Lincoln Rd, Miami Beach, 305-672-3118

Picture from The Abbey's website.

Baleen at Grove Isle is known for fine dining and spectacular views of Biscayne Bay. For those looking for a nice place to see and be seen after work on Friday nights, the Monkey Bar is just the thing. The well-stocked bar offers a variety of top-shelf and harder-to-find gins, vodkas, and shares the restaurant’s cellars. We ordered drinks at the bar then took them outside to enjoy the view. The waitress brought out wasabi peas, mixed nuts and red chili peanuts as we sipped our beverages by the fire pit and scoped out the Macarthur Causeway. She also brought out a bar menu with an array of seafood and land lubber offerings. The Kobe beef sliders, three mouth-watering mini-burgers with griddled onions and boursin cheese, are definitely a better deal for your money than the shrimp tempura basket, although the avocado wasabi dipping sauce is surprisingly delicious. The Baleen Burger (pictured) is a sophisticated take on the bacon cheeseburger, bringing together applewood smoked bacon, American cheddar and Black Angus beef.

Baleen [MenuPages]
Baleen [Official Site]

We headed down last night to Mary Brickell Village for drinks and dinner. Miami traffic was mercifully light and we found a spot right on 10th street a block down from the village. Arriving at 6:30, we just sneaked under the bar for happy hour (daily from 4pm-7pm) and settled into a vodka tonic. A cool breeze made its way across the outside patio and the sun set blissfully on the horizon. Blue Martini's signature atmosphere and three distinct party areas (patio, stage room, and VIP) ensure that everyone can have the kind of evening they are looking for. Wednesday nights are also ladies nights, meaning we didn't have to rush to the Village. All of their signature martinis are half priced. A six-dollar Bellini always tastes better. Last night, the club also ran a free drink promotion for its female guests. With all of these potent libations, we needed some food and fast. Luckily for us, Rosa Mexicano is right downstairs. We were seated within minutes (a first for me at Rosa) and were soon tucking into some hearty guacamole. For an entree, we had the pollo tacos asados. Rosa serves the cheese, chicken and peppers combo on a mini-cast-iron skillet, with terracotta cups of roasted creamed corn, Mexican baked beans, and a mesclun salad with lime vinaigrette. Refried beans, rice, and hand-made tortillas are served family style.

Blue Martini [MenuPages]
Blue Martini [Official Site]
Rosa Mexicano [MenuPages]
Rosa Mexicano [Official Site]

The food may be a bit pricey at Brosia, but the happy hour deal is pretty good. Every day from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. you can get two for one sangria, which is usually $8 a glass. They've got a red version (malbec, brandy, licor 43, amaretto, orange juice, simple syrup and soda) and a white one (prosecco, peach nectar, peach schnapps, apricot brandy and simple syrup).

Later on in the evening, there's a party just a couple blocks away at Domo Japones. "Cocktails Anyone?" starts at 9 p.m. and features food by bar chef Albert Trummer and music by DJ Induce.

Brosia [MenuPages]
Brosia [Official Site]
Cocktails Anyone? [Miami Nights]
Domo Japones [MenuPages]
Domo Japones [Official Site]

The party will be shutting down early in Sunrise from now on. In order to keep alcohol-related violence in check, the city has decided to require that bars shut down by midnight, effective immediately. But businesses will have six months to apply for permits that would allow them to stay open a few hours more:

SUNRISE - Hoping to curb alcohol-related violence, the city's bars and nightclubs are now required to shut by midnight unless they receive a special city permit to close later, according to new rules.

Sunrise Commissioners on Tuesday Jan. 22 gave final approval to an ordinance that will require businesses serving alcohol to close by 12 a.m.

Businesses wishing to stay open later may apply for a special exception from the city to close at 2 a.m. Monday through Thursday and 3 a.m. on weekends-the last calls permitted prior to the new rules.

...

Among the factors city officials will consider in granting special exception permits are how often police responded to emergency calls at a given business.

Bars and nightclubs where police have responded three times in a given year will be required to hire off-duty police detail to patrol their property.

"It gives the city the leverage to offer the special exception," said Commissioner Joseph Scuotto. "If we do have someone that had a lot of police calls responding to fighting and violence, now we have the ability to pull their special exception license.

New rules require bars in Sunrise to close by midnight [Sun-Sentinel]

We really can't get into football; baseball is more our thing. So we were focused on the postseason, and then the next thing we knew, the Dolphins were halfway to a perfect losing season. Not good. And to add insult to injury, the Patriots are 8-0. (Small consolation: at least the Jets are sucking it up too.)

But we thought that this must really be affecting sports bars in the area: either people aren't going to the bars to watch the games, or they're drinking heavily to escape their sorrow. Clearly, we overestimated the Dolphins' influence. Thanks to the many South Florida transplants who root for their home teams, bars are doing just fine on Sunday nights. And apparently Dolfans aren't the type to use large quantities of beer to drown out the sting of an 0-8 record — at least not publicly. Here's what we learned:

Joey's Sports Bar in Pompano Beach: Rob Lugo, a manager there, laughed and said "It hurts everybody," although he said they get lots of fans of other teams: the Patriots, Steelers, Browns, Cowboys and Giants. "I don't think Dolphins fans care about the Dolphins anymore," he said. "If they were 6-2 or 5-3, yeah, there'd be more Dolphin fans."

Hot Shots Bar & Billiards in Sunrise: From Pete Olsson, a bartender: "Nobody really gives a crap. Everybody here is from somewhere else. Cowboy fans, Eagles, Pittsburgh, New England. Pretty much everybody except for the Dolphins. If they were winning every single game, it wouldn't make any difference."

The Ale House in Davie: This place is right next to the Dolphins training facility, so manager Ted Lynch said that lots of Dolfans do come to watch the games, although he also sees a good amount of Steelers fans. (Are there really that many Pittsburgh natives in South Florida?) The Dolfans are still showing up, but they're not staying quite as long. Once the game seems hopeless, they wrap up their tabs and head home, likely to do something that takes their minds off of football.

Shula's Steak 2 in Miami Lakes: Even at Shula's, they're not feeling too much of a sting, according to Dave Gergely, the director of sports entertainment. "We’ve always been a bar that’s served all different teams, but like any sports bar in South Florida, when the home team is doing well, business is better," Gergely said. Still, they show every game and get lots of customers who root for other teams, so in the end, an 0-8 record doesn't hurt too much. At least not financially.

Plum's got a great video up with advice on how to get on your bartender's good side. Want to get your drink quickly? Make eye contact, have your money ready, and be patient if it's a really busy night. Tip well. And don't ever yell "hey!" to a bartender to get his or her attention. He (or she) will NOT be pleased.

Schmooze for (Fast) Booze [Plum Miami Beach]

A friend of ours went to Dada in Delray Beach last night and told us about a storytelling project going on there called VOX. On the last Sunday of each month at 8:30 p.m., anyone can sign up for a 5-7 minute slot and basically just get up there and tell a story. Which sounds terrifying to us, as we're not big on the whole public speaking thing. But we enjoy a good story. And a good story with good food and drink sounds like a great night to us.

At the end of the night, the first- and second-place storytellers get $50 and $25, respectively. The program is run by Florida Atlantic University and often hosts storytelling slams in other venues as well, but the Dada one seems to be the only regularly occurring one. So head over there next month, do your thing, and see if you can win any cash. Check out the South Florida Storytelling site for tips on how best to tell your story.

South Florida Storytelling Project [Florida Atlantic University]
Dada [MenuPages]
Dada [Official Site]