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It’s the game I play while having lunch at the Versace Mansion in Miami. Fashion or True Crime? As visitors ascend the grand staircase, it’s obvious who is here for the fashion. They are beautiful and impeccably dressed. They are wearing Versace or Versace inspired ensembles. The True Crime curious are dressed in whatever outfit their suitcases offered, that wasn’t a wrinkled, graphic, t-shirt.
Having lunch at the Versace Mansion wasn’t part of our original itinerary. I wanted to visit. To witness a piece of True Crime history, but there has been a lot of backlash against fans of True Crime. Accusations of being drawn to True Crime for the salaciousness, and glorification of evil. I doubted anyone who knows me, would think I was visiting the Versace Mansion for the fashion. I didn’t want to deal with True Crime fan haters and their sweeping generalizations.
I remember following Gianni Versace’s killer, in real time, as his spree unfolded. The murder of
William Reese, occurred close enough to where I lived, that local fears were high, and everyone was on the lookout for the madman. 1997 was the beginning of my social work studies, I wanted to know so much. What would cause someone to do such terrible things? What point in a child’s, teen’s, or adult’s life could an intervention occur to prevent them from doing horrible things? It’s the psychology of True Crime that interests me. There is no glorification evil.
During our South Beach Food Tour with Miami Culinary Tours, our tour guide Dany, highly recommends having lunch at the Versace Mansion. Lunch is more affordable than dinner, and the wildly elaborate, architecture and design, is worth witnessing with your own eyes. The only way to see the inside of the mansion is with a meal or hotel reservation. We assume a last minute lunch reservation would not be available, but we snag an 11:00 am reservation for the next day.
The hostesses are young, elegant, and tough as nails. Part of their job requires turning person after person away, who try to charm their way into a peek at the mansion’s interior.
“No, you must have a reservation,” they repeat, blocking the wooden, castle-like, entrance.
From the moment we enter the mansion, I am overwhelmed. The ceiling is one large skylight, there is a large fountain (added post-Versace), chandeliers, and tile everywhere.
Though our 11:00 am lunch at the Versace Mansion, reservation, is due to availability, we learn getting the first reservation of the day, is fortuitous. The hostess leads us down the elegant, outdoor, staircase, and seats us in the outdoor courtyard. We have an excellent view of the infamous (because Versace is said to have paid a lot of people off to break South Beach building rules) “Million Mosaic,” pool.
The indoor dining rooms are lessons in opulence. Ornate lights, hang from the ceiling. Elaborate murals adorn the walls. It is said the restaurant and hotel employs an artist, to maintain the murals throughout the mansion. The later the reservation, the farther from the pool you will sit. Unless you prefer indoor seating.
The best seat in the house, during lunch, is by the pool. The pool water is crystal clear, showing off the mosaics crafted in Italy, then shipped to Miami. Thousands of the pool’s tiles are 24-karat gold.
As I teen, I loved the show, American Castles, currently I feel as if I am living inside of an episode.
Hotel guests are permitted to use the pool area during meals.
At the time of our visit, lunch at the Versace Mansion is a pre-fixe, 3-course, meal, for $38 per person. The menu lists a selection of appetizers, entrees, and desserts to choose from. There is an upcharge if you order the steak or lobster entrees. For an extra cost, you can order wine and/or cocktails.
My lychee martini is artfully composed, like the surroundings.
I read countless reviews touting that the food at the restaurant is terrible, but I disagree. My salad is fresh.
I go simple with my entrée, and order Gianni’s Spaghetti Pomodoro. The pasta tastes homemade and is expertly al dente. The sauce tastes like actual tomatoes.
I order the chef’s special dessert of the day, the strawberry shortcake. It’s eye-pleasing and tasty. The curl of edible gold is a nice touch.
The food isn’t mind-blowing, gastronomy. It is simple, fresh, well-prepared, dishes. Know you are here for the atmosphere, for the experience of dining in a luxuriant, modern, palace, where a fashion designing genius lived, and met a tragic, unexpected, end.
While sitting by the pool, I notice as the fashion enthusiasts, ascend the staircase, they stop and pose for pictures. Everyone does the same pose. I’m unsure what, if any, connection the pose has to Gianni Versace, but I witness it enough, that I decide I need my own, lunch- at- the Versace Mansion, obligatory, pose picture.
I start the day by having a cappuccino at the News Café. Gianni Versace visited the café the morning of his assassination.
As I sip, I think deep thoughts about having a normal, routine, day, not knowing that your death is minutes away.
I’m not sure I would feel comfortable, residing in a home as lavish as the Versace Mansion (I’m way too clumsy and accident prone for expensive antiques). It is a treat however, to take a few hours out of the day to enjoy an afternoon, eating spaghetti, admiring the stunning mosaics, and observing Versace admirers’ creative wardrobe choices.
The dinner menu, doubles and triples in price. The lunch price is doable, and the overall experience, is worth the reservation.
Find a Great Place to Stay in Miami so you can have lunch at the VERSACE MANSION
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