DeVito’s is one of the 80-plus restaurants to have jumped on this year’s Miami Spice bandwagon.

Have you ever been to the Restaurant at The Setai? How about The Blue Door? Azul? Karu & Y? The Palme d’Or at The Biltmore? Tantra?

OK. All right. Yes, these are some of the most expensive restaurants in Miami-Dade County. Sure, at some the valet parking is more than you usually spend on an entire family night out. But you’ve read the reviews and have pictured yourself enjoying the food, the ambiance and being with the celebrities who often frequent these establishments. If only there was a way for the average person to afford a three-course dinner of Lobster Bisque or Wild Mushroom Cassolette, choice of Maine Halibut or Seared Buffalo Tenderloin, and a dessert of Warm Chocolate Fondant or Basil Lime Sorbet, and not be fearful of the bill.

Now there is. Because now is the heart of the summer. And the beginning of the sixth annual Miami Spice. August and September are everyone’s opportunity months to choose from more than 80 different high-quality restaurants throughout the county and to enjoy a three-course dinner, similar to the one above, for $35 per person. Or a three-course lunch for only $22. That’s a savings of up to 50 percent.

Summers are slow in our community. And it was never slower than right after 9/11. “It was scary,” remembered Steve Haas, general manager of China Grill and a member of the Convention & Visitors Authority. “I thought, how can we fill the restaurants up again?” Haas was in New York at the time, opening up Tuscan Steak New York while that city was having its annual Restaurant Week. “I just had to take their concept to Miami. I called the Miami Herald, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau and American Express. Everybody wanted to help.”

The restaurant industry united. “It gave people an opportunity to go to some of the better restaurants they might not have regularly been able to afford,” said Haas. Like the Setai or DeVito’s or Azul or the Blue Door. “Once they go in, they realize that while they maybe can’t go every week, the next time there’s a special occasion in their family, they’ll definitely have to go back. Because they had such a great experience.”

The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau wants Miami Spice to have national recognition and international focus. The organization is encouraging hotels and companies to use Miami Spice as a value-added promotion. Travel agents have joined in, enticing foodies to travel to South Florida in the summer, when they might not have come before. And with our heralded chefs and various wine and food festivals, Miami Spice should be a strong draw. Because they want a good dining experience to be foremost, not every restaurant is eligible to become a Miami Spice participant. Just like a juried art show, restaurants must be judged and offered an invitation.

Obviously, as the names already listed tell you, these are some of the finest restaurants in town. And the rules of the game state that the dishes offered are full-size menu items —not reduced portions for reduced prices. But to be safe and satisfied, please, when you call to make reservations, ask about the restaurant’s Miami Spice policy. Ask if it’s a complete full-size meal, ask if it’s available daily. And keep in mind, the Spice price does not include a beverage, tax or gratuity.

The dinner choices listed earlier are from the Palme d’Or. At Table 8, you can order a Fava Bean Soup, Olive Oil Poached Salmon and a Mascarpone Peanut Butter Brownie for dessert. At Mark’s South Beach, go for the Southern Comfort Smoked Baby Back Ribs appetizer, Pan-Seared Arctic Char over English Pea Farro Risotto as an entrée and Chocolate Molten Cake for dessert. La Marea will wow you with Mediterranean Seafood Soup, Artisan Rigatoni With Pork Cheeks and Porcini Mushrooms, and Fresh Raspberries in Aged Balsamic Sabayon.

If you want more information about all the restaurants participating in Miami Spice, visit www.ilovemiamispice.com. Not only can you get a gander at each restaurant’s proposed Miami Spice menus there, you can actually book your reservation.

This year there are 87 restaurants in the program. For marketing purposes, 480 street banners have been hung from Homestead to Aventura. Miami Spice advertisements are in all the papers and on radio and television. “It’s amazing how successful the name became. Everybody knows it,” said Haas. “It’s exciting to see an idea the city actually embraced.”

These are no longer the dog days of summer. These are 61 days of spice. Miami Spice. The restaurants are benefitting, the city is benefitting. But the ones who have the most to gain from the Miami Spice months of August and September are the diners. Summer never tasted so good.

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