Miami Food Blog

Jackie Sayet

A sea-salty, tangy punch of solid libation: Here's looking at you, Classic Margarita.

​Short of Rick Bayless opening up shop in Miami, Talavera enters the local restaurant scene to fill a much needed void, authentic Mexican cuisine.  In the capable hands of Mexican-born Executive Chef/Owner (and Chile Master, as far as we're concerned) Oscar Del Rivero, Owner Eduardo Durazo, and Partner Martin Moreno, all of Jaguar Ceviche Spoon Bar and LATAM Grill in Coconut Grove, Talavera may have this fraught niche's frown turned upside down. 

A great way to start your journey is lunch.  Baked and without a touch of oil, cracker-like fresh corn masa tortillas arrive to the table with smooth and creamy salsas, one mild red and one hot green. It's no surprise they are killer, since Jaguar excels in this area, and the green one was our favorite.  If you're not a fan of the piquant, be sure to have a tall glass handy of the restaurant's special filtered water if you go green; it's also free of charge and comes in an environmentally-conscious glass carafe -- nice touch.

Jackie Sayet

Service with a sonrisa

​American mall food court fare leaves some -- er, many -- things to be desired.  But venture across the border or overseas, and as cultures change, so does the fast food game, usually for the better.

So when we first heard that young entrepreneurs and husband-wife pair Cesar Olivo and Adriana Perez Benatar were taking Benatar's family business stateside from its Venezuelan courtesan roots, we were mostly curious.  We were also somewhat hopeful that Salsa Fiesta's foreign cache might distinguish it from somewhat bland local competitors Lime Fresh Mexican Grill and Chipotle Mexican Grill.

While the restaurant's full name, Salsa Fiesta Urban Mexican Grill, doesn't offer much in the area of differentiation, things quickly change when it comes to the menu design.  We were pleasantly surprised with our first dip.

Jackie Sayet

Daisies adorn the 2nd floor foyer into Prelude.

​Despite the fire that ravaged Barton G's warehouse on Monday night with millions in props and other non-food-related damages, Barton G. Weiss, the seasoned showman that he is, addressed an impressive crowd of media and industry VIPs Wednesday night in a pre-launch event for his new Adrienne Arsht Center restaurant, Prelude by Barton G.  Not a mention was made of the devastating events of two days prior.

The restaurant, adorned with screensaver-like gliding jellyfish across flat panel TVs and a wall wave motif to make you feel like you are under water, appears -- like our first bites of its food -- to be slightly understated for what we've come to expect from Weiss.  The space is pleasing to the eye, though, illuminated in shades of yellow against a neutral backdrop.

Jackie Sayet

The "Stir Fry Miso Beef Salad" ($8.95) is a fresh and crisp unexpected find at an Asian takeout place

​Forget everything you expect from and dislike about Chinese takeout. If you're having trouble, let us shed some light...  Greasy, saucy, gloopy, wilted, and one-note flavor.

Now imagine a menu with light options like crisp salads, low oil stir fries, noodle soups, finger-licking edamame tossed in a creative selection of light sauces, and house-made -- I repeat -- house-made dumplings and spring rolls. 

Add back the customary late night hours, Chinese cooks manning the kitchen, convenience, and fast service, and you have an unusually hard to find, though simple at its core, Asian fast food concept.  Welcome to Wok Town, in downtown Miami.

Jackie Sayet

"Causa" to eat

​Sure, ceviche comes in all shapes, tastes, and sizes worth sampling regularly... But living on the edge during recent Peruvian restaurant outings, we shifted from automatic to manual ordering and tried some different menu items.

Jackie Sayet

Marie Antoinette's gaze beholds the dining room. Behold, Villarroel's muse?

​The question is not, is three Michelin star restaurant-experienced Chef Elida Villarroel ready for Coral Gables, but rather, is Coral Gables ready for her?

Pensive and profound, yet uncomplicated.  Calculated with a penchant for impulse. The mother of two and a half year old Andrea at home, whom she refused to name Charlotte (despite a love for the name) since it sounded "too snobby," is a lover of contrasts.

To understand how Villarroel arrived at Charlotte's Bistro, her "other baby," ironically parked on the Mile next to Le Provencal's new home, you need to know a few facts about her journey. It was a sprint to the finish, but to get here, a beautiful story, chapters taking their own sweet time to unfold.

Hailing from Caracas, Venezuela, our Miss Universe has traveled the world, studied the philosophy and literature of its greatest thinkers, and lived in some of its grandest capitals like London and Paris, to now rest her box of souvenirs in Miami a mere six months ago.

​Apple Restaurant & Lounge (1437 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach) finally opened its' doors on Friday, July 10th, and is "gearing up for the Grand Opening celebration towards the end of August". Remember the good old days, when restaurants used to open only once?

​The Los Angeles-based resto-lounge promises Contemporary American cuisine by chef Bryan Ogden (as you know by now, the son of acclaimed chef Bradley Ogden). Gastronomic highlights include a ceviche and raw bar; starters ($12-$19) such as yellow fin tuna tartare with crispy rice noodles, watermelon, cilantro, and soy vinaigrette, and beef short rib-stuffed crepes with sweet onions, crispy shallots and grain mustard; soups and salads ($8-$14) such as spinach and cremini mushrooms with pancetta, feta, toasted almonds and apple cider vinaigrette, and corn bisque with lobster; and entrées ($22-$45) like a 22-ounce bone-in rib eye or grilled line-caught swordfish with lemon orzo, roasted eggplant and "sweet 100 tomatoes."

Dinner guests are invited to linger beyond mealtime and "experience one of Los Angeles' most buzzed about A-list spots, as the restaurant transitions into a lounge after midnight." The multi-leveled, self-proclaimed hot-spots' motto is "Dining is more than taste." I'm no expert on these things, but that doesn't seem like best possible motto for a restaurant. Still, we look forward to checking it out.
 
Dinning hours are Tuesday-Saturday 7 p.m. to midnight; Lounge hours are Friday and Saturday midnight to 5 a.m. and Monday 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Apple is closed Sunday. For reservations call 305-531-2600.   

Jackie Sayet

Three times is a charm

​Heavenly fish tacos have arrived on the stretch of Red Road between Bird and Flagler at Fish Shack Market.  First, thick pieces of the daily Triple Tail catch are seasoned and seared a la plancha and land on crunchy  strips of julienne green cabbage inside a flash fried corn tortilla.  Then, each crisp bundle is topped with freshly-made pico de gallo, bunches of chopped cilantro and finely diced fresh jalapeno.  A steamed corn tortilla sleeve, true to Mexican custom, is folded under the luscious package to prevent breakage.  Multiplied by three, these beauties are piled side by side into a paper boat, next to a shooter of spicy tomato cocktail to cleanse the palate with sips between bites. 

Jackie Sayet

Damn good cortadito

Sure, Latin cafes are a dime a dozen in Miami.  But a close look reveals that each of these neighborhood dives has its own collection of cooks, quirks and kooks -- idiosyncrasies that draw you to them and make you love 'em, even when you'd love to hate 'em. 

Good coffee, however, is non-negotiable when choosing which haunt to pledge allegiance.  Casa Cafe, brand new to the eastern stretch of Coral Way known as S.W. Third Ave., has very good coffee.  And the husband/wife team at the reigns will treat you like family, too.

Jackie Sayet

Corned Beef, kraut and banana peppers, the guts of "The Chicago Fire," a twist on the Reuben sandwich

The new Chicago's Bakery & Deli has only been open one week, but its performance has already received rave reviews and even a few regulars.  There was such a fuss brewing on the Cracktwit and Faceboring, initiated by neighborhood insider Tom Falco (@GroveGrapevine), I just had to stop by to see what da big deal was.  So did about 10 others right before close last night. 

Jackie Sayet

Mona's always watching

It could be a sign of desperation for fuss-free neighborhood eats, priced right in the financial district, or merely a coincidence.  Either way, Puntino Downtown was filling to the brim quickly by noon yesterday with a power lunch crowd hungry for a taste of its new "Fine Italian Cuisine." 

In addition to the area's white collar set, Goldilocks would approve of the menu here.  It's front-loaded with just the right amount of antipasti, insalate and primi piati among which to choose for a satisfying lunch from The Boot.  And each is comprised of just the right number of ingredients. Like in Italy, the Neapolitan chefs commanding this closet kitchen let the ingredients speak for themselves in most dishes -- a very good sign.

Jacob Katel

Cacciatorini -- Italian Tomato, Local Mozzarela, Granna, California Pepperoni, Guanciale. $11

Jackie Sayet

This little piggy goes to the kitchen. Cue the violins.

Jake's in South Miami has come of age, and it's feeling a little frisky.

Now dubbed The Gastropub at Jake's, this neighborhood watering hole est. 2001 has updated its decor and menu, focusing on shareable dishes.

"It was important that we took the new economic environment into account," explains owner Cynthia Seaman.  "People really want to feel like they can go out for a fun night on the town without having to spend an arm and leg."

Jackie Sayet

Nothing's fishy about Ray Trout's dogs

Ray Trout is owner of Sun, Cloud & Rain Hot Dog Stand.

"I realized after I named it, that I'd have to be out here no matter what," he says.

 It's a hearty commitment, but Ray looks the part.  His sombrero shades a face that's beet red, like he was born with a sunburn.

 

Bonnie Schwartzer wrote in to let us know about Le Banyan, a new Thai restaurant. I haven't yet been, but Bonnie has, and really likes it. Here, with her permission, is what she had to say:

"I would like to recommend a restaurant called Le Banyan, located at 7300 Ocean Terrace, Miami Beach (305-397-8261). It is a gourmet Thai restaurant. The chef is from Thailand and the owners have a sister restaurant in Paris -- so it is a really nice mix of Thai food and French influence. NOTE: It is not like any of those run-of-the-mill, Miami-style Thai restaurants that are located all around town.
 
I have been there twice and I think it is the best Thai food that I have ever experienced -- and I am talking about Thai food outside of Miami.  The owners remodeled the restaurant -- it was last occupied by those Romans who skipped town (you wrote a review on that restaurant) -- and it is a truly elegant experience. Also, it is costly (although the quality and freshness of the food is exceptional) and in the wrong neighborhood.
 
Menu items that I've had that I think are great are the spicy shrimp salad appetizer, beef dish, steamed fish (last night it was branzino with lemongrass), pad Thai and the chocolate dumpling-like dessert -- dark chocolate from France...we always end up getting 2 orders as the first one is so great it never feels like enough. (I would compare the chocolate to the chocolate in the dessert bento box that used to be served at Nobu's when it first opened).
 
I am bringing this restaurant to your attention as it is so far off the beaten track -- with no famous chef or marketing professional. I think that for even a person like yourself, it would be hard to know this restaurant existed.  (I live in the neighborhood.)  Le Banyan needs to be brought to the attention of real gourmet Miami diners in order for it to be successful enough to survive this town -- and I want it to, as the food is just wonderful."
 

"Bed For Two"

If food really is the new sex, then sushi is the new foreplay. And Zushi Flirt is the new cathouse. The SoBe outpost of the suburban New Jersey original debuted in the airy, gauzy breezeway of the Z Ocean, née Regent, Hotel, a space previously the outdoors-ish area of Table 8. If Mi-So Horny soup, Octopussy Delight or Climax and Both Ways rolls get your taste buds all hot and bothered. . . well, you've come (ahem) to the right place. Now take a cold shower.

Courtesy of Lola's Cupcakery

As far as desserts go, what's better than a cupcake? Think about it: these morsels of goodness are self-contained, portable, portion-controlled, and, when done right, can taste pretty swell. And now, they're showing up on Las Olas. Lola's Cupcakery is a new venture from Toronto restaurateur, Donald Kaplan, and his wife Laura (she's the "Lola"). The pair wanted to bring high-end cupcakes to an area that really has none, and their new storefront at 1523 E. Las Olas Blvd. will do just that. The store opens this weekend, and, as of now, will be take-out only. (The Kaplans have already applied for a change of use permit to allow in-store cupcaking.) Lola's will also deliver for orders of two dozen or more to just about anywhere in Broward, to the tune of $82 (a single cupcake runs $3.25).

                                                                                                         Jacob Katel

 
...is the answer to: What might you find at a Puerto Rican-owned piano bar/café? Merly Velazquez, niece of the late fashion designer David Fernandez, has partnered with Raymond Klein in opening Miami Arts Café across the street from the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts (255 NE 14 Street). The Puerto Rican native describes the venue, which debuted last Thursday, as "a nice, cozy place, like a house where friends can come and play the piano, where we can make a 'parranda' for Christmas as we have fun in Puerto Rico, in a bohemian atmosphere."

Rybak's Café premieres tonight at at 177 SW 7th Street (at the bottom level of the Latitudes building, just off Brickell Avenue). The 204-seater is being billed as "a laid back, uniquely hip bistro, featuring creative, moderately priced international cuisine, a classy bar/lounge, live entertainment and a 24-hour coffee shop café." Copper walls, brown marble floor tiles, chocolate leather banquettes, and a floor-to-ceiling wine "cellar" lend the locale its' desired "cigar room feel".

Executive chef is Garrette Gray, whose eclectic menu includes starters ($6-$17) such as pan roasted scallops with smoked duck, shiitake mushrooms, poached pears and natural thyme jus; fish entrees ($24-$34) like grouper with braised callaloo, potato conch fritter, roasted red pepper and lemongrass broth; and meats ($24-$56) like grilled veal chop crusted with Sansyo Japanese pepper and pooled in sake apple reduction. Executive pastry chef Mika Kochi will produce pastries and breads on premise. Open for lunch and dinner until midnight on weekdays, 1:00 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays; the coffee shop, as stated, never closes.

--Lee Klein

Miami DJ Cedric Gervais and partner Juan Carlos Dominguez are opening their Hed Kandi Lounge tonight. Located in the former Afterglo space (1200 Washington Avenue), this "gastro-lounge" will showcase molecular gastronomy. For those who aren't sure what this means, let's just say that the photo above is of flying bacon plantains, and the one below is the bruschetta:

The name comes from the UK-based label Hed Kandi, and music played here will be curated from that inventory. The lounge aspect is a major one, and there promises to be "high-octane dance-floor glamour".

--Lee Klein

Another day, another restaurant debut. After a soft opening in November, Canyon Ranch Grill  in Canyon Ranch Miami Beach (6900 Collins Ave.) is set to go public. Chef Alex Asteinza oversees the Canyon canon of healthful foods that fit with the spa's "wellness lifestyle". Starters, $9 to $16, include:

Pumpkin seed crusted poblano pepper stuffed with shrimp and goat cheese and shrimp, the latter being Laughing Bird Shrimp from a low impact "acquaculture" farm in Belize.

Black bass tiradito with red miso smear, house-pickled jalapeño and a squeeze of lime.

Seared watermelon with tomato salad topped with red wine vinegar syrup and basil seed.

Sardine stuffed with preserved lemon, sage and tarragon.

Main courses, $22 to $30, include:

Sassafras-wrapped grouper with corn truffle croquette, roasted tomato and duck prosciutto.

Glazed, lavender-stuffed quail with späetzle, green fig & cipollini onions.

Fresh vegetable "pasta" ribbons with chili, mint, mushroom Bolognese sauce.

Vegetable dishes are $9 to $13, an example being Spinach and Napa cabbage rolls with garbanzos and fennel pollen in smoked paprika broth. Paradise Farms in Homestead provides some of the produce. There are a few red meat products on the menu as well, like rack of lamb and braised bison short ribs.


It all sounds pretty tempting, and I'm also looking forward to having a cuppa organic tea in The Conservatory -- which will serve cocktails and tapas as well.

--Lee Klein

If you weren't at Pink Ghost Saturday night you missed one hell of treat: Not only was it the premier of the Ghostie's Eight-by-Eight art show, but it was also the launch party for the Purple Pie Company, a very DIY-style operation run by Miami gal, Alex Van Clief. There was beautiful pop art from the likes of Helena Garcia (who showed up at the event), Anneli Olander, and John Lytle Wilson. And there was FREE pie. And pies for sale. And cheery people eating pies. And it was delicious!

In case you missed our preview of the event in this week's Night & Day section, Purple Pie arose from Van Clief's love of baking, something she cultivated while at Syracuse studying photography. (And you should really check out her photography too; she's multi-talented, this one!) SU being in prime apple country, Van Clief quickly learned how to turn ripe fruit into tasty treats. By the time she came back to Miami, she was getting bombarded with requests for pies. After tasting her signature ones, apple and blueberry, I can totally see why.

Hit the jump for more...

Last week Victoria Fedden sent us this awesome memory of finding free food in Delaware:

"Each summer we were chicken-neckers. We stood on bridges in the dawn's mist, over nearly stagnant creeks or nearly up to our knees in eelgrass, dragging strings tied to raw chicken necks through the dark water waiting to feel the claws' pinch and the string go taut. Then we'd sweep our dip nets along the muddy bottom, tangling the blue crabs before we dropped them, shells clattering angrily, into a wooden bushel basket. The adults had to put a board over the basket because the crabs would escape and come scuttling sideways after us, furiously threatening us with their front claws, which terrified me. I was always relieved when we tossed them into the steamer because as a child it seemed to me that the crabs were hateful things when they were alive. Cooked, they were my favorite food.

They went into the speckled black and white pot like wet rocks, the color of water; grey-blue, muddy stone, and the green of marsh rushes. They came out orange-red like paprika, caked in Old Bay in an avalanche of shell and claw on top of old newspapers. Eating crabs was so messy that we only ate them outside on the picnic table over a bed of old Chronicles. We unraveled rolls of paper towels. The adults snapped open cans of beer and smashed into the crabs with wooden mallets. I learned young how to peel back the apron and scoop out the poisonous lungs which we called "devil's fingers" and since my hands were small I could easily pick out the lumps of backfin meat and the thin strips of sweet flesh hiding in the knuckles and legs. We ate with our hands, soaking the crabmeat in melted butter, licking the almost bitter spiciness from our fingers, repeating over and over how lucky we were that food this good lived practically in our backyard and that we could, for nothing but a couple hours and a few cents, dine like millionaires until autumn."

You all know the Proustian tale: French guy, now pretty old and sad, bites into butter cookie and is suddenly and viscerally transported back to a childhood room at teatime. We all have our own madeleine.

Short Order wants to hear your earliest food memory. The gnosh that woke you up to the possibilities of total gluttony, the oral sensation that made you understand there's more to life than teething biscuits.

To honor gustatory revelations past, this week Short Order initiates an irregular series where we ask South Florida foodists -- celebrity chefs, bloggers, fruit stand operators, home gardeners, compulsive eaters, and various movers and shakers on our local dining scene -- about the first bites that made them the culinary obsessives they are today.

After the jump, Miami blogger Paula Niño.