December 2008 – January 2009

New Year’s in Miami and an early January trip to Key West. Between the well known restaurants in Miami’s design district and the (reputed) laid back charm of the Florida Keys this promised to be another great trip with both fine dining and fast food options. The JJ and I did extensive research on the best high end restaurants and low end joints and ventured to Flo-rida to check it out ourselves.

MIAMI – FINE DINING

MICHY’S

Michelle Bernstein is Miami’s top celebrity chef and Michy’s is her flagship restaurant, so it seemed like a natural for dinner on New Year’s Eve. Incongruously located in a strip mall on a seedy strip of Biscayne north of the Design District, Michy’s is a beautiful restaurant decorated with that bold Miami flair that would be tacky elsewhere. Being offered a “mack daddy wine pairing” fit the neighborhood more than the setting and could have completely spoiled the appetite of a lesser man (I took the regular wine pairing thank you very much) Maybe I should have known that the five course set menu would not be as much fun as an a la carte meal but, on the other hand, a restaurant has no excuse when it only has to focus on ten dishes in an evening.

The highlight of the night (and perhaps of the trip) was a white gazpacho with marcona almonds, green grapes, cucumber and jerez poached lobster. Miami foodies rave about this soup–and rightly so–as it is an amazingly delicate combination of flavours. Top marks as well for filet mignon served on a bed of creamed spinach topped with a crispy potato pancake and lobster–a dish that skillfully explores flavour, texture and temperature contrasts. Michy’s desserts also deserve kudos: not only a simple and delicious raisin and chocolate bread pudding, but also a deconstructed Black Forest cake, with  plump cherries, a vanilla creme anglaise and cherry gastrique.

There were a few lowlights as well though. A riff on salade Lyonnaise with truffled egg and pancetta wrapped cheese stuffed dates has too many incongruent flavours and the skate wing with celery root puree is undercooked (skate sashimi is not a favourite) and unexciting. Wine pairings were also incongruous (to my way of thinking)–a California chardonnay was paired with the porky Lyonnaise salad while a Barbera d’Alba was matched with a scallop mousse tortellini in sea urchin butter. Maybe I should have opted for the “mack daddy wine pairing” after all.

Michy’s
6927 Biscayne Blvd
Miami
305.759.2001

VERDICT: The jury is out. When you charge nearly $500 for two people, I expect more highlights or at least no lowlights. At the same time, I suspect the regular menu is not so expensive and may be better executed to boot. I would give it another shot.

MICHAEL’S GENUINE FOOD & DRINK

Michael’s makes extensive use of its wood burning oven in the tradition of Zuni Cafe in San Francisco or Fore Street in Portland Maine and that makes for some pretty good food.  We start with a farm fresh double yolk egg roasted in a ramekin topped with aged gruyere and served with a sourdough crostini. So simple but so good–the ingredients really shine. Michael’s ingredient driven cuisine is also reflected in a solid panzanella . The next course is not as faultless. Sauteed sweetbreads are overfried causing them to lose their creamy texture, while the accompanying tomato and cippoline chutney is overly sweet. Grilled octopus served with a gigande bean salad, roasted peppers and green olives is a nicely constructed dish but a tad on the wrong side of overcooked.

The restaurant’s skill at building dishes with great flavour  is evident in a crispy, sweet and spicy pork belly with kimchi, peanuts and pea shoots. Unfortunately, the pork belly could have used a longer braise and is still really fatty. All in all, top points for imagination but a lesser score for execution on these latter dishes. Michael’s gets top marks for pastry chef Hedy Goldsmith’s desserts which would warrant a visit in and of themselves. Tangerine “Creamsicle” pot de creme with blackberry basil marmalade is served with hot doughnuts that put the delce de leche stuffed ones at Sra. Martinez to shame. Seriously, one of the best desserts I tasted in 2008. The service also deserves a tip of the hat–friendly, open and quite knowledgeable for any place in the United States that isn’t New York or San Francisco.

Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink
130 N.E. 40th Street
Atlas Plaza
Miami Design District
305.573.5550
http://www.michaelsgenuine.com

VERDICT: Notwithstanding reduced marks for execution on a few dishes, this was my favourite meal in Miami. Maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for ingredient driven cuisine. Maybe it was just the right mix of sophisticated and laid back. Good food. Friendly staff. Maybe that’s what they mean by genuine. I would rate Michael’s Genuine Food and Wine as a must visit.

SRA. MARTINEZ

Sra. Martinez is Michelle Bernstein’s newer, sexier restaurant set right in the middle of the Design District in an old post office building. The fantastic setting, beautiful room and a great little bar up the stairs with an interesting drink menu and a mean pisco sour make for a great start to the evening. Sra. Martinez serves  tapas, both the traditional Spanish and newer inventions that borrow from other culinary traditions. I didn’t mind the attitude from the manager or the crappy doorside table, or the exclusively Spanish wine list, or that our waitress didn’t know anything about said wine list, or the fact that our wine only arrived shortly after our second course. I came for the food and there’s more to like here than not.

Jamon serrano with fig marmalade and marcona almonds is heavenly but you don’t get top marks as a restaurant for cutting ham. A white bean stew with duck and foie gras sausage and a port wine reduction as well as wild mushroom and manchego croquetas served with a fig marmalade (again) show that the kitchen can turn out some real winners.  Quail pinchos, little harissa and pomegranate glazed grilled quails studded with cilantro, also get top marks. On the other hand, the galbi pinchos fall short with meat  not very flavorful and fatty short rib sections. Still,  I could have eaten bowls of the accompanying green tomato coleslaw. The biggest disappointment of the night for me is the much-hyped fresh sea urchin sandwich with soy-ginger butter. It turns out to be a big mess of oily fried bread with the taste of sea urchin barely discernible. For dessert the orange flan with sherry and whipped cream  rates very highly while dulce de leche filled doughnuts are dense and the accompanying chunky coffee granita quite ordinary .

Sra. Martinez
4000 NE 2nd Ave
Miami Design District
305.573.5474‎

VERDICT:On the whole, the food was quite good but this was one of those meals at which all the extraneous annoyances have overpowered the memory of the food for me. If I had to do this again I would have skipped out on Mrs.Bernstein’s second effort and gone to Pacific Time.

ENOTECA SARDINIA RISTORANTE

Enoteca Sardinia has been called the best restaurant in South Beach. Far away from the glitz of Ocean Drive, this is not a place people come to be seen. Lunch is an amazing deal for Miami Beach, a town in which waiters assault you on the street to drag you into dubious overpriced restaurants. A ciabatta with prosciutto, fresh mozzarella and tomatoes with a side salad and gnocchi with fresh mozzarella, baby tomatoes, basil and salmon eggs each go for only $12. The gnocchi are a little heavy but the addition of the salmon eggs to the caprese ingredients is inspired. Add in an extensive wine list and a tempting evening menu and I was sorry I didn’t have another night in Miami to come back here.

Enoteca Sardinia Ristorante
1801 Purdy Ave
Miami Beach
305.531.2228
http://www.sardinia-ristorante.com/

VERDICT: Definitely on my short list for dinner on my next trip and the lunch is a great deal and well worth the short stroll.

JOE’S STONE CRAB

We lucked out by having our flight delayed and missing lunch on our first day in Miami. Why is this lucky? Because we were famished and showed up at Joe’s at 5pm which meant we didn’t have to wait for an hour in line like people who arrived half an hour later. Joe’s is an institution and one of the grand old restaurants in the entire country. It has been around since 1913 and is reputed to be the first restaurant to serve stone crabs in this neck of the woods. It is run like a corporation with the efficiency of a Toyota assembly line (we saw a full turn of every table we could see in the restaurant while eating our meal). Service is courteous but abrupt–as if everything had been learned from a German textbook.

The bread was horrible and I was ready to hate Joe’s but the food turned out to be pretty good. Stone crab is not my favourite crustacean but the cold cracked claws served with a heady mustard sauce were very tasty, the fried green tomatoes addictive and the key lime pie the tops we had in the Sunshine State. One little tip is that the waiters tend to push the larger claws which are much more expensive than the smaller ones. They taste the same (many people-including myself- even prefer smaller shellfish to larger) and since the claws are pre-cracked its not as if they’re much harder to eat. Save your money and buy some wine–you’ll stand out from all the other diners drinking Pepsi.

Joe’s Stone Crab
11 Washington Ave
Miami Beach
305.673.0365
http://www.joesstonecrab.com

VERDICT: I guess that when people keep coming back even when it means standing around like cattle in line they call it an institution. And I would definitely come back (even if I had to stand in line).

MIAMI AREA- CHEAP EATS

PUERTO SAGUA

Since there is no actual food in Cuba in the Castro era, South Florida is as good a place as any to get your hands on some good Cuban eats. Puerto Sagua is a dinner smack dab in the middle of South Beach that is a lot more working class than most of the shops on this stretch of Collins. It specializes in heaping plates of roasted and stewed meats with rice and beans and little shots of cortadito–the simple pleasures that are the cornerstone of Cuban cuisine. The masas de puerco frita, fried chunks of pork served with peas,  fried onions and peppers are addictive with a little hot sauce. Chicken with yellow rice and plantains is also a revelation –nicely roasted chicken, moist fluffy rice and beautifully caramelized plantains. Oxtail stew with moro rice and yucca proves hearty and filling. This was way too much food for two people and cost about as much as a salad on Ocean Drive.

Puerto Sagua
700 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach
305.673.1115

VERDICT:Top value in South Beach. I won’t make any claims as to how it ranks with other local Cuban joints but this is tasty food.

EL REY DEL CHIVITO

We don’t do Uruguayan in Montreal and that’s probably good for the waistline. El Rey Del Chivito is ostensibly a Uruguayan pizzeria (Miami really does have everything Latin American under the sun) but as the name suggests it gives pride of place to the chivito. The what? A sandwich consisting of a soft roll laden with grilled beef, bacon, a slice of ham, fried onions and peppers, olives, a fried egg and mozzarella and topped off with lettuce, tomato and a dose of mayo. Oh and this behemoth is served with a big side of fries. It’s amazing I ate anything else for the rest of the day.

El Rey Del Chivito
6987 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach
305.864.5566
http://www.elreydelchivito.com

VERDICT:El Rey is a neighbourhood place–nice and laid back. I probably wouldn’t move heaven and earth to come back but this was some good fast food–and a convenient stop on the way to the shops at Bal Harbour from South Beach.

LE TUB

The burger at Le Tub is legendary, apparently because GQ Magazine named it best in America. Poor GQ. It isn’t even the best burger I’ve had in the United States and my market canvass hasn’t exactly been extensive. But this hamburger is huge and tasty and Le Tub has those big, lumpy French fries that look like they were made by drunken sailors and a decent hot dog as well. It is housed in a shack that looks like Gilligan built it with the back end opening up  on the intra-coastal waterway. A great place to grab a beer, a burger and soak up some sunshine on a lazy day. So what if it’s not the best burger in the country?

Le Tub
1100 N. Ocean Drive
Hollywood
954.921.9425
http://www.theletub.com/

VERDICT:If you have to go to Fort Lauderdale Le Tub is on the way and should help break the monotony, although you should factor in a one hour plus lead time while your burger gets cooked on a Lilliput-size griddle and you are forced to drink numerous beers.

JAXSON’S ICE CREAM PARLOUR

I don’t normally review ice cream parlours, but Jaxson’s is a South Florida institution and rightfully so. Take out or sit down, the ice cream is perfect, refreshing and not overly fatty. Take a look at the size of  the banana split and you’ll understand why the line looks like weigh-ins at at sumo camp. At Jaxson’s there is no such thing as excess. Believe the hype and get on down here.

Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlour
128 S. Federal Highway
Dania Beach
954.923.4445
http://www.jaxsonsicecream.com/

VERDICT: The best ice cream we had in South Florida but more or less in the middle of nowhere.

FLORIDA KEYS

FISH HOUSE

Notwithstanding its movie connection, Key Largo, one of the first stops in the Keys on the way down from Miami, is not the most glamorous place on earth. The Fish House is a fish market and restaurant that gets a lot of recommendations. The fish sandwich features your choice of mahi-mahi, grouper or snapper grilled, fried or broiled with a little mayo, tomato and lettuce. Top marks for fresh fish but a big deduction for very ordinary bread. This can’t get my recommendation as a great sandwich. We also liked the key lime pie. No outdoor seating makes a meal here like eating in an ogre’s cave–a real shame on a sunny day.

Fish House
102341 Overseas Highway
Key Largo
305.451.4665
http://www.fishhouse.com

VERDICT: If you’re hungry in Key Largo and hate being in the sun, then why not? Sister restaurant Fish House Encore is open only at night with a more varied menu and gets strong reviews as well.

KEYS FISHERIES

The long line-up at Keys Fisheries, another legendary fish market-restaurant on the road to Key West, hints at a great  experience but the food falls short. Crabcakes are mealy, mangled and utterly forgettable. Fried conch balls feature a gooey spicy interior reminiscent of microwave food which I suppose the sweet and spicy creamy dipping sauce is supposed to make me forget. I suppose most Americans like anything that is deep fried, spicy and sweet but I was expecting a little more. The lobster reuben (think reuben sandwich with the lobster tagging in for the corned beef) is the lone bright spot but you don’t taste much lobster once you load that baby up with sauerkraut and sauce and fry the dickens out of it. Ample seating overlooking the water makes it a nice spot for a beer and a bite and the quirky humour of the staff makes it a pleasant visit.

Keys Fisheries
3390 Gulfview Ave
Marathon
305.743.4353
http://www.keysfisheries.com/

VERDICT: A big disappointment after all the glowing reviews Keys Fisheries seems to get.

BLUE HEAVEN

To  many people Blue Heaven personifies Key West–and to me it does as well. But while most people wax poetic about amazing breakfasts, roosters roaming free between tables and the Jimmy-Buffett laid back vibe that predominates, I just think its over-hyped, expensive and serves crap food. The sad little  salsa on my (very ordinary) shrimp omelette can be forgiven but serving a fruit plate half composed of garbage (that’s what you call it when its rotten) cannot. To be fair, the homemade bread was very good but this was the most ordinary of restaurant experiences made all the more annoying by the 90 minute wait that preceded it. Don’t trust those guidebooks…

Blue Heaven
729 Thomas St
Marathon
305.296.8666
http://blueheavenkw.homestead.com/

VERDICT:Worst meal of the trip hands-down–but probably no worse than you find elsewhere in Key West which seems to cater mostly to people who would enjoy prison food.

EL SIBONEY

El Siboney gets top marks for Cuban food in Key West and if the lines are any indication it might be the best restaurant in town. The service is friendly and efficient and portion sizes are over the top. My Siboney steak–a monster grilled skirt steak topped with a quick onion and parsley salsa and served with plantains and rice and beans–is very tasty. Although the steak is an exercise in perfection, the accompanying plantains, rice and beans are all average at best. Chicken with yellow rice is good as well, but nothing more. El Siboney would probably not be considered a special if it wasn’t in the culinary wasteland that is Key West.

El Siboney
900 Catherine St
Key West
305.296.4186
http://www.elsiboneyrestaurant.com/

VERDICT:A great option in Key West, but El Siboney would be an average restaurant elsewhere.

B.O.’S FISH WAGON

Key West is basically a place where corporate bars, stupid t-shirts and bad restaurants go to die. The laid-back vibe that everybody is trying to market probably ceased to exist about 30 years ago but B.O.’s feels like a hangover from simpler times. It really is a shack, pieced together from flotsam and debris and sheltering a piano which adds to the boisterous atmosphere.. A few mishappen tables and chairs revolve around a bar counter and a central kitchen serving grilled and fried fish, fish and conch sandwiches, burgers and hot dogs. The much recommended conch sandwich, little fried conch nuggets on a soft roll with key lime mayo and lettuce was fine but lacks an acidic counterpoint and not the revelation it was cracked up to be. The hamburger doesn’t need any improvement though.  Well cooked, well put together, pink, juicy and delicious. Pony up to the bar and order up a beer or some cheap wine and listen to the pianoman. B.O.’s is a feelgood place.

B.O.’s Fish Wagon
801 Caroline St
Key West
305.294.9272

VERDICT: Some of the most enjoyable food and atmosphere we encountered in Key West. Simple but solid–and definitely worth a visit.