Pizzavolante - Miami Design District - First Look

[Sorry, this place has closed]

Ahh, pizza. That happy triumvirate of bread, sauce and cheese. I'll confess I don't pretend to be a pizza expert. Unlike many of Miami's denizens who are transplants from pizza meccas like New York, I grew up down here on South Florida pizza. Which ... well, until recently didn't really have very much to recommend it. It seems that may be changing.

After swinging by Pizzavolante earlier today to have a peek, I brought the whole Family Frod back for dinner this evening, which was their opening night. The small restaurant on Miami Avenue on the edge of the Design District was pretty well packed with friends and family. The layout is simple - to one side when you walk in is the mozzarella bar and behind it, in the corner, the pizza oven; there are a few rows of tables with funky orange plastic chairs, as well some extra barstool-height seating along the front windows.

We started off with a sampling of the mozzarellas and their accompaniments, followed by a margherita pizza. As I previewed in my earlier post, there are a variety of mozzarellas to choose from - an organic Vermont buffalo mozzarella, Italian D.O.P. mozzarella di bufala and burrata, as well as cow's milk mozzarella in a variety of shapes from local producer Vito Volpe. These can be teamed up with a number of different pairings, and we added organic spinach and arugula leaves, fried zucchini, zucchini again in a fine julienne, braised fennel, marinated olives and capers, and trofie pasta in a light pesto sauce, all given a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and good olive oil (two more Spanish olive oils, one smooth, one more peppery, are on the table if you'd like to add some more). The burrata was lovely - silky, creamy and luxurious - but my favorite may have been the little ovolini from Vito's, which were nicely dense without being too bouncy. I also particularly liked the julienned zucchini, flavored with a pungent whiff of fresh mint and good olive oil. The cool mozzarella, with the various vegetables, makes for a nice light start to a meal while you wait for your pizza to emerge from the wood-burning oven.

You don't have to wait long, as our margherita came out in about 10 minutes. I'd love to tell you that you can pick up the smoky essence of the wood-burning oven, but I'd be lying - I don't think the pie spends enough time in there to notice. It was a thin-crust model, the ridge of exterior crust crispy and the rest of it sufficiently firm to hold up the sauce and cheese, but not so much so that you couldn't fold it without it cracking apart (yes, I'm a pizza folder). The standout component of the bread-sauce-cheese trinity here was the cheese, Vito's again on the "baseline" margherita model, which I thought had a lovely milky, lightly salty flavor and great texture - melting but not stringy or rubbery. If you want to upgrade from the standard $9 margherita, you can go for the $13 margherita di bufala D.O.P., which brings Italian mozzarella di bufala, oven dried roma tomatoes, and Sicilian sea salt to the party as well. I'd love to do a side-by-side comparison. In the meantime, I was happy that Frod Jr. and Little Miss F found some school friends to play with, as it left a couple extra pieces of the pie for me.

So - best pizza in Miami? Too early to tell. I'll need to complete the Pizza Showdown before making any pronouncements. But there's already much here to enjoy: multiple varieties of fresh mozarrella with lots of savory accompaniments; really good pizza with high quality ingredients at a very fair price: and good cheap wines to wash it all down.

Pizzavolante
3918 N. Miami Avenue
Miami, FL 33137
305.573.5325

La Cofradia Ceviche Bar - Coral Gables

[sorry, this restaurant has closed]

A few weeks ago I gave a preview of the new menu at La Cofradia Ceviche Bar, the reincarnation of a former upscale Peruvian restaurant which closed down a couple months ago. I paid a lunch visit last week on the first day of their reopening to see what was new.

The layout of the space has been reconfigured some, with a few tall tables and barstools in the entranceway along with a new (?) bar. White tablecloths are gone in favor of bare wood tables, though the place still retains many of the upscale trappings from its original incarnation and has a slick (but not uncomfortable) modern look to it. It does feel a little more welcoming and it seems they're trying to make the new bar area in front more of a focal point.

The menu is, as noted earlier, in many ways just a simplified version of its predecessor. There are a few options for ceviches and tiraditos, about a half dozen other appetizer options, about 10 entree choices (some of which, like the sauteed shrimp with tacu tacu, I recall from the original menu), mostly priced in the $15-20 range at lunch and $17-25 for dinner (dinner also adds several saltados or stir fries for $17-22), and daily lunch specials for around $14-15.

Ceviches are offered in four styles: (1) a mix of fish, shrimp and octopus marinated in the traditional citrusy "leche de tigre"; (2) white fish marinated and supplemented with aji amarillo chile; (3) mixed seafood enhanced with red rocoto chile; and (4) tuna done in an Asian style with soy, ginger and sesame oil. You can also get tiradito (thinly sliced fish instead of diced) done in any of the same styles. We got a sampler of all four (for $15; individual ceviches range between $11-$14) and the serving size of each was a bit dainty (three of us splitting it had to be pretty timid in serving ourselves so as not to hog all of one) though collectively it was a decent portion. My favorite, somewhat surprisingly to me, was the Asian style, which came with a little seaweed salad as an accompaniment. A slab of sweet potato and some choclo, more traditional accompaniments, came with the others.

I also tried a shrimp causa appetizer, a traditional Peruvian dish of a round disk of cold mashed potatoes flavored subtly with aji amarillo, topped with cooked shrimp, cubes of avocado and a drizzle of Russian dressing. I know - sounds odd. And maybe it is, a little bit, but it's cool and refreshing while also substantial and filling. La Cofradia's version was decent but not revelatory.

Some of the entrees on the lunch menu are available in half portions, and a half portion of the arroz negro (for $10) worked out just right after an appetizer. The rice, colored and flavored with squid ink, was fairly generously studded with calamari rings and scallops, but it lacked the real depth of seafood flavor that this dish has when done really well (as it is at Francesco, also in the Gables), and the calamari was just a touch rubbery. I've heard it said calamari should be cooked for 2 minutes or 2 hours, and this seemed to be caught somewhere in between.

Given that we were there for literally the first service since they had reopened, it's really not fair to judge the service at all. Our food was just a bit slow coming out but the restaurant staff was acutely aware of it, and plied us with complimentary pisco sours while we waited. It was thoughtful but unnecessary, as the wait time really was not bad considering, and overall service was quite solicitous.

I am mostly a luncher in the Gables and remain concerned that though the food was good, La Cofradia's prices are still too high to be competitive in the current market. They've taken some steps to simplify the menu and make the venue more welcoming, both of which they've succeeded at. But despite offering one daily lunch special for around $15, most entrees still hover closer to the $20 price point. Add a ceviche or an app and you've quickly got a $30+ lunch.

It would seem the most natural point of comparison would be Francesco, the Peruvian stalwart of the Gables, and indeed it seems La Cofradia's prices would compare favorably to Francesco's online menu. But the comparison that instead occurs to me is La Cofradia's neighbor Por Fin across the street. Por Fin has done an excellent job of catering to the Gables lunch crowd, with a lunch special menu that offers a wide range of apps and entrees for a combined price of $19.50-$23.50. Por Fin, whose food I think has improved since they first opened, merits its own post (it is coming), and I think places like La Cofradia ought to be paying attention to what they're doing right.

La Cofradia Ceviche Bar
160 Andalusia Avenue
Coral Gables, FL 33134
305.914.1300

Sra. Martinez - Miami Design District

[sorry, this restaurant has closed]

I don't believe I've ever seen a restaurant come together quite as quickly as Sra. Martinez did. On October 6, 2008, Domo Japones, which had occupied the old Post Office Building in the Miami Design District for less than a year, shut down. The same day, it was announced that Michelle Bernstein (most recently famed for her eponymous restaurant Michy's on Biscayne Boulevard) would be opening a tapas bar in the space. I've always enjoyed Michelle Bernstein's cooking, back to the days when she was the chef at The Strand, one of the pioneers of the South Beach dining scene. The combination of her talents with a tapas bar format hit a real sweet spot for me (I am sort of a tapas fan), and this was an opening I was eagerly looking forward to.

Less than two months later - and just in time for Art Basel crowds - Sra. Martinez (the name a reference to Chef Bernstein's husband and partner David Martinez) was open for business. The refurbishment of the Domo Japones space (built in the 1920's and originally the Buena Vista Post Office) was done quickly but effectively, with the black & white Naomi Campbell photos swapped out for bullfighting posters, and the primary visual highlights being courtesy of some bright red Philippe Stark "Ghost" chairs and barstools. Most of the restaurant is open to a 2-story height, with the bottom floor taken up on one side by several large horseshoe-shaped booths, with more tables through the middle of the space and the opposite side providing about 15 bar seats, the space behind which is being used as the cold-prep station for the kitchen (which it later occurred to me must have been the sushi bar for the prior incarnation). A staircase ascends to a small upstairs loft, which has two long tables for bigger groups and a small bar (which happens to mix some pretty awesome cocktails, several involving house-made bitters and other intriguing ingredients like ham-infused bourbon). They make a mean Sazerac.

The menu [note: this is a very early iteration of the menu, which has - as is typical for M.B.'s restaurants - evolved and changed over time] clearly shows the influence of a recent trip to Spain. There's a healthy balance between traditional items like boquerones en escabeche, tortilla española, or pimientos de padron, and more contemporary creative items like a pancetta-wrapped rabbit loin with carrot-cumin sauce, sea urchin "sandwich," or crispy pork belly with a fennel-orange marmalade and "Benihana salad".

My first visit was the day after Sra. Martinez opened, yet remarkably the restaurant was running as smoothly as one that had been open for years. The waitstaff knew the menu, the service was efficient, and the kitchen was getting the food out timely (though we've always made clear when we're there that we're happy being served tapas style with dishes coming out as they're ready). We've been back several times, mostly with larger groups, with similar experiences (though our last visit, a final round arrived a good 20 minutes later than anything else, by which point most of our group had already stuffed themselves).

We've now worked our way through most of the menu at this point (in fact our last visit, with a group of ten, caused the kitchen to ask "Who ordered 'the menu'?"), and so I'll try to work my way through the dishes we've tried and identify those that have been my favorites.

crispy artichokes - elegant long-stemmed artichoke hearts, delicately fried with just a hint of a crispy bread crumb coating, served with an aioli dipping sauce brightened with a liberal dose of lemon. Have had these several times now and they're always good.

bacon wrapped dates - these seem to be the official snack of the Design District, with Sra. M, MGF&D and Pacific Time all having served their own variations. Sra. M's, like many of the dishes here, play on the salty-sweet thing, with a sweet date paired with salty bacon and a filling of Spanish blue cheese.

boquerones - traditional white Spanish anchovies marinated in vinegar. Nothing special, but good if you like such things. Me, I'm a big fan of the shiny-skinned fish.

pimientos de padron - another classic tapas bar item, these little green peppers - basically the same critter the Japanese call "shishito" - are quickly sauteed with olive oil over high heat till their skins blister, and sprinkled generously with sea salt, and have an herbaceous, smoky flavor. An added thrill is that roughly one in ten pack some serious spicy heat, so that eating a bowl of them is a bit like a culinary version of Russian Roulette. And this gives me an excuse to link to a Calvin Trillin piece on the peppers, which is always a good thing.

charred fava salad - this was a new item from my most recent visit and a nice one, the favas having their characteristic earthy flavor, and also a whiff of smoky spice (chipotle?). I preferred this to other salads I've had there, which were unmemorable.

croquetas - the filling of the croquetas has varied from visit to visit - sometimes wild mushrooms, more recently chorizo. These are very light in texture, but I've found the flavor of the fillings to be difficult to discern.

poached egg - I've seen this a couple different ways. The first time, it was poached then fried (a technique Jonathan Eismann uses at Pacific Time too) and served on a bed of crispy kale and serrano ham; the next visit, it was just a garden-variety, perfectly poached egg, over a nice hash of chorizo and potato. This one would surely please Jonathan Mardukus - [2:20 mark]. The Spaniards understand that eggs are delicious for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and Sra. M gets it too.

tortilla española - a somewhat small hockey puck sized portion of the classic Spanish omelette, but not too dried out like you often find it here in the States. Even better with some diced chorizo (what isn't?).

pan con tomate - a simple dish - just crusty bread rubbed with garlic and tomato and drizzled with olive oil - but one that can be wonderful when done right (like at Paco Meralgo in Bacelona). The bread was a weak link here, seemed like garden-variety Cuban bread that was too spongy and insipid, and not enough olive oil.

crispy eggplant - thin disks of eggplant are fried till crispy and drizzled with dark honey. A great combination, and one that sounds somewhat avant garde, but actually a fairly common Spanish tapa.

piquillo peppers - these smoky Spanish peppers with just a hint of piquancy are wonderful things, and they're served simply with a drizzle of good olive oil. A simple traditional tapa, good but nothing extraordinary.

patatas bravas - another traditional Spanish tapas item, typically cubes of potato are twice-fried and served dressed with a fiery tomato sauce, and often accompanied with an aioli as well. The first time I had these, the bravas sauce was too sweet, and the portion too dainty. Both issues were fixed on a subsequent visit, by which time these had become "untraditional" bravas with Peruvian dipping sauces. The tomato-based sauce was now happily fiery, and an aji amarillo sauce made for a nice alternative. I now understand the dish has been tweaked even further in the Peruvian direction, with potato skins subbing for the cubed potatoes and a salsa huancaina in the mix. This tilt towards Latin America seems to have generally become stronger over the few months since Sra. Martinez first opened.

prawns a la plancha - massive head-on "Madagascar prawns" were grilled head-on and whole, and served with cloves of "confit garlic" and a shmear of a smooth chimichurri sauce. I always love good head-on shrimp, but this dish seemed caught somewhere between a classic gambas a la plancha (simply grilled, often with nothing other than sea salt) and a gambas al ajillo (sauteed in olive oil and lots of garlic) and fell a bit short of either. I believe this has undergone some metamorphosis as the menu has been updated.

clams - steamed open with sherry, garlic, chiles and roasted tomatoes, I thought these were fantastic, juicy and loaded with flavor. Unfortunately, they are also off the menu, as M.B. said they weren't getting ordered often enough. What a shame. I hope they make a comeback.

white bean stew w/ duck & foie sausage - a great dish. Mammoth white beans (like the gigantic judion beans I recall seeing in Segovia) are served with big hunks of botifarra sausage made with duck and foie gras, all laced with a port reduction that gives the dish a hint of sweetness. M.B. gives full credit to the legendary Barcelona restaurant Cal Pep for the inspiration for this dish, though she self-deprecatingly says her version is not as good as the original.

garbanzos - the first couple times I had these, the beans were done with crumbled morcilla (blood sausage) and cubes of sauteed apple, a combination I quite liked. On my most recent visit, the recipe had changed, and they instead were flavored with an overpowering dose of orange. I liked the initial iteration much better.

sea urchin "sandwich" - another of my favorites, sea urchin roe, together with some soy-ginger butter, are pressed within some crusty bread, Cuban sandwich style. I usually don't like my uni messed with at all, but I thought the soy-ginger notes complimented and enhanced the salty, sweet, spicy flavors of the uni. On later visits the portion sizing of this seems to have been downscaled and it may not be the greatest value for the price.

calamari a la plancha - grilled calamari, served over a bed of arroz negro flavored and colored with squid ink and ringed with a circle of green herb oil.

pork belly - the pork belly is crispy outside, tender within, topped with a smidge of a not-too-sweet fennel orange marmalade, and accompanied with a "Benihana salad" (which is indeed much like its namesake). One of the standout dishes.

galbi pinchos - short ribs sliced thin across the bone, dim-sum style, marinated in a Korean style sweet soy sauce, and served with a kohlrabi "slaw" of thinly sliced and vinegared rounds of kohlrabi, reminiscent of a Korean banchan. A little chewy, but tasty.

rabo encendido - liked this one quite a bit, oxtails given a long braise, the meat then pulled and shredded and stacked onto little toasts. The meat was wonderfully tender and richly flavored, even if I missed the opportunity to gnaw on the ends of the bones.

rabbit loin - this is a dish I'd had as a special at Michy's previously, a loin of rabbit is wrapped in bacon and served with sauteed rounds of carrot, a carrot-cumin sauce, and cubes of panisse (chick-pea fries). One of the best rabbit preps I've ever had, and was just as good at Sra. M as it had been at Michy's. Unfortunately it was not on the menu for my last visit.

sweetbreads - Any sweetbread dish at Michy's is always one of the high points. Chef Bernstein has a complete mastery of the things, achieving a wonderfully light and crispy exterior while still preserving the ethereal, delicate fluffy interior, and I've had some fantastic pairings at Michy's. The initial incarnation of a sweetbread dish at Sra. M. was just as good for the prep of the sweetbreads themselves, but the pairing (a romesco sauce and a caperberry) was disappointingly bland. On my last visit, there was a new version, this one topped with a semi-sweet orange sauce and plated with some lettuce leaves for making sweetbread lettuce wraps. A vast improvement and a really nice twist.

marrow bones - a great ingredient but a flawed execution the time I tried them. Each order comes with 4 bones, the shanks split lengthwise in half and then crosswise into roughly 2-inch lengths so that the marrow is exposed. Unfortunately there was a lot of variation from one piece to the next so that one might be loaded with marrow and the other have almost none, and also there were little shards of bone which easily broke off. A shame, as I am a huge fan of roasted marrow and had a similar dish done just perfectly at Michy's on one visit (served there with a pear gremolata).

cheese plate - a simple presentation of three cheeses (a Manchego, a Mucria al Vino, and a Valdeon blue when we ordered it), each with a little dab of a different jam or marmalade to accompany it.

donuts - dulce de leche filled donuts, accompanied with a coffee granita (coffee and donuts!). The coffee granita was pleasantly strong and not too sweet.

goat cheese and honey - listed as a dessert but really more of a cheese course, a round of a really nice goat cheese (pale and creamy in the center, gooey and golden around the edges, with a soft white rind) is warmed, topped with a smear of honey and a sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves, served with olive oil crackers for spreading. I often love the combination of cheese and honey and this really worked for me.

torrejas - basically french toast for dessert, this tasted like it was made with a panettone-type bread, sweet and dense with hints of dried fruits. Since one of my favorite treats is to make french toast from panettone, this made me very happy.

greek yogurt ice cream - an interesting play between sweet and savory, with a very yogurt-y ice cream accompanied by a sweet tomato marmalade and another sweet syrupy component (reduced balsamic?).

There are a few entree-sized items on the menu - a steak, a fish, a chicken - but they seem to be there primarily to appease those folks who can't get into the tapas spirit. The one time I was with a group that ordered one of these, the fish, it was perfectly fine but completely unexciting. The lesson - stick with the tapas.

The wine list is exclusively Spanish and has a number of interesting items and some real bargains, including an Alto Moncayo Veraton (a modern-styled garnacha) very fairly priced at $55, and an eminently drinkable Borsao Compo de Borja garnacha/tempranillo blend for only $20. On another occasion I had a nice Rioja with some bottle age on it, a 2001 La Rioja Alta Viña Alberdi, for only a bit over 2x retail.

As often as not, Michelle Bernstein will be in the house making sure everything is running right (she regularly does double-duty here and at Michy's up Biscayne Blvd. the same night), though it's her former sous chef from Michy's, Berenice de Araujo, running the kitchen at Sra. Martinez. Portions can be on the small side, and prices have crept up a bit from when they first opened, with most items involving a protein around $15. Since a typical meal may be 3+ dishes it is certainly not a cheap meal, in contrast to the Spanish tapas bars it is patterned after. But it'll be a good meal, and the place also lends itself to having a little snack and a drink at the bar instead of a full-blown meal, perhaps even before a meal as you head off to one of the Design District's other eating establishments.

Sra. Martinez
4000 N.E. 2nd Ave.
Miami, FL
305-573-5474

Indian Palate - Coral Gables

[Sorry, this place has closed]

It's generally been a struggle to find good Indian food in Miami. Renaisa, off Biscayne Boulevard and 78th Street, was my go-to place for a while (for take-out - I couldn't bear to sit in the dingy space, which has now changed hands and been made much nicer as Anise Taverna, a Greek/Med restaurant from the folks who used to run Ouzo's), but then they moved north to Heelsha around 163rd St. and I haven't gotten up that way. I've had a couple better-than-decent meals at Mint Leaf in Coral Gables, but it's rather pricy. So when a new entry in the market made its appearance, I was excited to try Indian Palate, and made my way over this week for lunch.

While walking my way to the restaurant's location at the corner of Salzedo Street and Alcazar Avenue, it gradually dawned on me what used to be there - it's the old Le Festival space! But this will not be one of my interminable reminiscences about restaurants-gone-by, I promise. It's still got ivy covering the walls outside, but the interior has been redone with Indian paintings and decorations. Lunch is done buffet-style, with a few serving tables set up in one room opposite the dining room (which appears to only have a portion of the full space open for lunch).

The buffet offered about 3-4 vegetable dishes , about 5 various meat dishes, basmati rice, a couple breads (the baskets of which were not refreshed nearly often enough), as well as another table set up as a chaat bar and yet another laid out with simple salad stuff and about a half-dozen chutneys and pickles.

My favorite thing was the chaat bar. Chaats are Indian street food, various combinations of miscellaneous crispy bits, sauces and spices. Here, they offered little puffed rice balls, crispy shredded wheat, and big round wheat puffs,along with several various sauces for topping them, including creamy yogurt, another yogurt-based sauce spiked with mint, a tart tamarind sauce, and a moderately spicy tomato chutney, along with diced fresh tomato and mint. The effect of the combination, which you can doctor as you see fit, is much like a spicy, savory, crunchy breakfast cereal, and oddly compelling.

The buffet fare was decent but not exceptional. The vegetables included a saag paneer (creamy spinach with cubes of mild cheese), a mild mixed vegetable curry, and a potato dish; the meats included a chicken tikka masala, a stewed lamb dish (rogan josh?), another dish with ground lamb or beef, and mussels in a peanut sauce. It was all OK, but there was nothing that really stood out. It was as if the spice had been turned down on everything, which I think is a mistake. Though I understand that not everyone likes spicy food, there's a difference between spicy and highly spiced. Indian food need not (should not) always be spicy, but if it's not highly spiced, then what's the point? To me that's the heart of Indian cooking.

I have read that the Indian Palate chef came over from Vix at the Hotel Victor on South Beach, which makes a lot of sense. I only ate there once, but what made the most memorable impression - other than the astronomical prices - was a bread plate that featured several delicious Indian breads, and some very savory dips including a raita and some chutneys. Now, Indian Palate offers a fuller panoply of choices, and at a much more affordable cost - our lunch buffet was $13, a bargain all things considered. The dinner menu seems a bit more convoluted, with a bunch of different combination plates, but I like the idea, since it gives an opportunity to try a broader variety of dishes. Now if they could just turn up the spice dial some so you can better distinguish one from another.

Indian Palate
2120 Salzedo St.
Coral Gables, FL 33134
786.360.3664

Not Ready for Prime Time

Prime Blue Grill,which opened in mid-2007 in downtown Miami, had signs up today indicating that the restaurant was closed "for renovations" until further notice.

Le Banyan - North Beach

[Sorry, this place has closed]

The Ocean Terrace area of North Beach is like a little miniature version of South Beach's Ocean Drive. Running between 73rd and 76th Streets just east of Collins Avenue, there are a few charming little Art Deco hotels (along with a couple larger condo buildings) facing right out onto the ocean. Other than beachgoers, however, there are generally not an awful lot of people around here. Despite that, another brave restaurateur* is attempting to have a go of it here - Le Banyan, a Thai restaurant in a lovely location on the corner of Ocean Terrace and 73rd Street.

There's seating inside in the classic Art Deco lobby, as well as nice rattan tables and lounge-y chairs outside where you can dine under umbrellas. We were there early on a Saturday evening and the weather was perfect for sitting outdoors. The menu is a somewhat abbreviated grab-bag of Thai dishes - appetizers include crab and vegetable variations on spring rolls, chicken satay, shrimp dumplings, spicy shrimp salad, along with a few other items, and about 10 choices of entrees along with a number of rice and noodle dishes.

It was just me, Frod Jr. and Little Miss F, and happily (for reasons I'll explain further below) they had a "children's menu" for $15 which included vegetable spring rolls, chicken satay, pan-fried noodles with vegetables, and either ice cream or banana spring rolls for dessert. Done and done (though Frod Jr. needed some convincing that he should stick with the kids' menu, as he eyed the steamed salmon wrapped in banana leaf). We asked if we could substitute one of the other desserts for the kids and pay the difference (I believe it was a coconut panna cotta with water chestnuts that intrigued Little Miss F) and after much consultation we got a vaguely positive response. I had the spicy shrimp salad to start, followed by a steamed fish with lime and chile.

The spicy shrimp salad was very brightly flavored though not particularly spicy - lemongrass playing the most prominent role, along with fresh mint, cilantro, toasted rice powder and chile, in roughly that order, and served on a few leaves of tender Boston lettuce. While very tasty, this was a skimpy portion that even Michelle Bernstein would have been ashamed to serve for $12. The fish was a very nice presentation, a snapper done skin-on and tail intact, with a very interesting fileting technique. It was completely deboned but both filets were still attached to the tail, with one stretched out across the plate and the other wrapped in a spiral around a stalk of lemongrass. It was served in another boldly flavored sauce tart with lime juice and enlivened with a hint of fresh chile. The kids both liked their kids' plates - I wasn't even offered a bite of their spring rolls, but got to try the satay which was more assertively flavored than many I've had locally (bright with yellow turmeric).

When dessert time came around we learned they were out of the item Little Miss F had wanted, and she got a "chocolate nem" instead, which turned out to be little chocolate-filled spring rolls with dabs of condensed milk with chopped peanuts for dipping, along with a scoop of chocolate ice cream. Frod Jr. was very happy with the banana spring rolls on the menu, which were crispy outside, gooey and sweet inside, and served over some melted chocolate for dipping. Instead of substituting, they brought out an extra kids' dessert so I got some banana spring rolls too. This gesture turned out to be less generous than it appeared when instead of just charging a markup for Little Miss F's substitution (which was maybe $2-3 difference), they simply charged us full freight for the extra dessert (which was about $11).

While the food was all pretty good, the prices were completely out of whack. Appetizers were in the $10-12 range that can be had for $5-8 at places like Tamarind Thai or Siam Bayshore around the corner. Entrees were mostly in the $25-35 range, which is just absurd for Thai food. Again, this compares to prices around $13-20 at either of the other neighborhood places I usually frequent. Desserts which go for $5 at the other places are $9-12 at Le Banyan. It's a nice view, but it can't justify those kind of markups, especially when I can't say that the food is markedly better than the other options.

Which is a shame, because if the prices weren't so exorbitant, this would be a really pleasant place to spend an evening. But just because Ocean Terrace looks like South Beach doesn't mean the prices ought to.

Le Banyan
7300 Ocean Terrace
Miami Beach, FL 33141
786.488.9902


*The last one that I recall was Baraboo, a circus-themed place, more than five years ago.

Pacific Time - Miami Design District

[Sorry, this place has closed]

We used to go to Pacific Time when it was on Lincoln Road, but I have to say that it was never really a favorite. I'm not sure if I'm putting this in a way anyone else will understand, but the food was too "squeaky" for me - too health-conscious, not even enough fat to carry flavors or truly satisfy. By way of example - instead of bringing out bread while you were waiting for food to arrive, they would bring zucchini and yellow squash lightly pickled in a kim chee style sauce. I always resented those zucchini.

There were certainly some dishes that were quite good - I recall the duck pancakes, and a whole yellowtail with ginger and julienned vegetables in a light hot and sour sauce - and at the time Chef Jonathan Eismann's focus on the East/West fusion thing was a new spin, even as the "Mango Gang" of Norman Van Aken, Allen Susser, Douglas Rodriquez, Mark Militello, Dewey LoSasso and others started looking more to the Caribbean for inspiration. And for years the restaurant thrived. But as time went on, prices began to climb steeper and steeper (probably in lockstep with Lincoln Road rents), and - perhaps out of fear of messing with a successful formula - the menu became increasingly set in stone. Six months could go by without a visit, and when I returned it always seemed like the same old stuff. Surely the tourists who were increasingly becoming the primary customer base would never know the difference, but for locals (this local, anyway) whose repeat business could potentially be that base instead - especially during the slow summers when Miami is left to Miamians - the menu had generally become too expensive and too stagnant.

In 2007 the Lincoln Road location closed, and about a year later Chef Eismann and Pacific Time* resurfaced in the Design District. Taking a hint from the then-recent successes of Michy's and Michael's Genuine, the menu focuses primarily on small plates, with a lengthy listing of about 15-20 "snacks" and small dishes, with a few entree-sized salads and maybe a half-dozen mains, along with another half-dozen or so vegetable side dishes. Many dishes continue Eismann's focus on Asian flavors, and in particular the balancing of salty sour sweet and bitter, but the menu also shows more flexibility and range, equally willing to venture into Mediterranean territory as well. Overall, we enjoy the new incarnation of Pacific Time much more than the original.

Over the year or so that PT2.0 has been open, about 60-70% of the menu has remained relatively constant, while a number of new dishes float in and out from time to time. Prices for the small dishes (where I've focused most of my attention) were originally mostly in the $8-15 range, but seem to have crept up and hover more to the upper side of that range and beyond these days. I've generally found, depending on the particular choices, that 2 small dishes is just shy of a satisfying meal while 3 is often a bit too much.

Items I've liked include:

• grilled asparagus paired with an egg "milanese" (poached and then coated in bread crumbs and fried), prosciutto and good olive oil;
• tempura soft-shell crab with a Chinese black bean vinaigrette and a toss of baby frisee;
• sweetbreads done "Buffalo-style" with a crispy coating, served with a neon-orange hot sauce and a blue cheese dipping sauce (though PT's neighbor MGF&D had beaten it to the punch on this idea, having already done some great Buffalo frog legs);
• a tuna tartare done in a presentation similar to Nobu with a pool of a soy-based sauce underneath, the tuna given a bright clean burst of flavor with some crushed cucumber, and some perfectly crisp greaseless gaufrette potatoes for scooping;
• a light little dish of soft creamy goat cheese wrapped with sweet grilled eggplant, topped with some microgreens and a nicely tart and fruity reduction;
• Indonesian beef salad, slices of beef seared rare and topped with a spicy and sweet sauce, sprinkled with peanuts, and served over a bed of braised greens;
• quail done a couple different ways. On a few occasions I've had it with roasted peaches and a nice flavorful pan sauce, but on my most recent visit there was a new variation (described below) that was devastatingly good;
• farro with caramelized onions and melted stracchino cheese, done as a veggie side;
• white beans with goat cheese and thyme, another veggie side, and also sometimes paired with a very nice short rib dish (the short rib meat pulled from the bone and shredded, then re-formed into a cube which is crisped on the edges).

I've been less thrilled by some other dishes. The salmon yaki in the small plates, sauced with both a tamarind bbq sauce and a sake vinaigrette, struck me as overly acidic, as did a salad of cuttlefish tossed with mango, mint, and greens. I've liked, but not loved, the crab dumplings served in a sweet corn and leek soup (silky dumpling skin, but the crab filling was too dense and firm); mussels steamed with sake, tomato and tarragon (too "squeaky"); a beef carpaccio for which tiny dabs of wasabi, mustard and chile sauce didn't do enough to perk up the flavors.

Frod Jr. and Little Miss F are big fans of the hot and sour shrimp from the "snacks", and also love a simply grilled West coast salmon (on the bar menu, but if you ask nicely they'll serve it wherever you sit) served with some of the most awesome fries I have had anywhere, hit with an unadvertised dose of truffle oil. PT2.0 has experimented with an idea that is near and dear to Family Frod's hearts, a kids' tasting menu, which is still being tweaked.

On our most recent visit a week or so ago, there were several things I'd not seen before. The most exotic was probably the "pacu ribs." Pacu is apparently a Brazilian freshwater fish (related to the piranha!) which, through some clever butchering, can be portioned out into servings that look just like baby-back ribs. The "ribs" (which actually each contain three skinny ribcage bones) yield white flesh that easily pulls off the bone and has the rich, meaty, oily, texture of salmon or tuna belly, served here glazed with a tart bbq-style sauce. I didn't love these so much that I'd order them every visit, but I can sure say I've never seen them anywhere else. Also good was a gigantic (Madagascar?) prawn, served with a nice ume (Japanese pickled plum) sauce.

But the pièce de résistance of the night was a variation on PT's quail dish. This bird had the breast boned out except for the wings, and was stuffed with a luxurious mix of shredded duck confit, dried apricots, cherries, and almonds, and dosed subtly with a hint of vanilla oil and a whiff of hazelnut liquor. As if that were not enough, the legs were fried in a tempura batter and paired with a nice, subtle but not wimpy sour orange sauce. It could be said that this was a bit over the top. That might be true. And I don't care.

For dessert, there is a very good "chocolate bomb," a version of the ubiquitous flourless chocolate cake, and an excellent baked alaska which cleverly pairs a torched meringue blanket with an almost-frozen key lime tart. I've also enjoyed a dessert with peaches, a lavender-infused sauce and cinnamon crisps.

The wine list usually has some interesting choices and is for the most part pretty fairly priced, a refreshing change of pace. There's also a good beer selection, including the very good, semi-local (Jupiter, FL) Monk in the Trunk Belgian-style amber ale.

Supposedly coming very soon from Chef Eismann - a pizza parlor and mozzarella bar, Pizzavolante, right around the corner from Pacific Time on Miami Avenue between 39th and 40th Streets.

Pacific Time
35 N.E. 40th Street
Miami, FL 33137
305.722.7369

*Though this website is updated with the new address in the Design District, the sample menu is still the old menu from the Lincoln Road days and not very reflective of the current restaurant. Go figure. [Edited to add: the website has now been updated]

Edy's Chicken & Steak - North Bay Village

[Sorry, this place has closed]

A couple years ago a sign went up on a storefront along the 79th Street Causeway for "Edy's Chicken & Steak". Then it seemed like nothing happened for nearly a year. Several months ago I noticed that, lo and behold, the place had opened up, yet the name still was not exactly luring me in. Chicken? and Steak? Umm, Ok...

Finally curiosity got the best of me and I peeked in and grabbed a menu. Well, this isn't just any "chicken & steak," but it's Peruvian style rotisserie charcoal broiled chicken - and even better, it's "famous from Falls Church, Virginia" according to the menu! After a little checking around, I learned that Edy's is reasonably well known in the DC area for its chicken, and even more so for the accompanying green sauce.

We got a whole chicken with a side of Peruvian potato salad (can also get french fries or yuca), which also came with a couple small green salads, for $16. The chicken was indeed good stuff - crispy well-seasoned skin, meat was hot but still tender and moist. But the star was the sauce - a spicy and herbaceous green chile sauce which just really perks up your taste buds. Another milder but slightly piquant mayo-based sauce (which the server could only describe to me as "white sauce") was also good. The potato salad was made with a mix of exotic Peruvian potatoes but a wee bit bland.

The menu also has a few steaks, a mixed grill with chicken, steak, pork chop and chorizo, and several different sandwich options. We've gotten take-out several times since my first visit (only the chicken, haven't tried the steaks) and the quality is consistently good. There are a few variations on side dishes, including yuca fries (decent if a bit bland), choclo (corn on steroids), and big slices of camote (Peruvian sweet potato). They also had several cakes in a display case and Peruvian ice creams (including lucuma flavored, which I thought was delicious - creamy, fruity and nutty, reminiscent of mamey).

The place itself is basically a fast-food joint and doesn't hold much appeal other than that it's clean and well-lit, but their chicken and the green sauce have found a regular spot on our take-out rotation. But I'll confess - this is all mostly just an excuse to link to this awesome ad they made (I'm a sucker for a chicken suit):





Edy's Chicken & Steak
1624 79th St. Causeway
North Bay Village, FL
305.864.9958

Red Light - Miami Upper East Side

[sorry, this restaurant has closed; but check out Chef Kris Wessel's new restaurant, Florida Cookery]

I first got a taste of Chef Kris Wessel's cooking nearly ten years ago, when he was the chef at a brief-lived restaurant on the western end of Española Way in South Beach called Liaison. Liaison lasted only a short time, doomed by a somewhat remote location made even worse by construction, but I still remember the New Orleans-influenced cooking, including some excellent N.O.-style BBQ shrimp and hearty grillades and grits. After Liaison folded, Wessel resurfaced as the chef at Elia, a Mediterranean restaurant in the cursed spot in the Bal Harbour Shops across from Carpaccio where a string of restaurants has come and gone (the latest to occupy the space, which has actually held it down now for a while, is La Goulue). Elia came and went too, and Kris Wessel seemed to disappear off the map.

Then about two years ago, strange signs of life began to emerge from a small restaurant space attached to what used to be the Gold Dust Motel on Biscayne Boulevard. The Gold Dust was, like much of Biscayne Boulevard at one time, a dodgy room-by-the-hour place frequented primarily by hookers and their clients, with a Chinese restaurant attached to it that Andrew Zimmern wouldn't eat at. The restaurant hung over the Little River, a small river feeding out to Biscayne Bay that at the time was dingy and polluted. It turned out that Wessel had taken an interest, and spent nearly a year cleaning up the River and the restaurant space. The River is now clean and is populated by birds, fish and the occasional manatee. And the motel, rechristened the Motel Blu (with rooms only for the whole night, thank you), now houses a restaurant built largely with Kris Wessel's own hands, Red Light.

Compared to what was here originally, the transformation is remarkable. The interior looks much like a 50's diner, with a counter bar with about a dozen stools around it, and about a half dozen booths along the windows. Downstairs is additional outdoor seating stretching right along the Little River, which you can gaze across and enjoy the view of the strip club next door (the neighborhood hasn't been completely cleaned up, and the restaurant's name is homage to what was, until recently, still the primary business activity on Biscayne Boulevard - yet in the span of just a couple years, Biscayne Boulevard is starting to become something of a Restaurant Row, though seedy elements undoubtedly still remain).

When Red Light opened in late March 2008, it turned out be one of the softest "soft openings" I've ever seen. For months, they were open only Thursday-Saturday, the menu had maybe a half-dozen or so items total (which would change up some from day to day), and the outdoor area by the River was still closed. The kitchen was often slow, the serving staff were well-meaning but inexperienced, but the food - and the prices - generally made up for it all. The BBQ shrimp I'd first had at Liaison were back, and were as good as ever, sometimes served head-on, and in a pungent sauce of shrimp-shell stock, worcestershire, butter, rosemary and lemon. The burger (with organic ground beef) was delicious, the fish was always fresh and local, and best of all, most items were available in 1/2 orders (generally under $10) and nothing on the menu was over $20.

Now a year old, Red Light seems to be really finding its rhythm. It's open 6 days a week (including late night) as well as lunch, the outdoor seating along the River is open and quite popular, and the menu, while still pretty short, usually features about 15 choices (most available as 1/2 or full portions) - and they're still almost all priced under $20. You can see Red Light's current menu here (though keep in mind that several items still change from day to day).

The BBQ shrimp are still as good as ever (though I've seen them head-on much less frequently). A more recent addition to the menu is a bowl of nice little Mediterranean mussels steamed with bay leaf and meyer lemon and served with very lightly crusted fried green tomatoes. We also recently had a nice app of pan-fried conch steak topped with a spicy green-chile relish. Kris's "hand rubbed, river smoked" ribs can be had in a 1/2 order (5 ribs) or full (10). When Red Light first opened these had a tendency to be tough, but either a change in method or using a better cut of meat seems to have remedied that problem. These are not gloppy with sweet sauce, but rather are mostly redolent with spice and smoke. A slaw of thinly julienned apple makes for an interesting, light pairing. Soups are often good, including a seafood gumbo studded with shrimp and blue crab, and a clam and corn chowder we had recently with an unexpectedly bright dose of lemon to enliven it. The skillet with fried eggs, morbier cheese, bacon, tomatoes and croutons is also very good, though I haven't seen it on the menu for a while.

The burger is still around and is possibly my second-favorite burger in Miami, behind only the burger at Kingdom. There are almost always a couple fresh, local fish to choose from (I've seen a number of interesting items, including strawberry grouper, hog snapper, tilefish), done with a variety of different sauces and vegetable pairings. But one of my favorite items is the quail, also available in 1/2 (one bird) or full (two birds) portions. The specific components of this dish tend to change with the seasons, but Chef Kris usually pairs the roasted bird (tender and meaty with just a tiny pleasant hint of gaminess) with some seasonal fruit, usually also a mushroom and bread salad or pudding, and a toss of fresh bitter greens. The first time I had this I described it as the "Holy shit that's good!" dish of the night - for those who've seen the movie Flirting With Disaster, think "Lonnie's special quail."* Since then I've had variations on the dish paired with a variety of different fruits - cherries, pears, plums, persimmon, local-grown mulberries (!) and the 1/2 order with one bird has got to be one of the greatest $10 dishes I've ever had. There are several side dishes available to supplement your meal, usually including whatever vegetables and greens are in season, and Little Miss F is always a big fan of the "sticky gooey mac & cheese."

Without making a big deal of it, it seems Wessel is quietly looking out for everyone's well-being. In addition to the strong focus on fresh, organic and local ingredients, Red Light's prep methods are generally pretty healthful as well. I don't even think there's a deep fryer in the kitchen.

The strong suit among the desserts is usually the ice cream or sorbet, all homemade and often some very interesting flavors (we had a dragonfruit sorbet once that was exceptional). Other options are usually pretty simple, like fresh fruit cobblers, rich chocolate cake, a nice chocolate pudding studded with rice krispies,a pecan tart.

When Red Light first opened, calling its wine list "carefully selected" would have been generous. There were maybe 3-4 options each for red and white, at most, though they weren't bad and were reasonably priced. Some more effort seems to have gone into that area of late, and there are now roughly 20 wines available, including some eminently drinkable items like Betts & Scholl Reisling and "Bitch" Grenache. If you're still underwhelmed, corkage is a very fair $10. The beer selection offers some nice items like Wolaver's Brown Ale and Rogue Dead Guy Ale (or, if you're a hipster who drinks crappy beer because you think it looks cool, you can get a can of Schlitz).

The kitchen can still sometimes be slow, and the service can still sometimes be flaky (I have learned my lesson not to bring big groups here), but the good food, the dedication to local ingredients, and the fair prices, all in a funky, relaxing setting, keep me coming back.

Red Light
7700 Biscayne Boulevard
Miami FL 33138
305.757.7773



*"I'm sorry that I put windowpane in Mel's quail, and I'm sorry that you ate it."

Talula - South Beach

South Beach, either despite or perhaps because of the huge tourist trade, has never exactly been a mecca of fine dining. There have been some very good restaurants in South Beach at various times - if you want to go way back, there was the Strand (one of Michelle Bernstein's first restaurants), Wet Paint Cafe on Lincoln Road (where Douglas Rodriguez started), and later Rodriguez's Yuca (amazingly still around though it's been ages since Rodriguez was chef), Norman Van Aken's "A Mano" in the Betsy Ross Hotel, Jonathan Eismann's Pacific Time on Lincoln Road (though I vastly prefer the newer incarnation in the Design District).* But for the most part, the options tend to be either overpriced and overblown, or tacky and tawdry. Some are even all of the above!

Amidst it all, Talula has been quietly cranking out some amazingly good, inspired food for more than five years now. Talula is the product of husband-wife chef team Andrea Curto and Frank Randazzo, both of whom first had successful restaurant careers on their own. Curto's reputation was established at Wish, where she was the executive chef when it was named in Esquire magazine among the "Best New Restaurants" of 1999; the following year Food & Wine named her among the Best New Chefs in America. Frank Randazzo, meanwhile, was making a name for himself at the Gaucho Room, a Latin American steakhouse in the Loews Hotel, when he and Andrea joined forces to open Talula.

The menu shows signs of both of their influences, with Andrea's handiwork in evidence on a number of adventurous combinations like the seared foie gras over blue corn pancakes with a red chile syrup, while a whole section of the menu is devoted to "Frank's Char Grilled Steaks," including some interesting cuts like the "Spinalis Rib Steak" and a 32 ounce "Tomahawk Chop." But regardless of who is responsible for each dish (and, I should note, lately Andrea and Frank seem to be making some room for Chef Kyle, the main guy in the kitchen these days, to add to the menu), one of the things I consistently enjoy about Talula is the boldness of flavors. They are almost always quite assertive and there are often several at play in one dish; the most impressive part is how successfully they usually balance out.

A good example of this is the appetizer of pan seared diver scallops, served over roasted cauliflower griddle cakes (at various times these have also been made with winter squash), curried cashews, a bacon & corn emulsion, and a spiced root beer gastrique. It's the kind of dish that could easily risk a "Too many notes, Mozart" critique, and yet it works perfectly. Ubiquitous tuna tartare is enlivened here with the subtle heat of serrano chile, the cool crunch of finely diced cucumber, and the saline pop of trout roe, with rice crackers for scooping. A more recent addition to the menu is a "steak and eggs" appetizer, a substantial app of sliced skirt steak, served over a bed of diced potatoes speckled with house-cured ham and wilted greens, along with two sauces, one the consistency of a reduced jus with bbq sauce flavors, the other a thicker sweet (cranberry? apple?) ketchup, topped with a fried quail egg, and sprinkled with crystals of lava salt that give an intriguing smokiness.

Soups are also consistently outstanding. An example: recently Mrs. F ordered an eggplant soup even though she doesn't really like eggplant - she loved the soup, velvety smooth and brightly flavored. The menu always features a risotto of the day, available either as an app or an entree size portion. There are only a couple pastas (also available in half or full portions) and they are also excellent - a home-made cavatelli, served with a traditional pairing of broccoli rabe and (home-made) Italian sausage, and a parsnip-filled ravioli topped with lush, rich braised shortrib and a sprinkling of goat cheese.

A new tapas menu, offered during happy hour on weekdays (5-7pm), adds several very reasonably priced options - steamed clams with chiles, roasted cauliflower with house-smoked bacon, torchon of foie gras with cocoa nibs and vanilla salt, a potato-ham hash topped with a quail egg - all for $5-10. If the menu is on the table and you ask nicely, you may be able to get some of these items even if it's not happy hour.

In-house charcuterie has become a recent recurring theme on the menu, and at various times there may be any number of different things at work in the kitchen. Several of the items are mentioned above (house-cured ham and bacon, torchon of foie gras) and I've had the good fortune to try a number of others - duck prosciutto (with a salad pairing arugula and pickled watermelon rind), saucisson sec (with pickled plums and cubes of brie encased in crystallized honey), duck confit - and they have all been outstanding. Sometimes they offer a charcuterie sampler on the menu, and if it's available, it is not to be missed.

The entrees likewise follow through with similarly assertive layers of flavor. I've had a rack of lamb done a couple different ways there - once over a fregola salad with arugula, ricotta salata and pickled cipollini onions, more recently with nira moyashi (stir-fried chive and bean sprout) and an ume (pickled plum) jus (though the ume did not come through as clearly as I would have expected). Both times the lamb was perfectly cooked and the portion (two thick double-chops) so substantial that I ended up taking one chop home (for which there was much rejoicing by the dogs, who got the bones). The pork chop is likewise expertly cooked, a thick, bone-in, Fred Flintstone style chop, served over some wilted greens, paired with a ragout of scarlet runner beans (these beautiful, gigantic and delicious deep red beans) spiked with - yes, house-made bacon - and a caramelized apple/mustard sauce. We did a group lunch there about a year ago, and Frod Jr. and Little Miss F were both fans of a salmon dish done in an Asian style with udon noodles and a miso broth. I still occasionally pine for a lavender-rubbed venison loin that's been off the menu for a couple years now.

Funny, despite having been many times, I have no real recollection of the desserts - probably because we run out of steam before getting there. The wine list used to be a real sore point for me, a decent selection but some really outrageous markups. It seems lately they've made an effort to address the issue by paring down the list some, offering a better selection in the sub-$50 range and ratcheting back the markups. At this point it probably qualifies as reasonable by South Beach standards (which isn't saying much, but is still a sign of progress).

The place has a more relaxed, less trendy vibe than most other South Beach restaurants. It's classy and comfortable, and the patio area in back provides some nice outdoor seating (not only for dinner but their Sunday brunch as well), but it's a far cry from the posh and hip hotels like the Gansevoort or the Setai that are its neighbors. But if you're about the food and not the scene, Talula is the place to go on South Beach.

Talula
210 23rd Street
Miami Beach, FL 33139
305.672.0778



*Actually this list could go on quite a bit longer. Starfish, and then Cafe Maxx, back before Kerry Simon went Vegas; Mark's South Beach; Nemo back when Michael Schwartz was the chef; Johnny Vinczencz's first restaurant at the Astor Hotel (not the forgettable sequel), and perhaps even better, the casual Johnny V's Kitchen on Alton Road with the fantastic rib-meat hoagie; Chrysanthemum; Shoji Sushi back before it went to crap. Currently, Sardinia is very good, and Meat Market shows some promise. Perhaps I'm disproving my point here, and the general suckiness of South Beach is a more recent phenomenon.

Hong Kong Noodles - North Miami Beach

Let's digress from this extended digression into Spain, for a moment, and return to the original theme - Miami eats. The stretch of NE 163rd Street between US1 and I-95 is about as close as Miami comes to having a "Chinatown." It's not particularly a community in any normal sense of the word, but there is a concentration of Chinese restaurants and markets along this stretch of blacktop (as well as some of the more curious ethnic mixes of places within a few square feet of each other that you'll find in South Florida - Chinese bakery / Jamaican roti shop / Jewish deli all in the same strip mall?). For a few years we would occasionally frequent a place called "Jumbo" on the south side across from what used to be called the 163rd Street Mall (the mall's been rehabilitated and is surely called something more interesting now) for dim sum; about a half-year or so ago, Jumbo got something of a makeover and became "Hong Kong Noodles." Since then I've popped in several times, mostly for dim sum lunch. They do menu-style (i.e. no pushcarts, just check off what you want on the photocopied menu) dim sum at lunchtime, along with Chinese bbq (usually some nice ducks and pork hanging from hooks in the back of the restaurant), lots of noodle and congee dishes, plus they have tanks of live fish and seafood (crabs, lobster, a few kinds of fish) and a good number of inscrutable specials written only in Chinese on a white-board on the wall.

I love the possibility of having a dim sum place in North Miami, instead of having to trek down south to Tropical / Kon Chau / South Garden, but our dim sum experiences with "Hong Kong Noodles" have been somewhat up-and-down. On my most recent visit, the standout was a fried shrimp dumpling, wrapped in a triangular wonton, which was freshly fried, plump with moist diced shrimp, and served with a thick sweet mayo for dipping. The fun gor also seemed fresh, and the translucent wrapper had a good texture (substantial but not too gummy), but the filling, ground meat flecked with cilantro and studded with peanuts, seemed to be missing a little something flavor-wise. The pan-fried turnip cake could have been warmer, but was studded with nice bits of smoky sausage. Beef balls wrapped in bean curd had a nice fluffy texture and came out steaming hot, but were also a touch muted in flavor.

On other visits I've had similarly inconsistent experiences. One time the shrimp har gow were outstanding; another time they tasted as if they'd gone off. I've had good stuffed bean curd skins, another time they came out still cold in the middle. Tripe, supposedly with black bean sauce, was bland unless swiped vigorously through some chile oil and soy sauce. The roast duck was pretty good, and I've enjoyed the congee with pork and preserved egg. Their chicken feet were pretty good (though when Mr. Chu's on South Beach was on top of their game, I think theirs were the best in town); I've learned that while I love chicken feet, I'm not nearly as fond of duck feet (though it's nice to have a place where they're available to learn such things, and I chalk this one up purely to a matter of personal taste). They have a number of sweet dim sum options, including "Chinese donuts" (more like a big fried sweet loaf of dough) which Frod Jr. and Little Miss F enjoy.

I've found the staff there to be pretty friendly, and the price is certainly right - almost all of the dim sum items are priced at $2.95 per serving. Plus, there's probably enough exotica on the menu (to say nothing of some good "Engrish" items - "steamed sweat rice," "three nut frog") to keep any adventurous eater busy for a while. I just wish the execution could be a bit more consistent.

Hong Kong Noodles
1242 NE 163rd Street
North Miami Beach, FL
305.956.5677