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| Avocado Tuna Bhel Puri - Ghee (Design District) |
One small thing that did not suck about 2020 was that as a result of the COVID restrictions, one of my favorite local restaurants, Niven Patel's Ghee, began doing takeout. Alas, in August Niven closed the Design District location, though the original in Downtown Dadeland remains open and he's now opened Mamey in Coral Gables. In late July, we were happy to secure one last order of the wonderful avocado tuna bhel puri, an inspired dish that brings creamy avocado and glistening ruby cubes of raw tuna to the traditional chaat of puffed rice, sev and spices. (All my pictures from Ghee).
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| Tropical BBQ pop-up at All Day |
If you're a long-time reader, you know that one of my all-time favorite Miami restaurants was Kris Wessel's Red Light, a wonderful, inspired, unpredictable spot in what was originally the Gold Dust Motel on Biscayne Boulevard.[1] So when I saw that Kris was doing a pop-up tasting-menu dinner at All Day, and that they were offering it for takeout as well, I jumped on it. It brought back memories of Red Light,[2]] featuring all sorts of local flavors with the occasional Creole twist: yellowtail, smoked and cured, with cassava chips and pickled okra; a delicate tart of coconut butter poached blue crab; conch stuffed chayote with a creole pepper stew; tilefish with a sour orange glaze, boniato and calalloo; duck with a sapodilla glaze and a calabaza cashew hash. Rather than a single dish, it was the sum total of it all that made it so memorable. (All my pictures from the Tropical BBQ Pop-Up).
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| Rotisserie Chicken - Lil' Laos |
I feel like I've been chasing Lil' Laos around Miami all year. The Laotian pop-up from partners Sakhone Sayareth and Curtis Rhodes (who had previously been chef at Café Roval, River Oyster Bar and Oak Tavern) was at Sixty10 in Little Haiti for a little while; then they did a residency at Fooq's downtown; now they've found a more permanent home at The Citadel food hall. Wherever they've been, the food has been excellent. Laotian cuisine bears lots of similarities to Thai cuisine, but the spice and flavor profiles are different in ways I can taste but have trouble nailing down. In any event: Lil' Laos stuff is delicious, especially the charcoal roasted rotisserie chicken, served with papaya salad, sticky rice, and a delicate, soothing tinola soup (which I thought was Filipino, but whatever). (All my pictures from Lil' Laos).
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| Lahmacun Pide - The Pide Place |
While Edge Steak & Bar in the Four Seasons was temporarily closed, Chef Aaron Brooks turned his attention to a little passion project for a while: The Pide Place, which popped up at Stanzione 87, the wonderful pizza spot in Brickell. Inspired by the Turkish bakeries of his native Australia, using Stanzione's dough and ovens, he started turning out gorgeous pides with a variety of savory fillings: cheese and za'atar, house-made sujuk sausage, and best of all (because anything Brooks does with lamb is fantastic), the lahmacun with spiced minced lamb, tomatoes and sumac pickled onions.[3] I'm glad to see Edge back open; I hope the Pide Place makes a return in some form one day. (All my pictures from The Pide Place).
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| Sra. Martinez Throwback Dinner - Michelle Bernstein Catering |
We got to relive another favorite, long-lost restaurant when local treasure Michelle Bernstein did a Sra. Martinez themed-dinner through her catering company, Michelle Bernstein Catering. Sra. M was a lightning-in-a-bottle kind of place, which didn't last long but left indelible memories. Michelle and her crew duplicated several of the restaurant's greatest hits: the pan con tomate, the patatas bravas, a salad of manchego cheese and ripe tomatoes with a sherry vinaigrette, grilled octopus with romsesco sauce, kalbi style grilled short ribs, and one of my old regular orders: the lush, faintly sweet stew of gigante beans and butifarra sausage. Stay tuned to Chef Michy on Instagram for Wednesday fried chicken dinners and other meal packages, including a great looking New Years Dinner. (All my pictures from Michelle Bernstein Catering).
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| OG Roni pizza - Old Greg's |
Over the summer, everyone in Miami went mental for Old Greg's Pizza, a pop-up from Greg Tetzner and Jackie Richie which took up residence in Brad Kilgore's shuttered Kaido for a little while. The pies were sold online only and went quickly; it wasn't until August that I finally got an "allocation." It was worth the wait for the excellent naturally leavened grandma-style pies, puffy, airy, and crisp-edged, with tangy sauce, melty crackly cheese, and perfectly cupped pepperoni rounds. Old Greg's has been on hiatus for a few months; I'm hopeful they're planning a comeback. (All my pictures from Old Greg's Pizza).
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| Corn Agnolotti - Boia De (Buena Vista) |
I can't complain that we haven't eaten well during this extended quarantine. But I do miss food that's been fussed over. You know: cheffy stuff, soigné stuff, finessed stuff. So when places like Boia De were doing some of the fancy things for take-out, I was very happy to be able to duplicate a little bit of the restaurant experience at home. This late summer dish of delicate pillows of corn agnolotti with plump lobster mushrooms and fresh herbs hit that spot. Boia De is now open again for dinner with well-spaced outdoor seating. (All my pictures from Boia De @ Home).
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| Saba Battera - Sushi Erika (North Bay Village) |
When Erika Kushi opened Sushi Erika in North Bay Village, she adopted many things from her father's wonderful Sushi Deli – including a good bit of the menu, and also the often-frustrating daytime-only hours. But now that I'm working mostly from home, and she's started doing take-out only service, taking orders over the phone, I've become a regular. Now I can get a saba battera, with lightly cured mackerel and sheets of cured kombu in a box-pressed Osaka-style roll, pretty much any time I want. This is a very good thing. (All my pictures from Sushi Erika).
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| La Pollita Sandwich - Boia De (Buena Vista) |
Have I mentioned that 2020 was the Year of the Sandwich? Have I mentioned that I'm a big fan of Boia De? Put those together, and reach back to the food truck that Alex Meyer and Luciana Giangrandi ran before opening Boia De, and you'll pull out a La Pollita Sandwich. This fantastic sandwich stacks a crispy chicken breast, creamy smashed avocado, tangy cabbage slaw, pickled onions and Valentina aioli inside a soft Martin's roll. It's perfect. Available Sundays for takeout and delivery. (All my pictures from Boia De).
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| Take-Out Omakase - The Den at Azabu (Miami Beach) |
Many of the fanciest restaurants in Japan also prepare bento boxes for customers to take home, including places like the Michelin three-starred Kikunoi and Kitcho. So I'm not entirely surprised to see some of my favorite Japanese spots in Miami adapt the format for takeout. They've done a great job of it at The Den at Azabu, where I had a couple wonderful omakase meals at the beginning of the year, pre-COVID.[4] This take-out bento from October, in addition to an assortment of sashimi and nigiri, included a couple plump little koaji nanbanzuki, and a chirashi of wagyu beef and uni. You can call to order one of these to pick up Wednesday through Saturday, and the sushi bar has reopened for dinner as well. (All my pictures from The Den @ Home).
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| Tagliatelle with Uni Butter - Navé (Coconut Grove) |
Mike Beltran and Justin Flit's Navé was also on its way to becoming a regular rotation spot for us before COVID came along, and their "Million Dollar Salad" already appears in Part 1 of this list. Post-COVID, Beltran consolidated his efforts around the flagship Ariete, while doing an occasional "Navé Seafood Shack" pop-up. We picked up several good things from the "Shack" last month – light and crispy crab hushpuppies, a snapper ceviche tostada with salsa verde, and best of all, this silky tagliatelle tossed in an uni butter with saffron, Calabrian chiles and broccolini. (All my pictures from Navé).
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| The NoMad Chicken @ Home |
For more than a year, I've been asking Alex Mayer at Boia De to duplicate one of Mrs. F's favorite meals from one of his former places of employment: the roast chicken at The NoMad in New York, a beautiful whole bird with an extravagant stuffing of foie gras, truffles and brioche. Shortly after Thanksgiving, he popped me a message: he'd made the stuffing, did I want a bird? Fortuitous timing: Mrs. F's birthday was coming up the next week. Alex stuffed and trussed the bird for me, and packed it up with all the instructions necessary for duplicating the dish in our home oven. It's the best chicken "I've" ever made (with a lot of help), and was a birthday hit. (All my pictures from The NoMad @ Home).
So with three posts (Part 1 and Part 2 are already up), I thought I would be done, but flipping back through my pictures I realized there were some dishes I'd overlooked. So stay tuned for a Bonus Round coming up soon before we say good riddance to 2020.
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[1] The motel, which has been through nearly as many incarnations as the adult movie theater / strip club next door, has been rechristened the Selina Gold Dust, and Matt Kushner (of LoKal / Kush) just opened Café Kush in what used to be the Red Light space.
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