A Spice for all Seasons

First there was just Miami Spice, a month-long summer deal where restaurants, through August, offered $23 3-course lunches and $36 3-course dinners. As the economy tanked, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau extended the original "Summer" Spice, then introduced a "Winter" Spice in January, and now is unveiling "Spring" Spice for the month of May. Coming soon - Posh Spice, Sporty Spice, Scary Spice, Old Spice, and Pickling Spice. With the return of Miami Spice come all the familiar complaints - the food is boring, the service is lousy, and why doesn't every restaurant just lower all their prices (or, stated another way, why aren't restaurants offering their best dishes at these prices)? Even New Times is joining in the kvatching.

As for the last of these gripes, it just seems silly to me. The concept here is not a particularly novel one. It's the same idea as the "prix fixe" meal that is prevalent throughout Europe - a set menu, often at a more affordable price, which as a consequence generally does not call for some of the more expensive items that may be found elsewhere on the a la carte menu. I don't see why offering a prix fixe option means a restaurant should be offering similar discounts across its whole menu. Just don't expect lobster and foie gras at $36 (though, interestingly, they can be found on some menus).

The other points are more on target but certainly nothing new. The service issue is a common one - management may think it's great to fill up seats even if it's at a lower price point, but waitstaff don't exactly relish the diminished tab on which their tip is calculated. And the food? At some places it's clear they're just going through the motions and making little effort to offer anything other than the cheapest food they can put on the plate. It's usually pretty easy to tell. Their menus almost invariably contain the uninspired trifecta of Atlantic salmon, chicken paillard, and skirt steak - lowest common denominator and lowest food cost. But there are other places that still try to showcase the strengths of their restaurants.

I've plowed through the Spring Spice menus that are available online, and found several meals I'd be happy to try. A couple notes: (1) these are not the full menus from these restuarants, just the items that sounded interesting to me; (2) some of these restaurants I've not tried or not tried any time recently, so these are not recommendations; and (3) the strategy, as always - look for interesting food, and look for places where the Spice menu actually offers a meaningful discount off the regular menu prices (keeping in mind that many places change their menu regularly). So without further ado, here is my potential Spring Spice hit list:

Bourbon Steak
Tasmanian Sea Trout Crudo
Shaved Baby Fennel, Spring Onions, Capers, Dill
Organic Chicken Breast
Crispy Thigh Confit, Truffled Macaroni & Cheese, Caramelized Onion Jus
or
New York Steak Pavé
Fingerling Potatoes, Cipollini Onions, Foie Gras Emulsion
($10 supplement)^[1]
Beignets
Macallan 18 Year Butterscotch Pudding

Capital Grill
Seafood Bouillabaisse with Corn Cream Amuse (!)
Caesar Salad
10oz. Porcini Crusted Delmonico
with Twelve Year Aged Balsamic
or
Seared Tenderloin with Butter Poached Lobster
or
10oz. Kona Crusted Sirloin
with Caramelized Shallot Butter Sauce
Crème Brulee

China Grill^[2]
Tuna Oishi
Tuna, crabmeat, sushi rice & wasabi guacamole
Crackling Calamari Salad
lime miso dressing
Barbecued Salmon
Chinese mustard sauce & stir fried greens
Sweet Soy Marinated Skirt Steak
wok sauteed lo mein noodles & tempura shiitake mushrooms
Wasabi Mashed Potatoes
Chef's Selection of House Desserts

Emeril's
Boudin Croquettas
with Thyme-Creole Mustard Dipping Sauce
Louisiana Oyster and Tasso Stuffed Quail
with Wilted Baby Spinach and Emeril's Homemade Worcestershire
Bananas Foster Bread Pudding
with Brown Butter Bourbon Sauce

Michy's
Asparagus Salad
Benton's smoked ham, mustard vinaigrette, roast peppers
or
White Gazpacho
jerez gel, Marcona almonds, Spanish olive oil
Truffle Crusted Prime Rib of Beef
potato gratin, roast radishes
Michy's bread pudding
chocolate, orange rind

Neomi's
peas & ham salad
spring greens, pea & herb emulsion, peanut oil, shaved jamon
or
truffle ravioli
asparagus ricotta puree, tips, egg mimosa
pompano
celery root chips, fava bean puree, saffron butter
'strawberry shortcake'
grilled olive oil cake, strawberries, chocolate balsamic sauce,
herb-infused whipped cream

Ola^[3]
Lobster Ceviche
whole small tail, fresh coconut milk, orange and lime juice,
thai chilies, red onions, chives and sage sorbet
Oysters Rodriguez
lightly fried, served over fufu and creamy
horseradish spinach, served w/ huacatay sauce
Mar y Tierra
NY Strip w/ smoked chocolate rub
served w/ lobster stuffed ancho chili relleño
Raspado de Pato
Hudson Valley duck breast served over crispy rice,
edamame, raisins, pine nuts w/ chayote and tomatillo salad
Lucuma Mousse
served over macadamia chocolate cookie crumbs, espresso & chocolate sauce

Pacific Time
seafood salad
turks and caicos conch, salmon toro, tobiko caviar, tuna,
roasted pineapple
salt & pepper skate
preserved lemon, green apple risotto
baked alaska key west
the classic with a key lime twist

Palme d'Or
Maine Lobster Bisque "My Way"
Lobster Ravioli & Saffron Capuccino
Seven-Hour Braised Beef Effilochée
Potato Mousseline, Organic Micro Greens, Truffle Vinaigrette
"L'accra" Chocolate Mousse Bar
Layered with Caramel Mousseux on a Chocolate Fondant Cake

Pascal's on Ponce
Creamy Maine Lobster Bisque
with Corn Flan and Tarragon
Braised Veal Shank
Creamy Polenta, Winter Vegetable Ragout, Braising Sauce
Bittersweet Chocolate Fondant
Vanilly Chantilly

Restaurant at the Setai
Soba Shiitake
Warm Mushroom Salad with Soba Noodles, Truffle Vinaigrette,
White Truffle Ice Cream
Lime and Chili Caramelized Pork Belly
Miso Braised Turnips, Kimchee and Roasted Peanuts
Gula Melaka
Peal Sago, Coconut Milk, Palm Sugar, Mango Sorbet

Talula^[4]
Crispy Pork Belly Salad
Avocado, Hearts of Palm, Cherry Tomato, Red Onion,
Citrus-Chile Vinaigrette
Pan Seared Local Catch
Roasted Tomato & Spinach Israeli Cous Cous Risotto, Aged Balsamic,
Lemon-Basil Emulsion
Coffee-Bittersweet Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding
Dried Cherry Caramel, Spiced Sweet Cream

Have you had any good (or bad) "Spring Spice" experiences yet?

^[1]Is charging a supplement "cheating"?

^[2]China Grill, with their family style servings, offers 2 apps, 1 entree, 1 side and dessert for parties of two, but adds additional entrees for parties of 3 or 4, so this only makes sense with a group of 3+. And yes, this looks suspiciously like the salmon/chicken/skirt steak red flag, but these are all regular menu items at least.

^[3]Ola is taking an interesting approach and offering any 2 appetizers and any 2 entrees in a tasting size portion, apparently offering choices from the entire menu.

^[4]Talula's menu is not listed on the Miami Spice website, but is on their own website.

Japanese Market a/k/a Sushi Deli - North Bay Village

While most people claim that Matsuri is the best place for sushi in Miami, my personal favorite is a tiny little counter inside a Japanese market along the 79th Street Causeway - Sushi Deli (a/k/a Japanese Market).

The market is small but well-stocked, with several choices of high-quality rice, noodles, sauces, spices, pickles, and the like, a selection of frozen fish and seafood items (including "super-frozen" tuna and hamachi), meats like kurobuta pork and thinly sliced beef for shabu shabu, a good selection of sakes, and occasionally, fresh Japanese vegetables. They also regularly stock "Pocky", a Japanese chocolate-covered-pretzel-stick snack (we are particularly fond of the "Men's Pocky" bitter chocolate flavor), among several Japanese snacks and sweets.

Occupying one corner of the market is a small sushi bar with only four seats in front of it, as well as a couple more counters and tables to the side. The bar is almost always staffed by Chef Kushi and his daughter (?)(amazing how rare it still is to see a woman behind a sushi bar). The menu lists a selection of nigiri priced from $1 - $2.50 a piece (with more exotic items subject to market prices), as well as an assortment of various maki, and a few simple cooked dishes. The selection of rolls makes some concessions to Americanized tastes - you will find a California roll, a "rainbow roll," and at least one eel/mango/cream cheese concoction, but the real joy of Sushi Deli is in the more traditional items.

In particular, one of my favorites is the battera roll. The battera is an example of a very old-school style of sushi-making from Osaka which originated hundreds of years ago, in which vinegar-cured fish (often an oily fish like a mackerel) is pressed with rice which is shaped in a wooden box. At Sushi Deli, the rice (usually still a little warm, lightly vinegared, and moist enough to stick together without being gooey or clumpy) is topped with shiny, silver-skinned saba (mackerel), itself also vinegar-cured, along with a sheet of translucent marinated seaweed, and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds, all pressed into the box, removed and then cut into rectangles. It's beautiful to look at and, for someone like me who likes the stronger flavors of hikari-mono (the Japanese term for all silver-skinned fish like mackerel, sardine, etc.), delicious and satisfying.

Though not nearly so traditional, and even though I'm not usually big on maki, I also like the ceviche roll, which is light and inflected with citrus and cilantro, and the Marie Roll, filled with diced tuna with spicy (Sriracha?) sauce, a bit of toasted sesame oil, little bits of toasted garlic, and a sliver of shiso leaf. Little Miss F is also a big fan of the crunchy shrimp roll, a combination of a crispy fried shrimp, avocado, and mango, bound with a little spicy mayo and given a little sprinkle of masago for a little pop. Meanwhile, Frod Jr.'s regular order is the teriyaki salmon, served over steamed rice with some salad and edamame (a bargain lunch for $4.95 or $7.95 for double fish), which he sometimes supplements with some unagi nigiri.

Some of the best things I've eaten at Sushi Deli have come when I simply ask Chef Kushi to make what nigiri he thinks is best that day. Perhaps at this point some disclaimers are in order. If you are serious about sushi, one of the first lessons you learn is to befriend your itamae (the sushi chef). If you show that you are interested - by being a regular customer,^[1] by politely asking questions, by being willing to try new items, you may open yourself up to a very different dining experience.^[2] Not to wax too philosophical, but when done well and conscientiously, there is an intimacy to a sushi meal that is hard to find in just about any other restaurant experience. The person who is making your food is right there before you, you watch as it's prepared, the chef handles it with their own hands, and the chef can see your reaction as you eat it.

I have been going to Sushi Deli a couple times a month on average for years now. I literally could not even begin to count the times I've visited. And at a certain point, when I would ask Chef Kushi what's good today, he would actually tell me, and show me. I've had ama ebi, the shrimp served raw and deliciously sweet, the head separately fried and the whole thing edible; beautiful uni (sea urchin roe), sometimes a couple different varieties (sourced from the U.S. and Japan) to compare; tai (Japanese snapper), sometimes lightly cured between sheets of kombu; fat raw sea scallops; toro (fatty tuna), always served in a generous slab, most recently enlivened with a fresh grating of Himalayan salt right before serving; aji (horse mackerel), ankimo (monkfish liver), and another favorite I was introduced to here, sayori (needlefish or halfbeak), a beautiful little fish with delicate translucent white flesh and shiny silver skin.

Often these items will come with some small flourish that highlights and enhances the flavor of the fish - a bit of grated fresh ginger and its juice, a quick squeeze of lime or sudachi, a dab of ume (pickled plum) paste or some special yuzu miso, a sprinkling of togarashi. A few months ago around January, I was served another item I'd never experienced before, kazunoko, or herring roe, a beautiful golden leaf of tiny eggs clumped together, which looked almost like a segment of a grapefruit and had a light flavor and fascinating, slightly bouncy texture. It was only after coming home and doing some Googling that I learned that this is a traditional (and expensive) Japanese new year dish. I felt honored to have the chance to share in such a tradition.

Some of these things you will not find on any menu. And - though I don't want to sound elitist about it - the reality is that if you're a first time visitor to the place, you may not find them at all, even for asking. Chef Kushi is the furthest thing from a "sushi bully" you could ever imagine - he is humble, polite, friendly and welcoming - but sometimes there are perks to being a regular. On occasion, the best things will be saved for the best customers. This is one of the reasons I've hesitated to write about Sushi Deli even though I eat there nearly every week, though you'll still have an excellent meal there even if you have absolutely no interest in some of the more exotic items that may be available. I've thought about it even more after reading this proposed "Food Blog Code of Ethics", which certainly has some good ideas. But I think in some ways this is the type of experience that can not be captured through a traditional restaurant review. The purpose of a traditional review is to describe the experience that any diner walking off the street will experience. Sometimes you have to "work" to really get to know a place, before it will reveal all of its charms.

I saw the flipside of this phenomenon when I recently visited Matsuri, which I get to only rarely. I sat at the bar, and when the itamae had a moment of down-time I asked what was especially good today. The response was a perfunctory and dismissive "Everything." Would I be treated differently if I was there every couple weeks? It's distinctly possible. But given how happy I am after every visit to Sushi Deli, it's unlikely I'll ever find out.

Japanese Market a/k/a Sushi Deli
1412 79th Street Causeway
North Bay Village, FL 33141
305.861.0143
Sushi Deli hours:
11:30am - 6:30pm Wed-Sat
12:00pm - 5:30pm Sun^[3]

^[1] In his book "Turning the Tables: The Insider's Guide to Eating Out," eGullet founder Steven Shaw (a/k/a "Fat Guy") suggests a two-visit routine to make any itamae your "personal sushi chef." While it's a great book, I'm dubious as to the universal effectiveness of this particular bit of advice.

^[2] Of course, at many places you'll just be banging your head against the wall - it just doesn't get any better than their commodity-quality generic fish.

^[3] Do note that Japanese Market closes early. As a result of these hours, it has been almost exclusively a weekend lunch place for me.

NAOE - Sunny Isles

What would you say if I told you there was a tiny place, in a little strip mall somewhere in Miami, that was turning out incredible, creative, beautiful Japanese dishes like nothing else you will find in this city? That they were flying in fish overnight from Japan or buying it that day from fishermen at Haulover Marina? That they did only an omakase menu, followed, if you're still hungry, by the chef's choice of beautifully pristine sushi until you say "uncle"?

No way?

NAOE.

A couple weeks ago while surfing OpenTable, I saw a new name on the list of restaurants. The description was intriguing:

Brand new to Sunny Isles Beach, Chef Kevin Cory specializes in natural Japanese Cuisine at NAOE. Every Wednesday through Sunday from 7pm - 1am, Chef Kevin Cory serves a unique Chef's Choice menu.

Looking over the website for NAOE, I learned that Chef Cory had trained in Japan at a traditional kaiseki restaurant, and returned to the States in 2001 where he took over the sushi bar at Siam River, a then-undistinguished Thai restaurant along the eastern stretch of the 163rd Street Causeway. Chef Cory's work with the sushi bar at Siam River earned him many fans, and apparently a couple years ago he got the ambition of running a place entirely his own. He opened NAOE about a month ago and it is undoubtedly one of the most unique restaurants I have eaten at in Miami.

It is a small but quietly elegant space, done mostly in shades of grey, brown and black with soft lights throughout (of course you have to recognize that I see nothing inelegant about an open kitchen literally stacked with shining stockpots, pans and steamers). There are 17 seats total, roughly half of which are at a beautiful blond wood bar which faces the open kitchen. The bar - made from hinoki wood, the same wood used for Japanese temples, this stuff sourced from Oregon - is sanded down with a small file every week. The entire restaurant staff consists of two people - Chef Cory (whose business card reads "executive chef, general manager & dishwasher") and Wendy Maharlika (that's who was listed on our receipt as "server", but her business card ought to read "maître d', hostess, sake sommelier, and public relations liaison"). We were the only ones there when we arrived around 9pm, but another couple came in shortly after. The location is a tiny little strip mall on the 163rd Street Causeway right before it connects with Collins Avenue on the beach side.^[1] You could easily drive by a dozen times without ever noticing it.

You are given a small menu, but there are no choices as to what food to order. Rather, there are about a half-dozen choices of sake, all produced by Chef Cory's family in Japan, including junmai (organic to boot), ginjo, and daiginjo styles. There's also Sapporo beer - on tap! - and a couple non-alcoholic choices, including one of our kids' favorites, Ramune soft drink. For the food, you must put yourself entirely in the chef's hands, with only an inquiry as to food allergies before he gets to work.

Given the minimal staffing, obviously the cooking is entirely a one-man show. We watched as Chef Cory began his prep, meticulously fileting a small locally sourced Spanish mackerel (a/k/a sawara) and then slicing and arranging small strips. As he continued his preparations, our anticipation began to build. I had initially anticipated a series of small dishes like a tasting menu, but instead they explained that the service is bento box style with all the dishes presented together.

After about 20-30 minutes - during which our hostess conscientiously made sure our sake glasses never went dry, gave us some of the backstory on herself and Chef Cory, and showed us the future plans they have for the restaurant space - we were presented with two covered wooden boxes which were simultaneously unveiled before us. Alongside was a small covered bowl of soup.

The contents were just magnificent, at least if you're an adventurous and open-minded eater. The bento was divided into four compartments:

• aji (horse mackerel), in a small bowl with a dab of wasabi paste (made not from the stuff in a tube but from freshly grated wasabi root supplemented with some horseradish), along with wasabi leaves and flowers. The aji's slight oiliness was nicely offset by the piquancy of the wasabi. The wasabi leaves and flowers - which I've never seen before - have the flavor of wasabi without the heat, providing a nice contrast and a texture similar to the smallest florets of broccoli rabe.
• home-made egg tofu, beautifully silky and rich like a custard, topped with an uni (sea urchin roe) sauce with a delicate, almost peachy flavor, and crowned with a nasturtium flower.
• a small little bowl carved from a turnip, filled with cubes of cooked turnip and rich, delicious ankimo (monkfish liver); alongside was a marinated whelk (sea snail), removed from its shell and then replaced for service, along with a small "cracker" of kohada (gizzard shad),^[2] basically the frame (bones and tail with a little bit of attached meat) quick-fried, the entire thing crispy and edible, together with a couple little dumplings of parsnip with potato and seaweed.
• a rice dish made with sardine and portobello mushroom, not at all overwhelmed by the sometimes strong taste of sardine, pleasantly dry and crispy and molded into the shape of a star or flower, and topped with slices of pickled daikon (daikon nukazuke, pickled in rice bran). Chef Cory is working on doing these in-house as well but they're not ready yet.

The soup was dashi-broth based but gelatinous and dense (thickened with kuzu) and carried the flavor of a cage-free chicken egg yolk that was poached in the broth (mine hardened to hard-boiled because I saved my soup for the end), and another tongue of uni floating within along with a fiddlehead fern.

The price for this fantastic little assemblage? $26.

After what we'd experienced so far I definitely wanted to try more. Chef Cory then moved us on to nigiri, serving two pieces at a time until we'd had enough. He started by first getting warm rice, and put some into a small wooden bowl with just enough for our service. We were started with salmon belly, a couple pieces for each of us cut from a beautiful slab of Scottish salmon which was immediately wrapped back up in plastic wrap and stowed away again in the fridge. The nigiri were quickly shaped with the warm rice, presented to each of us on small wooden boards, and given a delicate brushing of a shoyu-based sauce the chef has prepared himself to perfectly match the sushi. The salmon was wonderfully fresh and rich, and the contrast of the cool fish against the still-warm rice was just magnificent.

Knowing there was kohada in the house, I couldn't stop there. The next round of nigiri was the kohada, which Chef Cory brings in fresh from Japan and does a light vinegar cure himself in-house. The fish - which has beautiful silver skin speckled with black dots - was cut into strips and braided. One of my favorite things, and one that I've not been able to find elsewhere in Miami.

Next - and finally, for us, though I didn't really want to quit - was aori ika, a big squid brought in fresh (our hostess showed us a picture of the squid with its suckers still holding onto the cutting board). It is lightly salt-cured, with a small bed of finely shredded nori over the rice, and then the squid topped with a tiny yellow flower. Unlike any squid I've ever had before, this had a soft, almost creamy texture, rather than the bounciness you usually associate with squid.

Though we didn't try it during our visit, our hostess advised that Chef Cory does his own in-house "bbq" eel - unlike the pre-packaged eel you will find at most sushi places, he brings the eel in fresh and cooks it and makes his own sauce from scratch.

Everything we were served was elegant and beautiful, but most of all, delicious. The ingredient list here reads eerily like a list of my personal favorites (uni, ankimo, kohada, aji ...) but Mrs. F, who is not nearly as partial to these kinds of things as me, thoroughly enjoyed it as well. Chef Cory said that he tries to not give diners too much of a preview, so that they do not write off things before they've tried them.

This was, quite simply, one of the most unexpected and special dining experiences I've had in Miami in quite some time. The food was creative and delicious with adventurous and magnificently fresh ingredients. The chef and hostess were earnest, friendly, and absolutely charming. I enjoyed this so much, and was so pleasantly surprised, that I was afraid to go to sleep last night for fear that it would all turn out to just be a dream.

I will go back soon just to make sure.

Note: For pictures from a subsequent meal at NAOE, go here.

NAOE
175 Sunny Isles Boulevard
Sunny Isles Beach, FL 33160
305.947.6263
Wed-Sun 7pm - 1am^[3]

^[1] If it helps you get your bearings, it is right next door to the "Neptune Seafood Restauarant" - you can even sometimes hear the drumbeat of the Russian karaoke music through the walls.

^[2] I may have misheard this, as I've never seen kohada cooked before. The size was about right though.

^[3] Though the place is not busy (yet), I would highly recommend making reservations. Much of the food is made to order and with the one-man show in the kitchen, some advance notice will likely make for a much better dining experience.