Miami Trip (Miami, FL)

I took a trip to Miami this past weekend to take care of some family matters, but with them looking rather less bleak upon my arrival than anticipated, I took advantage of some of the happier aspects of this ridiculously hot city.  I should just mention first though that the people at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach are incredible, and anyone who goes through that hospital should be thankful.
My second night in town, my uncle and I went to a whiskey tasting event, which included Scotch, bourbon, rye and even Japanese whisky, which I had never had before.  Ten dollars got you a tasting glass (which you were welcome to keep), samples of about fifteen whiskys, and paella, plus ten percent off any of the bottles being sampled.  The paella was good but not great, featuring a variety of meats, which I enjoyed, though my uncle was thus forced to pick through it.  The liquors varied from terrible to amazing, but the real treat of the night was meeting a couple of the people who work for the distributors.

(L-R) Basil Hayden's, Knob Creek, Jim Beam Honey, Laphroaig 10yr

The folks from Beam Inc., best known in this country as the producers of Jim Beam, were the first I sampled from.  They brought Laphroaig 10 year, a Scotch that my mother loves and that I cannot stand.  They also brought Jim Beam Honey, Knob Creek 9 year (a very good bourbon, but one I have had enough times not to need to try it that night), and Basil Hayden's, which I had never had before and was very pleased to see, having heard very good things about it.  It was not quite as good as I was expecting, but that is simply an issue of expectations being raised unrealistically high; in fact, it was a very solid whiskey, and I really enjoyed it.

Heaven Hill Distilleries

"Kentucky Powerpoints"

Second up were the offerings from Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc., which included some really spectacular and unique spirits.  This is the home of Evan Williams, one of the best drinks for your money out there, so I figured they would be decent, but I was really taken aback by a couple of things.  The Rittenhouse Straight Rye was exceptional for a 4 year old whiskey, having an insane amount of flavor and smoothness despite its short aging period, nearly equal to Redemption Rye.  The really incredible drink though, was the Bernheim Straight Wheat Whiskey, made in the same way as bourbon or rye, but with wheat as the primary ingredient, was like nothing I've ever had before.  It was not my favorite, but it was definitely the most interesting I had all night, and I can see that it would work perfectly for its primary intended purpose, as a utilitarian but flavorful cocktail whiskey.  They also brought what they called "Kentucky Powerpoints," bottles filled with the ingredients of the individual liquors, in the proportions that each contains.  It was a neat and clever way to show what is actually in the different drinks.

Following a little paella, I moved on to Bowmore 10 year.  It sucked.  Avoid at all costs.  Enough said.

Dewars' Aberfeldy 12yr

Dewars followed that, with their Aberfeldy 12 year; it was not my thing, but they made up for it with a drop dead gorgeous young woman presenting it, and they gave out free flasks.  The Aberfeldy was a bit too harsh and biting for me, without providing any of the really wonderful oak-y, vanilla-y flavors that I look for to balance that out.


The final company represented was Anchor Distilling Company, and they were by far my favorite of the night.  Bringing some that I had already had and loved, including Eagle Rare and Buffalo Trace bourbons, each of which I brought to a couple weddings over the last few months and

(L-R) Hirsch Bourbon, Nikka 12 yr "Pure Malt," Nikka 15 yr single malt

(L-R) Templeton Rye, Macallan 12 yr, Eagle Rare, Buffalo Trace

which led to some seriously impressive hangovers--worth it--and which are classics at a very reasonable price.  Macallan 12 was present, a classic Scotch, as were Templeton Rye Small Batch and 1792 Ridgemont Reserve Barrel Select, the latter of which was less impressive than I was expecting.  The real winners of the evening, however, were the two Japanese whiskys and the Hirsch Reserve Small Batch Straight Kentucky Bourbon.  The Hirsch was deliciously smooth, oak-y and sweet in the most pleasant way imaginable, a truly spectacular example of what bourbon should be.  The two Nikkas, however, were just really cool to try, as it was my first foray into the Japanese interpretation of Scotch whisky.  The 12 year, which is labeled as a "pure malt," a blend of malts from Nikka's two distilleries, was really good, but once I tried the 15 year old single malt that was the only thing I could think about.  It was as good as almost any Scotch I have ever had, with a character and smoothness that showed the true craftsmanship of the master distillers.

(L-R) Buffalo Trace, 1792 Ridgemont Reserve, Four Roses Bourbon, Four Roses Single Barrel

***********

Saturday evening was spent with my cousin and her friends at Grovetoberfest, an annual beer festival in Coconut Grove, Miami's oldest neighborhood.  Far more of a festival than a beer tasting event, this was a lot of fun, but definitely targeted a different audience than the American Craft Beer Fest, where almost no one is trying to get drunk; at Grovetoberfest, that seems to be the predominant intent among attendees.  There were some very good beers there, including some local options that I had never had, but the best were from Founders Brewing Company, which was no surprise whatsoever.  All in all, it was a fun event, and I really enjoyed myself, but I prefer the ACBF.

Following the festival, which concluded at about 7:00pm, our group headed to Sandbar Grill, a ridiculously loud and over-crowded tourist bar that nonetheless was a pretty fun place to hang out, as it was loaded with televisions tuned to various sports; plus, they had Yuengling on tap, and that's...well...awesome.  (Yuengling is coming back to Massachusetts!!!)  An old friend of mine from college who lives in the area joined us there as well, along with his best friend from childhood, and after a while of shouting at each other to be heard, the three of us, plus a friend of my cousin's friend adjourned to Vinos in the Grove, where we had a glass of wine each.  Their wine list is pretty impressive, including some really good by the glass options, and they also serve a few cheese platters that sounded pretty damn good.  Next time I am in Miami, I will definitely head back there, and it seems like a great place to take a date if you do live in the area.

******

Check us out on Facebook!

Versailles (Miami, FL)

In the final installment of my Miami trip recollection, I will review the best restaurant I went to of the four, just beating out Sugarcane due to the fact that it's just such authentic Cuban and, thus, authentic Miami.  I'm not a fan of Florida as a general rule; it's too damn hot, too damn humid, and full of old people...not a good combo.  But, in my mind, Cuban food is enough of a reason to sweat like a whore in church and deal with the geriatrics.

Versailles is, according to my uncle and the internet, the most famous Cuban restaurant in the most Cuban place on Earth outside of Cuba itself, Miami.  When politicians come to Miami to woo the Cuban population (a necessity to win either the Miami-Dade County or statewide vote), Versailles, pronounced "vare-sigh-ace," is the place they go.  I don't blame them; Spanish was the primary language being spoken in the restaurant, including by my bilingual uncle (my aunt is from Honduras), and there was a distinct feeling of being in a community unfamiliar from my own, even at 6pm, much earlier than many of the Cuban families will come out on a Friday night.

As I said, I love Cuban food, so when my uncle asked if there was anything in particular I wanted I told him that's the only thing.  He immediately suggested Versailles, and I wasn't going to argue; it was the perfect end to a great, albeit short, trip.  When it came time to order I again left it up to him to decide, figuring he knew better than I, and he did not disappoint, ordering the pollo (chicken) versailles and, if I recall correctly, the fish filet with shrimps in creole sauce, which is among the "Chef's Specials," and both came with rice (seasoned in the case of the pollo versailles and white for the fish) and sweet plantains.  The platanos were probably my favorite thing of the day, perfectly cooked so they were sticky and sweet but without being cloying, almost glazed over but really retaining that powerful flavor you can only get from platanos maduros.  Just absolutely perfect.  The chicken was next, perfectly cooked, tender, almost falling apart but not at all dry, which is a difficult medium to find.  The rice was delicious, also perfectly cooked and really delicate, with a beautiful yellow color that I'm assuming was from saffron.  The fish and shrimp were both good, although they were slightly overcooked I'd say, but not so much that made it unpleasant.  The rice was, again, perfect, but a little boring in the way white rice is, though it worked really well with the creole sauce, which had lots of vegetables in it, primarily based around tomatoes, and which I spiced up a bit (at my uncles urging) with some Tobasco Sauce.

I can't write as much about Versailles as I'd like because it's been a few weeks and my memory has started to fade, but I cannot recommend it enough.  I'd fly to Miami just to eat their platanos maduros, and the rest would be one hell of a bonus.  Oh, and, ya know, seeing my family would be good too.  But mostly it'd be about the platanos!


******

Check us out on Facebook!

Garcia's Seafood Grill and Fish Market (Miami, FL)

This is a bit late in coming, but here is the third of the four places I went during my 36 hour trip to Miami a few weeks ago; my uncle, cousin and I stopped in here for a quick drink and ended up having a snack as well.

Garcia's Seafood Grill and Fish Market is located along a river leading to the Atlantic Ocean, allowing their customers sitting outside to experience a working commercial river while enjoying the bounty of the same.  Having a few hours to burn before catching my flight home, and being full from the meal I had just eaten at Sugarcane, my uncle suggested that we grab a drink, and since Garcia's is close to his office and offers a nice view, he figured it would be a good place to go. 

My cousin and I ordered mojitos, while my uncle went simple with white wine (nothing to really comment on there), and I think I made a good choice.  I love mojitos in general, whether it's the real thing like this or the mixes like you'll find where I'm from.  This was a truly great mojito, with just the right amount of rum and sugar, and with a strong mint flavor.  Instead of a straw, there was a stalk of sugarcane, which over the course of the time I was drinking absorbed the flavor of the rum, so at the end I ended up just chewing on it for a while, which was delicious. 

Even though we weren't particularly hungry, we ended up ordering some oysters (supposed to be half a dozen, but we ended up with 18 because our waitress screwed up...a happy mistake).  I'm used to oysters from Maine and Cape Cod, so these were disappointing in their size and sweetness, but still delicious.  The real issue was that Garcia's doesn't hand shuck the oysters, instead using a mechanical shucker, which opens the oyster but does not separate the meat, so you can't just slurp them the way you're supposed to, and instead have to use a fork to eat them.  I don't know why they bother with this, as quite honestly it's not faster to use the mechanical shucker compared to a well trained person, and it's a less satisfying experience.  Maybe that's how things are done in Florida, but as a New Englander, it was not what I was hoping for. 

With our drinks we were served some multi-colored corn chips with tuna salad that was quite simply tuna and a little mayo, and was actually really delicious.  We ended up having two orders of this, which was complimentary.  Kudos to Garcia's for that.

******

Check us out on Facebook!

Sugarcane (Miami, FL)

On Saturday I reviewed my lunch at Soyka, the first restaurant I went to during my short trip to Miami.  Today, I'll review the second, where I had lunch two Fridays ago.  Again, this restaurant offered (and I took advantage of) the "Miami Spice" option.

Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill is a great concept, encompassing three distinct kitchens into one restaurant.  First and foremost there is the actual raw bar, which I did not get to try as my grandparents, in their rather advanced age, are not the most adventurous of eaters, and I figured simplicity would be the rule of the day.  They also have a sushi bar, making what appears to be a blend of traditional and non-traditional Japanese dishes.  Secondly, there is the fish kitchen, preparing a variety of fresh and mostly local fish.  Lastly, there is the standard kitchen, which produces...well, everything else.  That includes some bar-b-que dishes, such as the pulled pork and smoked brisket that were offered as the entree options for the Miami Spice menu when I was there.  This is a place that I would absolutely love to go back to, and it really seems like a fun place to go either on a date or with a group of friends; it's a fun place, a little funky but without crossing the boundary into weird, with really fantastic service and some damn fine food.

The service bears special note here; like at Soyka, my party included my cousin and my grandparents, which again presents an opportunity for a business to either shine or show that it cares less about customer service than the bottom line (things that, one would think, would be intertwined).  My waiter, DJ, was utterly fantastic.  Upon arrival I was distinctly concerned that my grandparents would not be able to find something to eat at this restaurant, only to find out from my cousin that they'd been there before, and enjoyed it immensely, but only on weekends for brunch.  As such, they're big fans of the eggs at Sugarcane, but didn't really see anything that appealed too much to them on the lunch or Miami Spice menus.  DJ almost immediately offered to ask the chef if it would be possible to whip up some eggs for them, which the chef was amenable to, and both ended up having a plate of (perfectly) scrambled eggs with a side salad and a side of french fries that were just ridiculously well made, and which my grandparents didn't want, so they were left for me and my cousin.  Throughout the meal, DJ was attentive, friendly, and helpful, and was great to have as a waiter.

Unlike the entrees, which were pretty straightforward, classic southern food, the Miami Spice menu offered some very different, and rather original, appetizers.  My cousin had a strawberry gazpacho, which, despite my general disdain for cold soups, I absolutely loved.  It was sweet but not cloying, very bright and a great summer offering (in a place that is perpetually in a state of summer, at least by my calculations), with great strawberry flavor.  I'd have been extremely happy with that as my appetizer ordinarily, but I had ordered a dish that is a true stroke of genius.  A toasted piece of bread, topped with a small amount of greens, a sauce of some variety that I can't recall well enough now to describe, these little fried things that looked like homemade funions, and a perfectly fried overeasy egg on top.  Those little funion things confused me at first, because what I had ordered didn't include them, and I was also confused by the fact that the pork liver pâté that was supposed to be there wasn't...until I realized that what I had mistaken for funions was the pâté!  What a genius concept!  Rolled into little strings, lightly battered, fried, and piled onto this piece of bread, this pâté was among the best and most creative things I have ever eaten, and a technique that astounded me once I figured it out.  I normally hate the idea of creativity just to be creative, but this method, which is really completely unnecessary, since the flavors could be accomplished more simply, is just brilliant; it's fun, it's exciting, it's sexy, and if I ever meet the chef who came up with it, he or she is going to have to beat me off with a stick to get me stop hectoring them about how they came up with it.  The best part of the meal, without a doubt.

This remarkable appetizer was followed by smoked brisket, which both my cousin and I ordered.  It was well made, tender, still reasonably moist, and flavorful; my only complaint is that it was also ridiculously fatty.  And I don't mean around the edges; I mean that half of some pieces of the brisket was fat.  That's not what brisket is supposed to be like; rather, the fat should have had enough time to simply melt away, basting the meat in a delectable wash of beef fat.  The beans on the side were a bigger hit, a not quite right (aka, they weren't Boston style) serving of baked beans that had a ton of meaty flavor and a nice texture, soft but not mushy, with just a hint of sweetness.  Alone or mixed with the slightly spicy side of corn (grilled?) the beans were my favorite on that plate, with the bar-b-que sauce coming in a close second, as it was spicy, sweet, sharp, and acidic all at the same time; in other words, exactly what I go for in a sauce that is not based on vinegar.

For dessert, my cousin again went with the sweetest thing she could find in southern Florida, a "s'more" that looked interesting, but not interesting enough to try, though the toasted marshmallows on top were tempting.  I had the trifle, which is among my favorite desserts of all time, and this was no exception.  Losing out only to a truly original appetizer, this would ordinarily have been the best part of the meal.  Homemade sponge cake, a perfect custard, little bits of crisp fruit (I think it was peach, but again my memory fails me) that provided the perfect contrast to the softness of everything else in the dish, and topped off with homemade whipped cream.  I was in heaven.  This was not my step-mom's trifle (which I'd take over any dessert ever made), a far more refined option, and fantastic for it.

Overall, this was a great restaurant, one I'd highly recommend to anyone finding themselves in Miami and in need of a good dinner; expect innovation and originality, and you will not be disappointed in the least.

******

Check us out on Facebook!

Soyka (Miami, FL)

I had the pleasure last week of visiting some family in Miami for a (very) short time, arriving in Florida at about 9am on Thursday, and leaving at 9pm on Friday.  In that time, however, I had the opportunity to eat at four restaurants, ranging from good to great.  Two of these were with my grandparents and cousin, and two were with my cousin and uncle.  During July and August, many restaurants in Miami are offering a "Miami Spice" menu, which is a three course prix-fixe menu, with a few options for each course.

Soyka, which was our lunch choice on Thursday, features a mix of American and Italian influenced flavors, from the classic cobb salad to fiocchi alle pere, at fairly reasonable prices.  The atmosphere is friendly, a little "stuffy," maybe, but welcoming in general.  It's close enough to downtown that we were surrounded by bankers and lawyers when the restaurant started to fill up, but it never felt like we were underdressed for not being in business clothes.  The food itself was tasty, with my grandparents each getting a "California Omelette," featuring bacon, avocado (which was apparently lacking, since my grandmother asked me at one point "wasn't this supposed to have avocado?"), and monterey jack cheese.  Both enjoyed it, but my grandfather vastly preferred the salad that came with it, which was a simple, but exceptionally fresh looking, garden salad.  My grandmother had sweet potato fries as a side with her omelette, at my cousin's recommendation, but I was disappointed; while they were fairly crisp for sweet potato fries, they lacked salt, and thus flavor.  Well made, but not well seasoned.

That same description would work for the fried calamari that my cousin and I each got as appetizers; very well made, with the right texture and a nicely crisp, but not brittle crust, but lacking in salt and seasonings.  The marinara sauce it came with was fantastic though, and added a nice slightly sweet, slightly acidic flavor that was necessary.  My cousin and I also both ordered the fiocchi alle pere, a tortelloni like stuffed pasta with pear, ricotta, and mascarpone, in a thick, heavy parmesan cream sauce.  The sauce itself, while delicious, was a little too heavy for my taste, and by the end of the entree I was wiping as much sauce off each piece of pasta as I could.  The pasta itself was good, I suspect homemade, and soft but not mushy; I couldn't really taste the pasta itself because of the heaviness of the sauce, so I can't say if it had the right flavors or not.  The filling was incredible, sharp, tangy, sweet, and the little pieces of pear had just the right amount of crunch left to add a bit of "tooth" to the dish.  I would love to have it again, but with a sauce that doesn't overwhelm quite so much.

Despite the heaviness of the entree, and the fact that I was stuffed, I eagerly awaited my dessert, the "sticky date pudding" with a warm toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream.  This was remarkable; not too sweet, with a lovely, puffy, airy texture, tasting slightly of date, but not hugely so.  The toffee sauce was good, but a little oversweet for me (not that that's too hard), and the vanilla ice cream was delicious.  My cousin had the brownie dessert, which also came with ice cream.  She raved about it, as did my grandfather, who tried a bite (or two...he's diabetic and not supposed to eat much in the way of sweets, but we let him try it, and he managed to sneak a second bite before we could stop him; at 94 he's still all about the food!) and had a grin on his face that stretched ear to ear.

The food was good, but the service was really great.   As I said, my grandfather is 94, and my grandmother is 86, and neither are in the best shape.  The wait staff was very accomodating, holding doors for us on the way in and out as my cousin and I helped our grandparents in and out of the restaurant, and even providing a pair of reading glasses for my grandmother since she forgot hers.  In fact, they had a box of several pairs for her to choose from!  That kind of thing is very much appreciated, and was the sort of service that was repeated the next day for lunch as well.

******

Check us out on Facebook!