What's going on with Miami restaurants these days? I'm not sure, except that I have never had so many bad meals in one stretch of sampling. Is it an epidemic? Last night I was at Restaurant A on Washington, known for using local ingredients and a classic Italian menu. The service was dreadful. The owner was alone in the kitchen. Saturday night! Prices high, portions small. Flashes of hope, dimmed by inconsistency. We struggled through, forty five minutes too long. Restaurant B, newly opened in Wynwood. A mussel in tomato broth that could have been poured from a box. Probably was. The french fries were good. Restaurant C, open for years in the Design District. Interminable service. Great menu but the food was so pedestrian it could have walked in off the street by itself.
This is a small sampling of what I have recently experienced. I could go on. It seems what is happening to Miami restaurants is not so different than my experience at the Whole Food sushi bar: smaller rice balls, thinner slices of fish, and higher prices. Is the bad economy turning Miami restaurants into zombies?
I favor Graziano's in Coral Gables. It delivers predictable and high quality Argentinian. Joe's Stone Crab keeps chugging along like the insider clubhouse it has always been. For tourists in the outside room? Warm as Siberia. Tropical Chinese on Bird has been at it for almost twenty years. I wish they would vary their dim sum, cut down on the MSG, but overall TC pays attention to quality. I wish Michael Schwartz would, too. With Michael's fame and leaves of absence, the cream is off too often, the cream of the crop. That's too bad for one of America's finest. Sharpen up, Miami restaurants! If you can't impress me on Saturday night, don't expect me on Tuesday.
19 comments:
Although I would agree that we have a long way to go to achieve culinary greatness, compared to just a few years ago, we have come a long way.
Your first mistake was going to ANYTHING on Washington Ave, or Miami Beach for that matter. With some rare exceptions, the Beach is a culinary wasteland. Joe Allen is still always a solid , well priced meal on the west end of the beach.
Have you tried Buena Vista Bistro? Sakaya Kitchen? Fratelly Lion? All pretty solid and in the mainland.
I agree on Grazziano, although I favor the Bird Road location for ambiance (once inside, that is) and their roaster just rules! Cafe Xixon on Coral Way does outstanding spanish/tapas. Talavera in the Gables does good "upscaly" Mexican.
Check 'em out!
Yes, I avoid Washington Avenue like the plague. It was a trip to the past for me. Distant past. Lincoln Road, too bad. I agree on Joe Allen; still good but slipped in recent years from a B+ to B- IMHO. It's just not as good as it used to be. Frateli? No. BV Bistro, OK. Average. Sakaya Kitchen, haven't tried it. Nor Talavera. 100 percent agree on Xixon. They pay attention and their clientele does too.
While on the topic of foods, I want to say that Farmer's Markets are definitely on the move upward in Miami Dade. The Pinecrest Sunday market is a standout expanded version of last year's really solid event. Too bad the growing season is so short here. But it is splendid while it lasts, and so long as there are no freezes.
I haven't been to the Saturday market at City of South Miami but I will next week, if the severe cold doesn't get to the farmers first.
South Florida consumers are waking up to the excellent produce grown on small farms: it's a pleasure to have more choice-- and better prices-- than Stan's in Coconut Grove. I love Stan's but ...
Where in the Grove is good to eat?
I recommend Perricone's Marketplace in the Brickell area. I like the food and the atmosphere. They have a harpist on weekends that provides quiet dinner music. You can get up and look at the deserts in the market area before you order one. I like the triangle cake but the portion is meager.
Ah the Grove. Scarcely a glimmer of its former self exists in the commercial district. Rubbed out by overdevelopment and poor planning.
For breakfast and lunch and lite, Green Street does a pretty good, consistent job. With a little more effort, it could be better, but its owner is satisfied with delivering moderate price and decent quality.
I liked Bouchon de Grove before George sold it. Then it was overpriced and variable quality, but mostly OK. Haven't been back, since. Not so impressed with George's, his new place. Really can't think of anyplace in the Grove that matches up. I like Scotty's for lunch, on the bay by City Hall. Decent fish sandwich.
The biggest disappointment in the Grove is the restaurant where Calimari is now located. To think that developers got away with rubbing out the last vestige of a proud historic part of Miami-- The Taurus -- for that stinker of a project; it can't attract a clientele because it is so poorly designed and so limited with parking... what a round disaster then embraced by the insiders at City Hall.
You don't include the names of the bad restaurants for your readers? I don't get it.
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Does anyone remember the best restaurant ever in the Grove:
Kaleidoscope
Studio, Le Festival and Senor Frogs RIP
My tastebuds will never be the same.
If you stop going to expensive and fancy restaurants in the center of action you will find that the food is as good or better in neighborhood restaurants and the price is very reasonable.
Do, tell!
Rick, I felt like these restaurants are struggling and didn't identify them. Maybe I should have ...
Buena Vista on NE 2nd Avenue north of the Design District has Mandolin's and the Buena Vista Deli and Buena Vista Bistro. All three are great. Great value and friendly service. Free parking, unless you use the valet at Mandolin. Lemoni also on NE 2nd Avenue gets great reviews too.
Yeah, Upper Eastside and Design District is where it's at now.
Try Red Light up at 77th and Biscayne.
Others within a few blocks:
Noodle Bar
Michys
Senora Martinez
And yes, name names on the bad places!
The sashimi at Whole Foods is cut so thin now that you can see through it. What's going on with that? When I asked the nice ladies that prepare the sushi they said it was the same but they could not look me in the eye.
GCBROn its called Stagflation Sashimi
We finally agree on something!
Graziano's in The Gables.
m
:) Good taste knows no bounds.
Here are my favorites:
Grove: Lulus (across from Greenstreets). Ditto on George's (pass on the South Miami locale as well). Logger head, always faithful.
Design District: Brunch at Morgan's (South of Mid Town); Senora Martinez, Michaels.
Coral Way: Xixon can't go wrong. However if you venture to Little Havana near 12th Ave and 2 street there is a true Spanish restaurant. Name escapes me but if you want Spaniards, go there. Beware hole in the wall; blink twice and you miss it.
Brickell: Pericones, They Call me Lolita but you can...
Gables/Beach: Wasteland (Beach, except for a Dutch-Indonesian place i went to last year. Probably went under by now). Try Philip Cho, pricey.
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