Food, culture & a really cool video
I took a week off so there’s lots I want to tell you. This one’s gonna be heavy on foodie stuff but will also feature info on a very cool play that ends its run this weekend and yes, a really cool video by some very creative high schoolers.
Been to some great restaurants these past few weeks and I’m excited to tell you about them!
Romesco at Chica Restaurant (Facebook photo)
CHICA Restaurant (in the old Soyka space) is definitely worth a visit for both a refreshed decor that’s warm and inviting and a creative menu filled with South American specialties. I recommend the crispy Brussels sprouts with fried pork belly and aji dulce honey; a refreshing romesco with marcona almonds, hazelnut, piquillo and crusty bread; crispy Peruvian octopus with blistered Padron chile, crispy quinoa, aji amarillo sauce and Brazilian pico; and Peruvian corvina ceviche. These are all great to share!
Burrata and prosciutto at Cafe Avanti (Facebook photo)
Also had an amazing traditional Italian meal at Cafe Avanti on Miami Beach off 41 St. Understated and simple with white tablecloths, soft lighting and fantastic food. We had the arugula salad to start. The arugula was nestled inside slices of prosciutto and presented atop a bed of chopped tomatoes with a round of fresh burrata and drizzle of olive oil and thick, sweet balsamic vinegar. I’d never seen arugula served that way and was so impressed I recreated it at home as part of a charcuterie board. Then my husband chose rigatoni calabrese with shiitake mushrooms and sausage and I the pollo fiortentina a large, juicy chicken breast sauteed with lemon and white wine served on a bed of spinach as our entrees. The carrot cake was yummy and a nice change from a traditional Italian dessert like tiramisu.
Branzino at Abba Telavivian (Facebook photo)
And just this past weekend, I went to Abba Telavivian in the South of Fifth neighborhood on South Beach. The lovely patio tables are set under large umbrellas with plenty of white string lights. There, my friend Monica and I had a feast of Mediterranean delights including crispy, light falafel (some of the best I’ve ever had); charred baby carrots with date honey, labneh, lemon and toasted almonds; fire roasted onion tahini and smashed avocado with olive oil, lemon, aleppo pepper and sea salt as our appetizers. For the entrees she went for the whole branzino with preserved lemon tapenade, olive oil, sea salt and arugula salad and I had the sumac chicken shashlik with hummus, crunchy garbanzo, roasted tomato and arugula. We finished our meal with a delicious peach dessert.
The chicken fricasse croquettes topped with mojo aioli in the colorful bowl (Facebook photo)
Told you I’d be including some culture and that comes by way of the play “A Special Day” which my husband and I saw last Friday night. It was wonderful and you can click here to read my article about our experience. We followed that with dinner at La Placita on Biscayne Blvd. in the MiMo District, Chef Jose Mendin’s homage to his Puerto Rican heritage. You can’t miss the place, the exterior of the building is painted like the Puerto Rican flag! There we had the delectable fricasse de pollo croquettes (OMG!), the Caribbean conch salad mofongo and a side of arroz con gandules. We went for the reimagined tres leches for dessert and it didn’t disappoint, NONE of it did.
And finally, a couple of very talented film students (who are also pretty talented musicians) at Design and Architecture Senior High (DASH, my daughter Elizabeth’s high school), created an amazing promo video for the school. I was seriously impressed at the professionalism and creativity plus the great original music they recorded for the background. Click here to watch it. Job well done!
Oh, and if you want ideas on how to make yummy black bean burgers from leftover black beans let me know. Made some great ones this past week with some killer avocado crema I made from our avocados.
Thanks for reading and have a great week!
