Saturday, September 13, 2008

Miami Spice Lunch Winner

I was in the Brickell area today around lunch time and figured it was a good
opportunity to finally try Abokado. They are one of the few restaurants that are open for lunch on the weekend AND offering a spice menu. I was hesitant to do the spice menu at first because I really wanted to try some of their interesting rolls. However, after reviewing the menu it became obvious that their spice menu was a great deal based on their regular prices. My meal would have easily been 2x more. (whether the normal prices are too high can be the topic of another post and irrelevant to this one)

In a nutshell, the meal was very good and much better than I anticipated. I did go in with low expectations despite being a big fan of the sushi chef from his prior stint at Bond St. I have no idea if he is still affiliated with Abokado but I assume so since I have not seen anything to the contrary.

I started with the Crispy Cheese which is a combination of roasted tomato, gorgonzola, cilantro, queso blanco and wrapped in a spring roll. It comes with a chili based dipping sauce. The spring roll portion was light and did not interfere with the cheese and roasted tomato. Portion size was small (2) but that was fine for a four course lunch. Probably not somethimg I would normally order but it worked and I enjoyed it.

Next up was the Himachi Tiradito. This combination was serrano pepper, cilantro, guacamole and a chil ponzu sauce. This was a good size portion with I think 6 pieces of Himachi. (Tiradito is similar to sashimi.) Flavor combinations worked well and the Himachi was fresh. I would order again.

For the next course I opted for the Revolucion roll. (2 other roll options were available) The roll was a good size and the individual pieces were sized perfectly. Oh yeah, the roll was spicy tuna with asparagus topped with albacore tuna and a ginger ponzu sauce. Great roll. Fresh and a tasty combination. Rice played a small roll and did not get in the way.
I also had the opportunity to try the spicy snow crab roll which I haven't seen outside of New Orleans and was very good. For dessert I opted for the yuzu cheesecake. Not a dessert person but this was a nice end to the meal.

I would definitely recommend trying their spice menu if you are in the area and I look forward to going back for dinner and trying more of their rolls and sushi.

Abokado Japanese Pan Latin on Urbanspoon

3 comments:

Sara said...

Sounds like a good deal. I haven't been back there since it opened but I remember the sushi being top-notch (an expensive) so this is the time to take advantage of Spice.

The Chowfather said...

Definitely a good deal based on their prices. No issues with overall portion sizes either. Looking forward to heading back to try some other rolls/sushi.

The Chowfather said...

Definitely a good deal based on their prices. No issues with overall portion sizes either. Looking forward to heading back to try some other rolls/sushi.