Thursday, March 31, 2016

Michy's 10th Anniversary Celebration 4.6.16 @ Cena by Michy


Join James Beard Award-winning Chef Michelle Bernstein for a Star-studded Culinary Event Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of CENA by Michy.


This one-night only affair will reunite Michelle Bernstein with some of the most successful alumni from her restaurants, including Chefs Lindsay Autry, Timon Balloo, Jason Schaan and Sarah Sipe, as they prepare a 5-course dinner at Bernstein’s flagship Miami eatery.

The dinner includes two complimentary cocktails created by mixologist Julio Cabrera and a paired wines menu by former Michy’s sommelier Allegra Angelo.


Wednesday, April 6, 2016 at 7PM
CENA by Michy
6927 Biscayne Blvd
Miami, FL 33138


Dinner is $150 per person, exclusive of tax & gratuity and reservations must be made in advance.
Please call (305) 759-2001 for ticket information
or visit cenabymichy.com for reservations through Resy.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Cobaya Talde @ Talde Miami Beach 3.4.16






As soon as the news broke that Chef Dale Talde was opening a restaurant in Miami, he immediately became a Cobaya Miami target. I enjoyed a dinner he did over at Khong River House a couple of years ago and was very familiar with his background and experience. Most of you probably know him from his appearances on season eight of Top Chef and Top Chef All Stars. He also recently spent a season as a Judge on the entertaining and challenging show Knife Fight. He was also a contestant.

Prior to reaching chef-lebrity status, he spent several years working in prestigious kitchens. He opened Jean Georges' Vong's in Chicago. He followed that up with two popular Stephen Starr spots, Morimoto in NYC and Buddakan.

Fast forward and he now co-owns 5 restaurants. Three in Brooklyn, TaldePork Slope, and Thistle Hill, one in New Jersey, Talde Jersey City and his most recent spot Talde Miami Beach in the ThompsonHotel.




Dale proudly cooks inauthentic asian cuisine.

For Cobaya "experiment" #60, Dale opted to tap into his Filipino background and serve a traditional Kamayan Table dinner. Never heard of one? Banana leaves topped with mounds of white rice that's topped with several dishes. No plates, no utensils, one long communal table and both hands tied behind your back. Okay, kidding about the last part. Guests were obviously instructed to wash their hands before being seated. I had to wash mine about 6 times because I can't keep my hands to myself....

This was a really fun, unique and delicious experience. I was extremely impressed with the execution of each dish despite being cooked and served in one shot like this. Everything I tried was cooked perfectly and the flavors were fantastic. I did not want to stop eating and was truly said when it was done.

Seen and tasted devoured on the Kamayan Table:

Bicol Express - green beans, squash and eggplant cooked in coconut milk and shrimp paste.

Lechon Kawali - crispy pork belly.

Whole roasted grouper with tomato ginger sofrito.

Dale's mom's chicken adobo. *If you see this on one of his menus, get it.

Lumpia Shanghai - Filipino Spring Rolls.

Achara - pickled green papaya

5G Cookie: pretzel and potato chip cookies with salted carmel ganache.

Huge thanks to Dale for finding time in his busy schedule to make it to Miami to host this special night and meal. And thanks to his entire team including his partner David Missoni who was also in town. Additional thanks to the team at the Thopmson Hotel for assisting with the coordination of the dinner. And most importantly, thanks to the 25 guinea pigs in the house and the 300 plus who requested seats for your continued support and interest.

 Hope to see you at #61.





Rice Rice Baby






Scored the head of the Kamayan Table de Talde and was up close and personal with this gorgeous looking grouper. Her cheeks and collar were a real treat as was the rest of her luscious meat. 






The Kamayan Talde Table was all set for the clean pawed guinea pigs and they were ready to pounce. As you can see, a rogue piggy beat the rest to the punch. Cough Cough JDonn...



Don't be shy. DIG IN!



Dale's Lechon Kawali was as good as pork belly gets.





Now you see it



And then there was none... delicious domination (by JDonn)




Guinea PIGS who had room for dessert enjoyed Dale's award winning 5G Cookies. These are an incredible combination of pretzels, potato chips and salted caramel ganache. He calls them 5G's because he won $5,000.00 in a Quickfire Challenge when he was on Top Chef and served them to Padma.  




Cobaya What What??!!





Guests were generously treated to an autographed copy of his new cookbook "Asian-American: Proudly Inauthentic Recipes from the Philippines to Brooklyn." which you can buy on Amazon.


HOURS

Sun-Wed: Dinner 6pm-12am | Bar 6pm-1am

Thur-Sat: Dinner 6pm-12am | Bar 6pm-4am

Thur-Sat: Late Night Noodles 12am - 4am


ADDRESS AND CONTACT

Inside the Thompson Miami Beach Hotel

4041 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33140

T: (786) 605-4094

Monday, March 28, 2016

Whole Steer Dinner Series @ Quality Meats 4.14-16



TICKETS HERE




Chef Patrick Rebholz, an expert in whole animal butchery, and Norberto Piattoni, a former employee of Francis Mallmann, will collaborate to create three separate dinners – an asado BBQ, a family-style feast, and a more formal dining experience, all complete with wine and beer pairings.

A 900-lb. steer along with side dishes, bread and even desserts, will be cooked in a specially constructed “fire kitchen” on Quality Meats’ expansive terrace.

“We are taking the Quality Meats love of large format meats to a whole new level,” offered Rebholz. “We are going to use every part of this magnificent steer to create three nights of fun, delicious dining. I am stoked to work with Negro – this style of cooking is part of his heritage – to bring this very special dinner series to South Beach.”

The Thursday night BBQ, priced at $59 per person inclusive of beer pairings, will include whole ribs, sausage and various steaks including bavette, hanger, flank and skirt steak. Side dishes will consist of an assortment of salads including potato salad with seven minute eggs, red onion, oregano, scallion and mayonnaise; heirloom tomato salad with cucumber and herbs; and a bitter green salad with anchovy dressing and charred eggplant with roasted garlic, lemon, pomegranate seeds and herbs. Dessert will include sweet potatoes “cooked in the ashes,” served with white chocolate mousse and honey sauce.

On Friday evening, they will serve more parts of the steer in totally different preparations; this meal is going to be offered family-style and will include wine pairings for $79 per person. Starters will include a beef liver pate with hard boiled eggs and toast points and fired ground beef empanadas served with local lettuce and tomatoes. Smoked brisket will be served with dandelion greens, radishes, preserved lemon, anchovy and garlic, and roasted bone marrow will be accompanied with bread cooked in the ashes of the parilla. The meal will finish with a refreshing blend of “burned” citric, mascarpone cream, crumbles and lemon balm.

Saturday night will be a more formal, seated four course meal. Starters will include cured beef; a bone broth of braised osso bucco topped with poached egg and herbs; and grilled hand-cut beef empanadas with gazpacho. Second courses will include tenderloin tartare with sea urchin, shiso & egg yolk; grilled radicchio Treviso with bagna cauda with fennel herbs; and charred leeks and blue cheese topped with parsley vinaigrette, green strawberries and watercress. The main course will be tender grilled bone-in ribeye with wild mushrooms; and charred beef with grilled bok choy and dashi. Charred strawberry tart with sorrel and pistachio ice creams will close out the feast, which is priced at $99 per person including wine pairings.

Negro, whose first experience in the kitchen was helping his family cook on his grandfather’s farm, trained under Mallmann in Mendoza, Argentina before moving to Uruguay and ultimately becoming head chef at Mallmann’s legendary hotel Garzon. He moved to the U.S. to oversee a new concept in Paris, Kentucky, before relocating to San Francisco’s Bar Tartine. Since then he has been involved in a number of pop-up projects in New York and Los Angeles and will soon be launching an open-fire kitchen restaurant with cuisine inspired by the Rioplatense area where he grew up in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood with restaurant mavens Henry Rich (Rucola, Fitzcarraldo, June Wine Bar and Cassette) and Oliver Hastlegrave and Evan Hastlegrave (Rebelle, Donna, Black Seed, Torst, June Wine Bar and many others).

Prior to relocating to Miami to open Quality Meats, Executive Chef Patrick Rebholz, worked in Charleston for more than a decade, honing his skills working under acclaimed Chef Frank Lee, as sous chef at High Cotton Maverick Bar & Grill. Rebholz submersed himself in whole animal fabrication, charcuterie and farm-to-table cooking, before taking on the position of chef de cuisine at Charleston’s legendary restaurant, Peninsula Grill. Within this role, Rebholz helped lead the culinary team of the Relais & Chateaux property, elevating the restaurant’s cuisine and recognition as one of the city’s thriving culinary institutions. Here at Quality Meats in a little over a year, he has helped establish the restaurant as one of South Florida’s premier steakhouses with one of the best charcuterie selections in the city.

Quality Meats Miami Beach is located at 1501 Collins Avenue with onsite parking – a rarity on South Beach. The restaurant is open for dinner on Sunday and Monday from 6PM to 11PM and from Tuesday through Saturday until midnight.
Website: www.qualitymeatsmiami; Telephone: 305-340-3333;

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Cobaya South Beach Wine & Food Festival 2.25.16



Cobaya Miami "experiment" #59 went down on February 25, 2016 as part of the enormously popular and successful South Beach Wine & Food Festival.  HUGE thanks to Lee Schrager, founder and director of the festival, for his continued support and for inviting us to participate in this super celebration of wine and food. Additional thanks to Chef Alex Chang of the Vagabond for playing host, curating the dinner and helping assemble an all star lineup of chefs.  It should be noted that Alex previously delivered a home run meal for Cobaya Miami #53.




A real highlight and treat for me was having TV Star and CHEF Andrew Zimmern in the kitchen for his second Cobaya Fest dinner.  Also in the house were Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of AnimalSon of a GunJon & Vinny'sTrois Mec, and Petit Trois in Los Angeles and Carlo Mirarchi of Blanca and Roberta's in Brooklyn.

The Vagabond Hotel was the perfect spot for this fun filled event.  The night started with a reception at the poolside bar featuring wine from the Bodegas Lustau portfolio along with a special sherry cocktail, Kissing the Gunners Daughter, comprised of Lustau Manzanilla Sherry, Pimm's No. 1, simple syrup, lemon juice, topped with grapefruit soda garnished with mint bouquet, cucumber, raspberry, blackberry and strawberry.

The reception also featured some great bites. Alex started the night with a Shaved Ribeye with black sapote, burnt eggplant in a nasturtium leaf and Snap Peas with leek oil and goat's milk. (Unfortunately I was running around and did not get good shots of either dish but was fortunate to grab them...) Pictured below is Andrew's awesome Oyster Vichyssoise and Jon & Vinny's Hamachi Taco.




Alex brought some Miami flavor to the night via the La Caja China. Great for the guniea pigs in the house not so great for the suckling piggies. 




Oyster Vichyssoise, Island Creek Oysters
Andrew Zimmern

Andrew's vichyssoise featuring citrus-cured oysters was so good I had to grab two. Okay four....  




Hamachi Taco, Fish Sauce Vinaigrette, Peanut and Avocado
Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook

An awful shot of a fantastic bite from Jon & Vinny.  It popped with flavor and was enhanced by the great crispy crunch.  









Jon and Carlo working hard. 

It's always cool to see chefs helping other chefs get their dishes out at collaborations like this. But an extra hat tip to Carlo who was hustling all night.




Cucumber Variation with Cherry Tomato, Za'atar and Pickled Ramp Ranch
Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook
Marquês de Irun Rueda 2014

Cucumbers, pickles, za'atar, ranch dressing. Yes, there were a lot of tasty things going on in this dish. 




Vitello Tonnato
Andrew Zimmern
Viña Herminia Rosado 2014

Of course Andrew slipped the tongue in on us....and didn't tell the crowd until they were almost done. Bam! 




Suckling Pig marinated in Condensed Milk, Green Papaya and Preserved Marigold Salad
Alex Chang
Viña Herminia Rioja Reserva 2009

21 day old pigs hot off La Caja China.  Paired with a killer salad. 






Coconut Fluff, Meyer Lemon Curd, Cashew and Burnt Lemon Cake, Poppy Seed, Celery
Carlo Mirarchi & Sam Short
Lustau Moscatel Emilin


Home Run dessert. This was a really wonderful ending to a very sweet night.  

Thanks to all the local and loyal guinea pigs in the house and thanks to all of the adventurous festival fans for coming out.   

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Pappy Van Winkle Tasting @ Bourbon Steak 3.24.16


Bourbon fans of Miami here is your chance to taste the hard to find and uber popular Pappy Van Winkle Bourbons.  You will get to taste their 10, 12, 15, 20 & 23 year old bourbons. And you get to enjoy canapés from one of the bets chefs in town, Gabe Fenton in a great setting at Bourbon Steak which is my Top Ranked Restaurant in Miami.

See you there!


Turnberry Isle
19999 West Country Club Drive
Miami, FL 33180

Tel: 786.279.6600

Mignonette March Madness 3.21.16


It's on!!  Mignonette is celebrating the NCAA March Madness with an oyster eating contest.  Head over and watch me dominate and/or puke...

Schedule

Elite Eight - Monday, March 21st at 6pm
Final Four - Tuesday, March 22nd at 6pm
Championship - Monday, April 4 at 6pm

Round 1:
Adam Beasley @adamhbeasley  
 vs.
Carla Torres @ohcarlucha

Round 2:
Jonathan Zaslow @zaslowshow
vs.
Steven @thechowfather

Round 3:
Gio Gutierrez @giovanny
vs.
Lee Klein aka Lee2Go

Round 4:
Larry Carrino @bcprmiami
vs. 
Ale Cangas of The Hungry Post

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Mendin & Friends (Jeremy Ford) @ Pubbelly


Current Top Chef Finalist, Jeremy Ford from the Matador Room will be in the Pubbelly kitchen with Jose Mendin as part of the Mendin & Friends collaborations.  Tickets are $60.00 plus tax and tip.  Seatings are at 7 and 9:30 on March 30, 2016.

This should be a fun and delicious night.

TICKETS


Thursday, March 3, 2016

Cochon 555 returns to Miami 4/3/16



My favorite event of the year Cochon 555 returns to Miami on April 3, 2016. If you are unfamiliar with the event all you need to know is that it features five local chefs cooking five heritage breed pigs in a friendly competition. Tickets are on sale now. You do not want to miss this event.

Additionally, the Miami weekend supports a great cause by starting with two unique dinners bringing together five guest chefs, world-renowned winemakers and beverage experts to create a multi-course, interactive dining experience to benefit Piggy Bank.

On April 1, the weekend takeover commenceswith a pair of guest chef dinners to benefit Piggy Bank. These unique dinners bring together chefs, world-renowned winemakers and beverage experts to create a multi-course, interactive dining experience where guests have the opportunity to interact with the participating chefs. On Friday, the tour will kick off with the Late Night Asian Speakeasy with Host Chef Cesar Zapata of Phuc Yea and guest chefs Jose Mendin or Pubbelly, Diego Oka of La Mar, Aaron Brooks of Edge Steak and Bar and Timon Balloo of Sugarcane Raw Bar & Grill in an all-inclusive feast paying homage to Chinese, Sichuan, Korean, Thai and Japanese after-hour establishments known to inspire great kitchens across the country. 

On Saturday, a refined three-hour culinary experience, the Chef’s Course Dinner Series hosted by Michael Fiorello of Beachcraft at 1 Miami Hotel, begins with a reception featuring a selection of passed hors d’oeuvres followed by a seated dinner and premium wine pairings. Both dinners will be limited to 40 seats each night, tickets are available online at $125 per person and 100 percent of the proceeds will benefit Piggy Bank.





Piggy Bank was launched in 2015 by Brady Lowe, founder of the Cochon555 US Tour and Taste Network. Piggy Bank’s mission is to create a heritage breed pig sanctuary that provides free genetics and business plans to emerging family farms. The sanctuary will change the future of food by uniting a community working together for safer, responsible farming practices and sharing of genetics, livestock and the sharing of information. Piggy Bank is dedicated to creating the first Open Source agriculture platform through the responsible farming of heritage species. The Piggy Bank farm, located in Missouri, will raise pigs to be gifted only to communities dedicated to elevating the cause and expanding the model of social and agricultural transparency. For more information about Piggy Bank or The Giving Back Fund, please contact Kerith@piggy-bank.org, or watch the video below. 


Friday kicks off with a Late Night Asian Speakeasy, an all-inclusive guest chef’s dinner party paying homage to Chinese, Sichuan, Korean, Thai and Japanese restaurants. On Saturday, the Chef's Course Dinner Series is multi-course feast featuring notable chefs including five guest chefs cooking courses paired with premium wines and spirits.
Tickets to the dinners are available online at $125 per person and 100% of the proceeds will benefit Piggy Bank.
Cochon555 is running a 21-day contest, “Can’t We Just Be Friends”, giving away two VIP Tickets worth $400. Friends of the good food movement can sign up for the latest news on the weekend and enter the contest here: http://woobox.com/jnesum.

Chef's Dinner Series @ Seagrape 3.5.16


TICKETS

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Kaiseki Dinner Series with Mike Pirolo-San @ Bazi 3.9.16




Bazi is introducing an exclusive monthly Kaiseki dinner with the first one being hosted Wednesday, March 9, 2016 at 8PM.

Kaiseki traditionally consists of a sequence of small, artistically arranged dishes that foster a harmonious balance between taste, texture, and aesthetic. This one-of-a-kind experience will feature 10-12 courses designed and orchestrated by Michael Pirolo, and will showcase seasonal ingredients from the decadent to the exotic. Dishes prepared Kaiseki-style are done so in a way that aims to enhance their flavor and energy. Every course will be paired with unique libations ranging from sake to Asian teas courtesy of Bazi’s Beverage Director, William Rivas.

Hosted monthly at the restaurant’s downstairs bar, an intimate setting limited to eight seats. Priced at $150 (including tax and tip), each Kaiseki dinner promises to be different from the one before, providing a rare curated experience.

Bazi is located at The Marlin Hotel, 1200 Collins Avenue on Miami Beach. The restaurant is open for dinner nightly at 6PM; the bar is open nightly at 5PM. Telephone: (305) 695-0101; Website: www.bazimiami.com/

Sake Sundays @ Red Ginger



Red Ginger will be offering half priced select bottles of Sake and $3 oysters all night long in the lounge and the main dining room.

Featured Sakes:
  • Black & Gold (Horchata)  - Menu pricing $50 - ½ price $25
  • OF Peace (Plum Sake)  -  Menu pricing $53  - ½ price $26
  • Silk (Junmai)  - Menu pricing $68  - ½ price  $34
  • Southern Beauty (Junmai Ginjo) - Menu pricing $79  - ½ price  $3

WHERE:
Red Ginger
736 First Street
Miami Beach, FL 33139

WHEN:
Every Sunday 6 p.m. - close