Monday, April 25, 2016

Bossi Ball Tournament @ Louie Bossi's Tuesday Nights





WHEN:

Tuesdays

10pm – 1am




WHERE:

Louie Bossi’s Ristorante, Bar & Pizzeria

1032 E Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

954.356.6699 | www.LouieBossi.com

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Whole Steer Dinner @ Quality Meats Miami Beach



Fire Fire! and lots of great stuff cooking under those flames.  They were the flames of Chef Patrick Rebholz of Quality Meats Miami Beach, an expert in whole animal butchery, and Norberto Piattoni, who was head chef at Francis Mallmann's Hotel Garzon and more recently chef at San Francisco’s Bar Tartine.

They collaborated last week and cooked a 900 lb. whole steer on the Quality Meats' terrace.  The duo along with Craig Koketsu, chef/partner and Antonio Mora, executive chef at Quality Meats NYC  created three separate dinners.  Night one featured an asado BBQ consisting of whole ribs, sausage and various steaks including bate, hanger, flank and skirt steak.  Night two featured a family-style feast that included beef liver pate, ground beef empanadas, smoked brisket and roasted bone marrow.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the first two nights. But I was in the house for night three.

The last dinner on Saturday night was labeled as the more formal dinner because it included a seated four course meal.  But the highlight of the night for me was the pre dinner parade of charcuterie and Canapés out by the fire on the terrace.  I was too busy grabbing food, drinking champagne and socializing with fellow Cobaya Miami guinea pigs in the house to take any pictures.

Here is what was served before we sat down:

Charcuterie:

Szechuan salami
Corned beef sausage
Green chorizo
Invertedly smoked soppreseta
Callebaut pistachio country pate
Slim jims
Smoked brisket

Canapés:

Hand cut and grilled beef empanadas
Melon and chili salt
Beef liver cones and truffled caviar

See what I mean?? Hard to top that... But they came close.  It should be noted that Patrick is my early favorite to win Cochon 555 next year.





Chef Patrick slinging super hand cut and grilled beef empanadas




Butternut Squash "cooked in the Ashes"





Dashi bone broth, braised shank, coddled egg and tenderloin tartare, sea urchin, shiso and egg yolk.




Charred leeks, green strawberries, blue cheese, mizuna and parsley vinaigrette




Carpaccio of beef, baby root vegetables, pistachio and dill vinaigrette




Buckwheat Risotto and stinging nettles




Wild Mushrooms




Slow Roasted Primals




Charred strawberry tart with sorrel and pistachio ice cream

This was a fun night and an impressive site.  I hope Chef Patrick continues to push the limits and do dinners like this.


Quality Meats Miami Beach
1501 Collins Avenue with onsite parking.
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, April 17, 2016

Cobaya 61 @ 27 Restaurant with Chef Jimmy Lebron 4.6.16






Cobaya experiment sixty-one went down at one of Miami Beach's most popular spots, 27 Restaurant located adjacent to the award winning and an even more popular spot, the Broken Shaker located inside the Freehand Hotel.

Forty lucky lottery winning guinea pigs got to enjoy the delicious creations of Chef Jimmy Lebron and his team plus the creative cocktail pairing of bar manager Randy Perez.

We have been big fans of owners, Elad Zvi and Gabriel Orta from their Bar Lab days and obviously Broken Shaken. They have been Cobaya supporters along the way and played host for Cobaya 29 with visiting chef Brandon Baltzley plus they provided the great cocktail pairing.

We started planning a Cobaya at 27 while they were still pouring the foundation... We were obviously excited to team up with them and attempted to get this scheduled back in August but had timing issues. But I was very happy to finally lock in a date and see it come to fruition. And I was extremely pleased with the outcome. True to form, they delivered a creative, festive and tasty night done within the spirit of 27 and Cobaya too. Chef Jimmy along with his sous chef, Sasha Ullman created a unique menu with local flavors.  No misses for me and several standouts. I obviously had high expectations for the cocktail pairings and Randy did not disappoint.

In a town filled with restaurants located in nondescript strip malls, hidden in hotels and wannabe hipster hoods, 27's stand alone spot and homey atmosphere is a welcome and very refreshing setting for Miami. At 27, Elad and Gabe have created a warm and inviting dining room with a great cozy vibe. Chef Jimmy has followed suit with his food. The welcome sign at the entrance (see above) is on point.

Miami needs more restaurants like this. Miami needs more venues from Elad and Gabriel.

Big thanks to Jimmy, Sasha, Elad, Gabriel, Randy, Marcos Chantres (GM at 27), Gui Jaroschy (Director of Bars) and Amanda Lee from Freehand and the entire 27 team for a wonderful night. Huge props to the front of the house for solid service all night. And the kitchen team who did an impressive job with the pacing which is not easy with 40 diners and dishes being created for the first time.

And huge thanks to the all of the guinea pigs who requested seats for your continued interest and support.


Hard not to love the upstairs bar and lounge at 27.  It's a really cool spot and perfect for parties/groups. If you book early and drop my name you may get DJ Macabi spinning your tunes 



Spotted - Chef Jimmy going over last minute details with chef Sasha


The Calm Before the Guinea Pig Storm



The evening started with irresistible Malawach (Yemenite bread), Uni Butter, Za'atar. 



Cocktail one


Bombay Gin with fresh Florida Citrus, Preserved Grapefruit & Jasmin Rice Reduction



FRESH FROM FLORIDA





Whole Black Belly Rosefish Escabeche




Mangrove Snapper, Tangerine, Loquat, Chartreuse




Florida Middle Neck Clams, Leche De Tigre, Salsa Criolla





Little River Papaya Salad, Halloumi, Thai Chili

Pairing - Treviano Lugana "Terre Molin" 2014 / Italia



VEGETARIAN





Ethiopian Injera, Timatim, Wats, Gomen





THE DRIP....




Finished product - Rittenhouse Bottled in Bond Rye, Combined with Meletti Amaro, Slowly Dripped Through Thai Tea, Hazelnut, Cinnamon, Clove, Fresh Cranberry Hibiscus


FAMILY MEAL





Pekin Korean Duck with 27 Ban-Chan, bok choy kimchee, garden lettuce (not pictured)




Bar manager Randy Perez explaining how he and chef Lebron collaborated on the homemade coke




Old Forester Bourbon & Homemade Coke





Holy Mole! Confit Mole Conejo (rabbit) with salsas, ensaladas y tortillas


SWEET





Rugelach & Tea Cookies


Black Tea from Israel 




Bad Ass Baklava via Chef Sasha




Manzanilla La Gitana Sherry stirred with Aperol, Montanaro Bianco Nontanaro, Cassis Liquer & Lemon Bitters


THE NEXT CHAPTER....





A nightcap at Bar Lab's new bar, The Anderson
Anderson's Woodfired blend of Wild Turkey, mezcal, Cynar bitters,
and cardamom-infused punt e mes vermouth.



27 Restaurant
2727 Indian Creek Drive, Miami Beach, Florida
305.531.2727

Lee Schrager's America's Best Breakfasts Launch Brunch 4.24.16



Link for tickets HERE
Or if  you can't make it you can purchase the book HERE

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Mignonette March Oyster Eating Madness FINALS 4.4.16



Yours truly slurped his way to the Mignonette Mollusk Madness Finals which will take place this Monday, April 4, 2016 at 6 p.m. at the Mignonette bar.  Please swing by and watch me get crushed by  the last minute bracket busting replacement, Paula Echevarria the award winning producer of Check, Please!  It's a battle of New Orleans, Tulane v Loyola.


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Host and Mollusk Madness Mastermind Chef Danny Serfer


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Contestants had 60 seconds to take down as many oysters as possible.  In round one I won a close match against Jonathan Zaslow from 790 The Ticket by crushing 27 oysters.

The brackets were re-seeded after round one. In the Final Four I faced tough competition from Ale Cangas at the Hungry Post but moved on by taking down 30.

For the finals it looks like I will need to take down 35-40 to win it all.  I'll be ready to roll.


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Huge props to "Shuck Norris" shucker extraordinaire who did a fantastic job.








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The event got off to a strong start that featured Carla Torres, Assistant Editor at Ocean Drive Magazine against Paula.  I'm not sure what the final score was but I know Paula took down more than me.

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Strong showing by Gio from Chat Chow TV for taking down a whopping 6 oysters (Full disclosure, yes he was looking for pearls...) against food writer Lee Klein.




My pre fight stare down....

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The final match of round one featured Ale v PR whiz, Larry Carrino of Brustman Carrino.  Ale pulled of an impressive upset.  But no shame in the Carrino game.


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Team Carrino had their game faces on.





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The first final four showdown was a battle between Lee and Paula.  Paula prevailed by taking down 35 or more oysters.

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I was prepared for a tough challenge from Ale and I knew it was close based on the crowd noise.  30 for me was enough to move on.



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The OysterRazzi 





WHO DAT!!!

210 NE 18th Street
Miami, FL 33132

Please park in our parking lot (behind Artopia) on NE 2nd Court between 18th Street and 17th Terrace. Metered street parking is also available.