I recently wrote about my first post vaccination/covid dining experience in Miami which was a fantastic Mother's day lunch at Leku. I followed that up with my first dinner a couple of Saturday nights ago at Ariete. The choice for my first dinner was an easy one as I told Chef Michael Beltran during the pandemic that he would be my first stop when I could get back to a restaurant and I'm a man of my word. Why did I tell him that? Because not only do I enjoy his food but I was very impressed with his hard work, perseverance and resiliency during the rough times. He made some quick and wise pivots early on and was able to survive. And now he's ready to thrive.
Once seated my girlfriend correctly pointed out that we also started the lock down with a great Cobaya to Go dinner from Ariete. I didn't post about it last March because I felt like writing about a great meal and restaurants was a bit tone deaf for the times. However, I was happy to promote every restaurant that had pivoted to take out dinners on my Instagram feed. I started and maintained this site to support and promote local restaurants and chefs in Miami and I wanted to keep that going via my Instagram stories to spread the word as often as I could.
Anyway, as we entered the uncertainty of covid, Michael and his team made a lot of Cobayas (guinea pigs) happy that night. I don't want to get into a lot of detail here about it because he's doing it on a daily basis now and is worthy of its own dedicated post. Nevertheless, if you are a duck fan you definitely want to experience the press. Be forewarned, they are limited and sell out fast so you may want to request it when booking your reservation. No clue if that is permissible but it can't hurt to ask if you're not an early bird diner.
The Press |
CANARD A LA PRESSE
ROHAN DUCK FOR TWO
14 day dry aged duck breast, pistachio dukkah
duck tamale, wild mushroom gravy
pastelitos of duck fricassée, green salad.
Michael a rising star in Miami but he may take offense to that since he was a James Beard Semi-finalist last year. But I mean no offense by it and nothing but respect. I say rising because he's young and has a lot of great cooking and accolades in front of him. Not behind him.
Circling back to my recent meal at Ariete. It was fantastic and a really enjoyable night. In addition to the Canard a la Presse experience they are offering a nightly seven course tasting menu called Versos Diarios for $125.00. This is a great way to enjoy Michael's current menu. However, we opted to create our own tasting menu because that Our Florida Orange dish in the photo above was not on it and I had to have it. It's visually stunning and was a real treat. Chicken foie mousse, duck and sour orange pate, chocolate dirt, mint and served with great house made bread. This is a three-day process and a serious dish.
Our Florida Orange -
chicken foie mousse, duck and sour orange pate,
chocolate dirt, mint, white bread
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