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The Big Review:

Bancroft Supper Club

9/8/2009

Victoria Pesce Elliott

Editor rating:

• Bancroft Supper Club
  1501 Collins Ave, Miami Beach
  305-630-8540

• Hours: 8pm-5am Thursday-Sunday.
  Prices: Appetizers $11-$19, entrees $25-$49, sides $9, desserts $10.

• FYI: Reservations accepted; no outside wine bottles permitted, $20 valet parking, Miami Spice menu available if you ask; full bar, including pricey American-centric wine list, AX, MC, VS.

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I rarely bother to review nightclubs that double as restaurants since the food is usually an afterthought, the prices are absurd, and the attitude is predictably preposterous. The Bancroft Supper Club could have been different. It seemed to have had the right intentions in hiring the truly talented chef Tim Andriola of Timo to design the menu and teach the staff to execute it. Though the PR folks told me that Andriola “has fulfilled his contract and has left Bancroft,” we saw him in his chef whites sitting down to dine and then disappearing for long stretches.
The upscale menu reads like an Alice Waters cookbook, with loads of sustainable and organic products, i.e. La Belle Farms Magret duck breast with sweet-potato ravioli, poached Alaskan halibut, squid-ink taglietelle with San Marzano tomatoes, Bell and Evan's chicken breast with mushroom ragout and truffle foie gras and lots of local produce, from Paradise farms greens to Key West shrimp. Chef de cuisine Jamie DeRosa does a commendable job of turning out the bright array of dishes that are marred more by horrendous service   and a lame ambience than a lack of skill.

Ambiance: Inside, a bouncy hostess seated us along the catwalk in the middle of the room. It was still light enough to see the sheen on the orange acrylic fabrics tacked to the walls, lending the typically Art Deco lobby the look of a high-school prom night in Delhi. Disco lights swirled.

What Worked

• An excellent trio of sliders made from drippingly juicy and aggressively seasoned Kobe beef with gruyere cheese on a sweet brioche bun
• Gently fried baby squash blossoms stuffed with an herby mix of ricotta cheese and a stunning yellow tomato puree
• Creamy & rich eggless Caesar salad with a perfect balance of cheese and crunch
• House-made fettuccini with smoky oven-dried tomatoes, ribbons of wilted local spinach and a creamy sauce enhanced with tangy goat cheese
• Pinball-sized roasted beets with earthy sautéed greens
• Satisfyingly dense pineapple upside-down cake paired with a sweet caramelized sauce

What Didn’t Work

• A bizarre amuse bouche of a steaming shot glass of hot, salty chicken consommé, more like a hangover cure than a starter on a sultry tropical night
• Strong-smelling, over-cooked fish entrees
• A lukewarm boat of skinny-as-matchsticks fries

What Didn’t Work: Service Special

• Parking: Because South Beach parking can be an issue, I phoned ahead & was assured that diners would pay only $10 for valet. Ha! The cocky parker demanded double. 
• A surly French waiter & his sweet-but-clueless Mexican sidekick
• The waiter rolled his eyes when we opted for tap water
• A $3 misquote on wine by the glass price (before tax, mandatory tip and an “entertainment fee”)
• Discount card confusion – the website said the restaurant accepts Primecard (a discount credit card) for a 25% discount, but the staff had never heard of such a thing