This cozy restaurant is best known for its steak, but other favorites include lamb shank, osso buco, baby back ribs and seafood specials. Scorch has an open kitchen, and full bar.
Sandwiched between busy train tracks and congested Biscayne Boulevard, Scorch Grill House & Wine Bar is in a tough spot. Occupied most recently by a Latin grill and before that a Vietnamese noodle joint, the space, next door to a Dairy Queen, has had more flops in the past decade than Madonnna's movie career.
Nonetheless, in its recent incarnation, it's a place that deserves another chance, especially if you're a meat lover who appreciates a good value.
From the big, juicy burgers to the filet mignon, the beef is all good. Best is the Scorch steak, a tender cut of bottom sirloin perfectly seared with a salty crust and moist, pink center. It's a remarkable bargain at lunch, when $7.75 buys you an eight ouncer with garlicky, mushroom-garnished rice, smashed, skin-on potatoes or addictive, batter-coated fries. At dinner, a 12-ounce portion is just $12.75. Ask for a side of luscious chimichurri loaded with parsley and garlic and feel like you are in Buenos Aires for the afternoon.
A large steak salad made with the same cut is another sure bet. Thick slabs are splayed out over baby spinach leaves, cucumbers, tomatoes and lightly caramelized onions with a sprinkling of Gorgonzola cheese.
The saucer-sized crab cake is equally generous. This one is full of flaky crab meat, dosed with Old Bay seasoning and topped with fresh black-bean salsa. Though not the lightest or most flavorful I have eaten, it was refreshingly free of fillers and entirely ungreasy.
Pastas are also surprisingly good and varied. My penne with salmon and kalamata olives in a pink sauce was nicely al dente with big hunks of salmon in a creamy, not overly thick sauce. They could have removed the bloodline from the fish and added more fresh tomatoes, but it was still a fine first course.
A hearty side salad with tomatoes, cucumbers and fresh herbs is worth the extra $1.99, though I wish they would refresh the greens with cold water to eliminate the telltale out-of-the-bag taste.
Don't miss the intriguing gazpacho. Despite a brownish hue, it is as lively and fresh tasting as a garden salad, seasoned with white balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and a hint of garlic.
All portions are large, but not all the dishes succeed. At one lunch visit, the mahi mahi was fresh but overcooked, a tough sell next to a pile of insipid rice. The seared tuna salad was marred by bitter-edged spinach and bok choy but redeemed by a thick honey-cilantro vinaigrette spiked with ginger and garlic. And the ''soon-to-be-addictive'' baby back ribs probably won't be; the meat on ours was as flavorless and dry as the bones from which it fell.
Despite its name, Scorch isn't a true wine bar, but there are worthy bottles on the budget list ($17-$39), including a ripe, round and strawberryish 2001 Ramon Bilboa Tempranillo from Rioja for $23, only about $10 over retail.
For those who prefer their wine like soda, a pitcher of syrupy-sweet sangria with fresh pineapple and papaya is $7 from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays. (Other times, it's $13.)
Real sweets run the gamut from cheesecake to chocolate caramel pecan cake and Key lime pie, but the only one worth its sugar is a cake-like tiramisu with just a hint of espresso and a layer of lemony, Kahlua-soaked lady fingers.
It may not set the world on fire, but Scorch is a worthy stop for some smoking fare.
