Soleá

Plate of Lobster paella, with clams and mushrooms by Solea's Restaurant's Executive Chef Marc Vidal. Photo: Roberto Koltun.

 

Victoria Pesce Elliott1/20/2010

Soleá, the W Hotel's newly launched Spanish stunner, is as warm and welcoming as a cup of steaming chocolate on a cold winter night. This is not the same Solea that made its faltering debut in August. After being pushed to open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with a watered-down Mediterranean concept, restaurateurs Karim Masri, Nicola Siervo and Rony Seikaly (Quattro Gastronomia Italiana, Sosta Pizzeria) lured talented executive chef Marc Vidal to give South Beach its first real taste of Spanish cuisine. Vidal, who came to Miami in 2007 to open Coral Gables' immensely popular Por Fin, focuses his efforts on Catalan and his cooking is deliberate, confident, relaxed and executed with such care that virtually everything is worth trying. Also notable is the consistently pristine quality of ingredients, from gorgeous oils and breads to sublime seafood and meats.

Ambiance: Tucked behind the hotel lobby (and its flashier Chinese cousin, Mr. Chow), Soleá is chicly understated with slate and hardwood floors, glittering floor-to-ceiling glass walls, a languorous outdoor dining space and staffers as good-looking as the celebrities who show up here like doves on a telephone wire. The pace is relaxed, with an abundance of enticing and well-balanced flavors to share.

What Worked

• Sublime braised veal cheeks
• Exquisite huevo frito con patatas, traditional Spanish ham and eggs made transcendent by crisped slivers of potatoes, earthy chanterelles and a hint of truffle oil
• Mraculously light croquetas, ham with a bright and creamy aioli
• Sardines, pressed as thin and crisp as bacon and served with slices of crusty, olive-flecked bread
• Tender manilla clams the size of pencil erasers served in garlicky broth with a hefty dose of parsley
• Four plump and rosy shrimp nearly leaping from a plate of baby mesclun with a sprightly sauce of sweet and sour orange reduction and almond aioli
• Complex, gorgeously balanced foie gras salad featuring thread-thin haricot vert, perky microgreens and crispy ham chips in a Jerez sherry vinaigrette
• Satisfying rack of lamb and crispy-skinned branzino fillets with a potato puree and warm lentils
• Filet mignon with tidbits of chanterelles and crunchy
• Paella Valenciana, made with Calasparra rice cooked to a bitey but still creamy al dente and loaded with shrimp, clams, mussels and tender chicken tidbits
• A treasure trove of a wine list featuring especially rare bottles from Spain and France
• Chocolate Sabotage dessert combining five sweet, creamy, rich and bright chocolate elements in tiny portions
• Lush coconut panna cotta capturing the essence of the tropics with guava soup, caramelized pineapple chunks and not-too-sweet coconut sorbet

Speak up!

Average rating based on 3 reviews.

2.33333

What you said

11

ncl

1

Posted on Mon, 02.15.2010 @ 11:55

My husband and I went to dinner at Solea for Valentine's Day. What an extreme disappointment. To begin with, they wanted to seat us in a table for two, RIGHT next to another couple, less than 2ft. away. I told the hostess, to please find us another table. Then we sit down and we're given the only menu available for the night. A special Valentine's Day menu. We were really looking forward to sampling the cuisine from the regular menu. The Valentine's Day menu did not come close to anything from the regular menu. In addition, it was $100 pp, plus tip and taxes and beverages. At this point I made the mistake of not telling my husband to leave. To pay $200+ for a meal that I don't even get to choose what I want to eat, did not seem like something I wanted to do. But, it was late, we'd driven a long way, so we decided to stay. Big mistake. The two soups offered were both chilled. I couldn't believe that. The coldest month is Miami is February. To offer TWO cold soups is ridiculous. Spanish food is loaded with wonderful hot soups for the winter. The asparagus soup was so watery and tasteless, my husband could not even finish it. The courses looked pretty as a picture, portion size extremely small and the flavor, well, nothing to write home about. Every course to me was a disappointment. Needless to say, we will never return, not even to try the so called Spanish cuisine. We spent $300+ for a meal that was boring, showy, but not really satisfying. ... Read more

11

lipur

4

Posted on Thu, 01.28.2010 @ 00:08

After the great Miami Herald review, we went last Friday to Solea at the W South Beach. Chef Marc Vidal and Pastry Chef Antonio Bachour are the best culinary team in South Florida. We enjoyed the picas picas like Bunuelos de Bacalao, Gambas, Escalibadas, huevos fritos con patatas. For entrees we ordered the Rack of Lamb, Branzino and Veal Cheek . For dessert we ordered the Chocolate Sabotage, the Coconut Panna Cotta. Everything was great, very good food. The best spanish restaurant in Miami. Great wine list with boutique spanish wines! ... Read more

11

FoodInsider

2

Posted on Mon, 01.25.2010 @ 10:42

Are you for real? Let me give it to you straight: This restaurant will eventually fizzle instead of sizzle. The food isn't consistent. The service is hit or miss. And the concept was changed in less than 6 months. If that isn't a recipe for disaster, then what is? I feel extremely bad for Marc Vidal because he has accepted a position equivalent to a hotel chef. That is what Solea is considered -- a hotel restaurant. It will never be more than that. But even more so, I feel horrible for Michael Gilligan. By saying they were pushed to open ... "a watered-down Mediterranean concept" and then add that Marc Vidal was "lured," this review is in fact insulting him as the pre-Vidal menu was Gilligan's. Are you saying his work not adequate enough? Many friends and colleagues prefer his menu to that of Vidal's. And if we are giving credit where it is due, then their amazing pastry chef -- the only constant since its opening in July 2009 -- should have been named and received kudos for his desserts. Let's just say the truth for once: "ownership and management don't know what they are doing." And that's quoted straight from the people who work there. Will there be bruised egos? Yes. But hopefully, they will open their eyes and understand that a dash of flash is no substance. The only things they have done right are the decor and the desserts, which is also the only reason for a two-star review.... Read more

See more reviews