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Hilda
Dine-o-mite: tips for Miami Spice Month
Posted on Mon, 08.11.2008 @ 21:36A group of eight friends inaugurated our 2008 Miami Spice adventure Sunday night at Chef Allen's Restaurant in Aventura. We had been looking forward to visiting the famous chef's restaurant and we weren't disappointed. The restaurant itself is very nice, simple, elegant and inviting. We were seated immediately and waited as everyone arrived. For an additional $25 Chef Allen's offers a wine pairing flight for the Miami Spice menu which almost all of us ordered. Usually the Miami Spice menu offers an appetizer, an entree and a dessert for $36. Chef Allen's, however, started us off with an amuse bouche comprised of some crudite and a delicious Romesco dip which was followed by some crusty bread and crispy bread sticks. Keep in mind, the restaurant changes the Miami Spice menu often. For appetizers we sampled the three options. Three of us had the Duck Confit, served with home-made macaroni and a light cognac sauce; it was delicious, the shredded duck was tender and flavorful. Two of us had the Roast Beet Salad with feta cheese, baby arugula and a sour orange and thyme dressing - after tasting it I can officially say I have learned to love beets. The remaining three had the Conch Ceviche, which despite having scotch bonnet peppers wasn't too spicy at all. The wine for the appetizers was a Charles Krug Sauvignon Blanc from Napa; now I'm not a sauvignon blanc fan and even I liked it, however those among us who do enjoy sauvignon blanc said it was very good. The appetizer was followed by a watermelon sorbet intermezzo - very nice! Sadly, for the entree we were less original, and wound up all ordering the same thing! DUH! But what we ordered was fantastic. We all had the Black Grouper with rock shrimp fricassee, leeks, mango and coconut rum sauce - everyone agreed it was delicious, with the fish prepared perfectly and the flavors blending beautifully. For the entree wine pairing we had a choice between a Cabernet Sauvignon by Heller Estates in Carmel Valley, California - or Argentina's Trumpeter Chardonnay, we tried both and everyone was very happy with their choice. For dessert they had three options and we tried them all. Three of us enjoyed the Lavender Infused Panna Cotta with Honey - again, I don't usually like panna cotta, but this one was really good with a lot of flavor. Three ordered the Ricotta Cheesecake with an oatmeal cookie crust which was yummy! And two of us went with the Espresso and Chocolate Profiterole. Hello! Chocolate and espresso, what's not to love? And OHMYGOD - the dessert wine pairing was a fantastic Ferrari-Carano Eldorado Noir, which is a rich, sweet black muscat from California's Russian River Valley -everybody raved about it! While we were enjoying our dessert, a very nice lady came to our table and started chatting with us. It turned out to be Judy Susser, Chef Allen's wife! She was absolutely delightful, chatting about wine, about the restaurant's exciting re-launch, and how Miami Spice seemed to be a success thus far. Chef Allen's Miami Spice menu was a bona-fide success – providing a wonderful selection of quality dishes. Most importantly, it made us want to come back! ... Read more
