TAPAS
Richard Sandoval fans are in for a treat with the new tricks and treats going on at Pampano this summer. Along with the new season, Pampano is introducing quite a few enticing changes. They're now featuring a new tasting menu serving up fresh Mexican seasonal ingredients until June 30th. The five course tasting is only $50 per guest or $75 with the addition of Los Nahuales Mezcal or Latin wine pairing.
Pampano is also introducing fun Taco Tuesdays! Every Tuesday from 5pm until closing, the restaurant will be serving up $2 tacos, with new specialty tacos each week. But that's not all that's new. There will also be special summer Fridays at Pampano Botaneria all the way until Labor Day, where you can come start your weekend early with Happy Hour starting at 3pm. All Latin cocktails and sangrias will be $6 a piece and Mexican-style tapas are only $5.
Did you know Roast Suckling Pig has its very own national holiday? This December 18th, celebrate the swine with some good ‘ol fashion pork! Technically, the holiday should take place over the span of two days, since that’s how long the average pig takes to be prepared and roasted. The main ingredient involves a four to six week old piglet, ranging between nine to twenty pounds. For those couple of weeks, the pig is bred solely on its mother’s milk. Although younger pigs are preferred for their tender meat, larger pigs are not uncommon.
A wide variety of roast suckling pig recipes have been created for the holiday season. For a Mexican flavor, add Mexican cinnamon, dried avocado leaves and guajillo chiles. For a more Asian roast, use vinegar, five-spice powder, and red miso. For a Cuban-inspired recipe drench your tender pig in oranges and limes and place it in La Caja China. This ritual was passed down from family to family, specifically Roberto Guerra’s family. One day in winter of 1985, Guerra’s father, who had immigrated to Miami, told his son about the way they cooked for large amounts people in Cuba. Using a large wooden hot box, the pig would lay roasting slowly under a charcoal fire. Young Roberto Guerra asked his father to show him and thus La Caja China was born. The improved ovens are built with local materials for up to 100 pounds of juicy pork meat!
'Haunted Heart' -Little Hurricane
As all you New Yorkers know, the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade is right around the corner. That means there is going to be an overload of turkey and tryptophan coursing through your veins. Ultimately putting you in a bear-like hibernating state during Black Friday, and maybe until Cyber Monday.
If you're looking to escape the typical turkey day trance, hail a cab to 7th street between 1st avenue and Avenue A, to indulge in the Bourgeois Pig. This is a trendy East Village wine bar that serves up great wine and tapas that are both delicious and wallet-friendly. So nix your plans to have the probable overcooked bird and order up a baked brie cheese board for $17. This cheese board comes with fresh grapes and honey. Pair that alongside the lamb Morrocco tartines for $11, and your mouth will continue to thank you the rest of the night.
Lincoln Road on Miami Beach has it’s fair share of charms with quite the amount of extra, undesirable, baggage that would rack up a fortune in fees from most commercial airlines these days. Although there are a few hidden and not-so-hidden dining gems along this historical outdoor mall (see review of Quattro), many South Florida natives know that along with the people watching and alfresco dining come promiscuously-clad hostesses channelling Snooki and hawking plastic wrap-covered lobster tails, compulsory 18% gratuities, bad food and worse service. For a geographic location in the United States with year-round warm weather, it’s surprisingly challenging to find a decent place to dine under the stars...a place that hasn’t been overrun with mojons or Euro-trash. Thankfully, I just discovered a little secret that’s been well-known to Fort Lauderdale residents for quite some time - Himmarshee Village. When not booming with live rock and flooded with inebriated merry-makers on weekends, this part of Downtown Fort Lauderdale by Las Olas Riverfront and the Broward Center for the Performing Arts is a quaint locale for an intimate evening under the stars. Although the dining options on Himmarshee are just sprouting up, they are all exceptional, especially the newly-opened PL8 Kitchen specializing in eclectic tapas and cocktails.
Occupying the same space that once housed the celebrated Himmarshee Grill, the owners of the previous restaurant acknowledged that the trend towards diners sharing a series of small plates was more than just a passing fad and decided to revamp the old Himmarshee Grill’s look, feel, and menu and thus was born PL8 Kitchen. The result is a space that is chic in an industrial-rustic kind of way with a menu that reflects modern American tastes along with local South Florida flavors and is a perfect place for both pre and post theater bites. The outside portion of the restaurant sits on a brick-laid, tree-lined side walk dotted with bistro tables and a couple of design-forward bar tables that sit about 6 people each constructed of steel legs with a heavy wooden top. The barstools are equally handsome and made of the same style of rough, heavy wood with an unfinished look to them. On a rainy evening, the inside portion of PL8 offers a cozy, yet modern ambiance with industrial sconces lining a slate-colored wall all inside the bi-level loft space. The steampunk design aesthetic is truly a refreshing departure from the Tommy Bahama and Philippe Starck knockoffs witnessed in too many eateries in South Florida.
We started our evening with a couple martinis (only $6 on Wednesdays) that showcased the bartender’s creativity: the Sicilian Orange, and the Honey PL8. The Sicilian Orange martini, consisting of Ketel One Orange, Midori, Solerno, white grapes, and basil was a sweet and refreshing drink that makes for a perfect cocktail for South Florida’s balmy evenings. The Honey PL8 was definitely the more interesting of the two cocktails, consisting of Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey whiskey, apple cider, and ginger beer. To say that this was perfectly balanced would be an understatement to the bartender’s abilities, for the flavors of each element played off each other in a lovely that was reminiscent of hard cider but with the richness of honey-infused whiskey. PL8 Kitchen’s drinks menu doesn’t end with mere martinis and offers a unique roster of mixed drinks, mojitos, caipiroskas, and a carefully selected list of craft beers.
A clear indication of a winning restaurant, in my opinion, is when the chef features a “mac n’ cheese of the day”. That evening’s special featured brown butter, sage, butternut squash puree, and smoked Gouda combined with al-dente ditalini noodles (a first for mac n’ cheese in my experience) and crunchy bread crumbs fresh from the brick oven and served in a little cauldron. While most macaroni and cheese is traditionally heavy, PL8 Kitchen’s evening special was lighter in spite of it’s rich flavors and creamy texture. A plate of grilled rare wahoo with a sweet potato and almond hash on a bed of garlic caramel was perhaps one of the most memorable seafood dishes I’ve had. The white-fleshed fish yielded just a hint of pink in the center and offered a savory mouthful to contrast the sweetness of the sweet potatoes and almonds, and the deep flavors of the garlic caramel. I could not get enough of this dish!
Bratwurst sliders made with veal weisswurst (white sausage) arrived, fittingly, on pretzel rolls mounded with potato salad and a violet mustard made with beet juice and were as delicious to eat as they were delightful to look at. Tamarind glazed pork tenderloin skewers with sweet and hot zucchini pickles were subtle and packed that unmistakable tartness that only tamarind pulp can offer. The winning dish of the evening, however, was also the most unique: a sunnyside up pizza! If you ever dreamed of having a breakfast pizza, then PL8 Kitchen will help you live that dream with a Neapolitan-style pizza (all pizzas are only $5 on Wednesdays) baked in their brick oven and topped with diced red peppers, fingerling potatoes, bacon, smoked Gouda, and sunny-side up quail eggs all drizzled lightly with truffle oil and maple syrup. To offer a pizza this unique requires some bravado on the chef’s part, and considering the success of his other dishes, I trusted myself to his expert creativity and was duly rewarded with a pizza that surprisingly works. Of course, my first question after taking my first bite was whether or not they’re open for breakfast. Although talks of opening for weekend brunch are underway, this is a pizza that can frankly be enjoyed at any time of day and is quick to become PL8 Kitchen’s signature dish.
Being mostly a tapas-style restaurant, desserts are limited but carefully chosen and as equally sumptuous as the restaurant’s savory options. We passed on a trio of house-made cupcakes that changes daily to sample a trio of refreshing gelati comprised of cherry-yogurt, amaretto, and lemon sorbetto. As with the cupcakes, the selection of gelati changes regularly. Not featured that evening, but raved about by our waitress is their Fuji apple cobbler with sharp cheddar crème anglaise. Fortunately, this dessert will be featured at PL8 Kitchen’s Beer Dinner on Monday, November 7th that will feature four courses paired with craft beers for only $29 per person - a great way to try great beers and sample this restaurant’s creative cuisine.
Like my dining partner expressed as we finished our last bites of gelato, dining at PL8 Kitchen is like eating on Lincoln Road, but with good food. I’d add great drinks, attentive service, great prices, a laid-back vibe, chic decor, and a sense that everyone involved cares about what matters most: the food. PL8 Kitchen
210 SW 2nd Street
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
(954) 524-1818
www.pl8kitchen.com
Located on the outskirts of West Chicago in Berwyn, IL, La Espanola Tapas Bar offers weekly specials, such as 3.99 tapas from Sunday through Thursday, 9.99 pitchers of sangria and an entire songbook of Spanish and English songs, ranging form Bachata to smooth jazz. This bar is the perfect place for a celebratory event, a brisk dinner or an evening out with friends.
Some of the dishes are true to their Spanish tradition of tapas, offering delicate combinations of choriso, sauteed garlic, olive oil, peppers and onions. They also have a fusion menu, in which a great deal of culturally-soaked ingredients marry in the same pan.
midweek (Wednesday & Thursday) designated for karaoke, Friday and Saturday, they host live music and Friday evenings are club night, where the music is turned up loud, and the dancing is nonstop until 3AM. Also, on the last Friday on the each month, Flamenco dancers make an exotic appearance.
If you're looking for outstanding customer service, delicious food, strong drinks and a bounty of songs for your belting pleasure, come here.
Old-world Havana, churned with leather-cushioned speakeasy and a dash of contemporary chic. This is the recipe Chef Michelle Bernstein conjures for the decor of Sra. Martinez in Miami - her take on tapas. The restaurant is housed within the historic walls of a 1920’s post office, already tipping its hat off to the Design District in which it resides. Passing the umbrella-d patio seating and stepping into the dim bi-level, lofty space, you are ready to nestle into one of
This week marks the first of what promises to be many for Seamus Mullen's Tertulia. The Spanish cider
house officially opened it's puertas on 6th Avenue this Monday night, August 15th, and is, so far, being received with open arms.
The Asturias-inspired restaurant is the first solo project from Chef Seamus Mullen, but certainly not his first take at Spanish cuisine. After working in kitchens in Spain and the States as a young adult, Mullen eventually took over the kitchen at Suba in 2007 (now closed), and opened the ever-popular Boqueria as Executive Chef and Partner in 2006. Mullen left Boqueria in 2010 and has since been focusing on creating his version of the perfect Spanish cider house, much like the ones he knows and loves in the Basque region and other parts of Northern Spain.
I spent three weeks in Japan, sustaining myself on the cuisine of the land. I spent one hour in Izakaya on Smith Street in Brooklyn and rediscovered that authentic taste without having to endure that 13-hour flight again, thankfully. The newly opened Japanese tapas restaurant (from co-owners Charlie Tanjung and chef Tani Halim) combines my favorite style of eating (small tasting portions) with one of my favorite foods. And if you think Japanese is all sushi, think again (something this American heartbreakingly discovered in Japan). With only a fourth of the menu dedicated to raw fish on rice, Izakaya (the namesake referring to this communal and casual style of Japanese dining) offers an overabundance of tasting fare. From hot and cold appetizers and large plates, to salads, soup bowls, noodles, curry dishes and grilled yakitori skewers, it is difficult to pick your spread, especially with such reasonable prices. We grabbed a table by the window in this 44-seat modern space with sleek black tables and globed ceiling lanterns and began a diverse sampling.
Joonbug arrived at Graffit near the corner of 69th and Broadway around 11am and descended into the well-lit, colorful restaurant. A floor-to-ceiling mirror with the definition of “graffit” outlined the entrance, along with mismatched frames housing different textures creating the perfect so-simple-yet-so-chic décor.
Long communal tables with tall seats lead to a long white bar mid-way through the restaurant. Throughout, the mix of wallpaper and exposed brick with carefully selected pieces of graffiti created a connective thread through the seemingly different rooms.
At Graffit, artist and chef Jesus Núñez' clearly took this passion-driven dynamic duo to the next level at his new Upper West Side restaurant. Graffit spins old-world recipes into exciting and breathtaking new-world preparations, creatively expressed with dishes showcasing all of the aesthetic bang of edible masterpieces.
Combining his youthful history as a graffiti and fine artist along with his prior well-seasoned experience as a chef in Madrid, he magically combines urban design and street art with colorful creations that many diners have already deemed almost "too beautiful to eat"- and yet, they do.
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