Let's Eat Magazine | June 2016

SUMMER! Let’s

Eat

in this issue:

Coral Gables Restaurant Week Chef Allen Summertime Wine

SUMMER ISSUE 2016

A Taste of

Welcome to ! We’re a home décor boutique and cooking school in the Gables. We good food in a stylish setting. We value quality craftsmanship, creativity & originality. t

LET’S GET COOKING Join us for one of our weekly cooking classes or schedule a private cooking party. Whether you’re celebrating a birthday, planning a dinner party or entertaining clients, our team of chefs will tailor an intimate event for you.

A R AG ON101. CO M I O I ARAGON AVENUE | CORAL GABLES TO REGISTER FOR A CLASS CALL US AT 305.443.7335

Today’s Menu JUNE 2016 Morsels from the Editor-in-Chief The One & Only Chef Allen, Nikki Deas, Vine Communications Sipping Summertime Wine, by Jacqueline Coleman, Sommelier Food 4 Thought with Jerry Flynn, Owner, Trust & Co. Coral Gables Restaurant Week returns June 6th - 30th!

letseatmagazine

Insta

menu Developing Business Building Community

letseatmagazine

coralgableschamber.org

try it, love it.

www.cremagourmet.com 786.360.4026 | 169 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables, Fl 33134 /CREMA GOURMET

CREMA_GOURMET

CREMA_GOURMET

Catering and delivery availaBle

MORSELS FROM THE EDITOR Like many foodies, I like to do my homework before visiting a restaurant that I have never frequented before. This includes perusing their menu on-line, reading Yelp! reviews or even chatting up people who have dined there before.

TASTES FROM OUR CHAMBER’S NEW YEAR’S NETWORKER 2016

No matter what, I am not a big fan of surprises, especially when it comes to eating, so I always study up. I like to know what I am in for!

If you take a look at the top rated restaurants on Yelp! today, you would note some familiar Gables eateries: Bulla, SWINE, Uvaggio, Seasons 52, Eating House, Frenchie’s and Love is Blind. I have had the great pleasure of dining in all of these places and they do not disappoint. I can probably tell you my favorite item on each menu and what I like most about the ambiance at each location. More importantly, I can speak to the fact that restaurants like these – a mere sampling of the more than 160 restaurants in Coral Gables – are successful because of one key ingredient. They all offer stellar customer service, in addition to the quality food they put on the plate each day.

“At Your Service” has been our theme this year at the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce.

With a restauranteur as Chairman of our Board for the first time in our 90+ year history, it only makes sense that our focus should be on encouraging our restaurants, retailers and local businesses to offer amazing customer service. It is our calling card, our competitive advantage, and it helps define what sets us apart from others. In fact, as you flip through the pages of the latest issue of this magazine, you will see an all-star cast of outstanding service providers featured here, including new kids of the block Spring Chicken and Joe’s Old School Pizza. The lines out the door aren’t just for the incredible fried chicken and pizza!

Speaking of all-stars, our own Nikki Deas shares a feature interview with Chef Allen Susser, a local food philosopher and creative genius whose longevity and success in Miami is much heralded.

His alliance with Books & Books and the other mad genius of our community, Mitchell Kaplan, is legendary as is the amazing work he is doing at the new Books & Books at the Arsht Center with his Farmer’s Market, Chef’s Table and Monday night vegetarian dinners that are always a sold-out affair.

Our friend Jacqueline Coleman returns with another primer on wines that should be gracing your table this summer, as well as our “Food 4 Thought” feature on the newly minted Trust & Co and their owner/operator Jerry Flynn’s take on new American cuisine. Trust & Co on Aragon Avenue is just one of the new faces in the crowd of incredible restaurants that have opened in the Gables over the past few months. Check out their creamy burrata, you will thank me for the recommendation. Plus, our friends at the Business Improvement District will once again present Gables Restaurant Week in the City Beautiful, launching on Monday, June 6th! Eat up, I promise you won’t be disappointed.... or hungry!

As we launch year two of “Let’s Eat Magazine”, a personal thank you to Jessica Wilcox, our publisher and number one foodie cheerleader. No one loves our restaurant community more than Jessica. On any given day she might visit a half dozen of them in her travels and you can taste her passion for their success in every bite! It is an honor to be her partner on this journey.

Now, Let’s Eat!

MARK A. TROWBRIDGE, PRESIDENT & CEO CORAL GABLES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Photos provided by SnapHappy Photos

And to our advertisers, many of whom have been with us through five issues now, I offer a humble thank you – a thank you for your leap of faith and for your enduring commitment. What started as an idea more than a year ago to help shine a spotlight on the best of the best of our restaurants in the Gables has turned into a labor of love and an opportunity to do something extraordinary for our foodie community. As always, we are At Your Service.

JESSICA WILCOX, OWNER MONEYCLIP DIRECT & PUBLISHER, LETʼS EAT MAGAZINE | sales@letseatmiami.com | (305)962.9313

What’s your temptation?

Cruise enthusiast, hopeless romantic, shopaholic, sports nut, art lover, film fanatic, spa aficionado, foodie, kid at heart, music hound, history buff...

OFFICIAL SPONSOR:

No matter your desire, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau organizes carefully crafted, money-saving programs to indulge your every whim. MiamiTemptations.com Organized by:

© Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau – The Official Destination Sales & Marketing Organization for Greater Miami and the Beaches. CS#01893

01893-MKT Temptations FP Ad Palette Mag. 2015.indd 1

10/1/15 10:06 AM

&

The One Chef Only Allen By: Nikki Deas, Vine Communications

Chef Allen Susser is synonymous wit h Florida cuisine. And true to his food philosophy of creating restaurants and relationships that endure and get better over time, he has once again proven that it’s not just longevity, but creativity that sets you apart in today’s culinary scene. Susser’s latest creation, The Farm-to-Table Dinner Series hosted at The Café at Books & Books| Adrienne Arsht Center , has grown as organically as the food he’s been serving fans that have adored and supported him for more than thirty years.

What started out as a 15-person Chef’s Table amidst the Arsht Center Farmer’s Market, has blossomed into a Monday night staple event that includes a five-course vegetarian dinner now hosting upwards of 50 guests. Meals are served family-style at 6:30pm and reservations are accepted, but walk-ins are welcome, as well.

“As the concept became more popular , I decided to create month-long themes to not just work with what was seasonal, but to also allow myself the ability to get creative and not repeat flavors and techniques,” said Chef Allen Susser.

Food themes in past months have included everything from Green is Good, a take on how southern staples like collard greens are prepared in Asheville, Memphis, New Orleans and Savannah, to Garden of Asia a spin on rich flavors coming out of Japan, Thailand and South Korea. For the month of May, guests will feast on A Taste of Rome, including ancient grains such as faro and barley, as well as Roman sauces and cooking methods.

Chef Allen has enjoyed a long-standing partnership with Miami’s beloved bookstore, Books & Books. Originally tapped to revamp The Café at the Coral Gables location, he has since had an influence on Lincoln Road, The Arsht Center and a handful of other Books & Books establishments.

“The way Mitchell Kaplan cares about books is the way I care about food,” he said. Like-minded in their integration of community and charity into their business models, both yearn to take care of people and create atmospheres that enrich and bring people together . He treats each Books & Books Café location as its own entity and shared some insights on where his inspiration comes from.

The Café in the Gables is very much centered around the community, hosting numerous event events throughout the year.The food on the menu is comfort-driven and Susser often times takes inspiration from books or visiting authors. The Lincoln Road location caters to an international tourist crowd and Susser wants diners to experience a taste of Florida, specifically a nibble of Miami. At Arsht, the concept is more sustainable and offers up fare to theatergoers, as well as locals in the downtown area.

So what’s next for Chef Allen?

Creativity is the name of the game for this culinary superstar . In addition to his thriving consultancy company that helps budding restaurateurs with everything from concept and menu creation to financials and staffing, he is hoping to bring the Farm-to-Table Dinner Series concept to Coral Gables this summer . Also on his plate, stone-ground, homemade chocolate grown from his very own cacao trees on his 30-acre organic farm at Jade Mountain, St. Lucia’s leading luxury resort. Right now the chocolate is only available at the resort, but a website is coming soon, offering Susserites an opportunity to purchase his choclately confections online – yum!

There is no doubting the impact Chef Allen has had on the culinary world. We’re just proud to call him ‘ours’ and can’t wait to see where his creative instincts lead us next…chocolate pop-up shop anyone?

DELIVERY ON DEMAND, FOR A LIFE ON-DEMAND.

DROP THOSE DISHES... PLACE YOUR ORDER@MYCEVICHE.COM OR VIA MY CEVICHE LOYALTY APP OR CALL AHEAD PICK UP, OR DELIVERY. WHY BE APP LOYAL? $5 ONBOARDING CREDIT, $9 BACK FOR EVERY $99 SPENT

mobile PAYMENT, EVENT HOOKUPS...and so much more.

NEVER MISS A CRAVING AGAIN #MYCEVICHE @MYCEVICHE

Sipping

Summertime Wine

Jacqueline Coleman is a certified Sommilier and 4th generation Miamian, born and raised in Coral Gables.

You can find her musings about the “wine lifestyle” on her blog, History & Wine (historyandwine.com), or follow her on Twitter @HistoryandWine.

A summertime of wine drinking is upon us! Similar to seasonal fashion trends, as it gets hot hot hot outside, we see certain wines gaining or losing popularity with the change in weather. Heavier varietals such as the big reds are just not as enticing to sip in the heat as they were when the weather was slightly less sticky. If you are like many wine drinkers, you want a “go-to” wine that is appropriate for each individual season. So, what is the best summertime wine treat? New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, of course! It is hard to find a wine that pairs better with poolside lounging than the chilled grapefruity-citrus zing of this refreshing varietal from the islands of the South Pacific.

A Special “Kiwi” Island Wine Sauvignon Blanc is by far the most important varietal in New Zealand, despite the fact that we see Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the area increasingly booming in popularity. Chardonnay was actually more widely planted back in the 80s, and still is in terms of total acreage, but suffered a decline in consumer popularity when her fruitier nemesis, Sauvignon Blanc, burst on the scene with the stunning success of Cloudy Bay’s 1985 vintage.

Despite being a tropical-tasting wine producer, New Zealand actually has the coolest climate for wine production in all of the New World. The Central Otago region on the South Island is the closest wine region to the South Pole. Because there is such a significant temperature difference between the areas in the far north of the North Island, and the Central Otago region, a good vintage in one part of the country dœs not necessarily mean a good vintage in another area. Marlborough, at the northern tip of the South Island, is by far the best known of the wine-producing regions in the country, with the sharpest of styles. Sauvignon Blanc from this area typically has strong flavors of citrus on the palate, and herbal, or grassy notes on the nose, making for a truly untamed wine (Sauvignon means “savage”, or “wild” in French). Other areas of the country produce wines with more rounded and pronounced passion fruit and mango flavors. Hawke’s Bay and Gisbourne, both on the North Island, are two popular regions that come in at a (distant) second and third in production.

Despite the fact that New Zealand’s wine industry is tiny in comparison to other wine-producing countries, it is hard to deny the scope and popularity of the tropical and vibrant New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

Cheers to this summertime wine!

SOUTH BEACH • CORAL GABLES • FT LAUDERDALE

45 Miracle Mile Coral Gables

CORAL GABLES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DIAMOND AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

Cibo_LetsEat_Ad_8x10.indd 1

200 S Pointe Dr Miami Beach

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

4100 N Federal HWY Ft Lauderdale

BEST ITALIAN RESTAURANT

CIBOWINEBAR.COM 2016-05-06 3:06:21 PM

l

4

Food Thought Featuring Jerry Flynn, Owner

one

What 4 ingredients do you feature most prominently in the new world American cuisine on your menu?

At Trust & Company Bar & Restaurant we enjoy the ability to deliver multi-ethnic-ital dishes such as American, Italian, Latin, Asian, and French to name a few. As each season changes, we are excited to offer as many fresh ingredients that we can showcase from Florida with the direction of our talented Chef Pablo Zitzmann! Local produce from Swank Farms, free range chicken, local seafood from the Gulf and the Keys allows us to to contribute to the economy that supports us and be involved in the Slow Food Movement.

two

What 4 proteins are most prevalent in your dishes? Why do you choose to highlight these?

We do our best to source Florida seafood as much as possible. Our Genuine American Snapper is locally sourced and used in one of our signature dishes served with local turnip puree and Florida smoked heirloom tomatoes.

Our duck entree changes every season. We get our duck from Hudson Valley Duck Farms in upstate NY, and currently it is served with mole poblano and Vietnamese mango salad, another dish that showcases our menu versatility and the "new world" part of our cuisine.

Our raw bar is one of the most exciting parts of our menu. We rotate and showcase oysters from Virginia, Connecticut and California, as well as Florida stone crab claws, when they’re in season, and any local fish that we can make delicate nice raw preparations.

Our Roasted Half Chicken is definitely a winner. We use certified organic and antibiotic free Pennsylvania whole chicken. We brine the chicken for 24 hours and then air dry it for another 12. This allows us to cook the perfect crispy and juicy chicken that we are famous for. Just like the duck, our chicken changes seasonally. Currently it is being served with roasted spring artichokes and herbs, crispy garlic and creamy mashed potatoes.

three

What 4 drinks on your bar menu are perfect for an after-work wind down?

Trust & Company Bar & Restaurant is an homage to the pre-prohibition style cocktail bar that revisits the classic cocktail. Simplicity, with some local adaptation on what we feel the guests will enjoy.

1-Our Maple Smoked Old Fashioned is perfect after a long day and settling back in a comfortable chair at the bar or a booth for dinner.

Knob Creek Rye, House Made Vanilla-Cacao Maple Syrup and bitters.

2-The Effen Negroni is comfort in a glass preparing the palate for an exciting dining experience. Effen Cucumber Vodka, Campari, Dry Vermouth and House made Lime-Pepper Shrub.

3-The Fall To Grace Cocktail gives delicate flavors of fresh fruit, house made lime-pepper shrub and fresh pear puree. Always a big hit with the ladies!

4- Mule Cocktails, with many house made variations that change seasonally, whether you are a fan of vodka, tequila or any spirit.

four

What “must order item” do you recommend from your menu for about $4?

Trust & Company has several bottled beers for $4.00 during Happy Hour, as well as severely discounted custom cocktails and food items that will keep you coming back every week to see what we have in-store each time you visit.

The taste and feel of Spain in the heart of Coral Gables!

Make reservations today for holiday events and parties. Prix fixe menus available.

Indoor/Outdoor Seating | Happy Hour 4-7pm 254 Giralda Avenue | Coral Gables | 786.362.5677 Lets Eat Magazine FP Bleed Ad - La Taberna Giralda 09.30.indd 1

9/30/15 11:14 AM

Coral gables Cube ad v2b.qxp_Layout 1 5/12/16 12:35 AM Page 1

Congratulations!

Honoring CulinaryExcellence in Coral Gables EIGHT COR AL GABLES RESTAUR ANTS RECOGNIZED IN THE MIAMI HER ALD’S “SOUTH FLORIDA FOOD 50”

& & & & & & & &

Eating House Fratellino Hillstone Palme d’Or The Seven Dials Sushi Maki Tarpon Bend Rawbar & Grill Threefold Cafe

w h a t’s

g o o d

n o w

Our inspired seasonal menus feature fresh ingredients at their peak, prepared with rustic cooking techniques to highlight their natural flavors. Like our Cedar Plank Salmon, roasted in our brick oven with cast iron skillet vegetables. Pair it with one of 52, Master Sommelier-selected wines by the glass. There’s always something new to discover at Seasons 52.

ON MIRACLE MILE

2529 LetsEatAD.indd 1

n

CORAL GABLES

n

321 MIRACLE MILE

n

SEASONS52.COM

12/9/14 1:57 PM

9th Annual

June 6-26 th

Savor

something

spicy.

Coral Gables Restaurant Week is back from June 6-26, where your favorite restaurants offer carefully crafted three-course menus with at least a 20% savings. Is your mouth watering yet?

CoralGablesRestaurantWeek.com

#CGRW @shopcoralgables

AWARD WINNING “NEW YORK STYLE PIZZA”

DINE IN, TAKE OUT, DELIVERY. PIZZA BY THE SLICE AND PIZZA BY THE PIE. DINNERS, SUBS, WINGS, AND MUCH MORE! 1232 SOUTH DIXIE HIGHWAY CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA 33146 OPEN LATE 7 DAYS A WEEK

305-663-3535

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

MY

K

Whether you are seeking the warmth of a traditional restaurant interior, the bliss of dining al fresco, either formal or casual, or an educational challenge, The Biltmore Hotel takes you on an exceptional culinary journey in a stunning historic setting offering a myriad of award-winning options.

elegant

casual

authentic

educational

chic

1 2 0 0 A N A S TA S I A A V E N U E

CORAL GABLES - MIAMI, FL

33134

Reservations: (855) 998-6387 or www.biltmorehotel.com/lem