Opening
Bistro Bisou, a Pinecrest neighborhood French restaurant that opened several years ago---to very good, but very little, media attention---and then closed, has re-opened. The bistro's space, in hidden Dadeland Plaza mini-mall, has been refurbished, and has a new chef: Victor Passalacqua, a Swiss-trained former front-of-the-house veteran who has, in Miami, served as manager at La Dorada, The Rusty Pelican, and The Biltmore hotel's Fontana. The menu features classic old-fashioned French bistro fare: gratineed onion soup, beef bourgignon, coq au vin, steak/frites, etc., plus both savory and dessert soufflés. Bistro Bisou, Dadeland Plaza Mall, 9519 S. Dixie Hwy., Miami, FL 33156, 786-268-0178.
A branch of RA Sushi Bar Restaurant (a high-energy Japanese fusion restolounge chain owned by Rich Howland and Scott Kilpatrick, in partnership with Benihana) has opened in South Miami. Located across from the Shops at Sunset Place, the trend-chasing indoor/outdoor eatery and watering hole---whose grand opening party featured a limbo contest---is Miami's first RA, joining twenty others nationally (including two Florida locations, in Palm Beach and Pembroke Pines). RA Sushi Bar Restaurant, 5829 SW 73rd St., South Miami, FL 33134, 305-341-0092.
It's hard to imagine Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and the rest of the Rat Pack dining in a shopping mall, but ultra-glittery 1950s supper club sophistication is exactly what Ocean Prime, just opened in Aventura Mall, is designed to evoke. Along with broiled steak and seafood items, the menu of the upscale chain spot (which originated as Mitchell's Ocean Club in Columbus, Ohio) features luxe retro/modern preparations like Chilean sea bass with champagne truffle sauce, aged Wisconsin cheddar fondue, or a surf'n'turf with sea scallops and boneless short ribs. Ocean Prime, 19501 Biscayne Blvd., Suite 2029, Aventura, FL 33180, 305-931-5400.
Though eight year-old Touch, one of the first glam restolounges to open on Lincoln Road after the pedestrian mall's late-1990s renovation, closed in late July, chef Sean Brasel and business partner David Tournek are not sitting on their keisters. Just opened is Glatt Kosher Touch, an offshoot of Touch Catering (which began operations in 2005; clients include the Super Bowl and BMW). And due to open within the month just across the Road, in the space formerly occupied by Pacific Time, is Meat Market, which the Touch team is marketing as a "21st century steakhouse". The concept appears to encompass a three-tiered approach to steaks (typical a la carte cuts, reserve cuts, and Brasel's specialty preparations); a seafood "Crudo Bar," also offering light bites; and, says Tournek, "a glamorous, sexy vibe that'll set it apart from other restaurants"... for those who haven't gone to a Sobe restaurant since 1985. Glatt Kosher Touch Catering, 860 NE 79th St., Miami; 305-754-9701; Meat Market, 915 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach.
With a menu featuring specialties like polpette della nonna---ten-ounce monster meatballs---Cita's Italian Chophouse, which opened recently in Coconut Grove, is not a place for sissies. Other bold specialties of the neighborhood-oriented indoor/outdoor spot, owned by longtime village resident Ed Benitez, include short ribs marinated in Barolo, a 48-ounce porterhouse steak, The Sabotage (a platter of five chocolate desserts), and a cotton candy cheesecake lollipop tree. Cita's Italian Chophouse, 3176 Commodore Plaza, Coconut Grove, FL 33133, 305-446-2207.
News Bytes
Value Menu at Forté di Asprinio
Forté di Asprinio, named one of the Top 10 New Restaurants in U.S. in our Annual Restaurant Issue, is offering a special three-course value menu called Menu di Valore through November. The meal includes a first course of either ricotta terrine, baby pumpkin zuppa or Caesar salad. Second course choices are bucatini alla carbonara, osso buco veal burger or wood burning roasted pizzette. Guests can replace the dessert (butterscotch budino, Tahitian vanilla bean panna cotta or sorbetti) with either a glass of wine, beer or cocktail. The meal costs $30. Forté di Asprinio, 225 Clematis St., West Palm Beach, FL 33401, 561-833-3330.
Cooking Classes at Casa Toscana
Since opening half-a-dozen years ago, in Miami's then-ungentirfied Upper East Side, Casa Toscana has been one of those under-the-radar "best kept secret" spots known mainly by savvy locals: a one-woman operation with no public relations firm or media hype, just some of the town's most authentic Italian food, from Tuscan-born chef/owner Sandra Stefani. Stephani is now offering cooking classes every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with a maximum of eight students per class to allow for close personal supervision. Each three-hour session is followed by a two-hour lunch featuring the four course regional meal students have prepared from scratch (including homemade pasta). A glass of wine and packet of recipes is included in the $60 price. According to Stefani, a similar Wednesday mid-day cooking series for ladies of leisure, plus after-school cooking classes for kids aged 10-14, are in the works for the near future. Casa Toscana, 7001 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33138, 305-758-3353.
Kick Back at The Tides
Laidback Key West drinkers may still be wasting away in Margaritaville, but Miamians have moved on from old-fashioned coolers to... kid stuff. Cocktail of the moment for this year's Dog Days season is the popsicle martini, and the place to enjoy it is the oceanview front terrace of The Tides South Beach hotel. The icy treats feature the homemade limoncello of Pietro Rota, chef of the hotel's critically-acclaimed Italian/Mediterranean eatery La Marea (formerly, in its not-so-acclaimed pre-Rota days, 1220 Restaurant). With the first round of popsicles ($8 each) comes a chef's choice tapas sampler. The Tides South Beach, 1220 Ocean Dr., Miami Beach, FL 33139, 305-604-5070.
Chef Allen's Spices Things Up
Through December 1, Chef Allen's modern seafood bistro will be offering their own version of Miami Spice, a three-course Bistro Spice menu including a starter, main course and dessert, for $36 per person. On Tuesdays, the $36 Bistro Spice menu offerings include a lemony Caesar salad with sesame seeds and garlic croutons, littleneck clams with chorizo sausage, steamed Maine lobster, roasted fingerling potatoes, root vegetables, and brown sugar spiced fruit cobbler with rum raisin ice cream. Happy hour will continue to be offered Mon.-Fri., from 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m., offering $7 specialty cocktails along with complimentary bar snacks that include oven roasted almonds with Manchego cheese, crispy popcorn shrimp, and coconut-crab salad with veggie chips. Dinner nightly. Chef Allen's, 19088 NE 29th Ave., Aventura, FL 33180, 305-935-2900.
Chef
Shuffle
Once again it's "Hello Goodbye" for mercurial Gerdy Rodriguez, who has left his position as executive chef at 1 Bleu, which opened just last March at the luxe new Regent Bal Harbour hotel. Touted as a rising star since serving as sous chef (under Angel Palacios) of short-lived La Broche, Rodriguez was also briefly the opening chef de cuisine at Norman Van Aken's Mundo, and the original executive chef at Karu & Y, a post he left shortly before that restaurant's opening for a notable yet short stint as executive chef at the Mandarin Oriental, Miami hotel's Café Sambal. The kitchen of 1 Bleu is currently helmed by temporary top toque Carlos Villa, while restaurant management searches for another star (whose light is powered, hopefully, with longer-life batteries). 1 Bleu, 10295 Collins Ave., Miami, FL 33154, 305-455-5460.
At the Four Seasons Hotel Miami's top end Acqua restaurant, Patrick Boucher, formerly top toque at Four Seasons resorts in Bali and Dubai, (not to mention several years stuffing the stars at Los Angeles' Beverly Wilshire), has replaced Patrick Duff as executive chef. While favorite signature Pan Asian and Latin-influenced creations remain, Boucher's new menu adds major Mediterranean touches, plus unique originals like lamb chops crusted with dulce de leche and hazelnuts. Acqua, Four Seasons Hotel Miami, 1435 Brickell Ave., Miami, FL 33131, 305-358-3535.
Closings
As much reviled for its terminally trendy attitude as it was acclaimed for its beautifully executed authentic French Rivera food, Maison d'Azur, the glam indoor/outdoor would-be hot spot at South beach's Angler's Boutique Resort, has closed. Since shortly after opening last year, the venue suffered an identity crisis, apparently unable to decide whether it was a serious restaurant or a nightclub with food. But if foodie MOM is correct, it may soon be both. Owner Stephen Fortier is already on record as saying that Maison will soon relocate to "a really high profile location", and tipsters tell us that it's going to be the space just vacated by China Grill Management's restolounge Social Miami, in Sobe's Sagamore Hotel.
Social Miami, the restauarant/lounge at South Beach's "art hotel", the Sagamore Hotel, has closed. Operator China Grill Management, which cited "operational differences with the hotel's ownership" as the problem, plans to relocate Social to a new, as yet undisclosed, location. Social Miami, Sagamore Hotel, 1671 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139, no phone.
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