Sunday in the South

As I headed out the back door to my usual Sunday Brunch at Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink, the view was as expected.

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I kept moving because I knew I’d be back later to catch some sun.

And here’s the result of my visit to Michael’s.

That used to be a Wood Oven Roasted Giant Prawn with Cilantro Lime Butter.  The PBR is there for scale – it really was a giant prawn :-)  And it had this great smokey flavor – places like this are why a guy who didn’t even like seafood now orders it all the time.

Later, I drifted by the Britto gallery on Lincoln Road.

Nice, huh?

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Dine Mag $10 treat

This was a special evening set up by Dine Magazine at Chef Allen’s (links open in new windows) at 19088 NE 29th Avenue in Aventura. 305.935.2900

Chef Allen is one of the famous “Mango Gang,” a group of chefs that put south Florida on the culinary map in the 1980’s, so I was looking forward to his menu:

Ceviche on a silver spoon
Chicken truffles with sweet chili dipping sauce
Guava and brie crostini
Wild shrimp & chorizo skewer
Marinated white anchovy on ciabatta
Mini crab cake with mango chutney
Plus a glass of one of five fine wines

The venue is great – cool (in a good way) and welcoming.

It was a nice turnout and that turned out to not be a good thing.

They were probably expecting around ten people rather than the forty or more that showed up because of Chef Allen’s reputation.  The result was complaints among the crostinis.

One complaint was about the small room initially provided.  It faced the sun and with all the extra bodies soon over-heated, so everyone spilled out into the main restaurant.  Which was fine unless you were one of the diners who had come by for a quiet dinner at one of the best restaurants in southern Florida.

The wine was nice, although it seemed to be a short pour.  If it was, it was probably because they were trying to accommodate the unanticipated large crowd.

Another complaint was about the size of the samples.  Compare the size of the (small) waiter’s thumb to the size of the Guava and Brie Crostini.  Personally, I found it hard to extract much flavor from a less-than-a-bite-sized delicacy.

Then, because they had expected so few, they would bring out about 10 (small) samples at a time and they would be gone before the server got more than a few paces into the room (those are the aptly-named Mini Crab Cakes with Mango Chutney).

The result was that I didn’t get to sample everything (and that was probably true for others), although I did try – and tasted – the Marinated White Anchovies on Ciabatta.

And I saw the Ceviche on a Silver Spoon (sorry, no pictures). All in all, what I tasted tasted quite good, so the evening was not a loss.

[Later, I went on to my local Wednesday evening poker game at Vinyl & Kai in South Beach, where I came in third in the first tournament, keeping me in second place for the site competition.]

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Museums are a blast!

In Miami they are.

The Miami Museum of Science and Industry had their annual Big Bang fundraiser last Friday.  I went because Afrobeta was playing there along with a few other bands.

I got there too early, still not sure about times-and-distances, but that gave me a chance to shoot this short clip to show you how the Sony XR500V Handycam handled the low light, high contrast situation outside.  [52 sec.]

The action was definitely on inside, starting in the lobby and continuing with DJs, Dancing Girls and Vampires sprinkled all over the place.  [1 min. 36 sec.]

But the real action for me was Afrobeta with Cristy Amador and Tony Smurphoio getting it on.  Cristy had the flu but I’ve had my flu shot so I got my hug again :-).  [6 min. 17 sec.]  [Click on the YouTube logo to watch the clips in HD]

The audience got it on, too.  [3 min. 48 sec.]

Loved it all!

And just to catch up, I’ll mention that I took a few tours earlier in the month.  The bus tour of Miami was really nothing – one of the four stops was a grocey store.  The boat tour of Biscayne Bay was a nice afternoon on the water but I could have done without the dialog about the mansions and who used to live there.  And the evening South Beach Art Deco architectural walking tour didn’t hold a candle to the Chicago River architectural boat tour, in fact I had more fun while I was waiting for the tour to start:  [1 min. 10 sec.]

But man, did I love that night at the museum!

Vaya con gusto, muchachos y muchachas.

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I’m home. Officially.

I was asked where I was, and that’s the answer:  home in Miami Beach.

And it’s official because today I turned in my California driver’s license and got an 8-year, no-glasses-required (Lasik last summer) Florida license.

When I first got here two weeks ago and looked at the condo I wondered if I really wanted to do it:

Unlike last winter’s condo, this one looked like a joke version of the 1950’s combined with a bad episode of Miami Vice.  Turns out the owner’s son had lived here and I guess that was tasty to him.  And how he lived with no blinds and 20 units staring at him from across the way I’ll never know (I put up the sheets as temporary cover).

I got the owner to remove some of the junk and bring in a couch and chair, then added a few things.

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Todo es chévere ahora.

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Multi-colored Sunday

Sunday, we started with some pool and black-and-tan beers at Trax, the bar next to the railroad station.

Back home, Nicole came up with a delicious green-and-red soup.

And for dessert, we had red, transparent, white and brown.

We call it the “Black Forest Kiss.”  The 1/2 oz. of red cherry liqueur has a 1/2 oz. of transparent creme de cacao floating on it, covered with white heavy cream and dusted with dark brown chocolate shavings.

You take it as a shot, but give the chocolate a chance to melt and mingle with the other flavors before swallowing.

It’s kind of like a poor man’s Pousse Cafe without the flaming brandy – try it, you’ll like it.

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Viva Funky Town

The cover band Libido Funk Circus was the action on Navy Pier on Saturday.  Sometimes the audience was more fun to watch [1 min 30 sec]

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and sometimes it was the band. [3 min 47 sec]

Later we dropped by Grant Park and caught some of Viva Chicago.  The Brazilian dancers were better than the Caribbean drummers. [1 min]

No mas ahora.

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Deerfield Blues

There’s usually some music at the Saturday morning farmers’ market near the train station.  This time, besides the chipotle-cumin-garlic cheese, I got a long clip of a local blues band.  The lead singer’s phrasing reminded me a bit of Mose Allison.  [5 min 26 sec]

Last night, I had my first calamari ever (lots better than prairie oysters)

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and a great Mongolian beef stir fry

at

I’m going to have to see if they’re in Florida – all good stuff, especially the light chili ginger sauce.

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Best Rib Joint in Chicago

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Actually, it’s not in Chicago, it’s in Deerfield – and I didn’t even have to leave the house to get that great taste!

Because Jeff did it, and did it up proud.   Here’s what he said about the menu:

Basically, everything was a mix of sweet, savory and heat.

Baby-back ribs marinated for 20 hrs. in a dry rub of about 13 spices including paprika, dry mustard, chipotle chile powder, garlic powder, onion powder, celery salt, sea salt, brown sugar and others.  Ribs were smoked with a mix of Hickory (for its heavy, sweet flavor) and Mesquite (for its tangy, biting flavor) at 250-300 degrees for about five hours.  Served with apricot chipotle sauce on the side.

Fire-roasted corn with butter, cilantro, dash of fresh lime juice, chipotle chile powder.

Baked beans with red and green bell peppers, onion, dry mustard, brown sugar and chile powder.

He wasn’t talking about the Secret Sauce at the left edge of the photo, but I’m fine with that :-)

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Bon Taj Roulet + more Bolivians

Saturday was Bon Taj Roulet at Ravinia. [links open in a new window]

It opened with some great blues by Taj Mahal, then Bonnie Raitt did a few songs, but the best was when they did the duets.  In spite of getting busted by security a few times (NO FILMING!!!), I managed to get a short clip of one song by them.  Excuse the feeble involuntary attempts – quickly squelched – to sing along.  [3 min 6 sec]

Sunday was Navy Pier again.  Nicole got a shot of the skyline from there.

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And I got a clip of more Bolivians, with a nice bit of Andean flute in there.  After the clip starts playing, you can click on “HD” at the lower right  for a slightly  better rendition of the dance video.  To see it larger still, click on the Youtube logo first then play it.  [1 min 33 sec]

Hasta luego.

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Rockin’ at Ravinia

George Thorogood was thoroughly good.

The opening act was Jonny Lang, a former prodigy who released a chart-busting album when he was fifteen, but on Thursday didn’t cut it for me and went on for far too long.  [21 sec]

After a couple of hours of waiting and listening to him, we finally jumped in for a bit of a sing-along – just bored I guess – but I still wasn’t impressed by Lang.  [31 sec]

Thorogood was the main man for sure.  These short clips give a feel for what his act was like.  [1 min 29 sec]

But the main event was “Bad to the Bone.” And the dancing girls in the audience didn’t hurt a thing (anyone have a recommendation for a low-light video camera?).  [4 min 44 sec]

Rock on!

UPDATE:  Upgraded to a Sony XR500V HandyCam.  This has an incredible low-light capability – can even shoot in pitch darkness using a built-in IR source – so next time, I’ll be ready.

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