Peregrinations

Sunday in the South

Hal — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 21:48:09 +0000

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

Click on an image to see a larger version in a new window. Close the window to return.

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

Hal — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 01:22:23 +0000

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!

Hal — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:27:06 +0000

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.]

Peregrinations

Sunday in the South

Dine Mag $10 treat

Museums are a blast!

I’m home. Officially.

Multi-colored Sunday

Viva Funky Town

Deerfield Blues

Best Rib Joint in Chicago

Bon Taj Roulet + more Bolivians

Rockin’ at Ravinia