L'Atelier Miami Fall 2023 menu experience

The new fall menu is out from L'Atelier in Miami and it has a good assortment of traditional fall flavors including maple bacon, honeynut squash and chestnuts but also with the fine dining twist including foie gras, coconut laminated pastry dishes and elderberry. The nice thing about this menu is you can come back and have a different variation as ...

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Tambourine Room Winter 2024 Menu Experience

I think this may be my favorite restaurant in Miami and I could not help but show up, exhausted from work on opening night after the Chef and staff had taken three weeks off. The anticipation and eagerness for new flavors and dazzling presentation was palpable. I could not wait. Described as French cuisine with modern twist and Asian influences, th...

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Tambourine Room by Tristen Brandt on Miami Beach

This is my experience of visits to one of my top 3 restaurants for Miami restaurants, the problem is I have trouble remembering who the other two favorites are after a meal here. A recently awarded Michelin star restaurant off Collins Avenue roughly in the mid-northern part of Miami Beach, this restaurant is located in the Carillon Wellness Resort ...

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Le'Jardinier in Design District of Miami

Outside of Le'Jardinier

The design district in Miami has a good amount of quality restaurants including Florida's only two Michelin starred restaurant (L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon) as well as other Michelin one star restaurants. Since 2019, Le'Jardinier has been serving up well prepared and tasty food with a rotating menu that is bent, for the better, on local and sea...

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Ariete in Coconut Grove

Ariete in Coconut Grove

The new modern phrase is to buy experiences and not things. As such you have the not so new trend of people buying smaller homes so that they can travel. A trip to Coconut Grove for Ariete grants you a culinary experience perhaps of a lifetime. This michelin star restaurant is next to the Coconut Grove Playhouse and created by Michael Beltran who is born and raised in Miami. I am always pleased to see local talent do well, as having grown up in Miami myself, a lot of friends swore to leave for bigger and better things, but having done so and returning, I believe it's not better "out there" and the grass is not always greener.

For some unbenownst reason I expected a huge restaurant with lots of seating and boisturous activity, but this restaurant is a relaxing smaller size and could be consdered a romantic destination. There is outside seating and inside is well laid out to not feel overly crowded.

I was seated at a window table with a beautiful view of the courtyard entrance and was quickly greeted by my wait staff of approximately 3 different people. However, I mostly interacted with one person. The service was impeccable as every need was attended with prompt refills of water, table cleaning between courses and of course clean silverware. The impressive thing about the service was that things were anticipated. The staff had interleaved additional dishes into my meal without having too contrasting or similar flavors between them. When I left to go to the bathroom, my napkin was neatly folded upon my arrival.

If I had ordered the wine pairing, I would have had an additional person come by and explain the wine selections. However, I generally don't order the wine pairing though I know it can greatly accentuate intended flavor profiles. I opted for a 9 course meal to get as much overview of the restaurant as possible.

My first course was the "taste of miami" which consisted of vaca frita, cuban sandwich gougere, creme fraiche, and caviar flan, wagyu tartlet. The presentation was dramatic.

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