Posted by Briland Modem News Team on March 31, 2002 at 14:33:41:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/travel/2962167.htm
Chefs' choice: The best places to eat
BY VICTORIA PESCE ELLIOTT
Special to The Herald
Travelers are always looking for something special when they leave their familiar surroundings. Some seek great art, wonderful
music, bargain shopping or maybe just a tan or some peace and quiet.
Foodies are a different breed. While many travelers count dining as an important component of a trip, these hard-core culinarians
plan their meals the way others organize a wedding, checking their networks to be sure they're up on what's new, making
reservations months in advance, studying menus and telling everyone they know about their experiences.
We've asked a dozen local chefs to tell us their favorite eateries, both in the U.S. and abroad. We asked them to focus on eateries
that serve as a sort of threshhold to the culture of the place where it is located.
The results:
• Michelle Bernstein, executive chef at Azul in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Miami:
U.S.: El Palacio de los Jugos, a Flagler Street fruit stand that serves up chicharrones, fresh-made plantain chips and the namesake
fresh fruit juices. ``When you walk in, it tells the story of Miami. You forget where you are. Nobody speaks a lick of English.''
Foreign: Auberge La Fenire, in the Provence region of France, where chef/owner Reine Sammut ``uses the land that she lives on to
get all of her amazing delights: the tomatoes, the olive oil, the garlic. The thing I remember most was a consommé of seafood the
color of rubies. The taste was the richest and most unbelievable seafood flavor I've ever had in my life.''
• Robbin Haas, culinary director of Noble House Hotels and Resorts, including Baleen, Grove Isle Hotel, Coconut Grove:
U.S.: Versailles, the Cuban-American all-night institution on Miami's Calle Ocho, a cultural window. ``When you pull up there it is
filled with Mercedeses and old beat-up junkers. Just the parking lot gives you a cross section of South Florida.''
Foreign: L'Ami Louis, the 1950s, red-check tablecloth Paris landmark bistro specializing in seasonal dishes plus classics like foie
gras and roast chicken. Though the pricey bistro ''with walls stained with 50 years of nicotine'' is in every guidebook, it isn't overrun
with tourists, he says.
• Cindy Hutson, executive chef/owner of Ortanique on the Mile, Coral Gables, and Ortanique restaurants in Las Vegas and D.C.:
U.S.: Beano's Cabin in Beaver Creek, Colo. The rustic mountainside cabin, accessible only by sleigh in winter, offers a unique
glimpse into a nearly extinct culture of trappers, combined with top regional cuisine, including buffalo carpaccio, smoked salmon,
rabbit, Rocky Mountain trout, venison, lamb, duck and locally brewed beers. ``The best part was sitting around the big stone
fireplace and listening to the old, funny stories about Sasquatch and other local legends.''
Foreign: Marisqueira O Barqueiro, in Funchal, Portugal, a humble seafood haven serving unusual dishes including barracuda and
passion fruit jello. ''It was just so unusual and so good,'' that she ate there twice during an overnight visit to the area.
• Mark Militello, chef/owner of Mark's South Beach on Miami Beach, Mark's CityPlace in West Palm Beach, Mark's Mizner Park in Boca
Raton and Mark's Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale:
U.S.: Slanted Door in San Francisco. Like the city itself, ''it's fun, not too serious, not too dressy, bustling but still casual,'' he says.
Foreign: One of his favorite new food cities is Sydney, Australia, ''where restaurants are doing kind of contemporary cuisine based on
classic techniques'' -- influenced by Asia's flavors and style. His restaurant pick: Tetsuya, which offers a formal 12-course tasting
menu based on fusion cuisine. It is, he says, ``an intellectual dining experience.''
• Michael Moran, chef and instructor at FIU School of Hospitality Management, once private chef for King Hussein of Jordan:
U.S.: Lafitte's Landing in New Orleans. Chef John Folse ``has taken the traditional cuisines of Louisiana and the Bayou, with their
Spanish and French influences and started putting it all together to create food that is just incredibly alluring and worth a trip to
experience.''
Foreign: The Savoy Hotel in London and ``a gathering place for Francophiles worldwide. For more than a hundred years, the dining
room has been turning out exceptional French food in an ultra-elegant setting. I think that people have embraced that as a gold
standard. Their chocolate soufflé is probably one of the best desserts a human could ever experience.''
• Steven Raichlen, author of The Barbecue Bible and other award-winning cookbooks:
U.S.: Louie Mueller's Barbecue, a ''fabulous'' place in Taylor, Texas, just south of Austin. ''This is a place where time has stood still
for 50 years,'' he says. ``The brisket is so tender you can just weep cutting into it, and the sauce is an afterthought.''
Foreign: Inakaya, in Tokyo's Roppongi district, which offers '' a terribly dramatic and terribly expensive'' experience. ``The
grillmaster sits in a raised dais very much like a theater. Their food is served on a 10-foot-long paddle. It's really fun in an
extremely traditional and ritualized way, with everyone shouting.''
• Michael Schwartz, chef/owner of Nemo, Big Pink and Shoji Sushi on Miami Beach:
U.S.: The intersection of Broadway and 80th Street on Manhattan's West Side, home to both Zabar's -- the bustling gourmet
emporium and gadget shop -- and H&H Bagels. ''You can fill up on the samples,'' says Schwartz, who spent five years cooking in
Manhattan before moving to Miami. ''It's just so old New York.'' Schwartz recalls visiting Zabar's with his former pastry chef, whiffing
the aroma of coffee, cheese, fishes and oils all mixed together. ``We'd walk out with bags of foie gras and cheeses and not even
wait until we were home to dig in. We were totally uncivilized.''
H&H Bagels, a three-decade old landmark selling bags of still-hot bagels, has been immortalized on such sitcoms as Seinfeld, Friends
and Spin City. ''You see everybody there,'' says Schwartz.
Foreign: A plywood hut in Harbour Island in the Bahamas called The Queen Conch. What could be more Bahamian than conch? ``All
they sell is conch salad and in only one size. All the locals go there.''
• Dawn Sieber, longtime Keys chef who opened Kaiyó in Islamorada:
U.S.: Chef Terrence Brennan's Picholine, in New York. Each of her half-dozen meals at the acclaimed Upper West Side Mediterranean
standout has been ''more and more incredible. And that is not to say just the food, but also the service, the room. It's the epitome
of perfection,'' she says.
Foreign: Chez Bruno, in the Provence region of France. Known as the truffle king, chef Clement Bruno puts on a theatrical meal in a
lavish farmhouse setting. ''Everything from the dirt road leading up to the old stone manor to the seven-course meal highlighting the
much-lusted-after truffle was just so French,'' she said.
• Alan Susser, chef / owner of Chef Allen's in Aventura:
U.S.: Mercer Kitchen, in the Mercer Hotel, New York, is one of his favorite eateries in his favorite food city. Susser finds the concept --
the overall feel of the basement dining room, the food, the energy and the communal tables -- ''so New York.'' The stylish setting
and superstar chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's casual, pricey French cuisine epitomizes today's Gotham, he says.
Foreign: Alain Ducasse's Spoon, in Paris, captures France the same way, says Susser. The sleek and shiny eatery with a
mix-and-match menu may look more like a New York hot spot than a typical French bistro, but that is what attracts Susser and
others who don't mind making reservations weeks ahead to get a table.
• Claude Troisgras, consulting chef of the Delano hotel on Miami Beach and renowned international restaurateur:
U.S.: Chef Thomas Keller's French Laundry, in Yountville, Calif., north of Napa, which Troigras calls ''the kind of restaurant every chef
wants to have.'' The small, beautiful and ridiculously in-demand dining destination in the scenic Napa Valley boasts its own vegetable
and herb garden in a chateau-like setting.
Foreign: Restaurante do Bira outside Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he makes his home much of the year. The seaside eatery offers
what he calls the quintessential Brazilian experience, serving typical seafood with coconut (moquecas), grilled fish, shrimp and lobster,
plus an ``incredible view of the sea.''
• Norman van Aken, chef/owner of Norman's in Coral Gables:
U.S.: Daniel -- Daniel Bouloud's Upper East Side fab French monument -- is ''always dining with a great friend who is a true master of
cuisine.'' He's not alone: Daniel ranked No. One in this year's New York Zagat Survey. Reservations are only taken one month in
advance and it's virtually impossible to get a Saturday night slot.
Foreign: In France, it's the bucolic Michel Bras, in France's Midi-Pyrenees province, which van Aken dubs a ''celestial'' experience. The
restaurant offers a unique chance to taste the bounty of southern France, 'a fantastic marriage of the rustic area it's in, with chef
Bras' technical and artistic genius.''
• Donna Wynter, chef at the newly opened Satine in Hollywood's Westin Diplomat Resort:
U.S.: Lespinasse at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. ``I have followed Christian Delouvrier's food and have sort of taken some of his
recipes and made them my own. It's French, but it is simple and mixed with Asian cuisine. He takes different types of flavors, roots
and vegetables, and incorporates them into other well-known dishes.''
Foreign: Taillevant, a Michelin three-star restaurant in Paris, where Wynter learned about simple perfection. ''That's where I fell in
love with risotto for the first time. It was just plain, very light and creamy but earthy at the same time.'' She also called the
scrambled eggs with truffle oil, ``sensual.''