High Quality, Low Price

Comments (0) By Pamela Robin Brandt Thursday, Sep 2 2004

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Duo does have ample provisions for low-carb dieters. Duo tartare, for instance, was a pair of riceless makis filled with diced raw fish: toro topped with aioli (not spicy as advertised) and caviar (black but not sturgeon), plus salmon topped with mild wasabi mayo and avocado. Only someone suicidal would have ignored the homemade potato chips that came with this dish.

That brings us back to Duo's bread: crusty baguette slices; delightfully dense, slightly sweet peasant bread packed with cranberries; breadsticks so good they needed no accompaniment, not even the excellent hummus and cruets of olive oil and balsamico that came with the basket.

Jonathan Postal

A very appealing duo: Delicious food and reasonably priced wines

Location Info

Map

Duo Restaurant

1421 S. Miami Ave.
Miami, FL 33130

Category: Restaurant > American

Region: Brickell

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Details

786-497-4386. Open daily except Sunday for lunch 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and dinner 6:30 to 11:00 p.m.

1421 South Miami Ave, Miami

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Carbs or no carbs, when the baking is handled by chef/co-owner Maria Frumkin, from the old favorite French Bakery on Kane Concourse, it would also be a major mistake to skip dessert here. Chocolate sushi was fun: a faux maki with coconut "rice" and dark chocolate "fish," sort of an Almond Joy for grownups. And Frumkin's reinterpretation of classic American devil's food cake was divine -- moist layers of coffee-enlivened chocolate cake filled with bittersweet chocolate ganache.

The few off notes during two meals concerned service, such as the waiter who asked, practically before we were seated, if we wanted sparkling water. We didn't. Because of the customary huge markup, I rarely order bottled water in restaurants, and my dining companion that night, who swills water like it was water, never does. "Just still water?" the fellow followed up. We said yeah.

What came wasn't tap water but a $4.95 liter of Evian, which is not "just" still water. It is "expensive" still water. "I think I'll have to start saying öwater from the sink' from now on," my friend groused.

Even more annoying were some overeager busboys who attempted to whisk several dishes off the table before they were finished. The second time it happened, I hooked one fellow by his belt and reeled him back, along with our tartares. Food as delicious as Duo's shouldn't go to waste, at any price.