BEST RESTAURANT IN NORTH MIAMI-DADE

BEST RESTAURANT IN NORTH MIAMI-DADETimó Restaurant17624 Collins Avenue

Sunny Isles Beach

305-936-1008

www.timorestaurant.com Timó's modern Mediterranean cuisine is so impressive you can take any one tantalizing dish from each menu category and put together a feast worthy of Babette. Begin with a hearty starter of slow-cooked tripe with bacon, onion, tomato, and Parmesan. No, wait, take that back. We'll start more delicately, with foie gras crostini accented with caramelized oranges and a dash of fleur de sel, then segue into a warm-spinach and roasted-duck salad with sun-dried black-fig vinaigrette before sampling the pasta pick of Yukon gold potato gnocchi with rock shrimp primavera. Peerless wood-fired pizzas are all worthwhile, particularly the thin-crusted pie puffed with ricotta, fontina, wild mushrooms, and white truffle oil. Fish course? Branzino with basil, asparagus, and lemon confit. Meat? Veal sweetbreads with bacon, honey -- forget that, we've already had our bacon. We'll have our sweetbreads with porcinis as a garnish for veal scaloppini, or wood-roasted chicken with Parmesan dumplings in a truffled poultry broth. Desserts? Impossible to choose just one. Besides, we're sure we can find room for both the warm apple tart with green apple granita and the double chocolate soufflé, though unfortunately there's not enough room to fully describe the winsome wine list, superior service, handsomely decorated dining room, fair prices, and exceedingly friendly neighborhood vibe. The partnering genius behind Timó is ace chef Tim Andriola (who cut his chops with Allen Susser, Charlie Trotter, and Mark Militello) and front-of-house wiz Rodrigo Martinez (formerly manager at Escopazzo and Norman's).