Doug Rodriguez Is Back

New Latin cuisine moves to the Beach.

Comments (0) By Lee Klein Thursday, Apr 10 2008

...continued from page 1

Entrées are a little less brashly inventive. Raspado de pato — featuring lean slices of the teeniest, most tender duck breast imaginable — is served with a hefty hot pot of rice stir-fried with raisins, pine nuts, edamame, and confit shreds of nonbreast meat. A potently marinated tenderloin of beef, cut and grilled churrasco-style with a thin spread of tangy, parsley-based chimichurri, is sumptuously smothered in creamy chipotle sauce plumped with pearly lumps of crab meat. There was nothing crisp about "crispy pork," but the soft, slow-cooked meat was tastefully spiked with culantro mojo.

Some combos work better than others. The main components of a deconstructed causa — seared slabs of dark-purplish tuna crusted with adobo spicing, a smooth purée of blue potatoes, and a row of green conch escabeche — were plated like stripes on the flag of a color-blind nation, probably just moments before serving. This robs the traditional Peruvian dish of its greatest virtue: the overnight melding of flavors. The acidic escabeche also overwhelmed the mild potato and fish.

Joe Rocco

Location Info

Map

OLA at Sanctuary Hotel

1745 James Ave.
Miami Beach, FL 33139

Category: Restaurant > Contemporary

Region: South Beach

0 user reviews	Write A Review
Save to foursquare

Details

OLA at Sanctuary: James Ave., Miami Beach; 305-695-9125. Open for dinner daily 6:30 to 11 p.m.

More About

I thought differently about the dessert menu's "deconstructed key lime pie" when I last tried it at The Savoy; the whole was as good as the sum of its parts — in this case key lime custard, toasted meringue, walnut tuile, and a graham-cracker-coated quenelle of vanilla ice cream. This time, though, I went with yet another Rodriguez signature, a "cigar" made with almond chocolate cake encased in semisweet chocolate mousse and rolled in cocoa and cinnamon. Looks just like a stogie, label and all, served on a plate that mimics an ashtray — along with a dab of coffee ice cream and a matchbox made of candy. Take away the clever presentation and you're left with a devilishly rich treat.

Take away the novelty and newness from Rodriguez's now not-so-Nuevo Latino fare and you are still left with a singular updating of Hispanic cuisine — which means OLA remains as relevant as any restaurant in South Florida.