Miami Spice 2017: Mignonette Uptown Debuts New Menu for September

Mignonette Uptown, located in North Miami Beach, will reach nine months old September 6.

To mark the occasion, the restaurant has added new items to its Miami Spice menus. This is the final month diners can snag the unbeatable deal of a three-course lunch for $23 and dinner for $39.
For dinner, have several options for the first course, including a half-dozen oysters served with lemon, cocktail sauce, and mignonette; stuffed eggplant with feta, crab, thyme, lemon, and Greek salsa; and royal red shrimp served over "orizotto," a combination of orzo and risotto. The shrimp, from Argentina, are large and juicy and come dressed in a slightly spicy red wine gastrique.

Entrées for September are new, including a crisp-skinned sea bream served with fennel agrodolce, grilled acorn squash, and grilled red gem lettuce, dressed in an anchovy-caper vinaigrette.

Guests can also choose lobster thermidor, a classic French-style preparation where the meat is removed; mixed with béchamel sauce, mushrooms, corn, and Gruyère cheese; placed back into the lobster shell; and baked with breadcrumbs on top. "It's almost like lobster mac and cheese without the noodles but packed back in a lobster shell," Mignonette Uptown general manager Matt Dinkel says.  A braised lamb shank has Mediterranean influences with kalamata olives, mushrooms, and red currants. The dish comes with lemon potatoes and a hazelnut gremolata.

"A lot of our menu items read like they are going to be heavy and put you down for a nap afterwards, but the components, like the lemon potatoes, break it up and make it easy to get to dessert, which is really the end game," Dinkel says.

He's right: Save room for dessert. Devin Braddock, the restaurant's esteemed pastry chef, offers a signature butterscotch Heath Bar bread pudding on the Miami Spice menu. Something new to the Miami Spice September menu and well worth the try is the red wine red velvet cake with brown butter cream cheese icing, served with fresh cherries. The restaurant doesn't skimp on portions either. A slab of the decadent, moist cake is large enough to feed three people.

Mignonette Uptown. 13951 Biscayne Blvd., North Miami Beach; 305-705-2159; mignonettemiami.com. Open Sunday through Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 11 p.m. Miami Spice is offered for lunch Monday through Friday and for dinner nightly.