In parts one, two (steakhouse), and three (Asian) of our series, we perused the Miami Spice deals from various participating restaurants and put in our two cents as to whether or not they were worth taking advantage of.
Today we take a look at those hotel restaurants that have released their Spice menus. If you want to see the actual menus (or at least those that have been made public thus far), go to ilovemiamispice.com/participants.
Our perspective starts with the estimate that a Miami Spice dinner, after tax, tip, and nonalcoholic beverage (water? coffee?), costs about $50. And that most working class folks consider $50, or $100 per couple, to be a considerable sum of money to spend on dinner. They have a right to expect more than a no-frills meal.
So the judgment is based upon this: Should a $50 dinner, in this specific restaurant, be considered a bargain?
Keep going to find out the answers concerning Blue Door, Emeril's, Essencia, La Marea, Scarpetta, Solea, Tamara, Vida, and Wish...
DEAL:
Blue Door at Delano
Diners can start with the restaurant's signature appetizer, jumbo
ravioli filled with taro root mousseline, white truffle oil, and
mushroom cappuccino. That's a good one, but other choices are salmon
tartare with tapioca caviar and wasabi vinaigrette, a buffalo
mozzarella and tomato salad, or seared yellow fin tuna with marinated
daikon. Main courses are mango-marinated pork loin with black Thai
risotto; free-range chicken with fingerling potatoes, wild mushrooms,
Chinese okra pickles and black truffles; hearts of palm risotto with
giant shrimp, lobster foam, and white truffle oil; Chilean sea bass
with heart of palm. Dessert choice is between a raspberry napoleon with
bourbon-vanilla ice cream or dulce de leche spring rolls with Old
Jamaican vanilla rum sauce. This Spice menu offers an appealing,
creative, well-balanced choice of selections. Only good Sunday through
Thursday.
La Marea at The Tides
Another creative menu, starting with seafood-jicama salad, tomato soup
with lobster grilled cheese, or a popper trio with hamachi, tuna, and
shrimp.
Mains are either yellow tail snapper with jasmine rice and edamame,
braised short rib with truffled salsify puree, or NY strip steak with
foie gras, tempura, and wild mushroom fricassee. Dessert: Buñuelos with
Mexican vanilla ice cream, or cheesecake lollipops.
Scarpetta at Fontainebleau Miami Beach
Raw yellowtail with baby greens; burrata cheese with heirloom tomatoes
and arugula; braised short ribs of beef with vegetable & farro
risotto; creamy polenta with truffled mushrooms. Not bad for starters.
Next: Signature spaghetti with tomato & basil; branzino with
lobster fricassee; spice roasted chicken with polenta and morel
mushrooms; bone-in prime aged sirloin of beef with trumpet royale
mushrooms. Beautiful. Dessert is either chocolate cake with toasted
almond gelato and salted caramel sauce, or mocha swirl cheesecake with
espresso sorbet. Makes me hungry just typing the words. Available each
night but Saturday.
Solea
First course: cherry gazpacho with manila clams; signature
low-temperature egg in chick pea broth; ham croquettes; or chorizo and
quail egg flatbread. Hearty second course selections are braised veal
cheeks; roasted suckling pig; local seafood stew; or seared local
snapper. Desserts weigh in with crema Catalana with cinnamon ice cream or chocolate ganache with passion fruit sorbet. Sorry, not on weekends.
Tamara at National Hotel
Wide array of choices, including onion soup, boston salad, Greek shrimp
and orzo, smoked tomato fondue, and Prince Edward Island mussels . Main
selections are likewise diverse, from Kobe meatballs to braised top
round of beef with oxtail, to paella with seafood, chicken, and
chorizo. Lots of other choices, too. Desserts are pots de créme, chévre
beignets, and Key lime tart, among others. Offer good every night.
NO DEAL:
Emeril's Miami Beach
It starts well, with choice of daily gumbo, soup of the day, barbecue
shrimp, or a golden beet salad. Entrées are mahi mahi, free-range
chicken breast, double cut pork chop, or guava barbecue portobello
mushroom. Lemon meringue tart, peanut butter chocolate mousse cake, or
sorbet trio are the dessert picks. Sounds like you can get yourself a
dinner that after tax/tip/etc. is pretty much almost kind of worth $50.
That's no deal. Offer good every night.
Essensia Restaurant & Lounge
This is a case where an establishment is a victim of its own fair
pricing. Choice of red pepper-potato bisque, organic orchid petal
salad, or smoked duck salad is fetching, as are mains of yellowtail
snapper with black Thai sticky rice and baby bok choy; rosemary roasted
free-range chicken; and grilled loli pop pork chop. Chocolate chai pot
de créme with bing cherry turnover sounds great for dessert, as does a
coconut tapioca soup. But the three-courses are not much more if added
up on the regular menu -- at which point you might as well pay the
extra bucks and get exactly what you want. Places like this should
consider adding another course or beverage to the deal.
Vida at Fontainebleau
Strange that the other Fontainebleau properties are all being generous
this year, while Vida, the one place that probably wouldn't be worth
wasting Spice on even with a generous menu, is going cheap cheap cheap. < of pasta, chicken, or short ribs. Are they kidding?>> Wish Another joke of a menu. One of only two starter choices is bread! OK, it's stuffed naan bread, but still. Other choice is artichoke salad, Entrees are salmon or hanger steak, dessert is panna cotta or a chocolate-hazelnut sandwich. This just might be the most miserly menu we see. Why bother?
NOTE:A Fontainbleau rep contacted me to say that Vida's menu is $35 like everybody else's -- and forwarded a link to the hotel website that has the correct price. Turns out it was Miami Spice's error (it says $38 on the MS-linked menu), so we take back and apologize for the mockery. However: Still no deal.
