What do you get when you cross a celebrity-chef-driven restaurant with a Miami-style nightlife joint? The answer: Michael Mina 74 at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
Located in the space once home to Arkadia below LIV, Michael Mina 74 opened quietly two weeks ago.
Short Order was recently invited to sniff out the space and sample the tasting menu.
See also: Michael Mina Chats About Michael Mina 74 at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach
A DJ spins in the dining room while a specially designed shellfish cart takes a spin around the restaurant. The key to shellfish is freshness, and Michael Mina 74 has its own private boat, BleauFish, reeling in the local bounty.
During our visit, seafood options included stone crab, spiny lobster, shrimp, massive prawn from the Ivory Coast, and oysters. All are offered at market price, which could be dangerous. If dim sum carts have taught us anything, it's that our eyes can be bigger than our appetites and wallets.
The rest of the menu is inspired by Mina's travels and offers everything from lobster corn dogs to shabu-shabu to octopus a la plancha.
The hamachi poppers with crispy rice and ginger sauce ($16) were a nice raw bar starter. We also enjoyed the tuna tartare ($24) -- mixed table-side with Asian pear, pine nuts, Scotch bonnets, mint, and sesame oil.
Shabu-shabu rarely appears on menus in Miami. The dish features Japanese Wagyu beef rollups ($28 per ounce) dipped in dashi and miso broth.
Another appetizer was the grilled quail in jerk spices and glazed mango with quail juice and a hefty piece of foie gras ($26).
Two of the main courses that stood out were the red snapper and scallop in red curry sauce ($25) and the Locker 28 beef tenderloin, which was hay-smoked and butter-basted ($40). The latter, a Michael Mina classic, was delicious. Its horseradish butter could clear your sinuses -- in a good way.
The coconut pineapple pavlova was light, refreshing, and had that tropical Miami flair we love. There was also a chocolate cake with peanut butter bits.
Beyond the lavish dinner menu, Michael Mina 74 offers a special late-night menu and fun and fizzy carbonated bottled cocktails that you can pour yourself.
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