Culinary Highlights from Terry Zarikian

The Week of September 1st

My week began keeping away from rich foods and desserts. . .

That was on Monday, when Mikey and I dined at Tanuki, a pan-Asian restaurant that needs to be discovered by everyone else outside of Miami Beach. We were impressed by the amazing variety of dishes and the innovative way many of them were executed. Our favorite dish was the Crispy Snapper, pristine slices of raw snapper, wrapped around bundles of crispy kataifi, the Middle Eastern angel hair-like version of phyllo dough, slightly baked, sitting atop a butter lettuce leaf, a bit of jalapeno relish and aioli softly kissed by horseradish. Next Monday I will be back for the Miami Spice menu as it looked like one of the best I have seen all summer.

Tanuki

1080 Alton Road, Miami Beach
305-615-1055

As I was saying, I continued the week trying to stick with lighter foods. . .

. . .so when I had lunch at Plant-Miami with owner Karla Dascal, I realized that not only was I going to eat healthy, but that I would also enjoy dessert. The newly created Mango Tart with Pistachio Crust and the Chocolate Tahiti Tart were both desserts that rival the great European pâtisseries, sans the sugar, gluten and animal fat, but organic, kosher and good for you!

Plant-Miami

At Sacred Space
100 N.E. 25th Street, Miami
305-644-3555

A visit to Tacology, at Brickell City Centre, with my Venezuelan friend, Chef Carlos Garcia, who will open Obra Kitchen Table this fall at the Jade Brickell Building, proved to be challenging for my diet (but then again, who said I was dieting right?). . .

As soon as Chef Santiago Gomez arrived with a gigantic Chicharron and an assortment of freshly made, deliciously refreshing Guacamoles, I knew I had to go with the flow. Memorable was the Special Ribeye Taco, tender morsels of nutty flavored, well-seasoned beef were mixed with minced Mexican chorizo, bits of chicharron and cilantro micro greens. A secret sauce full of Umami made us look at each other and sigh, “WOW.”

Tacology

Brickell City Centre, 4th Floor
701 South Miami Avenue, Downtown – Miami
786-347-5368

But it was Zucca, the restaurant by the Da Silva Hospitality Group along with Executive Chef Simone Mua and the charming General Manager Lucio Zanon, that took me back to my Mediterranean ancestry in a blink of an eye! This talented team delivers an exceptional dinning experience. Yes, the house specialty, Zucchini Flowers stuffed with Mozzarella was light and filled us with oozing gustatory impressions, but more than outstanding was the Chargrilled Octopus.

Zucca

Hotel St. Michel
162 Alcazar Avenue, Coral Gables
786-580-3731

Watch for my column in next Friday’s Events of the Week and read my Summer’s Best Culinary Highlights – September 8th.