ArtFish Coral Gables, Bravo
I've made it to ArtFish on the Mile twice now and have to say that the food is really fantastic. The owner is/was a seafood importer who gets himself first pick and controls the product very well. I mention him first, because freshness in seafood to me is probably the most crucial element for a restaurant. The chef is Chef Allen's former sous-chef and very talented. A friend also told me that Chef Allen's pastry chef would be coming on board as well. I don't know if that's true or not, but bodes well for the restaurant. Menus seem to change rather frequently, directed by what's available and therefore printed unassumingly on legal sized paper front and back. Flavor profiles are a fusion of Middle Eastern and Miami Tropical and prices are relatively reasonable (teens to twenties for a whole fish at lunch, 20s to 30s for dinner). T'here's only been one server both times I went, but she was more than capable of handling the load.
The one thing I will comment on is the wine I had one of the times was a very nice unoaked chardonnay by the name of Omrah which while delicious, sold in the 50s. I looked it up when I got home, and I found it online for $16. That's a rather steep mark-up. Granted, you can't find it very easily, so perhaps he's the one getting a poor deal, but that just felt a little steep to me. Still, the wine was quite good and was happy drinking it at the time.
Icantread
Apr 11, 2008 01:22PM
Just wanted to follow up as I've been back several times. The place was full this weekend. It only seats some 50-60 people, including several tables outdoors. The chef and pastry chef are indeed Chef Allen proteges and the food continues to be great. Friday and Saturday menues are themed, the current ones being Hawaiian fish, with a few of the usual in there as well.
We started with a crabcake served on a grilled mango "cheek", very meaty and tasting of citrus and slightly spicy. Really very good. We also had the calamari, which I find so unlike in consistency to any others I've tasted down here. Breaded and tender they came in two sauces, the dominant one being a sort of Mediterranean tomato sauce. We also had a black bean cake which was not too unique but incredibly delicious. Also, the servers started us with some breads baked fresh by the pastry chef and a white bean dip.
Main Courses consisted of Yellowtail snapper on a bed of papardelle with chorizo, a delicious kampachi with jicama slaw and tomatillo salsa, served with a large oblong yucca croquetta and a monchong served on a spiced quinoa risotto and a layer of broiled tapioca on top.
Desserts were also top notch: We had a apple upside down cake and a rich chocolate cake that while not very sweet, was complimented incredibly by a sweeter sapote ice cream. We were all fighting over the ice cream for our bite of cake.
Overall there's always several flavors playing in your mouth at any given time and the food excellently crafted. Obviously it helps getting fresh ingredients and controlling the prices, and I think ultimately that will decide their success. For now, I go back each time worried that this time the food might disappoint but have been rewarded instead each time.
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We've gone by aiming to try this place a couple of times in the past couple of weeks. The first time their gas was out. The second time we waited outside for several minutes, and had to pretty much beg to get someone's attention. We had a big group and were concerned with whether they'd be able to handle service.
The menu looked very interesting and I'm looking forward to going back with a smalller group.
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What is the dress at this place? My mom's birthday is Friday but she wants to go to the Canes baseball game, so we will be dressed for the game. Do you think that would be a problem at this place? Is there a menu anywhere online?
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Judging by the times I have gone by there at lunchtime, I think they will be happy to have customers. It's a casual enough place that I don't think they'd feel underdressed.
Regular menu is on menupages ->
http://southflorida.menupages.com/res...
I think they also have a number of specials.
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Sorry to hear about your mishaps with the place. It's happened to me in other venues, where I hear good things and have an experience bad enough not to go again. For instance I've unsuccessfully tried Ortanique twice and the first time I went to China Grill I thought the place was wretched. Anyhow, I did want to comment that the menu on menupages is far outdated. The newer menu is more of a Floribbean menu with a lot of Middle Eastern accents and constantly changing, depending on what's freshest at the time.
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Let me be clear - I've not actually eaten there yet, I've just gone by at least a few times for lunch and either they weren't ready for service (had some technical issues in the kitchen) or the reaction to us standing outside waiting to be helped was so lackadaisical that we lacked confidence that the service would get us in and out in any reasonable time. I'm still interested in trying the place.
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