Back to Miami with 15 Steps

We are fortunate to get a chance to get together with family every year in Miami. And while it is great to hang out and do some family meals, we still try to get away and enjoy the food scene in some way. A couple of times, we have wandered over to the Eden Roc Hotel and Resort to enjoy the restaurant there.

15 Steps is right up our alley. Focusing on fresh, seasonal ingredients, the farm-to-table menu is easy and approachable, but well executed. Leaving behind the sleeping Little Vinacular with Grandma, we found ourselves with a few minutes to spare, so we grabbed a couple of stools at the bar before our reservation.

The cocktails were probably the high point of the night. We love to sip a glass of wine, but these days we seldom get a chance to just sit and enjoy it while we chat. We have a glass with dinner, maybe a glass as we relax in front of the tv, but having a small child means we don't often get to just sit at a bar for an hour or two. It helped that the cocktails were great, fresh and vibrant to get our mouths watering for dinner. The Elizabeth Taylor is still on Tina's mind: bubbly, bitter, sweet, and mouthwatering.

Really, the watchwords for the evening were "fresh and bright". A starting round of a tomato soup: rich and sweet with chunks of crab meat, and a carrot salad; crafted from whole carrots, earthy, sweet, and nutty. Dinner was a plate of scallops and another of mushrooms, gnocchi, and truffles. Paired with a bright, grassy Sauvignon Blanc and a earthy, fruity Pinot Noir respectively, the wines worked well to emphasize the farm freshness of the meal.

The only downside to the dinner was the service. Maybe it's an issue with the fact that it's a resort, where they add an automatic gratuity to the bill, so a waiter doesn't feel any pressure to serve. Or maybe the table next to us with an expense account looked like the bigger tip. But waiting for half an hour after dinner is finished and the wine glasses are empty to catch your waiter's eye (and after several attempts) doesn't leave us feeling like ordering dessert. Not a great end to the meal, but not bad enough to make us regret the cocktails and wine we enjoyed.

Vacation Adventures at The Forge

We spend a lot of time in New York, but when we do get a chance to get away, we don't change our habits much. Good food, good wine, and always looking for something new. When we end up at the resort hotels in Miami's South Beach, we find a bit of a mixed bag. With a handful of excellent restaurants under one roof, we have options, but over the course of a long vacation, we can get bored of the same few choices.

Thankfully, hidden behind a non-nondescript storefront on a quiet retail street not far from Collins Avenue, there is a wonderful option. The Forge is an historic fixture of Miami, a steakhouse from the earliest days of the Miami resort scene. After a major renovation in 2010, it has re-invented itself as a high quality farm-to-table restaurant with a unique menu for the area. Thankfully, through all the changes it has maintained its world class wine menu. Taking advantage of the renovation, they even made the wine more approachable, with an amazing Enomatic system dispensing a wide range of self-served wines by the glass.

We enjoyed a winter menu without the bone-chilling cold of our home city. The winter dishes meant we could pick some bold red wines. A beet salad with Gorgonzola and  pumpkin seeds worked well with a fruity Merlot. The fruit notes of the Bordeaux were unexpectedly well balanced against the popular crab claw dish, as the mustard sauce brought a spice that pulled out the sweet fruit of the wine the match the sweetness of the crab flesh. The main courses were big and bold, and needed to be paired with bigger, more aggressive wines. A venison steak piled with smoked mozzarella cheese, prosciutto, and juniper berries was suited to a big, fruity Californian Zinfandel.

The Forge was a great change of pace. The hotel restaurants are great, and convenient. But for us, a menu that never changes from year to year can grow wearisome, so to find a great restaurant with a focus on seasonal ingredients is just what we need to make a vacation that much more special.