A group of friends and I went to *Baleen* last night and ordered from the Miami Spice menu we had everything on the menu except the short ribs.

The place was beautiful and the service wonderful - no second class citizen vibe at all for being “Miami Spice people”.

It started out great with plenty of delicious *pull-apart* bread, served with two cruets - one with balsamic vinegar and one with yummy olive oil, along with little bowls with rock salt, pepper and “monkey rub” which is a delicious combination of spices. The olive oil mixed with the monkey rub made for delicious dipping.

We had the three Miami Spice appetizer options represented - the Bibb Salad was literally half a head of lettuce with a yummy dressing, pumpkin seeds and pumpkin seed oil, the Baked Oysters were delicious topped with king crab and other yummy stuff; and finally the Lobster Bisque with coconut, jasmine and sake, and a beautiful juicy piece of lobster was phenomenal.

For entrees we all went with fish. The Cascabel Chili Cilantro salmon with chipotle crema looked beautiful and my friend liked it. I found the Char-Grilled Dorado with Artichoke Mashed Potatoes and Crispy Capers to be good, juicy, etc. but as the menu indicated it was simply grilled, so it wasn’t particularly exiting; the artichoke mashed potatoes however were delicious! And the “crispy capers” - well I have to figure out how to do that because I need to eat lots of those.

For dessert, I found the dulce de leche banana crepe to be delicious, but thought the tart was frankly bad - too much tart and not enough key lime, and the little key lime that there was tasted old, very dry and tough. Not good.

The Miami Spice price would have been perfect for the meal and service, but the wine killed us! we tried to go with the least expensive wines and wound up paying $100 for two bottles! Oh, well at least the wines - Prosecco and Rose were good!

I would recommend it, but stay away from the Key Lime tart and be ready for the wine prices.

Our next Miami Spice adventures will probably be *The Food Gang* next week and *The Restaurant at The Setai* in September, with another thrown in the mix somewhere. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Also - if you want to keep the good food/low prices vibe going into the fall Broward County is offering “Dine Out Lauderdale” which runs from October 1 - November 15th. Here’s the link: http://www.sunny.org/static/index.cfm?contentID=507

I tried the Miami Spice Menu at Vix and it was fantastic. I had the Mediterranean Palate as appetizer which is a great romaine and artichoke salad. For entree I had the Indian palete in which you choose 3 of four curries. It was divine. Dessert was passion fruit mousse. Delicious! My friend had the Latin palete for appetizer, which is ceviche. The portion was very small but tasty. For dinner she had the Mediterranean palete, which was like a seafood stew. She loved it and the portion was generous. After the bill, they brought us truffles as a treat (on the house) You guys might want to try it.

The portions were small, but I felt adequate for lunch (though maybe not at that price). My waiter was polite, but not endearing, though the room captain seemed to be on the ball.

The calamari was the best part. Crispy breading with a sweet, heavy sauce and lime.

They brought the flounder out almost immediately after the calamari arrived; it must have taken virtually no time to cook, as D mentioned, it was a tiny portion. I’m by no means a fish expert (or fish lover), so my non-technical critique would be: “it was alright.”

For dessert, I opted for the chocolate chip cookie and glass of milk. The cookie was served warm (and while not large, probably weighed more than the flounder). The glass of milk (I had my choice of whole or skim) was (unsurprising at this point) also small.

Will I go back for Miami Spice? No.

Would I be willing to try it another time? Probably. The atmosphere was nice and the place has potential. If I’m not wowed at that point, I doubt I’d be back for awhile.