Maybe it was my crappy day at work … On impulse I decided I wanted to go out for a nice dinner Tuesday. Almost as a reward to myself for having to withstand one of those very annoying workdays, I called The Food Gang and made reservations for two – not that we really needed them on a Tuesday night but I wanted to make of the dinner an event.
D and I arrived at the restaurant at 8. We had been there before to their opening party but had never been back to eat on a regular night. As we walked up, I noticed their Miami Spice menu visibly displayed on the window right next to their regular menu. A good sign, I thought. At the door, we were kindly greeted and shown to our table where our host handed us their regular menu and wine list. I told D I would ask for the Miami Spice menu when our waiter came by, but I didn’t even have to. When he came to our table the first thing he asked us was if we wanted to see their Miami Spice menu – another sign that we were off to a good start.
We ordered a bottle of 2005 La Foret Bourgogne Pinot Noir. I ordered the duck leg confit served with Yukon potatoes with olive oil and chives, and roasted lavender peaches and figs to start and the seared grouper as an entree. D ordered the French onion soup followed by churrasco.
I fell in love with the lavender peaches in my appetizer, a nice sweet contrast to the duck, which was rich with flavor, its skin golden and crisp. The dish is almost like a meal in itself. D liked his onion soup.
The seared grouper was topped with crispy fennel and served over vegetables and cauliflower puree. I had reservations about the cauliflower puree in my dish mainly because I’m not a big fan of cauliflower, but I loved it. D’s churrasco chimichurri was served with grilled white corn, watercress and wild mushrooms. I can’t say there’s anything we didn’t like about our respective dishes. What made them so enjoyable is that they had a good mix of textures, flavors and colors. The protein didn’t take over any of the dishes we tried and the sides nicely complemented the protein and each other.
For dessert, I ordered the chocolate tart and D the crème brulee. They were out of mint sorbet, which he wanted, but at least our waiter let us know before we ordered. The chocolate tart was good, but the crème brulee was my favorite of the two. It was creamy and smooth; it melted on your palate.
The Food Gang scored high that night. After our nice two-hour dinner, the crappy work memories were gone and I ended wanting to go back for more. The service was great. They were happy to tell us about Miami Spice and didn’t treat us differently because we chose it. Even better, they didn’t skimp on their menu by downsizing their portions or giving us boring options. The food was good. D, who typically finds the negatives in every place we visit, gave it an A+. I say, definitely give it a try.
The Food Gang
9472 Harding Ave.
786.228.9292
tags: Miami Spice, Â dining
Glad you liked it! It’s one of my favorite places -and close to my house!
Damn!!! We were going to try the other night and opted out since most reviews I’d heard about the place were negative (this is around when it first opened mind you). Thanks for letting me know I made a mistake.
Is this the place that also has a little market with some high priced specialty foods? I think I stopped by there one time while searching for a cigar shop that was open after 5pm..
BM - Yes. It does have a little market in the front. It also sells tapas at the bar.
Hi Paula, your description of the meal and experience left me drooling, girl! *drool* excuse the droplets on your computer screen *blush*…
Also, L-O-V-E you Food Gang header! I am also a graphic artist (am assuming you are too?) and it is a very fun type treatment! Warning, I will be stealing it at some point in the future to use as a type treatment somewhere, sometime, on some as yet unknown brochure! And when I do, I will think of my friend, Paula!
{{Sorry to hear of your crappy work day!}}
BZ- That’s actually the restaurant’s logo. Nice, huh? Their decor is also pretty cool, modern, clean lines, orange and white. Anyway… I’m glad it gave you an idea for your future work. I’m not a graphic artist by any means…
paula, the colors and you use on your blog are very cool and very artistic so you must have a natural eye then!
And I would LOVE to see the interior of the restaurant. It sounds fantastic!
They don’t have a website at the moment.
Is sounds like a great delicious meal. I could taste it just from reading it.
I had the Miami Spice Menu at The Food Gang last night. First thing I loved about it is that you get to choose among 5 appetizers and 5 entrees. Most restaurants don´t have that many choices for Miami Spice. For appetizer I had a watermelon gazpacho, which was interesting and refreshing, but I prefer the traditional version. For entree I had the duck confit, that comes with stewed fruit and some greens. It was delicious! Reminded me of Paris. For dessert, I had the chocolate crunch torte. It was a nice mix of chocolate and nuts. Service was also very attentive. I will definitely return.
MIAMI SPICE - The Food Gang -
Run don’t walk to The Food Gang in Sunny Isles during Miami Spice! the place, the ambiance, the service and most importantly the food were fantastic.
Four of us went to The Food Gang Thursday 8/23 - the reservation was for 7 p.m. Three of us arrived a bit early so we sat at the bar where they have fantastic 2 for 1 drinks and a mouth-watering tapas menu. Since we were doing the Miami Spice menu, we passed on the tapas this time, but did partake of Happy Hour, well, happiness.
I asked the lovely bar tender what was good and she suggested the Cosmo - and she was right. Seriously, this was the smoothest Cosmo I think I’ve ever had. And the second was even smoother - HA! My friend, who was driving had one mojito and she said it was very good as well. Along with the drinks they served a really good olive mix, excellent accompaniment to the drinks.
When our fourth arrived we were seated. The decor is simple, fun and understated and the lighting was perfect. Last night they had live music - a very handsome young man playing guitar standards, entertaining but non-obtrusive, you could actually have a conversation. Being a Thursday, there were other people there but it wasn’t packed.
First thing - a really nice man brought us a basket of perfectly warm, crispy bread and *warned* us that we were going to love the olive oil and we would ask him for more. OHMYGOD - he was right - across the board we all agreed it was the best olive oil we had ever had. And we did ask for more, and more.
OK Miami Spice menu time! It was slightly different than what appears online, but this is one of the participating restaurants that provides more than three options for appetizers and entrees.
For appetizers two of us had the Watermelon Gazpacho - I loved it, my friend prefers the traditional gazpacho. It was chilled and the watermelon had been blended into the regular gazpacho adding sweetness to it, it was topped with fresh basil which gave it a nice freshness. Another appetizer was the Petite Crustacean plates with an assortment f shellfish in a delicious garlic/olive oil sauce; and the their appetizer was the French Onion soup which was really, good as well.
To accompany the meal we were offered a good-sized wine list and chose a California Pinot Grigio - it was just too hot for a red!
The entrees were varied as well. Again two of us order the Duck Confit - delicious! I had never had duck confit before and if it’s going to be like this I will definitely have it again. It was served with a medley of roasted fruits and like a balsamic sauce and Yukon gold mashed potatoes. The skin was crispy but not greasy at all. One of my friends had the Churrasco steak accompanied by some veggies and an aromatic, strong chimichurri sauce served in what appeared to be a vodka shot glass. My other friend ordered the Ahi Tuna, served rare and accompanied by a tomato vinaigrette yumminess. We consumed all this with yet another basket of bread and olive oil!
For dessert three of us had the chocolate torte which was basically a light mousse over a crumbly dark chocolate torte with nuts, topped by two sticks of swirled white and dark chocolate. Fantastic - and just the right size. The other dessert on the table was the Catalan Crème Brule - which was also delicious!
There wasn’t a discordant note - everything flowed, service was perfectly timed, we didn’t feel rushed and the portions were generous.
If I must find a less-than-positive point: I would like to see a Miami Spice wine menu with lower prices, even if it’s with limited choices, to help keep the costs down.
*This* is what Miami Spice should be like.
Well, I’m glad to see that I wasn’t the only one who had a good experience. Perhaps Alex is right about this restaurant being underated. I’m still savoring those roasted peaches!
Having been here over 10 times in a year, I was really hoping they would get their act together, but, alas, that has not happened.
Local Surfsiders are better off trying some of the other new restaurants in Surfside than to go here to be disappointed, yet again.
Oh, and there is no soap in the ladies room on the last 2 trips here…just fyi!
Not really worth the trip, and certainly not the cost.
Surfside Diner - I’ve only been to the Food Gang three times. Once for the opening, another time for Miami Spice and a third time I ate a few tapas at the bar. I’ve always been intrigued by the bad reviews the place has gotten and reading others’s experiences there, I wonder if I just got lucky because the food was mostly good. I will confess, however, that I’ve never visited the ladies room there…