South Florida’s best restaurants make a habit of using locally-sourced items in their recipes. It’s good for local businesses and guarantees dishes are super fresh and tasty. Since it’s the peak of mango season, one Miami eatery is all-in on the king of fruits.
There’s a mountain of mangoes ready & waiting for you at Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink in Miami’s Design District.
Matthew Bittorf: “So we get a few months every year where mangoes are finally ripe. They’re a little late this year, but we have a couple of hundred pounds finally starting to come in, and we’re gonna use them anyway we can.”
Here, a mango, there, a mango — everywhere, a mango.
Matthew Bittorf: “In sweets, in appetizers, in our raw bar, our entrees, and in our drinks, it’ll be all over the menu.”
They’re totally serious about the words “locally sourced.”
Matthew Bittorf: “We don’t buy them from a big produce company; we get them from employees, friends, neighbors, and so we have plenty of mangoes for the summer.”
They trust their culinary instincts. Give the folks in the kitchen a mango, and they’ll come up with something you’ll like.
Matthew Bittorf: “We don’t have a plan, we just know we’re gonna find mangoes, and we’re gonna figure out a way to use them, whatever’s fresh, whenever they come, whatever we have in the restaurant is what’s gonna produce the dish.”
One of this season’s magnificent mango meals is the Snapper Crudo.
Matthew Bittorf: “We’re using fresh Florida snapper, salsa, matcha verde, which is toasted pumpkin seeds and an herb oil, mostly parsley, and then we’re gonna put some pumpkin seeds and some parsley on top, and then the key ingredient, the mango, will lie on top of those.”
That friendly fish makes a tasty return as a Snapper Collar.
Matthew Bittorf: “It gets marinated in a newchomp a sugar fish oil, and then we roast it in the wood oven, and it’s gonna get mango relish.”
Perhaps, you’d prefer your fruit in a glass. That baby on the left is the Mango Spritz. The small but mighty cocktail is called the Mango Game.
Matthew Bittorf: “So we take Havana Club añejo rum, and that’s infused with mango and pandan, and that’s an Asian tropical fruit that gives some nice vanilla to the drink.”
Why would you even think of finishing your meal without some home-made mango sorbet?
Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink is the place to be to enjoy mango madness.
Matthew Bittorf: “It’s just a special treat for South Floridians.”
FOR MORE INFO:
Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink
130 NE 40th St, Miami, FL 33137
Website
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