Hotel food: it can be bland, it can be boring, it can be dry, you get the picture…
Hotel food at Seagrape at the Thompson Hotel on Miami Beach: fresh, simple and deelish.
I like the picture at Seagrape much better.
My meal started with a warm basket of yummy rolls and crispy flat bread with soft butter, pickled veggies AND a spectacular homemade fish dip. I caught myself (as usual!) filling up on the breads so I stopped cuz I knew some foodie goodness was headed my way. First up warm Gougeres ($10) puff pastry flavored with Gruyère cheese and filled with jamon serrano, truffle fondue and topped with a sherry glaze. It was like a warm, savory profiterole, a pastry puff usually filled with something sweet like whipped cream, custard of ice cream, only this was gooey and cheesy inside, and it was soooo GOOD. My suggestion: if you order it eat them quickly.
while they’re still warm. The baby wedge salad ($14) was perfection with diced avocado, sliced carrots, jicama, and daikon radish topped with crispy shallots and tossed with the green goddess dressing made with fresh herbs. If only I could get iceberg lettuce to taste that good! The stuffed squash blossom ($9) with shrimp mousseline, corn grits and corn emulsion had me wondering if they put crack in the grits because I couldn’t stop devouring it. Last, but certainly not least, we had the Florida snapper ($27) with “paella” rice cakes, sugar snaps, shrimp chorizo in a sofrito broth. The paella rice cakes are tiny, like silver dollars, but they pack a full flavor paella punch.
The Thompson Hotel is a beachfront fully restored art deco gem on Miami Beach and Chef Michelle Bernstein’s Seagrape compliments the hotel swimmingly.
Belkys Best Bite: Warm Gougeres
Seagrape
Thompson Miami Beach
4041 Collins Ave.
Miami Beach, FL 33140
786-605-4043
www.seagrapemiamibeach.com
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