Brava by Brad Kilgore
Hi Uncle Steve,
As I may have mentioned, for Christmas, Lauren bought for me a pair of tickets to see Yo Yo Ma perform at the Adrienne Arsht Center (located just north of downtown) and a pre-show reservation at the Arsht Center's new restaurant Brava by Brad Kilgore, the chef behind Alter. Well, on February 3rd, that happened.
Our reservation was for an early 5 o'clock to meet our 7 o'clock show time. It was however a bit of an adventure getting there. Lauren rode the MetroMover up to Bayfront Park, where I joined her, and we continued to ride it to the Arsht Center. The Arsht Center consists of two large buildings on opposite sides of Biscayne Boulevard/US 1. Of course, neither Brava's website, the Arsht Center's website, nor the reservation email actually told us where Brava was located in the complex, and we wandered around and asked for directions twice before we found it. Oh, and of course they don't have a listed phone number, so we couldn't call them either. Once we got in though, the service was impeccable.
We began with an inadvertently ordered bottle of still water, a pinot grigio for Lauren, and an old-fashioned for myself (I finished the meal with a pinot noir to go with the main dish). They had a cocktail menu when they first opened, but discontinued it and are working on a new version. The old-fashioned was good, with Bulleit, just the tiniest bit too sweet, and a bit heavy (though inoffensively so) on the essential oils from the orange peel.
We began with a focaccia bread baked in house served with both a butter and an olive butter. Excellent.
Lauren began with the Arsht Caesar salad, with baby gem lettuces, grana padano (in lieu of parmigiano), bottarga, and artichoke. It was good.
I began with the whipped clam chowder with black truffle butter, potato puree, Florida clams, and celery. The chowder was incredibly light, but thick, because so much air had been whipped into it. In fact, you could dig down to the bottom and the chowder would not fill back in. Of course, when I tried to photograph this, I took a picture of my hand and so all you have is the nice photo:
After that, we waited. And waited. And, I know that they were trying to space the courses out because a) they asked us when our event was, and b) we really were early and ended up in our seats at the venue 20 minutes in advance, but we really could have squeezed another dish in there.
Eventually, our main dishes came out. I had the braised lamb shank bourguignon, with black garlic glaze, crispy asian gremolata, and root vegetables. If that sounds delicious, that's because it sounds delicious. The taste was... meh. The lamb was incredibly tender, but it was just bland. I have no idea where all that flavor was supposed to be and on top of all that (and on top of the dish) were sliced raw jalapenos. These ended up not working with the rest of the dish at all and, as anyone who's cooked with jalapenos knows, raw green jalapenos are good only for adding heat and bitter flavor. I metaphorically dug through the dish to see if I was missing something the chef intended to portray, but I remained incredulous that I could be so underwhelmed.
Lauren had a Risotto Bouillabaisse, with Iranian saffron butter, mixed sea food, tomato oil, and orange. While she enjoyed it a great deal and I found it much better than the lamb shank, the orange just completely overwhelmed the dish and there was no balance.
neither could I. It was key lime pie filling made with four (undisclosed) citrus fruits, boxed in by four pieces of torched meringue, and topped with a little basil. For presentation, 10/10. For taste, it was also excellent. In particular, I enjoyed that the use of the other citrus helped kick down the bitterness I typically associate with key lime pie. (There's an excellent article that argues that, due to changes in where and how key limes are grown, modern key limes pies should be, but aren't, made with Persian limes, in order to best approximate the historical pie.).
We finished the meal with a pair of petit fours, which I got a picture of this time!
As I may have mentioned, for Christmas, Lauren bought for me a pair of tickets to see Yo Yo Ma perform at the Adrienne Arsht Center (located just north of downtown) and a pre-show reservation at the Arsht Center's new restaurant Brava by Brad Kilgore, the chef behind Alter. Well, on February 3rd, that happened.
Our reservation was for an early 5 o'clock to meet our 7 o'clock show time. It was however a bit of an adventure getting there. Lauren rode the MetroMover up to Bayfront Park, where I joined her, and we continued to ride it to the Arsht Center. The Arsht Center consists of two large buildings on opposite sides of Biscayne Boulevard/US 1. Of course, neither Brava's website, the Arsht Center's website, nor the reservation email actually told us where Brava was located in the complex, and we wandered around and asked for directions twice before we found it. Oh, and of course they don't have a listed phone number, so we couldn't call them either. Once we got in though, the service was impeccable.
We began with an inadvertently ordered bottle of still water, a pinot grigio for Lauren, and an old-fashioned for myself (I finished the meal with a pinot noir to go with the main dish). They had a cocktail menu when they first opened, but discontinued it and are working on a new version. The old-fashioned was good, with Bulleit, just the tiniest bit too sweet, and a bit heavy (though inoffensively so) on the essential oils from the orange peel.
We began with a focaccia bread baked in house served with both a butter and an olive butter. Excellent.
Lauren began with the Arsht Caesar salad, with baby gem lettuces, grana padano (in lieu of parmigiano), bottarga, and artichoke. It was good.
I began with the whipped clam chowder with black truffle butter, potato puree, Florida clams, and celery. The chowder was incredibly light, but thick, because so much air had been whipped into it. In fact, you could dig down to the bottom and the chowder would not fill back in. Of course, when I tried to photograph this, I took a picture of my hand and so all you have is the nice photo:
Eventually, our main dishes came out. I had the braised lamb shank bourguignon, with black garlic glaze, crispy asian gremolata, and root vegetables. If that sounds delicious, that's because it sounds delicious. The taste was... meh. The lamb was incredibly tender, but it was just bland. I have no idea where all that flavor was supposed to be and on top of all that (and on top of the dish) were sliced raw jalapenos. These ended up not working with the rest of the dish at all and, as anyone who's cooked with jalapenos knows, raw green jalapenos are good only for adding heat and bitter flavor. I metaphorically dug through the dish to see if I was missing something the chef intended to portray, but I remained incredulous that I could be so underwhelmed.
Lauren had a Risotto Bouillabaisse, with Iranian saffron butter, mixed sea food, tomato oil, and orange. While she enjoyed it a great deal and I found it much better than the lamb shank, the orange just completely overwhelmed the dish and there was no balance.
Fortunately, Miami's dessert chefs (for the third review in a row) are knocking it out of the park. Lauren had a chevre cheesecake, with a morello cherry drizzle and a morello cherry and tarragon sorbet (or was it ice cream?) on the side. The cheesecake was round (?), but fantastic. I particularly was a big fan of the sorbet.
 |
| Looks like a murder scene, cause they killed it. |
I had a Key Lime Cube. If you can't picture that,
neither could I. It was key lime pie filling made with four (undisclosed) citrus fruits, boxed in by four pieces of torched meringue, and topped with a little basil. For presentation, 10/10. For taste, it was also excellent. In particular, I enjoyed that the use of the other citrus helped kick down the bitterness I typically associate with key lime pie. (There's an excellent article that argues that, due to changes in where and how key limes are grown, modern key limes pies should be, but aren't, made with Persian limes, in order to best approximate the historical pie.).
We finished the meal with a pair of petit fours, which I got a picture of this time!
 |
| Miniature madeleines with pistachio glaze |
All in all, it was a bit of a disappointing meal. The lamb shank was the low point, but the only dishes that really popped out to me as truly notable was the free focaccia bread at the beginning and the dessert. Sure, the clam chowder was thick, but you barely tasted any clam; potato chowder? And yes, admittedly my expectations are high for Brad Kilgore after his work at Alter, but bearing that in mind, I tend to think it was a fairly middling meal for that price range even on an absolute scale. Lauren rates it more highly than that, but she admits it was not up to snuff for BK.
I haven't bothered to look into whether there's been some kitchens politics or something that would lead to a bit of a rough patch for Brad here, but I think part of the problem may be the audience. As Lauren pointed out, although Brava is open to the public, 90% of the people eating there will be attendees to the Arsht Center, who, as a group, tend to be old, white, and wealthy. There was no one else under 50 until one father brought their teenage daughter in and their twenty-something son or daughter with significant other. It's not a group particularly comfortable with the type of cutting-edge avant garde cuisine created by Kilgore or in Wynwood in general (they may be investing in the area, but it's not their place to socialize). And I suspect that Kilgore may have misjudged how creative a meal that group likes and he's pulled back hard to more conservative dishes while he sorts out how to cater to them. When I said earlier they discontinued their cocktail menu, our waiter's actual choice of word was that the cocktail menu "flopped."
So, a bit disappointing, and not recommended for you to visit. However, I remain faintly optimistic that this is just a rough patch and that the restaurant will right itself in the future. Or, perhaps, it will just have to remain the conservative cousin.
Postscript
The ushers were a bit strict regarding photography, but here are a few photos from before the show of our venue. Lauren had us in upper-tier box seats near the stage. The program was scheduled for two shorter pieces with the full orchestra (Smetana's Overture to The Bartered Bride and Tchaikovsky's Cappriccio italien) bookending three movements of Dvorak's Cello Concerto with Yo Yo Ma. Of course, once the Concerto was concluded, Ma returned to the stage and they played an encore. No idea what it was, but it worked.
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