Chow Down is an interesting little restaurant. Located where the Piri-Piri Grill used to be, it's very tiny, having only 4 tables inside, and 3 tables overlooking the insane traffic of Harding Avenue. The food is best described as pan-Asian. Vietnam is represented thanks to the sandwiches (Ban-Mi, but called sandwiches on the menu), and the noodle soup (Pho). Thai cuisine makes an appearance with green curry. Chinese influence is seen in a few of the main dishes. In other words, it's difficult to classify.
The 24-hour braised beef sandwich was very very good. The beef is tender, juicy, and the other ingredients in the sandwich made the dish a layered taste experience. Savory, some sweet (very little), crunchy, acid, creamy, the crunch of the baguette. Perfect. My next try was the Crab Rangoon dumpling. That was disappointing. Tiny squares of crispy dough around a mixture of spinach, cheese and crab. The flavors did not combine to produce anything extraordinary. It was acceptable, but I'd skip that one. There was another dumpling with chicken and garlic that had wonderful flavor. I was a bit concerned when I saw the thickness of the dough of the dumpling, remembering the leathery mess Miss Yip passes off as dumplings. But this dumpling was pleasant to eat.
For me, one dish not to miss at this restaurant is the house noodle soup. Order it with beef, or without, but skip other protein additions. The broth is a wonderful old-fashioned beef broth - the kind that requires roasting bones, then simmering them forever in broth. In a number of places, the broth of Pho is some greyish dishwater flavored with 5-spice or some such. Here, the broth is a deep brown, and tastes like beef. The real thing. While the weather is this hot, this may be a difficult one to think of ordering, especially if you're sweltering at one of the outside tables. But if you're inside, don't miss it. One more good point of that restaurant: they serve a lot of organic food. Service is attentive, and the overall meal was nice. A good addition to my hometown.
The South Florida Foodies, which is the best group to hang around with, organized an early dinner at 600 at the Angler in South Beach for one of the hotel's Summer Thursday Front Porch Suppers - which feature a new England lobster boil or Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab, or Shrimp - that used to be from the Gulf, but are now sourced from elsewhere. The price is a very reasonable $26 for this bounty, and the $3 beer is a 16 oz can. The presentation is ingenious: each person's food is cooked in its individual cheesecloth bag, which is split open, and tossed on a large plate complete with a tin bucket ready to receive the shells and other detritus. A MESSY meal. 6 crabs on the plate may be just a tiny bit too much?? Opening a crab (thank you, Maude, for the amazing lesson on how to do this effectively) is not the fork-and-knife, pinky in the air sort of thing. It's messy and enjoyable. ViceQueen Maria posed the interesting question of whether this meal is appropriate for a first date. Ahem.
By the way, the bartender at this hotel is apparently a mind-reader. I wanted some sparkly lemonade mixed with Hendricks Gin in a tall glass, could not describe it, but he produced the perfect drink. Genius. The manager assures us the brunch at the hotel is amazing, so that's one treat not to miss during the quieter off-season.
At home, I made an adaptation of Fine Cooking's spice-rubbed pork roast with chili-lime salsa. My roast was boneless, and my spice rub enjoyed the addition of a teaspoon of greek oregano, and additional cumin seeds. That smoky flavor in the herb is a good accent for the spice combination of cumin, paprika and chipotle pepper. The cumin seeds make for a nice, grainier texture on the whole thing. The pork marinated for 48 hours before cooking on the grill, and it was delicious. A 2003 Pirramimma Petit Verdot with enough heft to stand up to the spicy flavors, and supple enough not to overwhelm the pork made a nice pairing with the meal.
I've also enjoyed a number of other great meals at a variety of places. Happy Hour at Truluck's in the Galleria (sorry for the annoying music on the website) is a not-to-be missed bargain. Half price on all cocktails and hors-d'oeuvres. Not just well drinks: all cocktails. Don't miss the ceviche and the duck tacos. Both are lovely. Dinner with friends at Candela's - Armando makes the BEST yucca frita in South Florida. Girls' day out at The Grill on the Alley - yeah, it's a chain, but if they do things well, who cares? Loved that the waiter brought me the whole bottle of Angostura bitters when I requested sparkling water with a dash of bitters and an orange slice. A couple of lunches at Sugar Cane - has anyone ever had a bad meal there? What a great concept and execution!
The restaurant scene is really getting better over here in South Florida. I hope the economy picks up to encourage this exciting development.
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