“Eating rice cakes is like chewing on a foam coffee cup, only less filling.”
Dave Barry.
Imagine this, you go to Florida looking for great food, you’re probably going to have: steak? chicken? fish? As you can see, pigs ears didn’t show up on that list! Well when we traveled to Michaels Genuine Cuisine (michaelsgenuine.com, 130 NE 40th Street, Miami) we ate, you guessed it! PIGS EARS! Michael’s is supposed to be one of the best farm to table restaurant in Miami. When we arrived at Michaels, we noticed that it was in the Design District. We also noticed that Michael’s decor was very modern and strange. A red spiral staircase sat right in the middle of everything and bright red box lights/chandeliers lined all of the ceilings. When we entered the doorway of the restaurant, we were greeted by several extremely unkind hostess’ who ignored us for the first 5 minutes we were at the restaurant. When we were FINALLY seated, we were greeted by a very friendly waiter who took our orders and explained every dish in very deep detail.
For our appetizers we ordered, Greek Farro Salad (perfectly cooked farro grain with smooth feta cheese, tangy olives, and silky olive oil on top),
The Pharaoh would have liked this Farro
as well as the Chili Chicken Wings (tender chicken wings smothered in a spicy, velvety chili sauce). Unfortunately the wings were undercooked and unappetizing as a result.
Undercooked Chicken is never a good sign
We also obtained a crispy rice cake (crisp, succulent chorizo, fresh tasting Florida rock shrimp, wrapped in a crunchy rice ball. ) Over the ball was smooth, palate cleansing chili aioli, and a warm egg, with bursting with yellow goodness in the middle of the yolk.
At Michaels, they don’t joke with the yolk
In addition to that we had Ceviche (fresh raw golden tile fish with a large amount of lime, citrusy oranges bursting with orange juice, smooth, creamy avocados, and snappy red onions on top).
Surprisingly, I love Ceviche!
Our last two appetizers were Fried Pigs Ears (toothsome, well seasoned, deep fried pigs ears with a fresh lime on top to squeeze on), they were fantastic and super crisp;
How good does that look?!?!?!?
as well as, Chargrilled Octopus (tender, succulent octopus that was moist on the inside and grilled to perfection on the outside). Compared to Pontos, this octopus was very squishy and a little bit raw tasting.
Not as good as Pontos!
For our main meal we ordered a whole chicken that took 1 hour to cook! The chicken was juice filled and cooked to perfection on the inside and had crispy skin on the outside. It was fantastic but we were so full, we could barely eat any of it.
Don’t be a chicken! Eat it!
Our second entree was the King Fish (divine, luscious fish that was a member of the mackeral family but was not oily because it was caught the day before). The fish melted in your mouth like butter and was delicious.
Kings would enjoy this King Fish!
On the side we ordered silky, creamy mashed potatoes, erupting with butter and chives with freshly chopped parsley on top.
Chickens best friend
In addition to that we ordered slippery, soggy, slimy Brussels sprouts with flaccid pancetta.
A disappointment….
For dessert we had the Home Brew sundae (sweet, sticky malted caramel, crunchy pretzels that added some much needed salt to the ice cream, and finally melted, gooey, super sweet melted marshmallows.
You have to finish off with a bang!!!!
The food was very good but the several undercooked/soggy dishes were not to my liking. The atmosphere was Michaels was very strange because of the weird colors and odd decorations. The service was very good but didn’t compare to Barton G. The value was fairly expensive for the decent food we got. I would probably not go back but it was a good experience. I would rate it ZZZ-3 Z’s- Good.
