Eleanor Hoh

Antica Mare, authentic Tuscan cuisine with waterviews

March 20, 2016 By Eleanor Hoh Leave a Comment

With very few waterfront restaurants in Miami, Antica Mare is a very welcome addition to our dining options! Authentic Tuscan food and water views, how can you go wrong? Let’s get straight to the food which is no pretensions or pomp, just cozy, home cooking is what you’ll get at Antica Mare on the Bay. It’s inside the new luxury ShoreCrest Club complex with a huge indoor and outdoor dining area with 224 seats, oh my! There’s also a private room for 60 if you want to hold social or business events.

1 Antica Mare Interior_Photo Credit Alissa Dragun — Antica Mare Interior-Photo Credit Alissa Dragun

Antica Mare Exterior Horizontal_Photo Credit Alissa Dragun — Antica Mare Exterior – Photo Credit Alissa Dragun

Marco Betti, the chef/owner started this Miami restaurant based on recipes from his mom, with a flagship, award winning restaurant, Antica Posta in Atlanta run by his brother, Chef Sandro. I enjoyed hearing Marco’s stories about how the three brothers grew up working in their Dad’s butcher shop in Reggello, Italy. There’s nothing more endearing than a chef who wants to be a part of the community he lives and works in and I love to support these kinds of restaurants.

AnticaMare-appetizers — 4 appetizers started off the evening! The patio light, the breeze and the views were stunning!

My favorite appetizer was of course the Octopus, so tender and pure heaven, I’m a huge fan. I helped polish that one off, no problem.

AnticaMare-4appetizers — Our media tasting started with four appetizers, clockwise: Marco salad; meatballs in tomato sauce; the Best Octopus in the World garnished with arugula; Brushetta with fresh tomatoes and basil.

Many of the servers were Italian who really knew how to make you feel right at home, you might even hear some singing if you’re lucky, it’ll make you feel like you’re in Italy!

AnticaMare-MarcoBetti — If you get a chance to meet Marco, please notice his beautiful, crisp linen shirt!

We all agreed we’d never have ordered the chicken dish, Chef Marco Pollo arrosto alla toscana but it was very tasty and tender, and the roast potatoes were crispy and flavored with the chicken juices, yummy. Marco mentioned this is one of the restaurant’s signature dishes. Everyone’s favorite main was Filetti di maiale alla mostarda, tender pork medallions with the creamiest, tastiest lentils ever. Even the carnivores in our group couldn’t stop eating those lentils. And the sauteed veggies of broccoli and what looked and tasted like mustard greens were fantastic. For me, I would have preferred no tomato sauce on the salmon.

AnticaMare-Seafood-pasta — Special Seafood pasta with olives.

Chef Marco Pollo arrosto alla toscana - Chef Marco slow roast free range chicken with Tuscan herbs and roast potatoes. — Chef Marco slow roast free range chicken with Tuscan herbs and roast potatoes.

Salmone alla Livornese - salmon sauteed with cherry tomatoes, olives & capers with asparagus. — Salmon sauteed with cherry tomatoes, olives & capers with asparagus.

Ravioli al ragu toscano - spinach and ricotta cheese ravioli with traditional Tuscan meat sauce — Spinach and ricotta cheese ravioli with traditional Tuscan meat sauce.

Pork filet medallions sauteed with whole grain mustard sauce, lentils and sauteed broccoli.

Of course, you’ve got to end your dinner with Italian desserts which are some of the most wicked around…tiramisu, layers of Marscapone cream and Pavesini cookies dipped in expresso coffee; panacotta with wild berry sauce; cannoli stuffed with house made chantilly cream.

So, go, enjoy and support Antica Mare, this wonderful new waterfront restaurant with a constant breeze! If you live in Normandy Isle and North Miami, it’s a nice walk there to work up your appetite and then to work it off after you’ve eaten!

Antica Mare
7999 Northeast Bayshore Court
serves dinner Tuesday through Sunday, from 4PM to 11PM
On ground level of the Shorecrest Club high rise apartment complex on the Northeast corner of 80th and Bayshore. From 79th Street heading east, make U-turn before bridge and take right on Bayshore Court. Discounted valet parking.
Telephone: (305) 398-1001

HOH WOK CLUB: Year of Monkey at BAZI

March 5, 2016 By Eleanor Hoh Leave a Comment

This year’s HOH WOK CLUB’s annual gathering to celebrate Chinese New Year was a huge success with food and cocktails overflowing. Thanks to BAZI and all who came, it was like a big private party except Chef Mike Pirolo and his team did all the work, so I could hang and enjoy! So happy my sister, Valerie and her husband, Dennis were able to join us, at least I had one family member with me.
Feast your eyes on this food gallery, I already posted everything you need to know about BAZI in a post here. Don’t miss Chef Mike Pirolo’s video below describing his BAZI concept! Also go check one of my fav Wok Stars, blogger and super photographer, Brenda Benoit’s post here.
If you missed this outstanding fun celebration, stay tuned for upcoming HOH WOK CLUB gatherings! Numerous Asian inspired restaurants have popped up in Miami and I’d like to introduce you to them. Sign up for my free newsletter in right sidebar so you’ll get first dibs into these events.

HohWokClub-Bazi-2016-guests — Full house at my HOH WOK CLUB’s Chinese New Year celebration at BAZI!

HohWokClub-Bazi-ChefMikePirolo-EleanorHoh — Chef Mike Pirolo and yours truly!

HohWokClub-Bazi-braised-mustard-greens-duck — Appetizer: Braised mustard green salad with creamy ginger dressing and crispy shallots topped with duck and cranberries.

HohWokClub-Bazi-wine-menu — HOH WOK CLUB: special 3 course menu created by Chef Mike Pirolo.

HohWokClub-Bazi-chicken-sweetpotato-dumplings — 2nd course: Chicken with fermented black beans and chives with sweet potato filled dumpling, everyone’s fav!

SzeLiu-EleanorHoh-YumiMiyanishi — My Asian chick buddies, Sze Liu (my online marketing/web goddess) and yoga wear Space Cat founder, Yumi Miyanishi.

HohWokClub-Bazi-ChineseNewYear-cocktail — Special Chinese New Year cocktail created for our event!

Main course: Communal sharing was quite a challenge with the longevity noodles, snow peas, chicken and red peppers and snapper with braised cabbage! Great way to get folks interacting, ha, ha!

HohWokClub-Bazi-ChineseNewYear-dessert — Dessert: top is chocolate bowl with passion fruit and Thai basil anglaise and pan dan rice pudding with fried banana, candied cashew and lemon grass caramel, ooh la, la!

HohWokClub-Bazi-Jocelyn-birthday-cake — Happy to share Wok Star Jocelyn’s birthday!

HohWokClub-Bazi-EleanorHoh-JacquelinePirolo — Thanks to Jacqueline Pirolo (Mike’s sister) for her tireless patience and making this event go smoothly! Ask for her if you want to put on an event at BAZI, she’s the deal!

Bazi Restaurant at the Marlin Hotel
1200 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach, Fl 33139
(305) 695-0101

Hours

Sunday – Thursday 6pm – 11pm
Friday & Saturday 6pm – 12am
Bar opens daily at 5pm

Easy Weeknight Soup Made in a Wok

February 16, 2016 By Eleanor Hoh Leave a Comment

If you’re stumped with what to make for dinner on a cold, balmy night, this easy, weeknight soup made in a wok came together in less than 30 minutes! Stir frying your veggies and meat give them flavor, texture and retains the bright colors. Get the scoop below how to make soup in your wok…

I purposely took a photo of the clock on my stove so you can witness the time lapse! The actual frying and cooking time took 15 minutes, the washing and chopping 10 minutes. Total, 25 minutes! The only caveat is for new Wok Stars, it’s not a good idea to use your new wok to make this dish till you’ve built up some patina in your cast iron wok.
For this meal, I used Strauss organic ground beef from Publix, it was very good. Because beef is for a soup, I fried in one batch. The veggies were mostly leftovers from my cooking class, zucchini, yellow squash and bell peppers. You can sub out any kind of meat or veggies you have in the fridge.
By the time my hubby got home and cleaned up, the soup was on the table, he couldn’t believe it was so fast but was so happy. This is one of his favorite meals, so win win!
Here’s how I did it, Wok Stars, you know the drill…

Fry your veggies with garlic and ginger in some grape seed oil, and sprinkle tamari and sherry, set aside.
Fry beef (no marinade needed), add veggies back in.
Add chicken broth to cover, I use fish sauce instead of salt to give it a umami flavor then added Flavorgod Everything Seasoning Spicy but you can use any of your favorite spice seasoning to give this broth some oompf!

For more soup ideas, try this super fast shrimp and bok choy soup or turnip and pork soup which takes a bit longer. Enjoy!
Share some soups you’ve made in your wok from your part of the world!

Eleanor Hoh

Hours

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