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Simply, chef/owner Carmen Gonzalez's new place is the most exciting restaurant to open in South Florida in years. The eatery is actually three distinctly different experiences in one: regular restaurant, chef's dining room, and casual European-style wine bar with some unusually sophisticated bottles, 14 available by the glass, and an absolutely knockout menu of bar bites. Although strongly Latin-accented, Gonzalez's food is post New American rather than Nuevo Latino, with an insistence on fresh flavors (everything at Carmen is housemade from scratch, from the the catsup accompanying the shoestring potatoes to the pickles). It additionally reflects Latin America's increased influence over the past two decades since North America's food revolution first exploded. Highlights include a roasted duck tamale with vintage port wine sauce, sirloin and mango dumplings with a 17-ingredient AmerAsian sauce, lobster/avocado terrine with key lime mayo and plantain fritters, grilled whole pompano with nouvelle-ishly luscious takes on classic Puerto Rican mofongo and mojito, designer mini-sandwiches of adobe-rubbed roast pork, and the Ultimate chocolate soufflé.
The only chef with a Miami connection in the second season of Bravo's Top Chef Masters won last night's episode. After a bout of unlucky events, Carmen Gonzalez seemed an unlikely winner in an elimin... More »
Birthdays are important in the restaurant business. Celebrating your first full year signals that you have a chance of succeeding in the long term. Making it to five means the community has accepted you. A decade? You're good to go. But some... More »
To paraphrase an old folk song: Where have all the pastry chefs gone? A decade ago, having a pastry chef on staff at a South Florida restaurant was both de rigueur and a badge of honor. It implied that here, at least, dessert was a special... More »
When people ask me about my approach to reviewing restaurants, a quizzical look of dismay inevitably crosses their faces as I offer my stock reply: "Everywhere is somewhere else, and you get there in a car." They'd likely be even more... More »
BEST PUERTO RICAN RESTAURANT Carmen the Restaurant The David William Hotel 700 Biltmore Way Coral Gables 305-913-1944 Miami's better ethnic dining establishments present solid renditions of fan favorites, whether egg rolls, thin-crust pizza, Middle Eastern combos, or arroz con pollo. Rarely, however, do these places think outside the box. Carmen Gonzalez takes her native Puerto Rican cuisine out of its box, disassembles it, adds New American and Nuevo Latino ideas, puts everything... More »
BEST HAMBURGER Carmen the Restaurant 700 Biltmore Way Coral Gables 305-913-1944 Since her eponymous restaurant opened two years ago, chef Carmen Gonzalez has won so much national recognition for the upscale Nueva Puerto Rican-influenced fare in her venue's formal dining room that it's easy to forget half the place is a casual wine bar with its own menu of equally tasty light bites. And once you're committed to a bar meal, it's hard to turn down exotic stuff like rock shrimp empanadas... More »
This winner is no surprise. Chef Carmen Gonzalez's Latin-influenced, post-New American eatery has landed on the hottest-new-restaurant list of so many national publications that any other pick would be scandalous. If the place were booked any more solidly (even on weeknights), diners would have to crowd onto the chef's lap -- difficult given that Gonzalez is a petite four feet eleven. Nevertheless she turns out some mighty big, bold food. Though her heritage is Puerto Rican, her food is not... More »
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