Doma Polo Bistro

• Hours: Monday through Friday noon to 1 a.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to midnight.
  Price: $$$ $$$
  Payment Types: All Major Credit Cards, cash
• Attire: Casual
  Features: Business Dining, Patio/Sidewalk Dining
  Serving: Dinner, Lunch
• Alcohol: Full bar
  Reservations: Accepted
  Parking: Street

Description

Doma Polo Bistro is much like the classic Argentine bistros in Buenos Aires -- except it's in downtown Miami, across from the American Airlines Arena. The menu lists traditional dishes, such as salpicón and milanesa. Its pages are filled with erroneous translations from Spanish to English. (If you think the "wiped" cream on the panqueques de dulce de leche is some experiment in molecular gastronomy, think again.) Among the best offerings is the entraña, a hefty nine-ounce portion of perfectly grilled skirt steak, served with an astringent salsa criolla -- a mix of chopped tomatoes, peppers, vinegar, and onions -- and a smooth purée of carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squash. Then there are the empanadas, fried pockets of delectable dough offered with stuffings of beef, chicken, spinach, or corn. The corn variety, which pairs maize with a thick, creamy béchamel filling, oozes with the slightly sweet flavor of the tender golden grain. But poor service contrasts the generous portions and mostly delectable fare. This doesn't seem to bother diners, though. On our visits, most patrons were speaking with rambunctious porteño accents and wearing La Martina polo shirts while eating matambritos and downing bottles of Malbec. Perhaps for them, dining at Doma Polo Bistro was like a taste of home.