SUGARCANE raw bar grill
I asked around for Miami restaurant suggestions for my latest Road Trips For Food and SUGARCANE raw bar grill was suggested by quite a few people. Turns out, I have very smart friends.
I, also, have wonderful sorority sisters and two of them, Lori and Teresa, met me at SUGARCANE raw bar grill. The restaurant has an open, airy feel to it with a gorgeous indoor/outdoor bar and three kitchens – robata, hot and raw bar.
The menu has something for everyone and our server, Hiram, was incredibly helpful with his in depth descriptions and suggestions. One great tip to keep in mind is that many of the dishes are tapas style. The smaller portions allowed us to order several dishes that we shared.
The food comes out of the three kitchens as soon as it is ready, so we were all able to start eating at the same time. This was, definitely, to our benefit because we ordered dishes each one of us wanted to try. Initially, we thought perhaps we had not order enough food but, quickly, realized we were wrong. By the time our last dish came out we had forgotten that we ordered it and were nearly full.
I say, “Nearly,” because the three of us knew that there were still five desserts to taste. Oh, the challenges one has going on a Road Trips For Food!
It was very hard to pick a favorite, so we chose three!
The Torrejas is best described as crisp French toast with maple caramelized apples bathing in a pool of cinnamon maple butter that is served with cinnamon ice cream. This dessert is just amazing. Teresa summed it up best when she said that it was, “French toast but even better.” The edges of the toast were packed with maple butter. It was tough to swallow each bite, because it meant the taste would be lost too quickly.
Key Lime Parfait was probably the most refreshing of the desserts. Think of a dissected key lime pie and you will have a good idea of the bottom two layers. Finely processed graham cracker crust crumbs lined the bottom of the glass with a key lime meringue sitting over them. The hibiscus consommé that topped this dessert was delightful.
When it comes to s’mores, I thought I had tried every variety. SUGARCANE raw bar grill offered us a new one with its Milk Chocolate S’mores Tart. The base is a chocolate biscuit crust. Rather than a ganache consistency for the chocolate, the restaurant made theirs with a very light airy milk chocolate layer. The homemade marshmallows were delicious, too.
The only part of the meal that was not good was the almond ice cream. When we mentioned this to Hiram he went back to the kitchen and several people tried the almond ice cream. With apologies he explained that something had happened to it, which caused the unpleasant taste. Based on how scrumptious everything else was that we ate at SUGARCANE raw bar grill, I am sure this was a one time only occurrence and would not hesitate to order the Milk Chocolate S’mores Tart again.
The Piña Colada Tres Leches was quite interesting. I would not have thought the flavors would go together but they, actually, do. Tres Leches is on the bottom, which is then topped with a rum mousse, coconut sorbet and sous vide rum pineapples. I had not heard of cooking the pineapples sous vide and loved the twist.
Our fifth dessert was the Guava Cheesecake Pastelito. The cream cheese cheesecake was baked on a graham cracker crust and then topped with guava and Chantilly cream. The taste of the cheesecake was quite good but the consistency was not as creamy as we would have expected. Pastelitos are baked puff pastries and these were out of this world. If I had room, I would have ordered a few more Pastelitos because they were that good.
The time with my sorority sisters was special and it is so wonderful that the bond remains strong 30 years after we graduated college. Time flies by when sharing delicious food with dear friends in a setting as lovely as SUGARCANE raw bar grill .
You better believe I will be heading back to SUGARCANE raw bar grill. We could not have asked for better service or better food. That’s what I call an outstanding restaurant.
SUGARCANE raw bar grill
3252 Northeast First Avenue
Miami, Florida 33137
786-369-0353
http://sugarcanerawbargrill.com
