Michael's Genuine Food and Drink

Date
1/13/10

Location
Miami, FL
130 N.E. 40th Street, Atlas Plaza, Miami Design District

What I ate
Roasted forelle pears stuffed with goat cheese
Grilled local wahoo with curried lentils

Who went
Kelly

Website
http://www.michaelsgenuine.com/content/home

Thoughts
Wow, what great food!  I spend a lot of my time in a town relatively devoid of great restaurants, but I still get to indulge in a favorite past time of mine - reading menus of nice places I won't visit.  I know, it sounds a little disappointing, but I really do enjoy seeing what people want to do and getting inspired to make my own creations.  Luckily for me, I was able to do both with Michael's; I knew I was going eventually, but had time to scan the menu and create before I actually went there.

My first impression was that it seemed a pretty swanky place, a nice spot for some relaxing food and drinks to cap off a long work week or a good date location.  The setup wasn't actually ideal for either - our table was very close to another and, not only was it a little loud in general, but we could hear the conversation next to us with no effort - but they still pulled it off quite well, making up for any shortcomings with the service and quality of food.  Our waitress was at the table quickly, making good conversation and answering questions about the menu without seeming intrusive.  It was pretty impressive how she and the bus boys were able to do a good job with the tables so close to each other, but I guess that just comes with practice.

Now on to the important part - the food.  The pears were a tad small, but they worked well as an appetizer.  They had a great roasted flavor with a little bit of sweetness that was far from overbearing.  The texture and taste of the cheese worked well with the fleshy pears.  They were probably not fork-and-knife food, but it seems like that's too classy an establishment to eat anything with your hands.  It was worth the work, anyway.  As good as the pears were, the entree was so much better.  The fish was delicious and very well cooked.  It was still quite succulent despite being grilled, and it had a bit of that blackened tasted to it.  The fact that it was local, a wahoo, and a hearty serving was certainly nice, too.  I was a little surprised by the rest of the dish, in a good way.  I expected the focus of the dish to be good, but I really wasn't thinking about the supporting cast.  The lentils were nice and al dente with awesome curry flavor.  The fish was topped with a parsley gastrique which was one of the tastiest things I've eaten in a while.  There was recognizable parsley flavor with a handful of spices that fully complimented the fish and lentils.  As far as things I've had on one fork, a big bite of lentils and wahoo topped with the gastrique is very close to the top.  When I read a menu and try to get inspired, I usually try to make something a bit different from what the menu reads.  You can be certain that I'm going to try to recreate this dish as close to the original as possible.

P.S.  Neither thing I ate paired with my St. Peter's Cream Stout, but it was all delicious, anyway.

Recap
Pros - awesome food, great entree portions
Cons - a little cramped, a little loud, a little expensive
Overall - No, you're not going to go here every day.  You probably won't even go here more than once a month unless you're really raking in the big bucks.  That said, if you're in Miami for a few days or for a year, you'd be missing out if you skipped a visit to Michael's.  Take a look at the menu online - it changes slightly with the seasons - and make the trip there.