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At the Rusty Pelican in Key Biscayne, Fla., executive chef Fiorela Cornejo makes a traditional Chinese bao bun, but mixes in the purple Philippine yam ube to give it an arresting color.
While the bao steams, she toasts tempura fried shrimp and peanuts. She puts the shrimp in the bao and then dresses it with a truffle eel sauce made with sake, mirin, sugar, soy sauce, and truffle oil. Next comes pickled cucumber and carrots, and finally the toasted peanuts.
For an even more dramatic presentation, the bao are served in a steam basket with dry ice around it, resulting in a swirling cloud of carbon dioxide.
Price: $21
At Osumi Cocktail & Sushi Bar, which opened last month in Coral Gables, Fla., head chef Seiya Noborikawa thinly slices raw Japanese wagyu beef, places it over sushi rice, and brushes it with a spicy nitsume sauce (also called eel sauce and made of caramelized soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and a little chile). He tops that with a thin slice of daikon and then adds a mousse made by blending avocado with silky tofu, and tops it with fried cooked quinoa. He garnishes it with micro cilantro.
Price: $16 per piece
Over-the-top garnishes on Bloody Marys have been popular for a while, and this one at Atlantic Beer and Oyster in Winter Park, Fla., was developed by chef Omar Torres and beverage director Sean Barber to highlight the restaurant’s seafood and other premium ingredients.
To make it, they fill a glass halfway with ice and then add 1.5 ounces of Tito’s Handmade Vodka and 3 ounces of Filthy Bloody Mary Mix.
Next the place a celery rib vertically against the glass’s inside edge, followed by a snow crab leg on the opposite side of the glass. Next comes a lobster salad bruschetta, which goes on the rim, followed by a skewer of meat and cheese, starting with prosciutto scrunched into a flower shape, then a 2-inch piece of Gouda, a 2-inch piece of chorizo, another Gouda stick and a then a slice of chorizo sliced in half. That goes in the middle of the glass. Next to it is a skewer made with an olive, a cherry tomato, a shishito pepper and two cucumber spears.
Three shrimps are then hooked on the rim and, if necessary, the glass is filled with more Bloody Mary mix.
Price: $39
For this dish on the brunch menu at Palette 22, a “global tapas” restaurant that opened last month in Washington, D.C.’s Union Market District, executive chef Santiago Lopez uses miniature watermelons, which he says are juicier and have fewer seeds, and cuts them into bite-sized pieces. Then he tosses the watermelon in yuzu juice, vacuum seals it and lets it compress for 24 hours. Then he mixes in some Tajín.
He plates the watermelon with creamy Panela cheese on top along with serrano peppers, mint, Delfino cilantro, and mint oil.
Separately he blends together Jarritos Mandarin soda, juice from Japanese Kabosu citrus, and serrano peppers. He pours that into a seltzer bottle and serves it as an accompaniment.
“We first thought about doing a traditional shrimp aguachile, but we wanted to have a vegetarian option that could be enjoyed on the summer patio,” Lopez said. “While developing the dish we had some Jarritos Mandarin soda hanging around in the kitchen and then decided, why not? We got ahold of Kabosu citrus juice and made the sauce, and it all came together nicely.”
Price: $13
At Chica & The Don, a Latin American restaurant and cocktail lounge that opened last month in New York City’s Flatiron district, executive chef Michelle Chan blanches shrimp with parsley, lemon, and garlic and then shocks it in ice water.
The snapper is broken down and lightly cured with salt for 30 minutes to firm up the flesh.
Meanwhile red onion is thinly sliced on a mandolin and run under cold water to remove some of the sharpness.
Chan then makes a sauce of coconut milk, aji amarillo paste, mango nectar, and lime juice.
All of that is mixed together with a little more lime juice plus chives and diced mango. It’s served with house-made plantain chips.
“It's a relatively simple dish that would be easy for anyone to put together. The flavors work together really well. The sauce is a bit creamy, spicy, sweet, and tangy, hitting all the notes you want in a ceviche,” Chan said.
Price: $25
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