Friday, January 23, 2009
Foods / Restaurants 'Baisse Hit: Miel Reinterprets a Classic
Posted by Carrington Fox on Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 7:40 AM
Last weekend, we made a rare elective trip to a restaurant for purely social purposes. No notepad. No hidden camera. I made the reservation under my own name, then rather wantonly, my husband and I--gasp--ordered the same dish!
The meal in question was the bouillabaisse at Miel, Seema and Jimmy Phillips' industrially chic little French restaurant in the penumbra of Sylvan Park. Unlike the classic rustic medley of fish and shellfish, Chef Phillip's version delivered a 3-oz. portion of grouper, a decadent U10 scallop and a 3-oz. Madagascar prawn, all seared, deglazed with white wine and finished with sultry hit of butter. The trio of delicately cooked seafoods bathed in a shallow pool of rich fish stock with tender hunks of carrots, fennel, celery, onion and garlic, and was topped with a grilled tranche of housemade focaccia slathered with lightly tangy aioli.
An artful reinterpretation of a classic, Miel's bouillabaisse ($26) was anything but precious. We ripped the head off the prawn and sucked out the intense broth, and we sopped up every last drop of stew with the soft grilled bread. This weekend, Chef Phillips will add mussels to the mix, which will make it even more fun to eat with your fingers, using an empty shell as a pair of makeshift tweezers to pluck out the plump meat.
Also this weekend, the Phillipses will launch a brunch menu on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. A glimpse of the menu is available after the jump.
Cheese Selection 10
Three Cheeses with Marcona almonds, dried fruit and honey
Macerated Berries with Yogurt and Honey 8
Butter Lettuce Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette 6.5
Irish Steel Cut Oats Museli 10
With currants, apples, toasted pecans, cream and honey
Classic Omelet Florentine 12
Fresh spinach, mushrooms and mozzerella cheese
Orange Custard French Toast 12
Wild berry compote, creme fraiche, maple syrup
Braised Short Ribs 14
With roasted red potatoes and two poached eggs, bearnaise sauce
Roasted Red Potatoes 9
With daily vegetable saute and bearnaise sauce
Gulf Shrimp Ragout and Fall's Mill Grits 13
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great movie moment - James Coburn 'sussing out the whereabouts of nefarious evildoers by analysing the bouillabaisse on the dart that missed him (fired by the harpist, of course). It was some pesky saffron, as I recall, that led Our Man Flint to Marseilles. Apparently only one place in the world made bouillabaisse with saffron.
and then he saves the world from an evil plot hidden in Exotica cold cream...
ok, back to your normally scheduled discussion...
