First thing when I come to this neighborhood what comes to mind is where the hell will I park. Brickell has changed so much in the past 5 years, when I used to work at the Magazine there were no people walking around, now you have to elbow your way to everything around here.

My mission was to try this new place called Suviche, which from what I read is a combination of Sushi & Ceviche (genius!). I like this place so far because it is loacted in an ally, hidden, and I don’t know what it is with hidden places but I always get the feeling the food will be better, maybe is because it makes me think of someone saying shhh, or like “keep it as a secret”

Ok so now I am inside Suviche, this restaurant is all about the mixture between Peruvian and Japanese cuisine. I wanted to venture out my usual neighborhoods, plus my mother is coming next week, and because my parents come to visit me probably 3 times a year, and my mom being the foodie that she is, nothing surprise her too much, much like a junkie that needs a stronger dose, so every time she comes to visit I need to have a plan for new bites around town.

Suviche is a small place, something that resembles to a loft, quite small and there are a bunch of guys at the sushi bar, meaning, I see right now 4 people working behind the sushi bar, and that is a lot of people I think for the eight tables they have (yep, I counted them). This could actually mean that probably there is a lot of care, I mean, with the servers, I think there could be one person working in here for every table as I see people behind the counter, people in the waiter station, people with chef uniforms…

So I tried the lime roll for $4.50, crispy shrimp, cream cheese, salmon, and thin slices of lime on top. Well, the lime which at first I thought “please don’t do that to me” ended up being an amazing little pinch of added flavor, which is rare to find some talent in this city in the affordable sushi department with restaurants trying to make sushi when they should be doing steak.

My second roll was the suviche roll, oh boy this roll came smothered with their house sauce which is a light mayo, quite savory I might add. The roll is so good, an excellent choice as a half order (4 pieces) for $5. Now try to look for good sushi at that price in this town.

Suviche, a quick look at their sushi rolls

I ordered their house  ceviche called “ceviche, suviche” which is ceviche marinated in fresh squeezed lime and their suviche signature sauce, served with corn and glazed potatoe. This one was very special, beautifully served on a glass, limey, not too strong on the lime, I like that. Then I had the ceviche Mexicano, now this one was my favorite, a lot of fine chopping went into the sauce, fresh avocados (the ones that are good quality).

I specially liked that the red onion did not come in big chunks as it does on other places, the onion can come in too strong when the pieces are big – at Suviche there is a lot of care on the food they prepare, you can totally see this on every dish they put out. The prices are very affordable for the quality of food, it is a friendly place, everyone was smiling and the service was excellent. What else can you ask for a place that the entire bill was less than $25 – Love it!

SUVICHE

(SUSHI & CEVICHE)

49 SW 11TH STREET

MIAMI, FL 33130

Mon thru Sat 11:30 am – 10:00 pm

TEL. 305-960-7097

suviche.com

After driving twenty seven miles from North Miami Beach heading north to Lauderhill, we arrived at Joe’s Crab Shack. As I sat my friends knew exactly what they wanted to eat; I was busy looking at all of their interior decorations; I noticed every wall had hundreds of pictures, frames, sayings, items, anything and everything you can possibly mount on a wall. I bet children would love to see this place; there is so much going on, from the life-size great white shark to the twilights to the employees dancing, and for adults a chance to sit back and wait for the feast. The place feels a bit quirky. As we ate, a staff member announced something we couldn’t understand, then all servers stopped what they were doing and gathered together. For a moment we looked at each other waiting to distinguish what was happening. Next, they started dancing. I beg your pardon?? Any refill, any melted butter or fork you may need had to wait until the Car Wash song finished. It made our dining experience highly hilarious and thrilling. The best part, all the staff had big smiles and were laughing as they danced. I asked the server if it was a requirement to learn the steps in order to work here and she replied with a bright smile. Quirky! Let’s begin with the Seafood Feast!!!

As the server removed the lids from the pots, the first fishy catches you see are these orange spiky pointy legs, a scary movie for a small child, but a delight for adults. Joe’s Classic Streampot has Dungeness crab, snow crab, shrimp, sausages corn, and potatoes at $21.49 and with additional cost, a lobster. Every item in these pots, was incredibly juicy to my surprise.   The Dungeness crab is a West Coast Crab weighing 1 ½ to 4 Ib. The snow crab is smaller than the king crab, and has sweeter meat.

The Ragin’ Cajun has Dungeness crab, shrimp, sausage, corn potatoes at $24.49.  I sat back and watched my friends eat in silence, searching for a hidden piece of meat.  They were so concentrated, their eyes and fingers searching for treasures undisclosed in the pot, a sight I have never seen. Their backs arched, their fingers penetrating, discovering, dipping every white gold meat in melted butter. I enjoyed watching them working in silence devouring their meals, and while building their trash bucket. I adore watching people eat with pleasure.

The restaurant also has a gift shop with eccentric shirts featuring slogans like “Crabby like Daddy” or “Don’t Be A Shellfish”. Today, Joe’s Crab Shack is in 28 states and over 100 restaurants. We don’t mind driving to Lauderhill for a fresh catch. I really enjoyed the staffs spark, smiles, and entertaining acts that can lighten anyone’s today. If you are feeling crabby, have a crab and crab a beer.

Joe’s Crab Shank

4402 North University Drive,
Lauderhill, FL‎
(954) 749-2722‎ - www.joescrabshack.com

by Raquel Ortega