March 03, 2014

The Dome Restaurant in Coral Gables

The Dome, let's talk about your Ceviche...

Chef Nilton knows what he is doing at The Dome, and I mean it. We arrive at what we felt was a very intimate space on Miracle Mile - Coral Gables - for those out of towners. This is a restaurant you may miss if you do not know the reason why you should stop here. Let me now say that Miami doesn't know much about sushi, but we know about ceviche. Yes, you can get great sushi at a high-end hotels but if you are a foodie like me, you want to go to places where locals are crafting good food. I consider locals anyone that has a Miami zip code on their driver license. A high-end hotel can always bring a trained chef, but finding a local place where sushi is good and authentic in Miami is like trying to have French cuisine in Little Haiti (I know you get it).

Okay let's go back to this restaurant, Le Dome is good, I mean, they have the classics and the no so classic and some surprises like mussels with French fries, yes, I get it, a Peruvian chef knows how to make mussels but I come here for his ceviche. I have to sat that the tostones with mojo we got served while waiting on the food were the best one (by far) I ever got. They were amazingly well prepared, crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside. The mojo (garlicky Cuban sauce) was very buttery, I am not sure how the chef prepared such a simple appetizer packed with powerful flavors. It is ahrd to get the green plantains done right, you usually get them dry, cold or cold, but chef Nilton was able to make a me fall in love with green plantains all over again.

ceviche from the dome restaurant in coral gables maimi

Ceviche is what we know how to do in Miami. The way I explain at the sobe tours when people that never every tried ceviche before is as opposed to sushi, the fish in ceviche is cooked in lemon and lime juices so it is not fully raw. The ceviche from chef Nilton was one of the freshest ceviche I had in a long time. It is made with mahi mahi which is not you will not often get a ceviche with such a rich, tender fish. I will say is the Gucci of ceviches. The leche de tigre was so delicious! Leche de tigre is what is left on a well prepared ceviche after you eat all the fish. It is supposed to be drank right off the plate in Peru but we are in Miami so I will keep it to the customs here. I keept scooping the leche de tigre until the last drop.