This week on check Please South Florida a creative medley of flavors in the heart of Fort Lauderdale.

It was.

Divine.

Probably one of the best desserts I've had in a while.

A charming bistro in Miami Beach.

Came up perfectly medium rare, juicy and fantastic.

And a delicious culinary adventure in Coconut Grove.

I thought it was very welcoming.

It seemed like a neighborhood friendly spot.

Cultural culinary secrets and global flavors.

We have a passion for blending ingredients and seasonings from around the world.

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South Florida is provided by George and Helen Weaver and the Friends of South Florida PBS.

I was like, wait, if Tennessee was a drink, this is it.

Everything was meant to be a certain way and it was beautiful.

It just tasted very light and milky and delicious.

Nice food, spicy food.

And the beignets were the best.

Honestly, like, the best I've ever had.

Hello, I'm Michelle Bernstein and welcome to check please South Florida, the show where regular people from all over South Florida recommend and review their favorite restaurants.

This week we have a very special episode.

In studio are two amazing food writers who have tasted their way through South Florida and are ready to dish on their favorite picks.

Food reporter Michelle Muslera is ready to tell us the story of the dynamic duo that has created one of the most exciting and deliciously consistent menus in South Florida.

She says that the quintessential American fare is brought to impressive heights, thanks to the subtle and creative addition of French and Latin twists.

Get ready to be delighted by this Miami Beach spot.

But first, food writer, podcaster and returning champ, please guest Mike Mayo is ready to share with us why his pick should be at the top of your list.

He said that this spot features a menu that has been influenced by a delicious medley of international flavors.

Your taste buds will be blown away by this cozy, chef driven pick.

It's located in Fort Lauderdale and it's called the Catherine.

Hi, I'm Tim from the cafe in Fort Lauderdale.

My name is Marissa Ballou from the Katherine Fort Lauderdale.

The background and story of the Katherine is an ode to my wife and partner, Marissa Katherine Ballou, who I met over 28 years ago, not too far off of this street, Broward Boulevard.

And as high school sweethearts, I was on my road to pursue a career in Wall Street.

But she convinced me to follow my dream to become a chef.

So after many years of having restaurants all over the country and cooking all over the world, we decided to bring back the flavors that we fell in love with in our travels to the city where we fell in love.

Along with my front of the house team, I run fronts.

This is my first restaurant venture that my husband brought me into.

I think we're doing a pretty good job.

My family is Chinese, Indian, black from Trinidad and Marissa's parents are from Thailand and Colombia.

So you'll see a lot of that energy instilled in our food program.

But we're not one or the other.

Our food is very rich and soulful, and we have dishes from the Mediterranean to Southeast Asia, from Thailand to Japan.

I want guests to say that was bleeping delicious.

The Katherine is a love story.

Mikey, welcome back.

First of all, it's so good.

To see you, Michel.

Thank you.

Always a pleasure.

We love having you here.

You're so awesome.

Well, I love eating and talking about it, so I'm in the right place.

Tell me about the Katherine.

Not so much food yet.

Let's just jump into the restaurant itself, driving up to it and what you find when you walk in.

Well, he opened it.

I've lost track of time with the whole pandemic, but it was a couple of years ago.

It came.

The space came open.

It used to be another restaurant called Foxy Brown.

They moved and it's perfect for that small, independent, chef driven place.

It's in Victoria Park neighborhood.

Have you been there before, Michelle?

No.

First time.

First time I.

Had.

What did you think walking in.

So when you drive past it, you can miss it.

You might not know that there is a restaurant there.

It was completely unassuming.

We were really not sure what to expect with my husband, but as soon as we walked in we were really impressed with the dim lighting, the romantic atmosphere, the beautiful bar, very minimalist decor, but really gorgeous.

And we got a beautiful table by the window.

It was a Saturday night, perfect date night and we were impressed already walking in.

Tymon has really interesting background and it shows in his food.

He's a Trinidadian and Chinese.

So let's talk about what you had this last time you went.

Last time I started with the hamachi crudo with a black garlic and then a dashi that they poured over it.

And it was just one of these, like beautiful South Florida dishes that well composed, gorgeous, Instagrammable, but better yet, more delicious.

I ate it all up.

Then you had a red snapper.

I think it was like a curry.

Yeah, it was his red snapper in a red curry sauce.

Flavorful.

That's using some of the, you know, the island and the Southeast Asian influences has flavor, but not too spicy, but just enough to keep things interesting.

It's delicious.

It really knows how to work his magic around so many spices that other people wouldn't know.

And mainly because, I mean, that's what he grew up in.

So what did you have, Michelle?

So as soon as we walked in, we were greeted by the wonderful aromas of the two dishes of the people that were sitting next to us.

The first one was the charred Indian style corn with a masala aioli sauce.

The corn was delicious.

I love charred corn.

What's not to love?

Oh, no.

On the cup.

Okay.

It came with this really beautiful sauce.

It was an aioli with masala.

It was very delicately drizzled, and I really wish there would have been more of it, because we could have.

Delicious.

And I know next time I will order it again and ask for more of it, because I thought that that really elevated the dish.

And then we got the charred Thai style cabbage salad, which I thought would be just a light way to start the meal.

It was a hearty salad.

It was absolutely delicious.

Very surprising.

Absolutely.

For me.

Yes.

And then the short rib orecchiette.

Tell me about.

That.

Yes.

So we were driving there and we're already dreaming about the orecchiette.

I had read so much about it, it was perfectly executed.

Tell me about your dessert.

You both had dessert.

The chocolate pudding.

Again.

Very nice.

And the other thing they do is like a brioche.

Like a kind of like a French toast.

That's like a bread pudding.

And that's something that's always wonderful.

You had the torrijas, right?

Yes.

Tell me.

About that.

So my husband and I were completely full by the time we ended our main course, but we had to have some dessert and we ordered the torrijas, which are a Spanish take or Mexican take on the classic French toast.

They were absolutely divine and we wished we each would have gotten our own.

We were fighting over the last bite and my husband is a gentleman, so he let me have it.

It was seared in, I believe, olive oil, and it was crispy on the outside and custardy on the inside.

It was served with a scoop of homemade cinnamon ice cream and caramelized.

It was divine.

Probably one of the best desserts I've had in a while.

Let's talk service a little bit.

Tell me about.

It.

Oh, fine.

It was.

You know, this is a place where he they're serving, you know, some more ambitious food and flavors.

And the servers are familiar with the menu and the ingredients.

They try to guide you through it.

They'll talk about what your tastes and preferences are.

So yeah, it's good.

Good Polish service, but not overbearing at all.

How did you find the prices compared to the food?

Is there value in it?

Yes, I think so.

I thought it was very fair.

Uh, the high quality of the dishes, of the flavors, of the ingredients, the service is service was impeccable.

The ambiance, the entire package, I thought was just worked.

And I was surprised.

I thought we would be paying more, so I thought it was fair and actually a good value.

All right.

Mike, well, the Catherine was your pick.

Sum it up for me, please.

This is the kind of restaurant that Broward and Fort Lauderdale needs more of.

Beautiful, interesting, innovative, perfect.

Michelle.

I think that the Catherine is worth the drive to Fort Lauderdale.

It's perfect for a date night.

Perfectly executed food, beautiful ambiance, top notch service.

What's not to love?

Well, for a unique dining experience, you can make your way to the Catherine.

Located at 723 East Broward Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.

They're open Wednesday to Sunday for dinner.

Reservations are accepted where the average price for a dinner without drinks is about $60.

Now, food reporter Michelle Muslera is ready to share the outline for her top pick.

It's located in Miami Beach and it's called Silver Lake Bistro.

Hi, I'm Sandy Sanchez, co-owner of Silverlake Bistro in Miami Beach, and this is my gorgeous husband.

Ben, the chef at Silver Lake Bistro.

Nine years ago this month, actually, we moved to Florida from California, and we started our first restaurant.

About five years after that, we were ready to kind of explore the other side of our experience and food.

The concept of the restaurant was California cuisine, and what that means to us is a menu that incorporates a lot of different styles of food.

We call it modern American Bistro.

So we have, you know, some classics like, you know, mac and cheese, which we make with gnocchi.

We have a burger, we have roasted chicken.

There's a lot going on in the restaurant in terms of decor, but I feel like I've pulled a little bit from all of these different things that have influenced me personally while I lived in California.

Yeah, I think you'll find like a little wink to different retro vibes in here.

Back when we started the restaurant almost six years ago, when we started Silver Lake, it was kind of it was it was very quiet.

Everyone was so happy when we opened here.

It's like, you know, people live in the neighborhood, they come, they don't wait for a birthday or Mother's Day or something special to come here.

It's just the neighborhood where.

Hungry.

Okay, let's go to Silver Lake, have a burger, go back home.

Silver Lake Bistro is a place where you can have a fantastic meal without the fuss.

So tell me a little about the story because it's a really sweet story here.

So Silver Lake is a bistro in Normandy and the Normandy neighborhood.

Um, the food is California inspired.

Which is to say that it's very focused on excellent ingredients.

They don't mess too much with the with the preparations.

Mike, tell.

Me your first thoughts.

First thoughts.

This was my first time in there, and I'd heard about it, and walking in immediately felt comfortable.

It's that also cozy.

Uh, comfort food on the menu.

And, you know, you definitely felt the French vibes.

I loved it, particularly because I went on a Thursday night when they have half price off all bottles of wine, and I got a nice triple digit wine that was only 50 bucks, a beautiful pinot from California, the Golden I, and they properly decanted it.

And I was like, I'm in the right place.

They're treating and they sell.

The wines, by the way, at Normandy.

Normandy.

Nice.

Um, okay, let's talk about the food.

Tell me what you had this last time.

All right.

So my favorite dish to have there is the burger.

It is famous for a reason or for two reasons.

Well, actually, it has two patties.

It's perfectly executed.

And the fact that it has two patties allows them to really sear it nicely on both sides.

Uh, it has some sharp cheddar.

It has a nice fluffy brioche, and it has a porcini mushroom butter on one side of the patties and a steak sauce on the other.

So it's absolutely flavorful.

They use their own top secret signature meat blend or beef blend.

Lava bomb.

Yeah.

You want to laugh?

Yes.

So I went with my son and he had everything you had, especially the appetizer.

Oh, yes.

So we started off with the carrots.

Something light.

Every time I see roasted carrots on the menu I have to try them.

And they were perfectly executed.

These were heirloom carrots.

Multicolor.

They were really nice and sweet.

They were served on a bed of ricotta with honey and topped with crunchy pistachios.

And then it had a little kick of something smoky and spicy on top, which was espelette Pepper from France, I believe.

Correct.

So it was very nicely balanced.

And then the second one was something a bit richer, which was a gnocchi mac and cheese.

These are really delicious gnocchi, pillowy.

They're seared in duck fat and they're topped with a crumbs of croutons.

So you have all the why not?

Why not bring in duck fat Mike you had almost the same thing, right?

I went with another couple and we tend to over order and overeat.

So we had practically the whole menu.

But we were going to get the gnocchi and we didn't.

Now I'm filled with regret.

You had the carrots, but we had the carrots.

I mean, what I appreciated about the menu is that it was a lot of vegetarian dishes.

We had the okra, which it was kind of a blistered pan fried.

We also had the burger.

It's now on my list of best burgers in South Florida.

Yeah, that burger.

Is crazy good.

And what I also appreciated about that a lot of times when you get those double kind of like the smash burgers, they can't cook them to medium or medium rare.

This one I requested, medium rare came out perfectly, medium rare, juicy and fantastic.

Okay.

Missile dessert.

Dessert.

Yes.

So everyone gets a pot of cream over there.

But I wanted to try something different, so we went for the salted butter and sugar crepe.

It was divine.

I kept looking for the dulce de leche inside because I thought that there was caramel, but it was actually the salted butter with the sugar that was caramelized.

I'd almost rather butter and sugar.

I love that it was so delicate, so elegant, and we loved it.

And you had.

The butterscotch.

The Scotch pot, the pot de creme.

Usually we see then they do have a chocolate one.

But we said, yeah, we haven't had butterscotch in a while and the three of us split it.

It was so rich.

Butterscotch.

And it was, you know, a little bit forgotten.

Don't you think?

Oh, yeah, it is.

And I don't want to forget it anymore, because having that with a nice hot cup of the French press coffee, it was just a great way to finish a meal.

Yeah.

So wine list.

I'm guessing that you were pretty happy with that.

Especially with the 50%.

Off Half Price wine night.

Again, I got this bottle of wine that usually you see retail for more than what I paid at the restaurant that night, which means, you know, if they want to give the wine away like that, I'm more than happy to drink it.

Especially take advantage of it.

Howard.

Prices.

Speaking of prices, I.

Thought they were very fair.

Um, very good value for the price that you're paying and you're getting excellent food service.

Oh, yeah.

Excellent.

And again, not rush.

We didn't know what we wanted to order.

And you know, we ordered our drink and then they didn't rush us at all.

It was a good, good service okay.

All right.

Well Michelle Silverlake Bistro was your pick.

Sum it up for us, please.

So Silverlake is a California inspired bistro with a French twist with excellent food, great service, and a beautiful dining room.

Mike.

It's a place that strikes me as one of those neighborhood joints, but it's worth a drive because the menu is comfort food that is mostly well executed, and I found it great value.

For a charmingly good meal, you can visit Silverlake Bistro, located at 12.

1170 first Street in Miami Beach.

They're open Wednesday through Monday for dinner.

Reservations are accepted where the average price for dinner without drinks is about $65.

If you've never tasted Nuoc Cham, I think it's time.

And if you've never made it, I think it's doubly time.

So let's just jump into the dressing.

Traditionally, Nuoc Cham or Nuoc Cham is fish sauce, lime juice and sugar.

What you add to it can change it.

Summer tradition like the garlic and the chilies.

And I'm doing now today, adding a little bit of water makes it a little more, let's just say delicate or subdued.

So we're going to do that as well.

So we've got two cloves of grated garlic in the bowl.

To that I'm adding.

And as you can see we juiced our own limes because it has to be really fresh lime juice equal parts of lime juice fish sauce.

And I'm going to do equal part of water as well in there I've got some Thai chilies that I'm going to throw in.

These have been sliced from about 1 to 2 Thai chilies.

If you don't like the heat, then don't use them.

If you like a little heat, you can use a jalapeno.

And then finally the sugar.

You can use regular white sugar.

However, I love this palm sugar.

Vietnamese nuke Cham usually uses this palm sugar.

It is quite delicious.

Now you do have to grate it so it comes like this.

Uh, it's really cool.

It's like the shape of, like, almost a hockey puck.

And you just grate it on a box grater, and we're using the same amount of that sugar as everything else.

Now, I wanted to show you how delicious Nuke Nam is.

And to me, the perfect way to do that is in a fresh, crisp salad.

So in this bowl, I have watercress, a little bit of thin julienne onions, some mint for freshness, and cilantro.

If you're one of those people that hate cilantro, just omit it.

You can add parsley if you want to or nothing at all.

All right.

Our Nuoc Cham is well mixed.

I'm going to add a Florida avocado half to the salad.

I'm just going to slice it up in its own peel.

Like.

So finally, let's go ahead and dress this beautiful salad of ours with our new charm.

Mix that up.

Make sure everything gets tossed in to that delicious sauce.

I love watercress with this.

If it's not your favorite green vegetable for a salad, then you can use whatever lettuces that you like.

All right everybody, that is our venture into Vietnam and Siam.

I hope you make this and enjoy it as much as I do.

I can't wait to dig in.

And now we're going to discuss our third restaurant, which has been highly requested by many of you at home.

It's a delicious and authentic gem that will transport you to Thailand.

It's located in Coconut Grove and it's called Atchana's Homegrown Thai.

Hi, my name is Archana Cappellini.

I'm the owner of Akana's Homegrown Thai here in Coconut Grove.

Our family has been in the restaurant business since 1978.

Here in Miami.

I wanted to incorporate all the family recipes that we have had in the past years.

All of these recipes have been in the family since, you know, we were in Thailand and since we've been here, we have a small menu, so it's limited everything we do.

I like to think that we do very well.

Our noodles are spectacular.

Any of the salad, the lapc-i, the nemsa that the noodle dish that are very popular would be, of course, the pad Thai and the Siu.

Our customer feels that this is become a family of like a second home to them, because we do have locals that come in once a week.

This is my home.

A lot of the stuff that I decorate and everything here has a lot of personal feel to it.

A Chinese homegrown Thai is a neighborhood restaurant that serves fresh, authentic food that will.

All our customers are friends and family.

So you have to understand, you guys, this restaurant has been reviewed and sent in almost more than any other.

So many people have asked us to review it.

We just haven't had a chance to because we go through a lot of restaurants here in check, please.

But we thought that this was a perfect time for the two of you to try it and tell us about it.

Mike, what do you think?

Well, it's a throwback because it's again in the heart of Coconut Grove.

And, you know, the Grove has gotten built up and fancified and all these changed.

Yeah.

I mean, I.

Remember the old.

Grove.

Yeah.

So you walk in.

I guess this place has been here about six years, but it feels like the old grove, you know, and it's, you know, very unpretentious and a little bit small and maybe a little cramped inside.

But they got a lot of sidewalk seating, and, you know, it's a place that's coming from, again, a mom and pop run by a couple.

The food and the flavors were were very good.

We'll get into food in just a second.

Michelle, what'd you think first?

First walking in.

First walking in.

I thought that the interior was very casual.

I liked the jigsaw puzzle type of decor that they had on the walls with the wood.

Uh, the big mural with the people eating in the street.

Typical scene that you see in Bangkok.

And I thought it was very welcoming.

It seemed like a neighborhood friendly spot as well.

Okay, let's get into the food, Mike.

Tell me about it.

We started with Nam SA.

It's the ground pork.

A nice one of my favorite.

They usually serve it on top of lettuce.

Yes, so you can enjoy the freshness of the lettuce.

It's a little spicy.

Usually chilies in the nam.

Okay, we.

Ordered it medium and it had a sufficient punch and kick.

Had that tiger tear salad, which is, you know, like the sliced beef on top of lettuce.

How about your main course?

Main course.

We got the basil ribs, which is one of their house specialties, and they modified it because the friend I went with had certain allergies and they were pork.

Rib or beef.

Rib.

It was a I'm going to say beef rib.

Yeah, very good flavor.

They had to modify it a little bit to remove some carrots from the base and the sauce.

But it was good.

It was delectable.

We plowed through the whole thing.

Okay, Michelle.

So we started with the larb guy, which is a minced chicken salad.

It's very herbaceous.

It has this very zesty tamarind sauce that kept us coming back for more.

It's quite generous for a salad.

It had a lot of the chicken, so we had to pace ourselves because we had more things coming.

The second thing that we had was the pad Kimo, which translates to drunken noodles.

Okay, I asked, what does this mean?

Are they made with alcohol?

Why are they drunken?

And apparently Pat Kimo drunken noodles are popular in Thailand because people have them as a late night dish after a night of drinking.

How was your Thai doughnuts?

The Thai doughnuts were delicious as well.

They came with a few dipping options.

They had crushed nuts, shredded coconut, this caramel sauce, and everything was drizzled with condensed milk.

Milk?

Yes.

Always.

Yeah.

Traditional.

Tell me a little bit about service.

So the service was a little scattered.

The usual front of the house person is the husband of Archana and he wasn't there that night.

So I guess when he's around, I think maybe it's a little bit of a tighter ship, I understood.

How about pricing?

I thought it was fair.

I went for lunch and I thought that the dishes were quite abundant.

We had a lot of leftovers.

I thought it was a good, good value.

I thought it was a little on the higher side, but again, knowing where it is, it's a high rent district now.

And you know, I'm spoiled because I live in Broward and I have a lot of good Thai places that have, you know, similar dishes and flavors, but, you know, a little bit lower priced.

But for the neighborhood, I can understand why.

It's parking right now.

Difficult in Coconut Grove.

Yes.

Yeah.

Quite, quite challenging.

We went.

For lunch.

It was really a question.

But go ahead.

Yeah.

No parking can be a challenge.

We went early for an early lunch, so we found parking quickly.

But I every time I go to the Grove I have that problem.

So I can see that being a situation sometimes.

Okay, well, Atchana's Homegrown Thai was our audience pick.

So Mike, sum it up for us.

I would say I could see why it's a very popular spot in that neighborhood with locals because it has really, you know, authentic traditional Thai flavors in a unpretentious setting.

Michelle.

Yeah, I have to agree.

Authentic Thai in casual environment with really nice people watching in the heart of the Grove.

Okay, for creative and locally sourced Thai dishes, you can head on over to China's homegrown Thai.

Located at 3194 Commodore Plaza in Coconut Grove.

Reservations are accepted, with the average price for dinner without drinks is about $65.

We've had a wonderful time on.

I want to thank my guests, Mike Mayo and Michelle Muslera, for more about the restaurants and recipes featured in the show, or if you'd like to apply to be a guest reviewer, visit us at check.

Com and as always, you can find us on Facebook and Instagram.

Join us next time for new guests recommending their favorite restaurants right here on check Please South Florida.

I'm Michelle Bernstein and I'll see you all then.

Thank you.

Cheers.

Cultural culinary secrets and global flavors.

We have a passion for blending ingredients and seasonings from around the world.