Miro – Dinner – June 19th, 2017 – Downtown Los Angeles, DTLA.

Downtown Los Angeles has so many new fantastic restaurants; it has really turned into its own microcosm. What Miro has to offer is a big city feel with incredible attention to detail, and delicious cuisine.

Miro is off of Wilshire and Figueroa Street. It’s sleek and minimalistic design is destined to immerse you in an unforgettable delightful dining experience. The restaurant uses an array of top-notch, high-quality fresh ingredients that will get your taste buds going. Everything is house made; their charcuterie, their perfectly fresh cooked pasta and the exquisite ingredients they use for Mediterranean dishes and tapas. Miro delivers an outstanding food variety that will certainly please every palate alongside their fine selection of whiskeys and wines.

Kevin Willis my very generous host, gave me a nice overview of the restaurant, having had his 1 year anniversary party a little while back, and my assistant attending and writing about it, I was all excited to taste this innovative cuisine.

When you walk in your are shocked, this is a stand alone building in this bustling downtown area, they have managed to make you feel like your in a very urban environment, but with a nice modern feel. The interior is very contemporary and stylish; it has lot of very high-end nuances that make for a sexy environment. The gorgeous bar and the overhead light fixtures add a touch of elegance. The Whiskey bar is hidden and secretive, it almost has a speak-easy vibe. The whole place is very sophisticated, a welcome space for all of the other boring establishments in the neighborhood.

Here’s what I tried:

Cocktails:

Elder Fashion – Flymouth gin, elderflower, and orange bitters. This cocktail is only for a Gin drinker, you really have to enjoy the taste of Gin, but it is very refreshing.

Come On…Chai Me – Titos, chai orgeat, lemon, and orange curacao. This is a very invigorating drink, you could have many of these because it is tropical and you can’t taste the alcohol.

Grey Goose Martini, a real winner, simple and direct.

Small Plates:

Wood-Grilled Peach – burrata, local honey, prosciutto, and saba. When you add the creamy burrata with the slice of prosciutto and a piece of basil, you’re getting the best Italian salad on the planet. The peaches are luscious and savory at the same time. The texture, the sweetness and the grilling combination of flavors make for an excellent salad, perfect, gorgeous presentation. The basil adds a splash of an Italian bitter herb that you’re familiar with.

Wild Local Crudo – Meyer lemon, pickled chili, mint, and Calabrian chili oil; it is spicy and tangy. The herbs on top are mint. The red pepper gives a little bit of kick. The salmon is raw but perfectly cooked from the acid in the lemon.

Eggplant Pahi – spiced eggplant, herb yogurt, and house-made flat bread. All vegetarian, the bread is grilled and handmade. The labneh adds just the perfect texture and makes it creamy and savory at the same time, simply wonderful.

Pastas:

Rigatoni- wild mushrooms, truffle butter, and Parmesan. They use wild mix mushrooms, which change every season. The butter and the Parmesan cheese make a wonderful creamy texture that just melts into your mouth. This pasta is otherworldly.

Squid Ink Corzetti- lobster, tarragon, cherry tomato, and saffron. The dough used for this pasta is from Genova. The lobster is soft and tender and was a perfect combination.

Pizzas:

Italian Sausage- mozzarella, tomato, arugula and lemon; this pizza reminded me of my time in Italy. It has just the right amount of sausage. They use pure imported Italian flour. The tomato sauce was cooked to perfection, not watery and thick enough to perfectly blend with the arugula and lemon. This is is a top-notch savory pizza.

Large Plates:

Lamb Kofta Tagine – green harissa, cage free egg, pine nut, raisin, and grilled bread. This is Kevin’s personal favorite dish. The lamb is overwhelming with all its spicy flavors. It’s so earthy, and smoky yet spicy. It leaves your palate with an aroma of cloves and curry. The flavor is a mix of Indian, Middle Eastern, and Iranian seasonings. They used preserved lemons on top, spicy harissa and a spice mix.

Desserts:

Devil’s Whiskey Mousse Cake, Choco- whiskey ganache, anglaise, cocoa nib-almond tuile, it is so delectable and good; you just want to bathe yourself in this luscious desert.

Mascarpone Cheese Cake, Caramel, marshmallow, Nutella Chantilly, Chono-nut streusel. The caramel will knock your socks off an all of the other components make for one delightful dessert.

Deep Fried Bread Pudding, with peach compote, peach cobbler ice cream, stone fruit salsa. A very different take on a popular dessert item, my favorite part was the peach cobbler ice cream.

Salted Caramel, this ice cream is so fantastic, you got to try it.

Teas:

Green (Sancho), sensible and healthy, this tea was a great way to end my meal.

Wines:

Emmolo, Sauvignon, Blanc, 2014, Napa Valley. This wine has some tropical fruit notes and went great with the burrata; it adds a nice luscious mouth feel that worked great with the peaches.

Farm, Chardonnay, 2013, Napa Valley, CA. You have to try this wine with the creamy saffron in the lobster pasta dish, oh my goodness, just spectacular.

Argyle, Pinot Noir 2013, Willamette Oregon. This wine worked great with the Eggplant Pahi, it has just the right amount of spice to add some nice texture to this dish.

Niner, Red Blend 2014, Paso Robles. This wine was just the perfect match to the Lamb Kofta Tagine. There are some many complicated flavors going on with this dish, but the wine just rounded out all of the rough edges.

Feudi Di San Gregorio Primitivo 2013, Puglia, Italy. I would try this wine with the Pizzas Italian Sausage, it lends itself to being jammy but helped out the meaty goodness in this great pizza.

Gabriel Rubens is the pasta chef and was a delight to talk to. Gabriel is Brazilian and he told us his fascinating stories in the cooking field. Gabriel went on a three-month trip to Italy where he worked for Chef Lorenzo Polegri in Orvietto, a city in the province of Terni. In Italy, he attended the Art Institute alongside other 25 students and he also worked at a restaurant called Restaurant Zeppelin. During his time in Italy, he juggled between internships, worked in agriturismo (farm-stay) while working at Zeppelin. After honing his skills in Italy, he went back to Brazil for two years where he worked at Dom restaurant in Sao Paulo, then moved to Rio and worked at Gero, the owner Rogerio Fasano, owns a hotel chain.

An interesting fact is he learned all the main techniques of pasta in Brazil. He spent the next years making pasta and he says he learned how to make pasta by sight. He messed up a lot of dough’s. How did he fix them? “If the dough is too dry just throw it away. If it’s wet, add a little more flour. If it’s dry, a great technique is to use a spray bottle to control the moisture.”

In addition to this, he explained the differences between a ravioli and tortellini.
The ravioli has more crust than the tortellini. The word ravioli originally comes from the Latin word “Raviola”, which means to wrap. The ravioli is encased in two sheets of pasta whereas the tortellini is folded in one and is wrapped and pressed.

Gabriel is going to start teaching at the “Organic Kids L.A” in North Hollywood where they make lunch kids for school and they also offer cooking camps during the summer. The kids are between the ages of 6-10 years old. During school year, they take cooking classes around LA. He says its very nice cause this year, and it’s exciting to see how girls are getting into cooking.

This was one great experience; there is just so much that goes into this great establishment and all of its various dining capabilities. Their passion for really great food shows in every dish, you will not be disappointed. Take an excursion to Downtown Los Angeles; I took the subway, which added to my adventure, you would be very glad you did.

Miro
888 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA. 90017
213-988-8880
www.mirorestaurant.com
Written by Jodi Jackson and Mariana Manuela

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