Cocktail Hour
Whatever you call the excuse for drinking after work — happy hour or networking — the idea is to decompress: relieve or reduce the pressure of a long workday.
The Central Business District has in Tuyo a new refuge. A gourmet restaurant located on the top floor of the Miami Culinary Institute, and known for innovation and hefty prices, Tuyo has been around for some time. But cocktail hour is recent. A small cozy bar has been installed overlooking downtown Miami’s skyline.
The bar menu lives up to the reputation of culinary excellence but the prices are refreshingly reasonable. Three short rib tostones with sour orange mojo, for example, go for $6.
We asked Chef Victor Santos about bar food. “Ceviche is a must in Miami,” he said, “but this is not your typical ceviche. It’s a salmon variation with yellow peppers and squares of sweet potatoes. Perfect companion for a glass of prosecco or beer.”
Theories abound as to the etymology of ceviche or cebiche. Some assert that the dish migrated from Asia. Others insist it’s indigenous to America, that Incas marinated fish with passion fruit and very hot peppers. One particularly colorful theory poses that the name derives from a corrupted English common expression. Pirate Cavendish assaulted the Spanish colonial city of Lima in search of gold, girls and food. He demanded, of course, the best they had to satiate his appetite. They brought him a generous serving of the impossibly spicy fish, now marinated in the lime and onions that conquistadors brought to America, and the original hot limo-peppers. The starving pirate took a mouthful and his eyes filled with tears, his skin turned red, and only managed to exclaim: “Son of a bitch!” The expression corrupted by Spanish became son-biche, and eventually cebiche.
Then came carnitas tacos — the limo-peppers sauce on the side. Limo peppers, or ají, are from Peru’s northern coast town of Chiclayo. The server advises the uninitiated not to overindulge. “Hot,” says one patron, hurriedly downing a beer, “very hot, but delicious!” Another patron comments that what she said reminds him of the lyrics of a Mexican ranchera: Yo soy como el chile verde, picante pero sabroso. “I am like a green chili, spicy but delicious.”
The Story behind the Devilish Sauce
Chef Santos first discovered the limo pepper in Chiclayo. He fell in love instantaneously, and did what any self-respecting chef would do, he smuggled a box of seeds back to the US. Transplanted from the shores of the Pacific Ocean, the seeds flourished in the garden the Miami Culinary Institute keeps to supply fresh ingredients to the Chef’s creativity.
What would go perfect with these tacos and tostones?
The affable bartender, Vitalii, an import from Saint Petersburg, serves a tempranillo. Our photographer, Niels Johansen, a wine expert, indicates that tempranillo is his favorite grape, proper to the region north of Madrid all the way to the Duero River.
If wine, beer or prosecco are not your thing, Vitalii points out a series of specialty cocktails to network with gusto.
Yes, there are also sweets. Key Lime Bar or Biscuit fritter with maple sriracha.
And the prices? I know that the decline of empires begins in the devaluation of language. When Romans started calling their sandals divine, well, we all know what happened. But I must say prices for such curiously delicious food are fabulous.
3 Carnitas Tacos, $6. Ceviche, $5. Drinks, from bubbles to a special coconut mojito, $6. Sweets, $3.
A last word? I asked bartender Vitalii. He smiles and utters: “Salud!”
Tuyo Networking Hour
Tuesday to Friday — 4:30–7:30 pm.
415 NE 2nd Ave. Miami, Fl. 33132.
[Aurea Veras coauthored this review. Aurea Veras writes the column Brunch, lunch and dine like a local for Downtown NEWS.]
