Captain Nemo who?

Nemo Restaurant
100 Collins Ave
Miami Beach, FL
305-532-4550

crab cake appetizer

Ever since I have been reading Where the Locals Eat, and having tried the sister restaurants Shoji and Big Pink, I have been wanting to try Nemo Restaurant on the southern most end out South Beach, Miami. Where the Locals Eat summarizes the ranking of the top 100 restaurants of where the locals eat, and the three restaurants are on the list for Miami. Big Pink is a delicious diner and deli, Shoji has the best raw and sushi bar I have ever been to, and the last of the last one to be tasted was Nemo. Nemo is a seafood restaurant next door to Shoji, and is so far south on the South Beach strip that it is chic and calm at the same time. When I was in Miami last time, I went to Shoji twice because the fish was sooo good, and they had wild hamachi that was flavorful and melted in my mouth. The sushi chef really knew what he was doing with regards to trimming the fish, that every piece melted in my mouth. At Big Pink, it was the best diner fun food I have had on Miami Beach. I am sure that it was Michael Chefetz (co-owner of all 3) brain child to have a little NY deli and diner food available to him while he is in Miami, and away from his former home of NY.

tuna tartare

Whatever Top Chef says about tuna tartare being completely overdone, and trite, I don't care about. I started my dining whirlwind with the tartare, and I enjoyed every bite of it. I liked the raw quail egg for the rich smoothness, and I liked the tartare that was not heavily seasoned which allowed the true flavor of the tuna to come through. As I got back from my Miami, I saw Med Cooking's post about tuna tartare, and similar ingredients. I like looking at her tuna and my tuna, so I can remember how yummy this dish was. My dinner companion had the crab cake for and app with fresh corn under it. I love corn because it reminds me of summer, so it made me happy to taste the fresh crispness of the corn salad.

scallops in curry

I had the scallops with baby green beans in curry sauce for my main course. The curry sauce was light and spicy, and went well with the perfectly seared scallops. Funny, I was just checking out Med's Cooking again, and she just had a blog post about searing scallops. How funny to see her seared scallops as I remember my lovely, perfectly cooked and presented scallops. Everyone at the table tried the scallops and were impressed, just like I was. The green beans were awesome! They were cooked to crisp tender deliciousness.

seared tuna with rice ball

My dinner companion got the seared tuna with rice ball. I enjoyed my bites of his meal, but he was having a hard time with it. The tuna quality was fantastic, but it was covered in sweet kabayaki sauce, which overwhelmed the delicate flavor of the fish. He said it was ok making combination bites of rice, wasabi (real wasabi root, not horseradish root), and the tuna after scraping as much sauce off the tuna that he could. Perhaps the concept would be better with a small dish of the kabayaki sauce on the side, so the diner could regulate the sweetness themselves. I was just excited to see what the rice ball was all about. I was going to order it to see what the heck it was, and it was a ball of sushi rice deep fried and rolled in black sesame seeds. It was really fun!

key lime pie

Hedy Goldsmith, pastry chef of all three, Nemo, Shoji and Big Pink has really out done herself with the key lime pie we had. Hedy is originally from the City of Brotherly Love, and she certainly showed a lot of love with this pie. I generally don't like pie, especially cream style pies, but I really like this pie. It was tart, firm and light, and had such an intense flavor. There was fresh berries, torched meringue, berry sorbet a la mode and key lime sauce accompanying the pie in such a wonderful way. If I weren't so full, I would have ordered a 2nd one.