She Wanted It All
Parrot Grill's 'gulf-style cuisine' menu nearly overwhelms our critic
I have eaten at Parrot Grill three times now and have enjoyed myself immensely each visit. The restaurant is located in the Gaslamp Quarter just around the block from all the commotion on Fifth Avenue. Smack on the corner of Sixth Avenue and F Street, it occupies one of those spaces that I (being highly superstitious when it comes to restaurants) was beginning to think was hexed. You know, one of those nice spaces that for some reason or another no one can make work. Well, I think these guys are going to pull it off. Here's why:
Have you ever gone to a restaurant where you could not find one thing on the menu that looked good? It happens to me every once in a while and it’s heartbreaking.
At Parrot Grill, the "new wave Miami" food or "gulf-style cuisine" leaves no one befuddled. The menu is so well-designed and all-over-the-place at the same time that I almost had a nervous breakdown trying to decide what NOT to get. So I sort of went for it.
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I started with an order of the "Parrot Grill Fritters" ($5.75) made with a combination of clams, rock shrimp and conch (kongk) served with a spicy guava-apricot dip. Conch (remember when you were little and you used to listen to the ocean in the giant conch shell?) is a gastropod mollusk found in southern waters. It is very popular with Caribbeans and Floridians and often is used like abalone. The fritters were subtly flavorful (if that makes sense) and the dipping sauce was nicely spiced. I also ordered the "Cornmeal Battered Oysters" ($7.25), which I absolutely have loved all three visits. There are six to an order and they are served on little, toasted, slightly seasoned baguettes—almost crostini-ish. They are complemented with a mango salsa and a meritorious Creole mustard sauce. Then I had an appetizer-sized order of the "Island BBQ Ribs" ($7.75). I have been ordering ribs almost everywhere lately and these are the mother of all ribs, let me tell ya. They are the sweetest, softest and most tender baby-back pork ribs I’ve had in years. They remind me of the sweet and sour spare ribs we used to order at Chinese restaurants when I was young.
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Parrot Grill's Lisa Renz serves diner Jennifer Stamey.
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I skipped a salad (since I'd already had three courses at this point) and went straight for the entrées. I desperately wanted to try the "Florida Paper Wrapped Salmon" and the "Caribbean Bouillabaisse," but I knew that realistically I could only eat one or two more things. I went for the "Mango Honey Glazed Duck" ($16.75). It was served with fried plantains that were sweet and garlic mashed potatoes that had that salty thing going.
The duck was slow-roasted, brushed with the glaze and then finished on the grill. Although it killed me, I did not eat the skin; the duck was moist and flavorful just the same. The grand finale was the "Grilled 16 oz. Double Porkchop" ($16.50) stuffed with pasilla chili cornbread and topped with mango-rum glaze. All I need to say is "fabulous," and it, too, was served with fried plantains and garlic mashed potatoes.
Parrot Grill offers about a half dozen house-made desserts. My favorite, the taco sundae, is a homemade tortilla lightly sugared and filled with vanilla ice cream, topped with strawberries and shaved chocolate.
The restaurant is a nice casual space with an upstairs dining room that overlooks the bar and dining area below. I sat upstairs so I could watch all the activity downstairs — and to be sure that no one was sitting up above me watching all the food that I ate.
- Terryl Gavre
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