Madrid Tapas y Vinos

June 16, 2016

Miami, Florida – We were going to be here in Miami for a couple of days and wanted to find a nice place for dinner. I looked on Google maps for someplace not too far from our hotel. This place looked very interesting. For some reason I decided to check out Restaurants.com to see if this place was listed. It was. That’s dinner solved then. No need to look any further.

The owners of Madrid Tapas y Vinos started out as a paella-catering business. That led to them opening their first full-on restaurant in West Flagler. It quickly gained popularity. The success of that first location allowed the owners to launch this place in 2010, just two short years after opening the first one.

My wife and I arrived late in the afternoon on a Thursday. There were less than 10 patrons inside. Something prompted me to stop in and make reservations when we walked by earlier in the day. That turned out to be a good idea. When we came back for dinner, we were seated near the stage, right in the thick of the action that was to take place later in the evening.

The entrance seems to divide the restaurant. To the left is the main dining area. Wooden tables and chairs frame the walkway. It is kind of narrow and feels a bit tight. The aisle ends in a small stage. To the right is the bar, sheltered by tile awning. A few well-worn wooden tables and stools sit near by. The bar features a very large collection of wines.

Windows face west and get full sun in the afternoons. They have wooden shades to control the intensity of the sunlight when needed, but can be opened later so you can catch the sunset.

Patio dining is available. The patio actually seemed more spacious than inside. Short hedges separate it from the sidewalk. Folding umbrellas provide shade. Madrid sits under glide path of the planes landing at Miami International. You can watch the planes descend overhead while you dine.

When our server arrived, I tried to speak Spanish to him. That started a conversation. Since there weren’t many other customers to take care of, we got to talk to him for a while, in between his other responsibilities. He talked to me in English and Spanish while I did my best to talk to him mostly in Spanish. We found out he was from Spain and wanted to come to the US. An opportunity to migrate came up and he took it. His intent was to improve his English but being here in Miami didn’t give him much of a chance to do so; most of the people he talked with spoke Spanish, especially his customers.

It took a little longer than usual to decide what I wanted to order given that this was my first time in a Spanish restaurant. I knew I had to order one of the tapas. Since the owners of Madrid started out catering paella, there is a separate section of the menu just for paella. My wife ordered one of those options. I finally chose:
From the Tapas Clásicas (Small Plates) section of the menu, Gambas al ajillo (Garlic shrimp) ($12.95). For the main course, Arroz Campesino (Campesino rice) ($20.50) got the nod.

I was completely lost on the wine list because it featured all Spanish wines. And they stock a lot of wines. I took our waiter’s recommendation of Paco & Lola ($36/bottle, $18 happy hour), an albarino white, and it was spot on.

While we waited for our meals to be prepared, the bread arrived at our table in a basket. The bread was kind of like sourdough bread with a hard crust. It comes with a garlic spread that was like whipped butter and garlic…or maybe the other way around. Fresh garlic made itself known. The bread itself was delicious.

The wine was from the renowned Rías Baíxas region of Galicia, on Spain’s southwestern coast near Portugal. The bottle arrived chilled in a clay wine bucket with a napkin tied around it. A taste of the albarino revealed it to be very smooth and not too sweet. A good compromise between dry and fruity. This albarino tasted great by itself and paired really well with everything else we ordered.

Our tapas arrived next. The shrimp is sautéed and comes sizzling to your table. There were six medium to large shrimp bathing in butter and garlic. The shrimp were sautéed just right. Kudos to Madrid for cooking this dish to perfection where the garlic enhanced, not overpowered the shrimp.

My Arroz Campesino was served in a skillet. Several meats are added to this dish, including sirloin, bacon, Spanish sausage, and morcilla.

The bold flavor of the rice surprised but pleased me. That may be due to the rice spending some quality time with the meats, absorbing their flavors along the way. The Spanish sausage looks like franks. Different spices give it a different taste. Almost like cocktail franks but with much more character. Lost in the rest of dish was the flavor of the sirloin. Maybe it had already imparted its savor. The bacon tastes like…bacon.

Is morcilla…an organ meat? Nope. It is a Spanish blood sausage. Ohhh-kay. In this instance I’m glad I did not know what morcilla was before I tasted it. Since its flavor was pretty much indistinguishable from the rest of the dish I couldn’t really taste it but you can definitely see it in the rice. Its consistency was like that of a bean burrito. That’s the only frame of reference I have for it. I added a few drops of lemon juice from the lemon slice on the side but found it kind of took away from the flavors of the dish instead of enhancing them. There was enough food here for a meal and a half.

By now, the sun was sinking below the horizon and the Flamenco show was getting started. More people had arrived by this time. I was very impressed by the show. I have heard Flamenco music many times and really enjoy it, but this was my first time seeing it performed live and seeing the dances that accompany it. The dancer was very expressive and energetic, really bringing life to the songs.

Madrid Tapas y Vinos is a very engaging place. Though solo diners are welcome, to me Madrid feels like it is enjoyed best by couples or groups or families. It seems to have the feel of the place in town where friends and family meet up to cap (or start) their evenings. The flamenco shows are infectious. I’ve heard they frequently get the customers up and dancing. The atmosphere is very friendly.

I have not been to Spain yet (the Madrid-Barajas Airport doesn’t count, does it?), but this is what I would imagine a bar/restaurant in Spain would be like. I felt like I was being immersed in Spain, even if just for an evening.

Madrid Tapas y Vinos – 5 forks. Very highly recommended. Fridays and Saturdays carry a $5 cover charge if dining inside. Don’t miss the Flamenco show!

 

Airport Café and Liquors

June 8, 2016

Miami, Florida – We arrived at our hotel here in Miami several hours prior to check-in time. The lady behind the counter surprised us by telling us our rooms were ready. She checked us in, took our information, and commented that our tour guide Celiece just happened to be right behind us in the lobby. So I asked Celiece for recommendations on places to eat. We wanted something local, not a chain restaurant. She immediately ran off about three suggestions. One was a place that served seafood. I forgot what the second choice was, though my wife and I did consider it. The third was a place where the locals eat. We decided to go where the locals go.

We walked a few blocks down and there was Airport Café & Liquors, right where Celiece said it would be. Except it looked more like a liquor store from the outside than a restaurant.

A bit unsure, we walked in anyway. Inside, we saw a pair of counters with tall, brushed aluminum (I think) chairs to seat the diners. Metal tables have shorter brushed aluminum chairs. Photos of Airport Café’s fare line one of the walls. Television screens play news and sports. Off to the right was the main part of the restaurant. I believe there is a patio outside. My apprehension was now completely dispelled. It still took a couple of minutes to get used to a full-service restaurant inside a full-service liquor store, though.

Airport Café & Liquors has been in operation since 2007, and is family owned and operated. Their selection of spirits includes the top shelf liquors. Fancy wine instead? Airport Café has you covered. If that is not enough, they have a considerable stock of international cigars. The difference between here and most other liquor stores is that you can consume your bottled alcohol purchases right here in the restaurant, though there is a small charge to do so.

Being that the place is right across the road from Miami International Airport, many patrons are flight attendants, pilots, workers from the nearby freight and aviation companies, in addition to those who in work non-aviation-related businesses. You’ll see people in suits and ties, skirts, overalls, and everything in between.

We were seated right away and given a menu. It was kind of overwhelming at first due to the amount of choices. I noticed the selections, wide ranging as they were, featured a large percentage of Cuban dishes. Not surprising considering we were in Miami.

Today I opted for the beer roasted guava baby back ribs ($10.99). The ribs come with two sides. I decided on rice and black beans. These are also available to order separately; rice (white, yellow, or brown) at $2.99, same price for the black beans. For the beverage, let’s have some fresh-squeezed Florida orange juice ($3.50).

Our meal arrived and our table suddenly looked smaller; our food and the condiments took up a lot of real estate on an area that was not that big to begin with.

The orange juice is served in a cup with ice. That’s because it is fresh squeezed, natural Florida orange juice, made right in Airport Café mere seconds before coming to your table. You can’t get much fresher than that; unless, of course, you go to the grove yourself, pick the oranges, and squeeze them there. After letting the ice in the cup do its work, the juice was just about perfect.

Ok, let’s get to know these beans and the rice. My choice was the white rice. It was Cuban style with plenty of butter and garlic. Enough butter and garlic to really get me excited about the rice. The beans, also Cuban style, came in a separate Styrofoam cup. Nice and hearty and harboring the all-important bay leaf. (By the way, those are my wife’s fries in the photo. There were so many we ended up sharing them. Even then we didn’t finish all of them.)

As I usually do with Cuban rice and beans, I mixed them together and made my own version of congri. Oh my! I could make meal off the rice and beans alone. They were that good. Probably the best Cuban rice and beans I’ve ever had. It is mind-blowing how something so basic can be so good!

At Airport Café, they serve you a half rack of ribs. I was pleasantly surprised to see that. Most places will only give you three or four ribs.

The beer roasted guava baby back ribs were quite tender, nicely roasted, and thankfully not greasy. They had a good amount of meat on them. I could taste a bit of the beer and more of the guava. And I really liked the sweetness of the sauce. I’ve never had guava on my ribs before. That’s one of the joys of trying new things; you might find something you really like. And I think I really like these ribs. The flavor combination stuck with me for a while before it began to fade away during the walk back to the hotel.

If you are looking to dine where the locals dine, you’ve come to the right place. Friendly service, and a wide selection of food and drink. If you have a long enough layover at MIA and are looking to have a meal outside the airport, Airport Café is an excellent place to do just that.

I am very glad we followed our tour guide’s recommendation. It was the perfect start to our trip. Thank you, Celiece!

Airport Café & Liquors – 4.5 forks. Highly recommended. Like their website says, one of Miami’s best hidden gems. They serve breakfast, too.