Bazaar by Jose Andres

Part of what Dan and I love about traveling is eating well. And South Beach offered plenty of fantastic meals for us to enjoy. One highlight was Jose Andres's The Bazaar, a Latin-inspired hip spot.

We have eaten at several of Jose Andres's other restaurants in Washington, DC, including Fish and MiniBar (one of our all-time favorites!). We also like Zaytinya and Jaleo (always get the brussels sprouts at both locations). I'm a big fan of Andres's style of lots of little, yummy things. It's not always tapas in the traditional sense, but he does a great job of playing with textures, scale and flavors, keeping you on your toes and making the meal fun. I'm happy to report, The Bazaar lived up to those expectations.

Though Bazaar had a prix fixe menu, we opted to order ala carte. We had plenty of variety and left feeling satisfied, but not overly full. I ordered my favorite gin and tonic of all time (it's the same as at Fish), and was a happy camper.

We started our meal with a dragon fruit cevice with tuna, pecans, lemon and hibiscus foam. None of this should have worked, but it was really good. I don't think the hibiscus was too strong, and the dragon fruit mixed in with the tuna was surprisingly refreshing. The crunch from the pecans added just the right texture. I loved this weird dish.

Next we had a caprese salad with liquid mozzarella balls. The pesto underneath was tasty, and the concept was interesting. I wasn't blown away though.

This next dish left me literally licking the plate. I am so glad we opted to each get a tortilla de patatas "new way." It is a sous vide egg with a potato foam, and diced crisp potatoes on top. I couldn't get enough of this, and in retrospect wish I had ordered another one.

This next dish didn't blow me away. In fact, we sent it back for being under-seasoned. It was a wild mushroom soup with cheese and an egg yolk, but it was very bland.

Honestly, I don't remember a ton about this dish, which I guess isn't a great sign. It is fresh baby peaches with burrata, hazelnuts, and arugula. I remember the burrata was delicious but I wanted the dish to be more peachy. The baby peaches (the green parts below), didn't taste like much.

I didn't like this next dish at all, but Dan loved it. It sounded incredible, but was way too funky for me. They are frozen blue cheese sandwiches with lemon marmalade on walnut bread. I wasn't sure what to expect, but these were like ice cream sandwiches with blue cheese instead of ice cream. It was unlike anything I've had before. While I enjoy trying new things, and I appreciate the concept, it was much too strong a flavor for me. 

We also had one of their daily specials, which was a white fish that was served en papillote. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't very memorable.

We opted not to have dessert because we were staying at a DoubleTree, and honestly, their free cookies are the best. So we finished our drinks and headed out, where we stumbled upon Michael Caine and his family! Dan recognized them, and then we spend several minutes trying to be cool and not disturb them.

Overall, we had a fantastic evening at at really fun restaurant. I wouldn't say that this is my favorite Jose Andres restaurant, and I probably wouldn't go back, but I'm happy we tried it.