"There’s a shiny, golden cracker at Recoveco that you could probably use as a form of currency when society collapses. It sounds like a lumberjack’s axe when it snaps, and is made with animal fat, a little purple flour the chef discovered in Copenhagen, and the collective aspirations of thousands of half-eaten saltines. You might barely notice it during dinner at this small South Miami restaurant. The cracker isn’t even the center of attention in its own dish. It’s technically only there to scoop up magnificent slivers of beef tongue in chimichurri. There’s no logical reason that cracker needs to be anything better than OK. But it is. video credit: Julia Malavé photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC Recoveco pulls this trick again and again throughout the meal. Some elements are immediately and obviously great. What makes the seasonal restaurant so extraordinary, though, are the painstaking details you don’t see coming at all. The restaurant is camouflaged in simplicity. The staff all wear the same plain T-shirts and hand out 90-word menus full of simple descriptions that turn out to be unexpectedly complex. What’s written as a straightforward “Pennsylvania golden chicken” arrives as a flattened half-bird rendered so crunchy that you could start a fire by rubbing both pieces together. But it's the puddle of green mango sauce and peppery hoja santa oil that electrocutes the dish into another stratosphere of pleasure. There's a steamed grouper that eats like a ribeye, but it’s the sherry sabayon and wedges of white sweet potato hiding beneath it that’ll briefly turn you nonverbal, able only to communicate in joyous grunts until the server takes the plate away. photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC If there’s a pattern at Recoveco, it’s that the more you notice about the food and the room, the more things you find to love. At first glance, it’s a lot of straight angles, flat surfaces, and concrete. It might take a second or third stare to see the personal touches scattered around: a gallery wall of art from the chef’s sister, aprons the staff made themselves, the cookbook collection stacked over the open kitchen. The lighting is optimally calibrated to appreciate every globule of oil and individual finger lime pulp. This is a soothing sanctuary for obsessive food freaks. There are restaurants where you can go on autopilot and hand your brain off to a couple of dirty martinis and reliably cooked proteins. But Recoveco rewards the observant. So save it for a night when you feel capable of cherishing the little things in life, like a cracker that belongs in a bank vault. @infatuation_miami You should bump Recoveco to the top of whatever mental to-try list you keep in your head #southmiami #miamirecoveco ♬ Instrumental music featuring piano(1511732) - Kenta Fukuoka Keep scrolling for the food rundown Food Rundown The menu at Recoveco changes frequently, but here are a few examples of the kind of dishes you might find here. photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC Seasonal Salad We consider it a good sign when there’s so much cheese on a salad that it’s hard to tell if there are actually any vegetables underneath. Luckily, south of the curly pecorino blizzard, there’s a rotating mix of seasonal vegetables, sweet fruit, and nuts. video credit: Ryan Pfeffer Ballyhoo Most South Floridians know this pointy little fellow as a bait fish. But when treated right, it also makes for outstanding sashimi. And Recoveco treats it very right. It’s sliced delicately, plated archeologically, bathed in sweet potato vinegar, and paired with a dab of fresh wasabi. It’s a special, but worth ordering whenever it’s available. video credit: Ryan Pfeffer Chicken Liver Mousse The squiggly mousse arrives on crunchy speculaas, which give a warm sweetness in the same zip code as graham crackers. That, combined with little dots of cas guava jam, make for about six bites that strike a lovely balance between sweet and savory. photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC Grassfed Beef Tongue You don’t have to chew the beef tongue. It just sort of fades away like a fuzzy childhood memory. The dish's textural intrigue comes from a side of shiny housemade crackers that look like the most expensive wood Home Depot sells. photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC Black Grouper We’re still not entirely sure this grouper is, in fact, a grouper, and not a piece of wagyu Recoveco's kitchen has sneakily painted white. It’s steamed in the oven with sweet potato leaves that hide the fish like the shy little celebrity it is. Inform your lawyer after dinner that the accompanying sherry sabayon should be named as executor of your will. photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC Pennsylvania Golden Chicken Yes, this chicken arrives with its claw still attached and reaching off the plate like it wants a high five. And it deserves one for simultaneously being the crunchiest and juiciest chicken we've ever had. This usually comes with a side too, which is often a wrinkly little potato that rests in the same green mango sauce and hoja santa oil the chicken sits on. photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC Grilled Pork Porcelet Chop The first time we had the pork here, it was in the form of grilled pork coppa with a side of pork-stuffed shishito peppers. If you see that on the menu, get it. But we've also encountered a grilled pork porcelet chop, which isn't as tender or memorable enough to dethrone the chicken and fish as the entrees to prioritize. That version, you can skip. video credit: Ryan Pfeffer Wagyu Ribeye There’s a chance the pork is swapped out for this on the menu, and that’s not bad news. It’s hard to decide who the real star of the dish is: the gorgeous ribeye or the rich red banana au poivre it’s sitting on. video credit: Ryan Pfeffer Fig Leaf & Dellerman’s Pineapple A disc of seasonal fruit granita (pineapple during our last visit) sits atop a tube of juniper berry meringue, which contains lemon sherbet. It's invigorating. It’s icy. It will genuinely make you feel the way actors in gum commercials pretend to. photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC Chocolate & Mamey There are only two desserts, but even if there were 5,000, we’d suggest calling an Uber XL, shoving everything in the trunk, and telling it to follow you home. That’s how good Recoveco is at dessert. This one’s a great contrast to the dish above. A fudgy square of chocolate cake balanced on wedges of mamey pit, and topped with a squeeze of finger lime that cuts through the chocolate." - Ryan Pfeffer
