Sustain's a Standout; 1500 Degrees Is Hot

With Lee Klein probably in a post South Beach Wine & Food Festival coma, we bring you a different sort of review recap this week from the New York Times Magazine's Fred Bernstein, whose Hot Plates article this week covers Sustain in an uber favorable light. His "favorite dinner date: low expectations" in tow, Bernstein gives props to chef Alejandro Pinero for not letting "his ideals cloud his judgement about what it takes to make a restaurant soar." The menu, Bernstein says, "is filled with wonders," and Bernstein's use of awesome adjectives doesn't stop there, with a "standout" here and a "luscious" there. "Terrific," too. Bernstein likes Sustain. He really, really likes it, concluding that " the one thing that isn’t recycled is the menu, which is drawing foodies to Midtown Miami (a new mixed-use development near the Design District), some of them from much farther away than even those Ocala cows." [NYT]

Victoria Pesce Elliott says that 1500 Degrees chef Paula DaSilva only allows the best ingredients in her kitchen and that the restaurant is "much more" than a steakhouse with a lovely, if generic, ambience, even though VPE may have heard a "Muzak version of Let It Be" during one of her visits. But about that food--a long list of "What Worked" dishes, including "Boldly seasoned dishes – expect thumb-sized bits of smoky bacon, nubs of peppery chorizo and lots of salt and pepper," "a divine side of brussels sprouts," a "decadent Vidalia onion," an "impressive prime," a "meltingly marbled Florida Wagyu," and "buttery mussels," among many other things. What didn't work besides the soundtrack? "Well intentioned, but timid and distracted staff," and "cold and no-show dishes." It didn't matter, though. 1500 Degrees walks away with three and a half stars. [Miami.com]