The Local Craft Food & Drink's Got Good Cheese; Tapas y Tintos Midtown Has Staying Power

Lee Klein says that meals at chef Alberto Cabrera's former restaurant "Karu [& Y] impressed more than those at Cabrera's latest venue, the Local Craft Food & Drink," though "admittedly this isn't a kosher comparison" because "Karu was much pricier, and the chef's mission at the Local is as far removed from his task at that glitzy arena as can be." Buffalo-style sweetbreads were "undeniably tasty," but, wrote Klein, "thinking that if T.G.I. Friday's ever served sweetbreads, this is how they'd do it." The good is that "The Local's real strengths are the cheese/charcuterie/beer selections — along with a quartet of menu items aptly categorized "In a Jar." Staff is "nice," but "well informed they are not." Acoustics were "intensely clamorous." Bottom line: "The Local's owners should enlighten service, tighten execution, and perhaps pad the ceilings so that the eats here can generate as much hubbub as the eaters." [MNT]

In his not quite review, but review nonetheless, the Herald's Enrique Fernandez says that, compared to the original Espanola Way restaurant, "the new Midtown Tapas y Tintos is a different animal. The staff is friendly and helpful, but not wise-ass. And the tapas are good." Bottom line: "Many eateries have come and gone here, but this one appears to have staying power." [Miami.com]