Back in March I booked a trip to Miami, FL for September to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana with my family and it just so happened this year the holiday also fell on my 27th birthday. I had known for months I would celebrate this new year in my life in Miami instead of Boston, but I was unsure where to go to ring in the big 2-7.
Enter my college bestie who flew down to Miami in the spring for a bachelorette party. Part of their weekend extravaganza was a dinner at Barton G. As soon as I saw the photos from the meal I knew that's where I wanted to have my birthday blow out.
Weeks in advance we made a reservation for 8:30pm on Saturday October 1st (two days after my real birthday which is September 29th). My cousin was in charge of the reservation and she called two days before to ensure everything was all set and that they knew we were celebrating.
We arrived on Saturday night after some incredible parking karma (hello, metered spot right out front!) and I was a bit surprised by Barton G's location. Everyone I spoke to about the restaurant in the weeks prior had been there before and then we arrived and I discovered it's not really in an easy to find location. The restaurant is located in Miami Beach, parallel to Alton Road on a street called West Ave. The corner is West Ave and 14th Street.
From the curb the awning over the restaurant looks outdated which surprised me because just the week before Barton G was publicizing a redesign and a new menu.
We approached the hostess stand and when we gave our name she immediately asked who was the birthday girl. I proudly raised my hand and she said, "Welcome and happy birthday! We're so glad you decided to celebrate with us. Inside or outside for your table?" I wanted to sit inside (better light and air conditioning) but she warned us all the children were sitting inside. She made it sound like we'd be walking into Wonkaland. Despite her cautionary comment, we went ahead and sat inside.
The decor of the newly redesigned Barton G is gorgeous. Right when you walk in the bar is directly in front of you with these light fixtures that look like modern, illuminated honey combs.
To your right is a stunning "wall" made of tiny, vial sized vases filled with delicate, yellow flowers.
We were seated at a table right in the middle of all the action. We had a view of the bar, the entire dining room and most importantly, the kitchen! More on that in a moment.
Once we sat down I noticed the red, floral curtains hanging all around us. From far away they look solid, but up close you can see they are small pieces of intricately cut fabric sewn together. Wow.
As soon as we were seated we were delivered menus and breadsticks. My cousin described the breadsticks as narrow, buttery croissants. They were quite flaky and delicious! I love the "B" on the bread plate.
We took quite a while looking over the menu. The drink menu alone is so intriguing! Barton G is known for their cocktails that use liquid nitrogen. Naturally I had to select one of those. I choose the Zen-tini which was raspberry vodka, triple sec, fresh raspberries and vodka popsicle. When it arrived it was literally smoking.
As the smoke began to clear it unveiled a golden buddha, a skewer of fruit and a candy pink martini.
The drink tasted like a jolly rancher! I like my alcohol to taste like candy so this was perfect for me.
My sister ordered the electric pink lemonade cocktail which came in a huge glass, like a soda fountain drink. It was sweet and tart, the way a true lemonade should be.
My cousin opted for a glass of pink champagne.
As we happily sipped our trio of pink drinks we leafed through the pages of the enormous menu. For those who don't know, Barton G is best known for its larger than life, whimsical presentation. I mentioned earlier that we were seated with a view of the kitchen. We had an absolute blast watching every single order come out of the kitchen and trying to guess which dish was which.
We eventually settled on two appetizers. The chopped salad and the G fries quartet. The chopped salad didn't come in any special presentation which surprised us, but the fries arrived so regally I felt there should have been trumpets announcing their arrival!
The fries come in four purple, cardboard cones (decorated with a G) that rest in an iron display that is sort of like a cupcake tower. The quartet includes traditional french fries, sweet potato fries, tater tots and housemade potato chips.
We each loaded up our appetizer plates with a potpourri of potato. For me, the tater tots and the sweet potato fries were the stand outs.
The fry quartet also came with a quartet of its own, this one made of sauces. The palette of sauces included cheese, balsamic vinegar, BBQ ketchup and an aioli. You really can't go wrong here.
We eventually tapped out on both appetizers and revisited the menus to decide on dinner. At this point we had seen so many incredible plates pass by we wanted to order everything! After very careful consideration we made our selections.
My sister's dish arrived first, the blooming sea bass. It came on a circular tray with three clay pots - one full of flowers, one full of tall, green grass and one with her french fries! Her sea bass rounded out the plate arriving in a brown paper bag which the server snipped open once the tray was safely resting directly in front of her.
My cousin ordered the grillicious chicken which came on a wide, heavy, iron griddle with a literal iron on top of the chicken. The meat was sandwiched between a row of sweet potato wedges and two pieces of grilled corn.
I choose the mouse trap mac & cheese which came, you guessed it, on a mouse trap!
I kid you not when I say this was the best mac & cheese I have ever tasted in my entire life. And I eat a lot of mac & cheese.
I was kind enough to share my dish with the other girls who promptly abandoned their plates and focused on mine. We made it out half way through when we decided to stop to leave room for dessert. I took the rest home, ate it the next day and it was just as good.
While I could rave about the mac & cheese for eternity, my sister and my cousin said if they returned they wouldn't order the same entrees.
After our dinner plates were cleared something strange happened. Our waiter, who up to this point had been funny and animated, became . . . shall we say . . . irritated. In addition to being hard to track down, when he finally did saddle up to our table again he made fun of a photo I had just taken saying, "That's terrible! Give me that!" He then snatched my camera and proceeded to take three pictures that he deemed superior. When I gave him a look of disapproval he said, "Life isn't always positive. You have to learn to accept the negative and move forward. I was giving you an honest opinion and you should just take it." Whoa.
As if that interaction wasn't enough, later on, after leaving us without dessert menus for nearly twenty minutes, he returned and started griping, loudly, about a difficult customer he has at another nearby table. In fact he went so far as to say, "You know girls, it only takes one bad customer to put a waiter like me totally in the weeds. She orders things then changes her mind and demands that I cancel them. She asks a million questions about each menu item. Then she just asked me - where are you from? What's your ethnicity? I mean, come on!" We were completely stunned. It is never ok to talk to customers about other customers in the restaurant.
After that shocker we heard our waiter ask one of the bus boys to take care of us for the rest of the meal. On cue the bus boy delivered us the dessert menus which are on iPod touches!
When you select the dessert list it loads a photo slideshow of each dessert option. How genius!
After flipping through all ten choices about five times we finally decided on the Sabrina sundae. We had seen it at a neighboring table earlier in the night and couldn't deny that our minds had already been made up for at least half an hour.
Shortly thereafter the sundae arrived in an oversized, silver, martini glass and was topped with sparklers! Anyone who knows me personally knows that I never shy away from being the center of attention, so this over the top presentation thrilled me!
The sundae itself was at least six scoops of ice cream, all different flavors, topped with fudge, whipped cream, cherry, sprinkles, chocolate B's, chocolate straws and oh yeah, that was all sitting on top of a giant brownie! No matter how many bites we took, it looked like we didn't even make a dent.
Once it was clear we'd raised the white flag, the bus boy came over to check if we were all set and then offered to wrap up the sundae to go! We just looked at each other and without a word seemed to mentally say to each other, "I'm sick just thinking about it."
At this point we were longing for our elastic waist pajamas pants. When the check arrived my face turned upward in an approving grin when I saw the words printed on the envelope containing the check, "The Damage." Love it!
After we settled the bill and began making our way to the door the hostess stopped me and said, "So birthday girl, how was it?" I thought that was so sweet!
Barton G was an incredible dining experience. The restaurant itself is beautiful, warm and sophisticated. The drink menu is fun, daring and exciting. The presentation of the food is nothing short of magical. I felt like a kid again as each new creation moved past my table and I was filled with wonder and awe. There is no other restaurant that offers this kind of experience.
Barton G is clearly a place to celebrate a special occasion. We were surrounded by groups toasting to birthdays, anniversaries and brides-to-be. Barton G's creations match the spirit and energy of every excited guest. This is a rare and precious talent.
If you are traveling to Miami, you must meet Barton G. He is somone you will never forget.
