The Setting and the Food Are All Natural — Well, As Natural As Can Be for a Lounge Set in the Middle of Miami’s Design District

By Mark Goldberg

Remember Grass? It was one of those loud music, “velvet rope” clubs that also served dinner. It didn’t last long. Now there’s a new Grass, with new owners and a new attitude. They like people, like softer music and like that they’re more a restaurant and less a club or lounge than their predecessor.

Grass is different. Once you enter, you realize the exterior wall is just that. Inside (really outside), Grass is open air. A huge thatched tiki covers most of the dining area, with chairs and lounging sofas encompassing the tables. Overhead fans keep breezes blowing even on warm summer nights, and orchids and other flora add natural color.

Executive Chef Michael Jacobs and Chef de Cuisine Ervin Bryant are all about nature, using natural, hydroponic and organic ingredients in their dishes. In fact, Jacobs even has a few “No Major Proteins” dishes on the menu. One such is the delectable Grilled Vegetable Tart ($18). Too small to be a main dish, it works perfectly as a starter. Grilled zucchini, peppers and squash are layered over a light puff pastry, then topped with French brie and finished in the oven. The result is rich and fresh, with a light Sriracha spice to it. The Foie Gras ($14) was actually Canadian and much creamier than the usual Hudson Valley. The liver was heightened by a crusting of Szechwan peppercorns before their searing in a cast iron skillet. The finished foie was placed on brioche points, sharing the plate with sun-dried cherries, prepared as a compote in Port wine sauce. The “Half Moon” Duck ($12) — a confit cooked and pressed for three days with turnips, celery root and parsnips — might have been a quality dish if we could have found the duck. But the negligible amount was stuffed within an overpowering whole wheat tortilla that smothered all other flavors and textures. We enjoyed a Goat Cheese Salad ($13). Simple in its construction, the salad’s stars were balls of creamy goat cheese, wrapped in crispy phyllo dough and warmed in the oven. The cheese was then married to hydroponic arugula with a little soy balsamic drizzle and macerated cherry tomatoes and pine nuts.

Jacobs’ main menu is predominantly seafood, with most items falling under the heading of Sea Tour. The few meat and poultry items are part of a Land Excursion, including Grade 5 Kobe Beef Loin for $81. The Sea Tour included a special Grilled Yellowjack ($24) plate that will become part of the regular menu, featuring simply grilled fish with five different sauces. The yellowjack — the Atlantic version of Hamachi — was a beautiful fillet; moist and light. Those accompanying sauces were wasabi soy, truffle corn, miso cream, arugula yuzu and wild mushroom with sherry. Also on the plate were a rice wine-infused raddichio slaw and crisp shoestring fries. We had several problems with the Cioppino ($21). There were little things like no bowl for the discarded shells and no small forks for the clams. And larger worries such as the paucity of shellfish (including two still-closed mussels) and an overly salty tomato ragout broth. But the all-natural, all-organic, hormone-free, grass-fed (no pun intended) Kansas City 12-ounce Rib Eye ($39) was excellent. Tender and applewood-smoked before grilling, the beef was joined with Brussels sprouts that had been poached, coated with a lavender honey and sautéed with applewood-smoked bacon.

Pastry Chef Manny Patterson put together some fine desserts (all $10), including a chilled chocolate mousse settled over a strawberry wafer with a pistachio Florentine, and an outstanding pineapple cheesecake with a crunchy cashew crust and pistachio ice cream. He really outdid himself with his Milk and Cookies special, a rich chocolate ganache laced with peanut butter and served with a rum raisin ice cream shake.

Grass has been open only three weeks, and whatever stumbling points it may have should be smoothed over quickly. Because, unlike its predecessor, it focuses on the food first. And the patrons who come for dinner may stay until much later, when the music volume does come up somewhat and Grass becomes a soft lounge. There’s a menu for then, too.

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