Seasonal Dining

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THE MENU AT SEASONS 52 IS LOW-CALORIE AND HIGH-QUALITY

One of few chains that have “made it” in the City Beautiful, Seasons 52 manages to still feel quintessentially Coral Gables, having been a Miracle Mile mainstay for 16 years. Its warm bar and wood-paneled dining room have hosted innumerable lunch meetings, but we love it even more for dinner, especially accompanied by live piano music Wednesday through Saturday from 5 to 9 pm. We visited recently and sat in the bar area, where the one-man band regaled us with elegant keyboard melodies – the perfect backdrop for a light dinner.

We say “light” dinner because everything on Seasons 52’s seasonal menu (which changes four times a year) is under 595 calories, including the small but scrumptious desserts. This is no easy feat, especially with the breadth of the menu. We began with one of the restaurant’s signature brick oven flatbreads, this one specifically made for the winter season: the roasted mushroom flatbread ($14.50). Made with fresh shiitake and portobello mushrooms, cippolini onions, goat cheese, and just a hint of truffle, the dish could be a meal on its own, though it works better as a shared appetizer.

In the spirit of sharing, we also tried the charcuterie board ($15), which we were told is so popular it will likely stay on the menu yearround, though some of its elements may change with the seasons. Ours came with an assortment of prosciutto, soppressata, MontAmoré white cheddar, and goat cheese, along with some lavosh crackers. We paired it with a bottle of wine from the list of 52 that Seasons keeps on its ever-changing menu. (In addition to seasonal changes, the restaurant has 52 wines – one for each week of the year – and a “Chef ’s Suggestions” panel that changes weekly.)

Seasons 52 is a spacious restaurant, with brick walls and high wood-beamed ceilings reminiscent of a New England ski lodge, but its back-to-back booths along the walls provide a surprisingly intimate experience. Not only could we hear each other without straining (a rare event in many busy restaurants), we could also enjoy the music, which managed to permeate the dining room without being overwhelming. Our server made sure to note the $14 happy hour special, which includes a flatbread and a “sip” of your choosing, so don’t be surprised if you see us at the bar next week.

Our favorite dinner dish was the vineyard chicken ($25.50), a new menu item for winter. The two-hour braised chicken is topped with a burgundy wine sauce, roasted, and served with porcini mushrooms, cipollini onions, carrots, and Yukon mashed potatoes. Wonderfully moist, it’s a somewhat hearty meal for Seasons 52, but still only 590 calories and quite delicious.

It was about this time that we spied the restaurant’s unique dessert tower floating over to another table, and began to feel grateful for the healthy choices we’d made so far. These small $5 delights – the restaurant calls them “mini indulgences” – are served in shot glasses, with layers of cake, chocolate, cream, and more. There are eight, but we contained ourselves to two: the cookies ‘n’ cream and the raspberry chocolate chip cannoli, though we were hard pressed not to try the Belgian chocolate s’more and the key lime pie concoctions. There’s nothing like a sweet treat to end an evening of fine choices.