Mouthwatering Mamey: A New Menu in Coral Gables

GREAT FLAVORS AT THE LITTLE SISTER OF THESIS

By Andrew Gayle | Photos by Rodolfo Benitez

It has been more than two years since chef Niven Patel pulled up stakes at the THesis Hotel, leaving behind his creations of Mamey and Orno. In the intervening time Orno has been re-imagined as the Collab and is now one of the top three fine dining restaurants in the Gables south of US 1 (the other two being Daniel’s and Beauty and the Butcher). Mamey, however, has had a harder time defining itself as a new culinary destination. 

Until now, that is. Chef Christian Pasco has created a new menu that puts Mamey back on a culinary track that makes it well worth a visit. It’s a menu full of fresh ideas and refreshing tastes that pull from across culinary genres, but mostly fuse Caribbean and Italian cuisine. That unique blend creates dishes like his lobster pasta, penne lathered in Caribbean lobster bisque with parmesan and spicy San Marzano tomatoes. Or his striped bass over creamy spinach orzo. Both are excellent. 

Left: Chicken Wings in Hot Mamey Sauce With Blue Cheese Dressing
Upper Right: Pasta in Lobster Bisque With San Marzano Parmesan
Bottom Right : Mango Creme Brulee With Light Kiwi Compote
Above: Ahi Ahi Taquitos (Fish Tacos) With Sweet Soy and Scallions

Some of the dishes lean more Caribbean: the zingy chicken wings with mamey hot sauce (towelettes provided for your fingers), the smoked Mahi-Mahi dip, and the yellowfin tuna taquitos. Others lean more Italian, like the gnocchi with pine nut-basil pesto, and the butternut squash risotto. What we liked best was the lightness of the dishes. The arugula citrus salad with pinenuts, orange segments, shaved fennel parmesan slices and champagne vinegar dressing was superbly refreshing, while the “pork chop” – actually a row of chops that can feed two – was brought to life by a honey-dijon sauce. The cocktails ($20) carry that lightness forward, with citrus infused gins and tequilas. 

Above: The Interior Is Relaxed and Tropical With a Jungle Motif

The ambience of Mamey remains the same: relaxed. The original interior by designer Carolina Freyre (see Home section pg 77) is a kind of adult Rain Forest Café in the best sense, playfully tropical. The walls are a mélange of jungle plants, bracketed by a long, back-lit bar at one end and a wall of windows at the other; wooden tables and baskets of soft lighting hanging overhead – including one large woven chandelier – add to the colonial African/Caribbean effect. 

What is new is the menu, which punches well above the weight of the place. Here you have fine dining, fairly priced (‘Shareables’ $16-$23, Mains $24-$40), in an upscale fast-casual setting. There is also seating outside in the hotel’s breezeway, should weather permit.

Mamey
1350 S. Dixie Hwy
305.266.2639
Mameymiami.com

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