Prime Restaurants Shake-Up

John who was originally at Prime 112 and went to Mr. Chows is now back at Prime 112 as a partner.

Seth who started at Prime Italian and then went to STK and The Dutch is back to develop and run the new Prime Fish which will be located where Nemo's was.

Seth's brother who was at The Forge and then Scarpetta will be running Prime Italian.

Trulock's in downtown Miami

Went to Trulock’s in downtown Miami on Friday night.

http://trulucks.com/

Trulock’s is a high-end steak and seafood restaurant such as Joe’s, Prime 112, Capital Grill, Morton’s or The Palm.

Beautiful décor, great service and a typical menu for these types of restaurants.

The food was good but no better than any of the others mentioned above so I will not being going back given its location relative to the others.

Bill was $170 per couple with $10 valet parking.

8/10

PEI WEI by P.F. Changs on Biscayne

If you like P.F. Changs, you will like PEI WEI, its ‘fast-food’ version in Promenade Mall on Biscayne.

http://www.peiwei.com/index.aspx

Same food quality, less choice, lunch-size portions, fast-food format i.e. you order at counter and wait for your food.

Both meals we ordered were typically P.F. Changs.

Bill was $24.00 for 2 meals, 2 sodas and 1 appetizer.

I am a PF Chang fan, so I rate PEI WEI an 8.5/10 for what it is.

BURGERFI - Numerous Locations

BURGERFI – 6 Locations

We had heard about a new chance called BURGERFI that was a ‘knock-off’ of Shake Shack so we went to the one on Biscayne Blvd and 181^st on Saturday.

http://burgerfi.com/

There are 26 locations including Aventura and Hallendale. They advertise natural beef and have hot dogs, frozen custard, concrete, beer, wine and cupcakes.

When you walk in the décor is just like Shake Shack as is the service where you order, receive a beeper and wait for your beeper to buzz. They have multiple TVs that Shake Shack doesn’t have and a larger menu.

Since we were on diets we didn’t order the fries (which looked amazing) or the concrete on cupcakes.

The burgers were good but not as good as Shake Shack. The Shake Shack bun was much better.

The New York hot dog was also OK.

I’ll definitely go back because of the location. $31 for 2.

8/10 for burgers.

Macchialina Pubbelly in South Beach

Went to the new 'italian' Pubbelly addition last night at 820 Alton Road.

http://miami.eater.com/archives/2012/06/26/pubbelly-trio-team-up-with-michael-pirolo-for-macchialina.php

It was unreal! I loved everything we had. Tapas style with 3 full main courses if you want them.

We had their lasagna, meatballs, rib steak and salad and all were outstanding. The pizza was just OK and the dessert was unreal!

$100 per couple incl tip and drinks

I will definitely be back.

9.5/10

BIG ISSUE: DO NOT PARK in the big parking lot next door. IT IS A PRIVATE LOT and I got towed. Cost me $400 including taxis and tow fees. Ruined a great night!

The Bazaar by Jose Andres at SLS Hotel, South Beach

Went to The Bazaar at the new SLS Hotel on Wednesday with great anticipation.

http://www.slshotels.com/southbeach/dining/

It was entirely tapas with no main courses at all. While there was nothing we had that we didn’t like we left feeling hungry despite having 15 dishes. Each dish literally had 1 mouthful per person i.e. 4 pieces.

And to boot it was $20 for parking.

Bill was $300 for 4 people with very few drinks.

I will not be back.

6.5/10

Cafe Le Buca, Pompano Beach

Last night we went to a new restaurant in Pompano Beach called Café Le Buca. Yes we drove that far because we were told it was worth it.

They do not have a website to refer to. In fact, they only have 5 tables with 16 seats and the customer bathroom is inside the kitchen. For Montrealer’s it makes Schwartz’s look classy. For others, it looks like a dump, but don’t be fooled by looks.

There is no menu. There is no wine, beer or liquor, but there is a liquor store across the road. It is owned by a typically Italian mother and her son.

When you sit down they almost immediately bring you 3 different and amazing appetizers even though you didn’t order anything. Each one was great.

After the appetizers, they offer you a fish, meat or several pasta dishes. We had two pasta dishes, one meat dish and a pizza for the table. All were amazing. Not a noodle left over.

For dessert it was once again over the top Italian and lots of calories.

All this and we still had no idea how much. The bill finally came and it was $105/couple incl tip.

An amazing  value!

Definitely going back.

9/10