WHERE: 2035 Harrison St., Hollywood 33020
PHONE: (954) 300-1007
WEBSITE: https://jandcoyster.com/
1. BOOSTING THE SCENE:
Harrison Road was the cutting-edge restaurant scene in Hollywood a few a long time in the past earlier than Hollywood Boulevard, one block north, began taking off. Now, Venezuelan-born restaurateur Cesar Cifuentes helps elevate Harrison with Oaxaka, a Mexican-Asian fusion restaurant that interconnects with the newly opened J&C Oyster. Oaxaka (a reputation derived from Oaxaca in Mexico and Osaka in Japan) began out as a meals stall on the Yellow Inexperienced Farmers Market. He’s planning an Italian restaurant subsequent. Cifuentes is aware of Harrison Road nicely, since his CMA firm (digital signage, audio/video, software program growth and system automation) is true throughout the road from the eating places. Cifuentes’ timing appears proper since downtown Hollywood has been activated by ArtsPark at Younger Circle and has an ongoing spurt of residential growth.
2. PEDIGREED CHEFS:
Govt Chef Raheem Sealey began cooking within the kitchen together with his grandmother as a toddler in St. Croix and moved to Miami to enroll at Le Cordon Bleu. He labored with Chef Michael Lewis at Michael’s Real, changing into sous chef. He turned govt chef at KYU, a extremely acclaimed Asian-inspired restaurant in Wynwood. He cofounded Consuming Pig BBQ and met Cifuentes throughout a pop-up in Wynwood. Co-Chef Monika Dominguez was mentored by Sealey at Zuma and KYU. She has additionally labored at Chug’s Diner and Dale Road Meals.
3. COCKTAIL TIME:
J&C has eight signature cocktails. I opted for the Yuzu Margarita. Yuzu is a citrus fruit mixed with Patrón tequila, curacao and lime. It was a refreshing tackle a margarita with out the often-common cloying sweetness. There’s a Tom Collins with a tarragon twist and the Singani Enzoni, with Singani 63, lemon and white grapes. Singani is distilled from grapes excessive within the Bolivian Andes. There’s a pleasant choice of sake plus loads of reds, whites, roses and bubblies to select from.
4. CHEF-DRIVEN
Our nice server Daisy described J&C as a chef-driven seafood idea restaurant. A whole lot of Asian strategies and elements are utilized. All of the dishes are meant to be shared, so they’re served on the heart of the desk. She recommends putting the complete order and simply letting the meals circulation. We did that and had a soothing, however thrilling gastronomic journey.
5. DIVING IN:
We began with a mixture of tremendous contemporary uncooked oysters from the East and West Coasts. The accompanying nam prik mignonette sauce, a Thai spicy chili sauce, was a pleasant accompaniment. Sure, we’ll have mussels, too. It was onerous to cease dunking the sourdough toast within the broth flavored with xo butter, togarashi (Japanese 7 Spice), scallions and lime. The king crab had big chunks of crab with extra yuzu in a mayo dip, and the Thai Crab Curry is a culinary delight. The Chilean Sea Bass filet was flaky tender with miso, ginger and a French dressing herb salad. Regardless of the seafood emphasis, there have been some excellent meat dishes, beginning with the steak tartare with truffle mayo and milk bread. The Korean-style togarashi brined hen is a must have, so crispy and flavorful with a house-made barbecue sauce, chili butter and palate-cleansing pickles.
SHORT TAKES
- There’s nonetheless loads of different dishes for us to strive subsequent time, such because the lobster risotto, oxtail, lobster roll and soft-shell crab rolls.
- With the abundance of seafood, take into account setting up a made-to-order platter with objects similar to crab salad, shrimp, oysters, king crab and lobster. There’s additionally a caviar service.
- J&C Oyster is at the moment open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday by way of Sunday, with a implausible Glad Hour from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. all through the complete restaurant, not simply on the bar.
