WHERE: 2035 Harrison St., Hollywood 33020
PHONE: (954) 300-1007
WEBSITE: https://jandcoyster.com/
1. BOOSTING THE SCENE:
Harrison Avenue was the cutting-edge restaurant scene in Hollywood a few many years 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 Avenue 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 along with his grandmother as a baby in St. Croix and moved to Miami to enroll at Le Cordon Bleu. He labored with Chef Michael Lewis at Michael’s Real, turning into sous chef. He grew to become government 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 Avenue 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 collection 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. Lots of Asian strategies and substances are utilized. All of the dishes are meant to be shared, so they’re served on the heart of the desk. She recommends inserting all the order and simply letting the meals movement. We did that and had a calming, however thrilling gastronomic journey.
5. DIVING IN:
We began with a mix 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 arduous 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 rooster 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, think about developing 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 presently open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday by way of Sunday, with a implausible Completely satisfied Hour from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. all through all the restaurant, not simply on the bar.
