Restaurant Rave: Fierro Argentine Grill in Miami is a FIND

It’s time for another restaurant rave! It has been too long since I shared a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious restaurant experience with you, my friends. (Look it up if the reference is too old.)

In Miami to visit my son Thomas, AKA the Musical Millennial in these pages, for the first time since dropping him off at the University of Miami for graduate studies in Studio Jazz Arranging, he and I are traipsing around Miami enjoying the parks, beaches and restaurants. We’re packing as much as we can into 4 days of Mom & Kid time, while will be topped off with a concert tomorrow night in which he will conduct his latest original composition. Here’s the information if you want to watch the free live stream (you can set a reminder).

We’ve been on the move! Sunday lunch found us adventurous, wanting an experience that was truly Miami, and we did a U-turn when we saw this sign to pull into a really interesting-looking strip of restaurants on Bird Road in the Kendall / Coral Gables area.

It was so hard to choose one of the four, because they all looked – and smelled – fabulous.

We decided to start with Fierro Argentine Grill, promising ourselves to try each of the others on the next trip. However, Fierro was sooooo good, it will be hard to deviate. It’s in a very laid back outdoor setting, which is, in the immortal words of Goldilocks, juuuuuust right, especially on a lovely, temperate fall day with highs in the low 70s and a gentle sea breeze from the Atlantic.

We started our meal with a chorizo empanada, a shared appetizer. It was hard to choose because they all looked great, but the owner listened to our taste preferences and recommended the chorizo.

That look is called “anticipation of deliciousness”. Or, “hurry up, Mom, I want to eat that empanada!”

That chorizo empanada may seem very humble and unassuming there in its paper boat, but when Thomas took the first bite of his half, he said, “oh Mom… eat it very slowly”. Meaning, you will want to savor this.

My friends, I took his advice and I did eat it slowly. And I did savor it. That empanada was foodie-good, world-class good, Paris-good, someone’s-grandmother-must-have-created-it good. Savory and rich, the chorizo was complemented by onions, spices (maybe including nutmeg or allspice?) and raisins, stuffed into a pillowy, yeasty pastry that I learned later was made daily onsite, and baked, not fried. This dish was moan-worthy. I’m tempted to go back tomorrow and buy a dozen to bring home to Houston. The Grill-Meister wouldn’t mind that at all.

And then our main courses came. I got a bite but not a picture of Thomas’ Milanesa de Pollo sandwich, which was a breaded chicken breast, lettuce, tomatoes and basil aioli. The breading was perfect – light and crunchy with a moist chicken cutlet inside, and the basil aioli was the perfect condiment. Here’s a picture from the Fierro web site, but it isn’t exactly what Thomas’ sandwich looked like, because the basil aioli was generously applied and dripped appealingly off the sides.

My dish was a naughty burger with a salad on the side instead of the fries to try to alleviate my calorie guilt. The burger was so good that I largely ignored the salad, although the dressing was light and delicious and the vegetables were fresh and appealing. My meat-eater side was dominant at Fierro.

The burger was the namesake of the restaurant, the Fierro, and frankly, it deserved that level of respect. With its half pound of prime beef, bacon, caramelized onions, American white cheese, shoestring fries and smoky / creamy salsa spread, it is a memorable meal. It was so hearty that I moved it onto my appetizer plate and tackled it with gusto.

When I was trying to decide what to order, the owner described how the onions on this burger are slowly caramelized in port wine, and that little detail is emblematic of the whole approach to the burger and all of the cuisine at Fierro—every little foodie touch is careful, intentional, right. Accordingly, the bun was light and fluffy and had those marvelous grill marks, but I mostly ate the meat, because a gal has only so much stomach room.

The service at Fierro Argentine Grill was excellent. The owner, Michael A. Demarziani (shown above), took our order and was extremely patient with my thousand questions, gently guiding me toward the right choices for my palate.

The rest of the staff were friendly and delightful and really wanted to know what we thought of the food, and if we were happy with it. In fact, everyone we interacted with behaved like an owner in terms of how they approached us – as though our happiness was their top priority.

While Fierro is a very casual, very chill outdoor eatery, the service is 4-star. So is the food. And the relaxed outdoor seating and ambiance is a plus, making you feel like everything is ok and you could sit there all afternoon and just enjoy life.

Would I eat there again? In a heartbeat!

Am I sad I can’t eat there again on this trip. Absolutely!

We were there for lunch, but they have steaks and other Argentinian grilled deliciousness, and I will absolutely find a way to experience a dinner there. The Master’s degree doesn’t finish until next May, and surely I’ll be able to visit the Musical Millennial before that now that the pandemic has loosened up a little. Or maybe we’ll just have his grad party there. 😊

And next time, we’ll have to make room for dessert. The gelato selection is wicked yummy-looking, and who can resist a car refrigerator?

Thank you, Fierro Argentine Grill for a lovely, lovely, lovely meal on a truly perfect “Mom and Kid” day in Miami. We’ll be back.

© 2021, Glover Gardens

Reminder: this is a non-commercial blog, and any recommendations are strictly my opinion and not a paid advertisement.