For the past two and a half weeks Downtown Coral Gables has been celebrating their 9th Annual Coral Gables Restaurant Week.  From June 6th to June 26th many Coral Gables restaurants have been offering special three-course menus for lunch and dinner.   Their hope behind this exciting event is to allow you to taste your way through Coral Gables, giving you plenty of time to try new eateries and return to old favorites, all offering amazing prix-fixe menus at a discounted price.

This year the Taste of the Gables at the Westin Colonnade Hotel on June 2nd played part as the kick off event, where guests were able to sample mouth-watering and delectable dishes from Coral Gables Restaurant Week newcomers and veterans as they battle to win “Best Taste of the Gables.”  For the second year in a row Bulla Gastrobar took home the crown.

Coral Gables Restaurant Week also hosted their 3rd annual Blogger’s Crawl featuring five different restaurants showcasing the best items available on their special menus.

The five stops were:

·       Uvaggio Wine Bar-  Dinner $22 pp

o   Always a favorite spot of mine in the Gables, Uvaggio served Pickled Shrimp and Pan con Tomate, a summer salad inspired by Chef Tanner’s recent honeymoon, and what may be the tastiest pork belly I’ve ever had with a roasted corn puree.  These dishes were perfectly paired with a refreshing white wine and a wonderfully bold red wine.

         Ikura Sushi Lounge - Lunch & Dinner $29 pp

o   Ikura sushi served their Honeymoon Roll – a sweet roll with shrimp tempura, honey, and almonds, a cold crab salad called Kanikama Crunch, and don’t forget the sake!

·       Divino Ceviche- Dinner $23.99 pp

o   Divino Ceviche filled us up with an array of their favorite Peruvian dishes including Lomo Saltado, Ceviche, Arroz Chaufa, Causa, a very tasty fish dish, and Flan.  Finishing off their dishes was a nice cold Pisco Sour.

·       Talavera Cocino Mexicana- Lunch & Dinner $27 pp

o   Talavera served up two very flavorful tostadas – Conchinita Pibil Tostada and a Shrimp Aguachila Tostada and our choice of one of their very freshly made margaritas.  I opted for the Pineapple Jalapeno Passionfruit!  Protip: it’s not on the menu but they will happily mix two kinds of margaritas for you.

·       La Taberna Giralda- Lunch $13.95 pp/Dinner $39 pp

o   Our last stop had me wondering if I had any more possible space, but once their vibrant owner, Karen started talking about how excited she was to have us, I knew I had more space.  We started with a red pepper stuffed with black squid ink rice and cuttlefish and eggplant chips sprinkled with honey.  Next they brought out a pork tenderloin dish, a fish dish, and a flank steak – all amazing!  Of course we weren’t done and needed to end the night with a bang and were served an assortment of desserts from their menu with my favorite being the Almond Torta de Santiago with vanilla ice cream.  Can’t forget to mention the pitcher of homemade sangria in glasses that seemed to never be empty.

I’m not sure why I’ve never taken part in Coral Gables Restaurant week before but that’s definitely a mistake I plan on fixing. 

There’s still 3 days left to enjoy these delicious menu options – plan a date night, girl’s night, or take your mom to dinner – whatever you do, find a reason to enjoy these last few days of deals.

For full listing of all restaurants and menus visit Coral Gables Restaurant Week at http://restaurantweek.shopcoralgables.com/about/