Byblos: Mezze and Turkish cuisine on Miami Beach
As Miami awaits the onslaught of Super Bowl LIV, some favorite restaurants that have been on top deserve to be highlighted. One of our favorites is, Byblos, in the 1940’s Shorecrest Hotel next to the Royal Palm Hotel, which has brought Turkish, Lebanese, African and Eastern Mediterranean flavors to Miami Beach.
This unique and flavorful cuisine is not of the traditional Mediterranean fare of hummus, baba ganoush or gyro, but a wonderful and creative mix of ingredients that include mint, chick peas, red chili, molasses, yogurt and many colorful and fragrant spices one can almost envision seeing in a Turkish street market.
The bi-level restaurant with cozy bar and back dining room is all that remains of the original Shorecrest Hotel and the original terrazzo floor and interior has been transformed into a beautiful and very special restaurant with comfortable couch seating, stylish lighting fixtures and colorful wall art and hangings.
We dined upstairs in the Mezze bar, where the menu offered some familiar dishes, but many we had to inquire about from our server. Labneh, Lebanese cream cheese and similar to Greek yogurt was suggested with Roasted Red Beets as was The Turkish Manti, a delicate lamb dumpling in smoky eggplant, yogurt and molasses sauce. Since each manti is handmade, it is said that in Turkey the smaller the manti the more desirable as each becomes a personal work of art. I wish I had known that ahead of time as I think we gobbled them up rather than savoring and appreciating them for their delicate look.
The Eggplant Kibbeh, was another choice suggested by our server. Kibbeh is a classic Middle Eastern dish of chopped lamb or beef that mixed with spices is fried into a ball or what looks like a croqueta. At Byblos, the eggplant replaced the meat and was stuffed into a lightly fried zucchini blossom and topped lightly with a spiced chickpea and house-made yogurt sauce.
Two salads, the Tomato and Feta salad paid nice homage to the vine-riped local tomatoes and the Baby Gem included falafel and goat cheese, and were both full of fresh ingredients.
Forget about pizza, it’s all about Turkish Pide now. A long thin flat bread is stuffed with mushrooms, spinach, feta cheese, goat cheese and spices. We chose two Pides, the Mushroom Truffle Pide with Buffalo mozzarella and the Sujuk Pide, which is a Turkish spiced sausage with feta. Both were delicious and a good dish to share.
Main dishes include seafood choices ranging from Ras el Hanout spiced Black Cod, Grilled Whole Branzino and Atlantic Salmon. Meat dishes include Lamb Chops, Cornish Hen and Rib-eye. The Roasted Lamb Shoulder is for 2, or 3 and comes with sumac. pickles, house lavash. All are uniquely spiced and/or with yogurt dressing.
The bar gets busy, and by 8 pm the restaurant buzzing with every table filled, so make sure you make reservations.
Byblos is open for dinner 6-11 Sun-Thursday and 6-12 Friday-Saturday.
1535 Collins Ave
Miami Beach, FL
305508 5041
Discounted Valet parking is available at Royal Palm Hotel next door.