People always tell you how your life will never be the same once you have kids, and it is the most truthful statement you will ever hear. My wife and I have an amazing 4 year old son and a beautiful 1 year old daughter and they are our everything; however, with kids it has become harder and harder to enjoy our date nights like before.
My wife, Talisa, and I decided that we were going to try a new Miami restaurant for date night. Coincidentally, our first date night in over 6 months landed on our wedding anniversary! So, we made the effort to plan and call out to the higher powers—the grandparents—to care for the kiddos and enjoy a night to ourselves.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, we decided to go to none other than Boia De located in Little Haiti. Now do not let the looks deceive you. This restaurant is in a little strip mall next to a coin laundry facility. Chances are if you ever drive by looking for it, you will probably miss it. This quaint restaurant, however, was just recently named the #1 best restaurant in Miami according to Time Out Market Miami!
Because you usually have to make reservations a month in advance, we weren’t holding our breaths when we decided to drive over and try to be seated as walk-ins. To our incredible surprise, we were able to be seated within 15 minutes! Before you think this is normal, I should point out that we did go early so I highly recommend you make reservations and not take your chances like we did.
We were seated at the bar and let me start by saying the service was impeccable! We were greeted by the sommelier who made a great wine recommendation, Fatalone Primitivo. It was a perfectly bold and smooth red wine to be paired with all the amazing dishes we were about to have.
As previously mentioned, we don’t go out much so when we do, we go big and order big!
While we let our wine breathe, we drooled over the menu not knowing what dishes to try. When I tell you I could have ordered every single dish off this menu—and probably have eaten it all—I am not lying. Would I have regretted it when the feeling of a very heavy stomach met the feeling of an even emptier wallet? Possibly. But would the experience of each of these dishes have been worth it? Definitely.
When our waiter came to ask us if we had any questions and if we were ready to order, my mind danced with all the options we were interested in and decided to ask the waiter for his personal recommendations. And this is when the true hero of the story showed his cape and made his order suggestions. Without hesitation, we ordered all of his recommendations and prepared for the family style feast.
Soon after ordering, our first dish, the Beef Tartare, was brought out to us. The finely diced steak in a tonnato dressing with salty crispy capers and a crumble of a garlic shallot was placed in front of our watering mouths. With the very first bite, the quality of the meat and all the delectable ingredients came together in a symphony of flavors. Talisa and I both looked at each other and without saying a word, we knew we made a great date night decision with Boia De.
The next dish that arrived at our table was the potato skins. Usually only ordered at generic restaurants such as TGI Fridays, these were far from any ordinary potato skins. These skins came with a crispy potato topped with a creamy stracciatella cheese, a big heaping pile of caviar and shaved egg yolk. With every bite all I was thinking was, “I don’t want this dish to end.” Thankfully, our waiter was ready with our next amazing dish.
Considering this was an Italian restaurant, we knew we had to get our fix of pastas. As per our waiter’s recommendation, and Talisa’s enthusiasm, we ordered the Tagliolini nero. If you are a seafood and truffle lover, this dish will stay alive in your dreams for the foreseeable future. The pasta was a healthy serving of cold squid ink pasta in a truffle vin juana sauce that danced in your mouth with every bite. But bringing the whole dish together was a great portion of king crab and diced herbs.
At this point in the meal, any normal couple would have already been busting at their seams, and while we could have been rolled out of the restaurant, we really wanted to go big. Enter the two other pasta dishes. First came the Bufala ricotta gnocchi pomodoro. Between the dish and the ambiance at Boia De, I felt as though I was eating in Northern Italy with my beautiful date by my side—enjoying our conversations, wine, and food. Even though we missed the kids, these foods and drinks helped us enjoy ourselves away from our
mini-mes.
The last dish before dessert was the pappardelle alla lepre. Although this sounds like a Biblical disease, it was not. This dish was the perfect ending and each bite felt like it touched deep in my soul. The pappardelle came in a tomato based sauce with rabbit and rosemary. This dish was Heavenly.
Making the full meal circle, our sweet tooth was blessed with the chocolate budino. I told my wife that I would go again just for their dessert because it was to die for. The chocolate with hazelnut and salted caramel just made a perfect ending to our gastronomical experience at Boia De.
We are already looking forward to our next date night foodie adventure. The question is, where to? If you have any recommendations, we are always looking to try something new!
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