Taste Of The Town: MaryGold’s Florida Brasserie in Wynwood
MIAMI – Watching Chef Brad Kilgore, one of Miami’s most celebrated chefs, prepare food is truly like watching an artist create a masterpiece.
These days Kilgore is busy splitting his time between being a doting dad to his adorable eight-month-old baby boy Liam and Culinary Director and chef at MaryGold’s Florida Brasserie, inside Wynwood’s first-ever brand new hotel Arlo Wynwood.
“MaryGold’s started with an idea that we wanted to be sprouting out of the concrete jungle that is Wynwood. It is a refreshing escape from that,” Kilgore explained. “The menu is a Florida brasserie. We source local. We get as much as we can from our local farmers, but then it’s a classic brasserie where you can find a little bit for everybody.”
The look is clean and bright with dining inside and out, and yes, you’ll find a marigold flower on each table.
For this concept, Kilgore teamed up with the two men behind Bar Lab, Miami’s trend-setting culinary and cocktail collective.
“Bar Lab started with two partners Elad Zvi and Gabe Orta. They really got international recognition for their creations and they were some of the first guys in the city to make an impact with creative cocktails,” Kilgore said.
He told CBS4’s Lisa Petrillo that it’s important to him that the restaurant feels that it is really for the locals.
“It’s very important. I’m a local and we want to bring this restaurant to them,” he said.
Kilgore and Petrillo sat down for a tasting and first up was a glam starter dish – beignets with jerk oxtail, coconut gouda, and green onion.
“They’re light and fluffy. Let’s call it a savory donut,” Kilgore said,
“It’s rich, it’s sweet and savory. It’s drama. There’s so much going on. The donut in the middle is cheesy buttery goodness,” said Petrillo.
Next was Florida line caught sashimi. It’s flounder, fresh, flowery, and flavorful.
They then moved on to one of Kilgore’s specialties, a very fancy steak au poivre. The sauce set it apart.
“Instead of doing heavy cream, we finish it with foie gras. I call it foie poivre,” said Kilgore with a laugh.
“It’s so tender and cooked perfectly,” said Petrillo. “The fois gras gives it a richness. I was worried it was going to be too much, but it’s just the right amount.”
“Since we don’t do the heavy cream in there, it melts off the tongue,” said Kilgore.
They ended with Baked Florida, a tropical fruit semifreddo, that’s torched to perfection with Haitian rum.
“Toasty on the outside. It’s not heavy. The perfect sweet and fruity, don’t miss dessert,” said Perillo
MaryGold’s Florida Brasserie is open seven days a week serving lunch and dinner.
