Borgello Bistro

The Borgello Bistro in the Falls is a nice place for happy hour, good service and friendly staff, with indoor and outdoor seating. I had the opportunity to visit a few weeks ago and yes, to my surprise the had a full bar that serve Mojitos! So I ventured to try a mojito at a Mediterranean Bistro. I had (3) mojitos that night, it was happy hour after all. Well usually happy hour means two for one, but I manage to get a third one because the bus boy was not paying attention and filled my almost empty drink with water!

The mojitos at Borgello Bistro are good, run of the mill mojitos that you can find at several South Florida locations such as Dan Marino Sunset, the Yard House, and Jake's Gastro pub.

Nothing to this point can compare to a real mojito as the ones you can find at Ortanique on the Mile. I will continue my search for an equal or a second best, it will keep me busy as there are many, many places to try in So Florida.

The Yard House

Located in the Village of Merrick Park, in Coral Gables, Fl the Yard House is a beer lovers paradise. I'm not much of a beer drinker, I enjoy beer with pizza and at a BBQ but not when I go out with friends. This weekend I had the pleasure to see Wicked at the Arsht Center, a fabulous musical, that I highly recommend.

My friends and I went to the Yard House for drinks and a some food. Of course I had to try their Mojito, it wasn't spectacular but it was refreshing. It is obviously not made from scratch, I'm pretty sure they use a mojito mix. The mojito at the Yard House at $8.75 is comparable to those at Jake's Gastro Pub and Dan Marino's Sunset Place. The food and the service at 11:30 pm were good as well. You can read Yard House article at Miami.com

Mojito Atlantico an amazing discovery

On December 30th once again I had the opportunity to meet friends at one of my favorite places; Ortanique on the Mile which as I have stated before is home to the best mojitos in South Florida. I was fortunate that Joel, the mojito king, was bar tending that day and I was finally able to try his highly recommended Mojito Atlantico. The Mojito Atlantico' made with Ron Atlantico an aged small batch dark rum from the Dominican Republic and a "secret" ingredient, it is worth the $$. The Mojito Atlantico is smooth with a hint of spice that lingers in your palate after every sip. It is certain that I will continue to drink Mojito Atlantico's every time Joel is there, whether for an original mojito or a Mojito Atlantico Ortanique is the place to be and the food is absolutely amazing!

Here is Joel working his magic!

Ortanique on the mile

Is it possible that my quest for the best mojito in SoFla has suddenly come to an end? The answer is yes, it is possible. After a wonderful outing on Saturday night I can say that thus far the best mojito in SoFla can be found at Ortanique on the Mile.

What is interesting is that Ortanique is one of my favorite restaurants in Miami, however I have always been more interested in finding a great wine to pair their wonderful food. Even when attending private events at Ortanique's I don't recall ever having a mojito.

The Ortanique Mojito is just perfect, the perfect amount of rum, the perfectly sweet, and yet perfectly sour, just perfect.

While engaged in fabulous conversation with chef owner Cindy Hutson, I found out that the mojito I tried was not even made by the Mojito Master, Joel Garcia. Now I have an excuse to go back and try Joel's mojitos. While at the restaurant I received a text from a friend that was very eager to suggest that I try a mojito atlantico, yet another excuse to go back.

The message is that even though Ortanique on the Mile has the best mojito in SoFla that does not mean the end of this blog. I have several excuses to go back, excuses to try other places to see how they compare, and I will make it my mission to convince them to create a Passion fruit mojito. You would have to agree that it will be so convenient to drive to the Gables for my passion fruit mojito fix than flying 1500 miles to SJ; I'm just saying...

Bahama Breeze (Kendall)

This week's dinner with friends took me to Bahama Breeze, another opportunity to broaden my search for good mojitos in SoFla.
Nothing spectacular about mojitos at Bahama Breeze. Ok for the prize and the food was good. When I asked the waiter for a mojito, he asked: "do you want it regular or strong". What kind of question is that? A mojito is a mojito, and I just want an awesome mojito, with the right amount of lemon, mint, sugar and rum.
The mojito at Bahama Breeze was made with dark rum, which made it's color a little darker than expected.
My friend suggested that I develop a rating scale, I'm trying to figure out how to do that.



-- Posted from my iPhone

Soyka 55th Street

On today's agenda brunch at Soyka. It is customary for brunch to have a Mimosa, a Bellini or even a Bloody Mary, however I wanted to be daring and asked for a mojito. The waiter was very pleasant and responded " our bartender just came in today to make you a mojito".
The mojito was just right; right amount of sweetness, lemon and mint. It was so good that I actually ordered another one, the second mojito was not as good, hence my theory that a goof mojito depends on the barrrender. The second mojito was bitter from the lemon zest, nothing a little xtra sugar couldn't fix. For the $11per Mojito price I expected each mojito to be consistently perfect. The search continues...




-- Posted from my iPhone

TGIF @ The Falls

Today's Happy Hour with the usual suspects took me to TGIF at The Falls in SoFla. I was a little skeptical about my chances to find mojitos in the bar menu, but I was pleasantly surprised that they did. I can not say for sure that the Ultimate Mojito is available nationwide or if it is just available locally.



I tried their Ultimate Mojito, just your standard straight forward mojito. It was my impression that the bartending staff uses either sprite or 7up instead of simple syrop. This makes the drink sweeter than usual. Also they do not take the time to muddle the mint and did not have enough lemon.
Overall after I added a little more lemon the Ultimate Mojito was ok for the $4 happy hour price. I will not pay full price for it.
After that I tried their Blackberry Mojito. This mojito version was actually a nice refreshing drink, but not deserving of being called a mojito. It lacked the mint and lemon kick, and it was not appealing to look at. My recommendation keep the drink call it something else.





-- Posted from my iPhone