A new restaurant, Gigi, opened up in Midtown (on N. Miami Ave and 35th Street) advertising “Noodles…BBQ…Beer” all over their windows. Yes, yes and yes, please. Located on the same block as Bardot, Gigi has a really modern, hip feel with high ceilings and a chill atmosphere. I had heard really good things about the food.

All of the items my boyfriend and I ordered were highly recommended by the hostess, server and all the people who raved to me about how great this place is.

We started off with the roasted pork Gigi buns.

This is what showed up. My first thought, “This isn’t a bun..this is like a taco.” But then I tasted it and it was soooo good. The pork and the sauce were really yummy.

Next was the roasted corn with tofu shmeer. 

It looked nice. But I wasn’t that impressed. The tofu shmeer was supposed to mimic butter - I get that. But did it add anything special? No. The seasoning that was on the corn was a little spicy and a little tasty, though.

For the main dish, we shared the slow braised curry duck leg with coconut risotto.

Eh. It wasn’t spectacular. It was just curry. I felt like the duck was lacking that magical element that makes you want to eat more and more. The coconut risotto wasn’t that great of a match either. I felt as if someone was like, “Coconut is good with curry. It will help with the heat. Let’s do it.” It didn’t really work out.

For dessert, we had the Gigi Bar - Ovaltine dusted on a layer of chocolate Bavarian creme which sits on top of a layer of chocolate rice krispies and chocolate.

It was pretty good but nothing mind blowing. And it was tiny. Like it could be consumed in 3 spoonfuls. 

I really, REALLY wanted to like Gigi. I truly did. The space and decor was cool, they are open really late and the prices aren’t crazy. But the food didn’t convince me. I’m willing to give it another try but I hope it’s worth a second chance.

Recently, my boyfriend and I visited a new BBQ restaurant on US1, Smoke’t. A couple of my friends had eaten there before and raved about the food. As a BBQ lover, I had to see how it was for myself. The menu was a bit overwhelming, I wanted to try EVERYTHING. They also had an impressively large selection of beer. 

We first received some biscuits with butter. The biscuits were really yummy and fluffy. The butter had a hint of maple and tasted perfect on the biscuit. I was pretty excited for my food to come.

I had ordered fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy and a side of baked jalapeño mac and cheese and hush puppies with smoked pepper sauce.

Overall, the food was okay. The fried chicken was good - the batter was light but lacked a certain flavor that left me wanting something more. According to my boyfriend, the mashed potatoes probably weren’t fresh. The mac & cheese was good but nothing outstanding. The hush puppies were really yummy and the sauce was spicy and delicious.

I probably will not be making a second visit to Smoke’t because there was one particular thing that turned me off and honestly, made me pretty mad. I didn’t finish any of the dishes, so I asked the server to pack it all up for me. Once I got home, I realized that not everything was in there! I had about half a serving of the mashed potatoes left on my plate and the server didn’t put any of it in the to-go container. And I also did not get any of the yummy pepper sauce that went with the hush puppies. I was so so disappointed and irritated. Who was the server to assume that I didn’t want the mashed potatoes (which I obviously liked because I ate half of them) nor the sauce?! Who does that?!!!

Ok, maybe I am being a bit harsh and I would be open to another visit because I love BBQ that much. But it won’t be any time soon.