16124: (Hermantin)Miami New Times-Tap Tap Restaurant (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Tip Top Tap Tap
The old Haitian standby is back in shape
BY LEE KLEIN
feedback@miaminewtimes.com



Tap Tap Restaurant
Details: Open Monday through Thursday 4:00 to 11:00 p.m., Friday and
Saturday until midnight, Sunday until 10:00 p.m. Call 305-672-2898.
Where: 819 5th St, Miami Beach, FL


Tap Tap, South Beach's only Haitian restaurant, has exhibited precipitous
ups and downs since opening on Fifth Street nine years ago. What started out
as a fun, funky, crowded joint with enchanting island fare turned into a
not-so-happening joint with not-so-enchanting fare. Then the place enjoyed
an upward tick, followed by another downhill run. Now, I am pleased to
report, Tap Tap is back on top.
The restaurant, housed in a sturdy two-story structure with front porch,
recently underwent an exterior paint job, its orange hues now cooled to
blues. The Haitian folk art-inspired décor inside remains as it was, the set
of small dining rooms defined by colorful murals on the walls, brightly
painted chairs, and vibrant artwork adorning each glossy-topped table.
Service is standard SoBe slacker style -- or, more accurately, Caribbean
slacker style -- but the waitstaff's don't-worry-be-happy demeanor
encourages forgiveness for occasional slo-mo service.

Improved cuisine is key to Tap Tap's comeback. Salad lambi, lime-marinated
cubes of conch keenly piquant with jalapeño peppers, is an invigorating
beginning to hearty main courses, as is a smoothly spicy, allspice-flecked
pumpkin soup with cabbage and chayote. The only other appetizer choices on
this little menu are malanga or conch fritters, and grilled tidbits of goat
with a peppery watercress dipping sauce. Starters run from $2.95-$3.95,
entrées from $5.95 (chicken stew) to $13.95 (whole fish in lime sauce) --
which might cause you to take a quick glance out the window to make certain
you're still in South Beach, and may also tempt you to supplement your start
with one of three salads -- avocado and tomato dressed in olive oil and
lime, beets with potatoes, hard-boiled egg and watercress, and "salad Tap
Tap," a bright, refreshing blend of mango and carrots over watercress and
other mixed greens tossed in honey mustard dressing ($3.95).

Goat comes in two main course guises: stewed in a thin, intoxicatingly spicy
scotch bonnet-spiked tomato broth ($8.95), and grilled after a sour
orange-garlic marination. Other specialties from the grill, all cooked to
order and requiring an estimated waiting time of 30 minutes, include fish of
the day, conch, and chicken breast on the bone. As far as this last dish is
concerned, I'd be willing to wait hours for a bird this beautifully cooked
-- crackly, spicy skin sealing breast meat bursting with juiciness. All
entrées come with robustly flavored rice and black beans (congri), and discs
of fried plantain, the chicken also including a hot vinegar and watercress
sauce for dipping, and a mound of impeccably creamy cole slaw. That's a big,
satisfying plateful of food for $7.95.

Rice pudding (penpatat) is more gelatinously puddingy than the
Greek/American variety (the rice seemingly puréed or else very short grain),
and imbued with a pleasantly subdued coconut flavor. Coconut juice appears
in various rum drinks too, which are enjoyable any old time, especially on
Thursday and Saturday nights when live island music flows through the breezy
space. These tropical elixirs are definitely stiff, though the dining
experience at Tap Tap is anything but.



miaminewtimes.com | originally published: July 10, 2003

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