Red Rooster in Miami Serves Food Worth Crowing About

Red Rooster was the name of a legendary Speakeasy in Harlem, open from the early part of the 20th century until its closing in the 1980s. It is also the name of a contemporary Restaurant opened by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson in Harlem in 2010, paying homage to the original through the culinary, visual, and performance arts.

Chef Samuelsson is the executive chef of the critically acclaimed restaurant Aquavit in NYC at 24 years old. He is also the author of many cookbooks, awards from The James Beard Foundation, and has appeared on nationally syndicated television numerous times in a culinary capacity. One of the things I like about him is the seemingly unfettered publishing of his Recipes more for the public than for profit.

Red Rooster Overtown opened in December 2020 after delays due to COVID. Overtown has similarities to Harlem as it was called a “colored town” from the late 19th to mid 20th century in Miami. If Chef Samuelsson wanted a perfect location to complement Harlem’s Red Rooster, he was pretty much spot on. I think they at some point are planning a Red Rooster II with visual and performance art as with the mother ship.

Red Rooster currently has a 4.1 rating on Yelp.

The restaurant was interesting and had a good layout. There was a nice bar area, dining and “outdoor dining” area.

I put outdoor dining in quotations as it’s really not outdoor, but it is. The hurricane shutters were closed, but there was adequate ventilation from a screened rooftop. I felt ok eating here.

The restaurant seems to have a Caribbean/Southern U.S. fusion going on and it was excellent.

The first thing ordered off the Dinner menu was the CCC fritter with corn, crab, conch and collard green togarashi.

Togarashi is a Japanese condiment using a mixture of spices. It is similar in principle to Five Spice Powder, Garam Masala, or Herbs De Provence. These were really good. When we were there, Marcus Samuelsson was in the house and was gracious enough to stop by and chat with us. I thought this was really cool. No matter who you are in the culinary world you cannot forget to work the front of the house when able to. I had recently made Tortillitas de Cameron which was similar to his CCC fritters and was asking about them. Most people would use gram flour, ground lentils, rather than throwing chickpeas in a blender and trying to make flour out of them as we did. After hearing this, he just laughed and walked away. It was nice seeing him make the effort though.

The second thing tried was the Mac ‘n’ Cheese.

My “dining companion” (DC) is a really big fan of shrimp and grits. Seeing this on the menu, she couldn’t resist. Here is the Recipe. It too was excellent, combining cream cheese, aged white cheddar, and Grana Padano, a type of Parmesan cheese. I am not a fan of mac ‘n’ cheese as my dining companion is, but it was really good. Although a side is very much recommended.

I am not a fan in any way of grits, but this dish was off the charts. If you look at the Recipe, you can see why. Not only are the shrimp complemented by chorizo but by cognac tomato sauce that is fantastic. Another highly recommended dish.

We finished with the fried yard bird.

This is Chef Samuelsson’s yardbird with a vinegar-based hot dipping sauce and baked beans with in-house smoked pork and other secret ingredients. This was A+++. Here is the Recipe. The chicken is marinated in a buttermilk/coconut milk mixture, coated in a white/semolina flour mixture and fried then seasoned with a berbere/smoked paprika/cumin spice blend. Many have written about this dish and it was terra incognita to me until eating here. Outstanding and well deserved of its reputation. 

Everything sampled that evening at Red Rooster was excellent. I am generally not a celebrity chef follower and picked up on this restaurant through local media. After eating here, and reading up on Chef Samuelsson, both his food and culinary reputation vis a vie multiple media are well deserved.

Although the restaurant had only been open one month when eating here, I thought it was great that a chef of this stature would still realize that when possible, working the front of the house was essential to building business.

I hope readers will eat here, I think they will love the food and have a great culinary experience from one of the best chefs and restauranteurs in North America.

It’s a wrap for another post on Forks.

Red Rooster Overtown

920 NW 2nd AVE
Miami, FL 33136

(305)640-9880

Website

Open for dinner Sunday-Thursday 5 PM-11PM;

Friday-Saturday, 5PM-12AM;

Brunch Saturday-Sunday, 10AM-3PM;

Onsite valet and street parking available;

All major credit cards accepted.

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