If you’re a local who’s into food, you’ve heard of Recoveco, the tucked-away South Miami restaurant with a chicken dish pictured all over social media because it’s served with a foot, claws splayed out like the grasping hand of a macabre haunted house witch.
But before we get into whether that chicken is good, I want to tell you about the shrimp. Because it’s a dish that sums up this restaurant well. Five waning moons of halved, chilled shrimp, each with a slice of avocado, a dainty wild chervil leaf and a thread of tropea onion. My initial thought: Did I just pay $24 for about 87 calories worth of food?
But then I scooped up the sauce with the giant spoon they leave beside you all night (one of the quirks of this place). It’s white miso, according to the tiny menu (another quirk), and its unbelievably complicated—just like everything coming out of this kitchen.
Recoveco opened behind Fox’s, in a space that feels simple, with laminated plywood furniture but also with serious big-city charm. In its early days, a lot of the buzz came from that chicken, which can be served without the foot. Like the shrimp, the $60 chicken looks tiny. But it’s also deceptively complicated, crispy skin seasoned with something mysterious, two sauces below, green mango and hoja santa, more interesting the more you try them.
It was the same with a celery salad under a bed of prettily shaved pecorino toscano and just-picked star fruit. It was true also for sausage-stuffed peppers with caramel chicken jus. It continued right up to the dessert, a luscious Venezuelan chocolate cake above fresh mamey, a bloom of marshmallow above and an explosion of tartness from finger limes.
There are things not to love about Recoveco. The prices run from that’s-reasonable to I-wonder-why. They need a food runner/crumb cleaner. The wine offered by the glass is largely funk-filled and sourced from Japan and Uruguay and New York, barely a thing that’s recognizable. And they should have more than three entrees.
But with dishes that impress far beyond an Instagrammable chicken, there’s a good chance they’ll figure those things out. Recoveco is full of talent, and it’s going to be fun to see what they’re cooking next.