SoBe's Tap Tap remains an oasis of originality

Kendall Hamersly
Miami Herald
Published: Monday, December 21, 1998

A lot of grumbling is going on these days in South Beach about how the charm and uniqueness of the place is being cast aside in favor of Gaps and Pottery Barns and Foot Lockers. It is true that portions of the Beach are beginning to resemble Kansas City, if you overlook the palm trees, crystal-blue skies and pierced eyelids. But a few oases of originality stand proud and tall.

One such gem is Tap Tap, the Haitian restaurant/gallery on Fifth Street. Opened about five years ago, it's a festival of color inside. Walls are painted in various bright and breezy shades and then adorned with beautiful paintings. The place is a maze of rooms, some filled with many tables and some privatized to include only one. A bar defines the front foyer, where much frivolity occurs on weekend nights as various Haitian rum drinks are passed freely and musicians perform.

Yet Tap Tap is changing along with the Beach. It's a change for the better. The kitchen previously suffered from languid pacing and uneven cooking; now, with the maturation of chef Jean L. Chery from Johnson & Wales student to master cook, it really clicks. The menu has been shortened and simplified yet remains full of fascinating things, well executed.

Rolls, soup are good start

You will start with hot rolls. To go with these, order a bowl of pumpkin soup ($4), not a puree but a kind of vegetable chowder, with chunks of calabaza, chayote and yam, flavored with garlic, clove, thyme and scotch bonnet pepper.

Another nicety is a salad of avocado, watercress and mango ($6). This has a bracing mix of flavors, with thinly sliced onion throwing sharp bite against the buttery dullness of the avocado and a tart vinaigrette tying all together. Ours had slightly unripe mango, though.

Four other appetizers can be sampled on the Tap Tap Appetizer Sampler Platter ($12). You get a half-dozen conch fritters with watercress sauce; these were a bit like hush puppies in that they didn't feature much conch, but the watercress sauce, a puree of the peppery green with garlic, olive oil, parsley, thyme and a hint of scotch bonnet, is a fantastic dip. (You can access the recipe and many other Tap Tap standbys at www.tap-tap.com) You also get a half-dozen fried malanga, juicy and hot, served with the same sauce. A conch ceviche is a cool treat. And smoked herring, mixed in oil with onion, pepper and avocado, completes the sampler.

That's a lot of food. But move on. The Haitian cuisine is famous for goat; the current menu has it only stewed ($9), in a sauce made with chunks of tomato and the pear-like chayote. This is wonderfully tender goat, and you get a lot of it, flavored with garlic, thyme, clove and scotch bonnet (the Haitian bouquet garni, as it were). Goat for all. And a big bowl of rice flavored with black mushrooms, to boot.

Shrimp are sauteed in a spicy Creole sauce ($15 for at least a dozen large ones). Ours were properly done, served with white rice and red bean sauce, a bean puree that you spoon on top, a hearty and filling mix with the tangy, light shrimp. The beans get a good jolt from the addition of a fiery hot scotch bonnet slaw, on the table like ketchup at Wendy's.

Whole fish is plenty

Fish of the day was parrotfish ($15), fried whole and served with a mango salsa with tomato and onion. The crispy fish overwhelmed the large plate and profferred, for once with a whole fish dish, enough meat for the work. Salsa has a kick but not a real hot one. It's served with Haitian potato salad -- yam, yuca, white potato and spinach, sauteed in olive oil.

Best entree was the simplest, grilled chicken with carrots, cabbage and that nifty watercress sauce ($9). This is a full breast, skin on, about as juicy and flavorful as you could want. The secret is a marinade of sour orange and scotch bonnet, clove, garlic and thyme (of course).

It's overkill to order dessert right now with all the holiday sweets making the rounds, but blanc mange -- coconut cream pudding, with almond and cream ($4.50) -- is interesting, if only for its uncanny resemblance to a block of Ivory soap. Cut into the bar and get rewarded with a soft, sweet, intensely coconutty match for the strong coffee served here.

Kendall Hamersly can be reached by e-mail at khamersly@herald.com