This restaurant is now closed
On November 1, Kenneth Lyon from Lyon & Lyon Catering and Fratelli Lyon will open his latest restaurant to the public at The Bath Club on Miami Beach called The Cape Cod Room. This 75-seat intimate restaurant will feature New England favorites such as Cape Cod Quahog Chowder, twin mini Lobster Rolls, Cape Cod Pot Pie and “Provence-Town” Seafood Stew. The Cape Cod Room is located at 5937 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach.
On Friday, my group of socially networked food enthusiasts and I were invited to Ken Lyon’s newest restaurant, The Cape Cod Room for a ‘soft opening’ media dinner. It was beyond anyone’s expectations. Not that any of us had any to begin with. This particular event at The Cape Cod Room; we all came out completely, totally, unanimously and undeniably blown away! The food was superb from the word go! The service was spot-on! What more can you ask for? Everything about the service was genuine and real. The servers are well trained, they know their menu and ingredients backwards and forwards, inside and out. The food is meticulously prepared and served. Dinner at The Cape Cod Room is an exquisite experience from the moment you walk into this charming nouveau New-England style dining room
Bevon Brahm is the General Manager of The Cape Cod Room, Ken Lyon’s right-hand man. Bevon is genuine and real. I stated that in the above paragraph, it is a subtle veil that you will experience over and over during your visit to The Cape Cod Room. One ‘thing’ that does lack in a lot of South Florida restaurants is attention to detail, caring about the little things and being polite and real. This is definitely not the case at The Cape Cod Room. It starts at the top with Mr. Lyon, who is approachable, magnanimous, fun and very proud of his restaurant. In turn Bevon is accommodating, helpful and very laid back with an air of quiet sophistication. Bevon has assembled a top-notch team of servers and bartenders, not an easy task in Miami Beach where most seeking employment want to be on South Beach with all the glitz, glamour and excitement.
And with some new twists on classics Mr. Lyon has paid due homage to all things that have greatly inspired him. Being from New England, growing up on menu staples of “clam chowda”, Yankee pot roast, chicken and mashed potatoes and Indian pudding, I know a thing or two about New England style eating. With Mr. Lyon orchestrating his culinary team he has brought life to food and dishes I didn’t think was possible. The combination of flavors, seasonings and spices are ideal. Even though you wanted to use the ingenious little clam shells holding the salt and pepper you didn’t dare mess with perfection. Ken has put a twist on New England staple dishes that would impress any Mom from the 70′s who cooked her pot roast in a crock pot for 11 hours complete with her Idaho potatoes, white onions, carrots and celery with beef broth from bouillon cubes.
I ate until my heart was content and then some. We started with a trio of soups, the Outer Cape soup of jag (white beans), linguicia and kale, true to the New Bedford style of preparation. Cape Cod, Quahog Chowder and Locke-Ober’s Lobster Stew, both are like silk velvet coveting your mouth like a beautiful garment. The twin mini Maine Lobster Rolls, spot-on. Period. For the entrees, we shared The Provence-Town Seafood Stew and the Cape-Cod Pot Pie with a side of jag (white beans), linguicia and kale. It’s obvious I’m over cooking my kale and using the shortcut white beans from a can, because when you taste the real thing cooked the right way you realize that you are shamefully, destroying what could be a simple masterpiece as what Ken Lyon has created with this dish.
I’ve had pot pie, more times than I care to remember and I have never had ‘pot pie’ prepared the way I had it at The Cape Cod Room. It is deep dish shelled Maine Lobster, sea scallops, baby carrots, fresh peas, fingerling potatoes in a velvet bath of a chervil, chives and tarragon sherried lobster sauce topped with a single savory butter crust. Unbelievable! The blend of seasonings and herbs are sheer perfection and the freshness of the seafood and vegetables make this award-winning!
Our next entree goes by many names, Cioppino, Bouballaise, Suquet de peix or more commonly known as “Seafood Stew”. This was definitely no ordinary Seafood Stew. The saffron-scented broth of leeks, fennel and tomatoes immersed the split Maine lobster, mussels, clams, scallops and codfish in a bath of juice from the culinary gods leaving you completely replete.
No dinner would be complete without a warm frothy perfectly balanced cup of cappuccino and a luscious serving of creamy, tangy and sweet lemon curd with shortbread butter cookies. However if you’re going to go all out New England, then the Indian Pudding presented on the spice cookie might be the way to go. And the secret ingredient in the Indian pudding is? November 1 The Cape Cod Room is open to the public.
The Cape Cod Room will be open Wednesday-Saturday evenings for dinner and from 11-3 for an a la carte Sunday Brunch. The Cape Cod Room is located at 5937 Collins Avenue on Miami Beach.
