A meal at Cafe Boulud (301 Australian Ave., 561/655-6060) is always something special. But come Tuesday, July 1, and continuing until the first of October it gets a little more special yet with the advent of Boulud Sud.
A sort of restaurant-within-a-restaurant, Boulud Sud is chef-owner Daniel Boulud’s annual gastronomic paean to the lusty, vibrant cuisine of the southern Mediterranean. I had the chance to nosh my way through last year’s offerings and it was enlightening to see (and taste) what the Boulud chefs could do cooking from a slightly different perspective than the restaurant’s usual French orientation.
The Boulud Sud menu is offered seven days a week in the restaurant’s intimate, garden-like (yet air-conditioned!) courtyard, featuring dishes like stone-baked Arabic flatbread with spiced lamb, labneh and pepperoncini; lemon-saffron cappellini with crispy squid, bottarga and bay leaf; local yellowtail snapper en croute de sel; and grapefruit givré with sesame halva and rose loukoum.
There are also a bevy of Mediterranean-inspired cocktails, like the Fleur d’Abricot with rum, Abricot du Roussillon liqueur, fennel and orgeat syrup, plus a roster of red, white and rosé wines chosen to complement the menu by sommelier Mariya Kovacheva.
The Boulud Sud menu will be available a la carte and as a three-course dinner for $35 per person. And if you’re still jonesing after dishes on the regular menu, never fear. It will be offered all summer too.
