Havana Nights: Nice spot for an intimate dinner
This summer, many restaurants seem to be struggling – and even some of Vero’s best restaurants are offering special menus for those watching their dollars. One that caught our eye was the prix fixe menu at Maison Martinique.
Since entrees at Maison Martinique tend to run $30 or more, the idea of a soup or salad, entrée and dessert for $28 seemed tempting. While it took two visits before we actually gave the prix fixe menu a try, the second effort introduced us to the idea of dining at a spot we had not sampled before: the Havana Nights Piano Bar.
We did not start out planning to dine at Havana Nights. We phoned Maison Martinique on a Wednesday afternoon to make a dinner reservation; then shortly before leaving, we got a call. They had no other dinner reservations for the evening, we were told, so the main restaurant was going to be closed – but we could order dishes from the Maison Martinique menu upstairs in Havana Nights.
So off we went. For those who have not tried it, Havana Nights is a warm, inviting room sitting at the top of a flight of stairs above Maison Martinique (there is also a small elevator). We were offered our choice of the three cozy white banquettes on one side of the room (there are also a half dozen tables, as well as bar seating), and were soon joined in the room by several other parties.
While Havana Nights offers its own menu of light French, Spanish and Caribbean-inspired suppers (kind of like a tapas bar), on this evening we were determined to sample the Maison Martinique prix fixe menu.
For starters, I had the house salad and my husband had the Caesar. Both were excellent. We then had a choice of five entrees (which vary from week to week. More on that later.) I picked the shrimp curry, very tasty shrimp in a mild curry sauce, and my husband had the trout almandine – trout pan-fried in butter topped with nicely browned almonds.
For dessert, I opted for the chocolate mousse – a sinfully rich dark chocolate concoction – and my husband enjoyed a refreshingly tangy lemon sorbet. For a modest additional cost, we accompanied dessert with excellent espressos.
The bottom line here is that no Vero restaurant does French sauces as well as Maison Martinique. And if there is a dish on the prix fixe menu that catches your fancy – and there were two on this evening – this is an excellent dining value.
That brings us back to our first effort to try the prix fixe menu on a Saturday night a couple of weeks earlier. When we arrived for our 7:30 reservation, we were pleased to find the restaurant Maison Martinique encouragingly full. (We later were told that the Saturday turnout was greater than all the other evenings that week combined.)
The five entrée choices on the prix fixe menu that night were lemon chicken; grilled or blackened mahi-mahi; grilled lamb chops; shrimp & bananas; or sweet bread chanterelle. We focused in with laser-like intensity on the lamb chops.
Then we heard the waiter telling the folks at the next table that unfortunately, the lamb chops on the prix fixe menu were already sold out. Floundering around for a second choice (none of the other entrees really excited us), we pretty quickly drifted away from the summer “deal” and wandered back to Maison Martinique’s regular menu.
My husband decided that instead of the house or Caesar salads that you are restricted to on the prix fixe, he would opt for the celery root salad ($10). I followed him off the prix fixe reservation and ordered the Sliced Red & Yellow Tomatoes salad ($10), garnished with red Onions & Goat Cheese Balsamic Vinaigrette. Both were excellent.
For a main course, my husband went straight for the Grilled Angus Tenderloin ($38) with a beef gorgonzola sauce. I opted for the sautéed shrimp with Andouille sausage ($32) in a Créole mustard rum sauce. The filet was melt-in-your-mouth delicious with a great assist from the gorgonzola. The shrimp and Andouille sausage combination was perfection.
The only caveat I would offer about the entrees is that the chef has a bit of a heavy hand with the salt – a comment we have heard from other recent diners.
On this evening, neither of us really was up for dessert, so we concluded the meal with an espresso.
The bottom line is that ordering off the Maison Martinique menu – rather than going with the prix fixe – ran us $96 before wine, coffee and tip. Not bad, but this makes the prix fixe three-course dinners (at $56 for two) a real bargain.
But the best part of this experiment was the accidental experience of dining at Havana Nights. While we had always thought of it as a place to go for a pre-dinner drink or a nightcap, it offers a great ambience for an intimate dinner as well. And while the piano is always playing, the music is not at all intrusive.
If you have not visited Havana Nights for a light dinner, summer weekday evenings are a great time to give it a try.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at tina@verobeach32963.com.
The reviewer is a beachside resident who dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.
Hours
Tuesday through Saturday, 5:30 pm to 10 pm
Bar
Full Bar
Address (MAP)
1601 South Ocean Drive, Vero Beach, FL, Phone: (772) 231-7299
Online
www.havananights.us
