A Cut Above The Rest

Walking through a foyer designed to emulate the shape of a wine bottle is the first sign you’re in for a memorable meal. That is the introduction to Cote, the Miami outpost to restaurateur Simon Kim’s lauded Michelin-starred New York City Korean Steakhouse that has captured the hearts of Miami meat lovers.

My guest and I dined on a Tuesday, but you would guess it was Friday or Saturday night by the crowd. Diners, young and old, swarmed the oval-shaped bar boasting innumerable bottles of high-end liquor while bartenders rhythmically shook drinks like Heat, a biting blend of tequila, passion fruit, lime, coffee and dried chili peppers and Ultimatum: vodka, sherry, watermelon, lemon and salt, to life. The dimly lit sleek dining room buzzed with energy, with each table spilling with happy patrons savoring the club-like vibe with as much gusto as their exceptional dry-aged meat being grilled tableside.

Speaking of exceptional meat, take a detour before settling into your seat to visit the dry-aging room tucked in the back. You’ll be treated to a voyeuristic peek of beautiful slabs of 45-day dry-aged beef basking in red light, aging to perfection.

This is not just a meal, this is an experience. It begins with a friendly waiter lighting the charcoal grill built into the center of each table as a declaration of the primary purpose of a visit here: to eat meat.

There are plenty of worthy tactics that can be applied for a successful visit to Cote. One could order à la carte items, beginning with starters like the Steak Tartare (local grass-fed top-round, pear and crispy tendon puffs) or the Korean “Bacon,” house-smoked crispy heritage pork belly, pickled jalapeño and Korean mustard before moving to main courses, listed in the part of the menu simply titled: “Meat, Meat & More Meat.”

Hard-core beef connoisseurs may want to go all-in with the 10-course Steak Omakase, a carefully curated experience featuring various cuts of meat ranging in flavor, dimension and complexity.

But newbies are best served going for the Butcher’s Feast, a comprehensive and flavorful tour of Korean barbecue highlighting Cote’s finest dishes. Woven in with Ban-Chan, which translates to “side-dish” — an array of pickled seasonal vegetables like okra and cauliflower (preserved on-site in the restaurant’s “Vegetable Fermentation Lab”) and an addictive scallion salad meant to be wrapped in tidy red lettuce leaf packets over grilled meat and a drizzle of “Ssam-jang,” a spicy dipping sauce. I do not wrap the scallion salad. It’s too good to stop eating straight from the serving plate. My waiter offers an understanding smile as he grills the meat.

Indeed, the attentive server doubles as your chef. In fact, it appears everyone who works at Cote (the Korean word for flower) has undergone the rigorous training of cooking the meat just right, freeing them to go about tending to their other tables while someone — the sommelier, the general manager or another server — steps in to take their place, expertly turning the meat. This is a Korean dining experience elevated to the finest heights. 

Four cuts of meat (USDA prime hanger steak, 45-day dry-aged ribeye, American Wagyu flatiron and marinated short rib Galbi) serve as the backbone to this feast. An array of salads and sauces, a bowl of piping hot white rice flanked by Dwen-jang stew and Spicy Kimchi stew (fermented soybean paste and mixed vegetables and kimchi and pork belly, respectively) and a regal egg soufflé arrive as well. My guest and I are instructed to ladle the heady broth onto the rice, add egg soufflé and should we like, some spicy sauce (a blend of chili and tamarind) that mysteriously appears on our table. As an afterthought the server mentions that diners like to add meat as well, understanding that my guest and I are too enchanted by the tenderness and flavor of the marbled steak on its own to relinquish it to a bowl mixed with other things.  

For dessert, Soft Serve vanilla ice cream topped with soy caramel sauce arrives. The simple treat is the ideal way to wrap things up. It comes in a tidy paper container with an even more miniature wooden spoon, we’re left with childlike wonder as the cool, sweet and slightly salty flavors mark the end of a rich and decadent meal. 

Cote is located at 3900 NE 2nd Ave., in Miami’s Design District. For more information, call 305-434-4668 or visit cotemiami.com.