Jaguar serves pan-Latin American cuisine

March 2, 6:15 PMMiami Food and Drink ExaminerRosalie E. Leposky

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Sidewalk dining in front
of Jaguar © 2009 George
Leposky

Jaguar Ceviche Spoon Bar and Latam Grill in the heart of Miami’s popular Coconut Grove neighborhood serves “Latin American cuisine with a Miami feel, without any particular ethnic or individual nationality,” says its owner, Mexican
restaurateur Lalo Durazo.

Durazo and his extended family moved to Miami in 2004. “After we arrived, we began to get a feel for what people living here preferred,” he says. “We saw successful ceviche and Argentine steakhouse restaurants. We considered the 70 percent Hispanic demographics, and the warm weather and lifestyle, and developed our Latin American concept.”

That concept embraces many different forms of Mexican, Central American, and South American cuisine. Jaguar’s “Ceviche Spoon Bar” consists of spoon-sized appetizer portions of marinated fresh fish prepared and garnished in a variety of ways. “Latam” stands for Latin American and refers to the style of grilling used for the restaurant’s meat, poultry, and fish entrees. Jaguar has weekly ceviche, fish, meat, and soup specials.

“Our menu offers our regulars their favorite dishes interspersed with new dishes,” says Durazo. “People come to Jaguar to eat something with a lot of flavor, and at the same time not overly spiced or heavy. All Jaguar dishes are prepared from scratch daily. We have our own secrets.

“People come for a light lunch before a movie, or an early dinner, or a celebration meal that may last three hours. Recently we introduced a new soup served only on Wednesday – chupe de camaron, a shrimp chowder popular in Peru made with boiled egg, fish, rice, aji amarillo, and shrimp with a little cream."

Mexican jungle mural by
Dionisio Ceballos © 2009
George Leposky

My husband and I recently sampled an assortment of items on Jaguar’s menu.

Ceviche Spoon Bar

From the Ceviche Spoon Bar, we tasted ceviches served with canchitas (Peruvian corn nuts).  

• Peruano - white fish (tilapia), lime juice, Julianne red onion, rocoto chile, Mexican corn, finished with yuzu (Japanese citrus) juice.

• Oriental – raw sushi-grade tuna, fresh ginger, soy, roast jalapeños, shallots, cilantro, lime, grape seed oil, avocado, cucumber, and toasted sesame seeds.

• Los Cabos – Pacific swordfish, red onions, jalapeños, cilantro, lime, and olive oil, with avocado puree and yuzu.

• Calamari Nuevo - aji amarillo, ginger, soy, lime, garlic, and grape seed oil. It’s also available with cooked shrimp.

• Vuelve a la Vida - swordfish, shrimp, and calamari in a sauce with tomato, lime, orange, onion, cilantro, and Habanero chile, topped with avocado.

• Black Market -- white fish (tilapia), shrimp, calamari, aji amarillo sauce, and corn.

Entrees

• Swordfish Anticuchos in three skewers, a popular Peruvian dish served with a potato hash that contains shallots and bacon, aji Panca sauce, asparagus spears, and cilantro pesto.

• Grilled Churrasco – a 12-ounce steak with house chimichurri sauce and roasted garlic, served with French fries, fried onion rings, and fried yucca.

• Smithfield baby back ribs in a chipotle-tamarind marinade with guacamole and onions. This is the owner’s favorite. You can order tortillas to go with it, then take the meat off the bones and wrap it in a tortilla with guacamole and onions.

Desserts

• Crepes filled with peach-flavored mascarpone (triple-rich cream) and fresh bananas, topped with dulce de leche (a caramelized milk syrup) and toasted walnuts, served with vanilla ice cream and a sprig of mint.

Jaguar’s bar
© 2009 George Leposky

A necessary relocation

The Durazo family moved to Miami after Lalo’s son, Eduardo, was seriously injured in an automobile accident in Mexico. Eduardo went first to the same doctors at Washington University in St. Louis who treated the late actor Christopher Reeve, then came to Miami to continue his therapy at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis .

In Mexico, Durazo was a partner in the highly successful 12-restaurant chain operated by Grupo Orraca. (The chain has since been sold to a larger Mexican restaurant-management company, Corporación mexicana de restaurantes.) After relocating to Miami, Duraco and his brother-in-law, Chef Oscar Del Rivero, explored opening a Miami restaurant.

New use for landmark building

In 2004, Del Rivero purchased the landmark 1935 building on Grand Avenue between Coconut Grove Elementary School and the CocoWalk Mall.  It formerly housed an S. H. Kress & Co. five and ten cent store that also was an Ace Hardware outlet. Jaguar opened a year later.

From the outside, Jaguar retains the boxy shape of the old Kress store. Jaguar uses some of the sidewalk for planters and outdoor seating for 40 diners. Inside, the space is totally reconfigured to a 160-seat restaurant with a bar and a large jungle mural by Dionisio Ceballos in one corner. “We are very fortunate that we developed something Grove residents enjoy,”Durazo says.

The spaces in the school’s teacher parking lot that once were allocated to Dime Store customers during the day are gone, but at night the entire lot becomes available to the public for a fee that varies depending on the day of the week and what events are scheduled in the neighborhood.

‎The restaurant opens at 11:30 AM for lunch Monday through Friday, and for brunch on Saturday and Sunday. It closes at 11 PM Sunday through Thursday, and 11:30 PM on Friday and Saturday.

A sister restaurant, Talavera Cocina Mexicana, is scheduled to open in late May at  2299 Ponce de Leon Blvd. in Coral Gables. “It will be 100 percent traditional Mexican cuisine,” says Duraco. “Our Web address for the new restaurant will be CocinaTalavera.com.”

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Jaguar Restaurant, 3067 Grand Ave., Miami FL 33133. 305- 444-0216