Foodie Find: PM Buenos Aires Fish & Steak House

Located squarely downtown — amidst Miami’s skyscrapers and its after-hours social scene —PM Buenos Aires Fish & Steak House is serving up prime menu selections, hand-selected wines and dazzling cocktail combinations.The restaurant – it’s one of five, the other four are in Mexico — is named for Puerto Madero, an upscale and walkable port in Argentina lined with dining and drinking options. The wines at the American namesake hail directly from that country, as the group owns two Argentinian wineries with a partnership in three more, meaning the by-the-glass selections are exclusive to this eatery. The beef comes from mid-western cattle farms and the produce is sourced locally. (continued below…)

Inside the dining room, exposed brick, white linen chairs and rustic beams serve as the backdrop fora decadent experience. Waiters wear bow ties and serve almost all dishes tableside. Tenderloin arrives sizzling on an iron skillet, where it’s sliced before your eyes. Potatoes souffle, puffed light and crisp, is spooned to your plate from an edible spud bowl. And truffles are shaved on to creamy risotto not in the kitchen, but where you can see firsthand the slices feather down to the creamy dish.

“Tableside service is standard in Mexico but not common in the United States,” says Alex Perez, the general manager. “Our identity involves not letting the guest do anything other than eat.”
It’s a good thing too, as the dishes are delicious and distracting. Don’t miss the signature salad with rounds of goat cheese and chucks of fresh avocado or the grilled octopus, which is cooked to be tender, not tough, and served with potatoes. The chorizo is homemade and features a family recipe that’s full of flavor. And the sweet potato sides are served piping hot and lightly sautéed.

The crowd here is for real. At lunchtime, it’s a dining room of business deals dotted with the occasional well-dressed patrons, while dinner draws the well-heeled from all walks. Happy hour is from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and featured specialty cocktails and wine, so if you don’t fit into either of the first two categories, this is the time to sip and savor with the best of them.

PM Buenos Aires Fish & Steak House, 1453 South Miami Avenue, weekdays 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturdays 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 10 p.m. Valet is $10.