Miramar: Mediterranean Meals

     My family and I went to Manhattan recently one of the first times since the pandemic began. We were wandering around battery park city, looking for shake shack and just as we were taking a minute to catch our breaths, we found ourselves near Miramar: a Mediterranean seafood restaurant, so we decided to eat here instead, praying it wouldn't make us regret not going to shake shack.
   For our appetizers we got the portobello mushroom and the avocado salad. The portobello mushroom was very earthy and had tons of umami flavor and the sautéed spinach gave a fantastic contract in texture. The mozzarella was there to keep every flavor in balance and the sun dried tomato pesto was an unexpected but welcoming twist on the palate, livening the dish up perfectly. The avocado salad was okay, however it needed more avocado, considering the name, so for me, the ratio of avocado to greens was off, but the flavor was still quite good.
    For the entrees, we got numerous items, because that is how hungry we were! The stuffed shrimp, filled with jumbo lump crab, onions, bell peppers, served with grilled asparagus and zucchini was absolutely divine. The shrimp were of good size and the rusticity and small size in which the bell peppers were cut created a nice pop in crunch, while still adding color to the dish. The crab could have been flaked a bit larger in order to highlight the nature of the crab, however the flavor was spot on and the dish ate very well. The zucchini and asparagus were also grilled to perfection with impressive grill marks. The seafood linguine with mussels, shrimp, scallops, calamari, and littleneck clams was fantastic. You could taste every seafood distinctly, but the scallops could have been a bit more refined, but these are the little things, as the calamari rings were able to sop up a lot of the chunky tomato sauce, which I thought was a nice touch. The pasta was perfectly al dente, having the perfect bite to it, while still twirling properly and delicately on the fork. The vegetarian mixed grill featuring eggplant, zucchini, asparagus, red pepper, onions, and rice, was a very balanced assortment. The bitterness of the eggplant with the sweetness of the pepper and the zing of the onion with the smokiness of the zucchini and the freshness of the asparagus was unmatched. It just makes me proud when a vegetable centric dish manages to have such tremendous flavor. Also, the rice might not look like much, but looks can be deceiving as that was flavor packed rice; it had infusion of char from the grill and had so much nuance and complexity, and being cooked to perfection was the cherry on top. Lastly, we ate the grilled shrimp, grilled salmon, and seared scallops over the iconic pepper, onion, and rice. These scallops were far better than the previous scallops, possibly due to the sear with the rub, since my preference is hard seared scallops in relation to scallops cooked in sauce. The shrimp, again cookies perfectly and with natural sweetness and classic grill smokiness. The salmon was a tad dry for me, but still edible with decent flavor.
​     As you can see my family and I truly indulged at this restaurant with minor flaws here and there, but I would genuinely dine here again. I would like to take a minute to also thank the servers and waitstaff for being so kind, comforting, and attending. It's true what they say, you stay for the food and you come back for the service, so I would rate this restaurant a 9.5 (service bumped it up from a 9) out of 10 on my scale of gourmet restaurants, please try it!!