The underground dining club Cobaya Miami has always been a favorite of ours. They’ve hosted some of the most impressive, no-holds dinners in town, and for dinner number 55, the group teamed up with EDGE Miami to host a preview of the Four Seasons Undercover Dinner series launching in August.
The concept behind Cobaya — and the new Four Season Undercover Dinner series — is you have no idea where you’ll be eating, what you’ll be eating and who will be the chef. All you know is that it will be a kick-ass meal. For the Four Seasons dinner, Chef Aaron Brooks will be manning the kitchen, but you won’t know what he’ll be making until you arrive.
For this dinner, or “experiment” as they are called in the Cobaya world, we all started downstairs for a champagne reception and some passed bites including a Foie Gras Torchon on a Anzac biscuit, a Smoked Salmon Crepe Cake with ramp cream cheese on an “everything” crust, Morcilla topped with smoked trout caviar, and a grilled cheese fillet topped with Osetra caviar.
Then when it was time for dinner we were lead to a private penthouse 65 floors up in the Four Seasons Residences next door. The space had some of the best views of the city with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the bay. A DJ was playing in the background to help keep the mood going.
Dinner we learned was going to be a five-course meal, starting with cold and hot charcuterie. If you’ve ever been to EDGE, you know it has some of the best charcuterie in the city and this version certainly didn’t disappoint. The Cold Board featured house-made items like chicken, eel, and peanut terrine en croute; duck heart and Sicilian pistachio terrine; foie gras, chicken liver, and truffle pate; smoked hock and head cheese; truffle-stuffed trotter; and a soy-cured pig face. Next up was the Hot Board — which we hear may soon be making an appearance on the EDGE menu — featuring hot board tasso ham, cheesy kielbasa, Aussie lamb ham and chorizo verde flautas with Taquiza tortillas.
For the next course, Brooks gave a nod to his Aussie roots by serving up a Kangaroo Tartare with olives, preserved lemon, and za’atar, that made this notoriously game meat light and refreshing. Following the kangaroo was a Roasted Rabbit, cut perfectly into three medallions, and stuffed with Thai sausage and topped with a green curry — this dish was a favorite of Cobaya founder Frodnesor.
To break up the meat-filled meal, Brooks then served a Drunken Watermelon cube soaked in tequila and topped with cilantro and Serrano ham. Next up was another nod to Australia, the Carpetbag Steak made with grass-fed and pasture-raised steak stuffed with East Coast oysters, served on top a celery root puree and topped with Australian truffles. A sweet ending to the meal came in the form of a Black Sesame Pavlova made with Thai basil and local fruits.
Want to check out the Underground Dinner Series for yourself? The next one will be hosted at EDGE (or maybe not!) on Sunday, August 23 at noon. Tickets are $70 a person and can be purchased here. Buy them now because they won’t last long. And in the meantime, check out the delicious photos below.
