Joia Beach – a vibrant restaurant and oasis tucked in the shores of Biscayne Bay.
I have been meaning to experience Joia Beach Restaurant and Beach Club for a while now, and I finally got around to making that necessary reservation. Once that date arrived, so had an ominous storm. I decided rain or shine, here we come, and expected an empty restaurant. Wrong! Although more than half of Joia Beach seating was unavailable since it was outside, the covered areas and bars were quite full of patiently waiting patrons. The expected pounding rains never materialized, but occasional light drizzles still prevented beachside service. Determination is one of my strong suits. And in this case, I felt especially committed having already dropped the car off at the $20 valet, so we hung out at the bar, knowing we’d be waiting over an hour despite reservations due to Miami’s typical weather circumstances.
After finally getting the text that a table awaited us, the service at Joia Beach was impeccable. We started with some grilled octopus. It was so tender and had a delicious hint of grilled smokiness. It looked like it was served on hummus, but the purée turned out to be red lentils with a hint of ginger and a delicious tang of brown butter that gave it a decadent richness. It was sprinkled with one of my favorite spices, fresh dill. Hazelnuts gave the dish a bit of crunch. We have octopus frequently (as in even the night before), and I rate this one very, very high in terms of portion, taste, presentation, and tenderness.
For our mains, my husband considered the fisherman’s stew, but decided to order the charcoal grilled rack of lamb. I debated between the branzino and the chicken, and I have to admit it was the side of garlic mashed potatoes that pushed me into selecting the chicken. Low and behold, I was distracted enough to miss that my husband ordered a side of mashed potatoes, as he didn’t know what farro was (despite that I make it at home. Go figure.)
His dish featured four hearty grilled chops. My bite from one of the chops was very tender with no hint of gaminess, with all of the taste goodness from “fresh off the grill”. Back to my main event—which now had a bit of buyer’s remorse as a side dish due to the thought of branzino (since I now had additional access to a huge helping of mashed potatoes). Chicken can sometimes be boring. But mine came dished up spectacularly in a beautiful tower. The chicken had been marinated in a Greek yogurt marinade, which must’ve helped ensure its tenderness. The chicken was thinly sliced for purposes of tower construction and adhered by a rich brown gravy and sautéed wild mushrooms. It was as delicious as it was attractive.
The dessert menu at Joia Beach had a lot of tempting selections, but as my husband gave me full power to choose—I went with the dark chocolate terrine. (Dark chocolate-supposedly more healthy, less sinful, right?) Terrine is basically a French word for loaf, and we were given a good two and a half slices of what looked like a chocolate bar, except it was completely soft to the touch. As in melts in your mouth way too fast. Each slice was sprinkled with dried glazed orange bits, crushed pistachios, and sea salt, and sat on top of a generous creamy anglaise sauce. Although our dinner portions were also quite generous, not a drop was left behind from this decadent dessert.
Admittedly, I choose Joia Beach mainly for the atmosphere. And the amazing photo ops. The atmosphere held one totally unexpected surprise, the music. I am so not a fan of club music, but it was a great mix of old school, disco, jazz, Latino—Human League, Adele, Coldplay—- just nicely non-obnoxious despite the continuous but mild club beat. Despite picking Joia Beach for it’s more superficial attributes, we found the food to be pleasant far beyond our expectations, a solid A+. We now plan to go back, and often, and sure hope that Joia Beach’s performance remains consistent when the weather allows full restaurant capacity. If so, you’d better plan on making your reservations well in advance.