Consider Fluke Macchialina’s overachieving waiting room - Review - Miami - The Infatuation

"Fluke will inspire anyone who’s ever had a room they just don’t know what to do with. The brick-walled bar used to be Macchialina’s dining room. But then the Italian restaurant took over the neighboring building, and this space sat empty for a year. It re-emerged as Fluke, a multifunctional bar/restaurant/great last-minute first-date option/overachieving waiting room for Macchialina, with precisely the utility mileage you dream of milking out of a guest room. You could simply come for a refreshingly unkooky martini garnished with pickled grapes. Fluke functions just fine as a bar, if that’s what you’re looking for. But it’d be sad to sit here without eating anything. Every raw bar dish is a good decision, and the burger, which used to be an elusive special at Macchialina, eats like a french dip. video credit: Ryan Pfeffer video credit: Ryan Pfeffer video credit: Ryan Pfeffer Pause Unmute Fluke may be trying to be a low-stakes third space, but its restaurant DNA can’t help but show itself. Even though you pay at the register, servers come by to make sure your seafood tower, built presumably by shrimp-obsessed civil engineers, is to your liking. They'll refresh plates and help you identify that flavor you can’t quite put your finger on in your martini (it’s coriander). Don’t let the food and service convince you to have a high-stakes dinner here, though. Fluke walks and talks like a restaurant, but it’s hard to build a proper meal from this flashcard-size menu, and there really isn’t a table that can handle a party bigger than four people. Plus, they don’t take reservations. Like its slippery namesake, the harder you try to squeeze Fluke into a category, the harder it wriggles. Luckily, you don’t have to put restaurants in boxes to enjoy them. And gobbling shrimp while sipping fennel-infused martinis is much more exciting than trying to define exactly what Fluke is. Food Rundown Finocchio Delicato There’s no bad martini here, but this fennel-infused one is our favorite. The fennel aroma doesn’t hit you until you begin to swallow. It also comes with a fennel chip you can chew on, which has the consistency of beef jerky. Our server said it reminds him of the facehugger from Alien, which we can never unsee now. photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc House Focaccia Airy focaccia is great for mopping up leftover crudo drippings. But the award for Most Interesting Thing On The Plate goes to the black olive butter, a salty slap of fat you probably shouldn’t order on a date because it might stain your teeth black. photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc Fluke Crudo The tomato guazzetto that covers Fluke’s titular crudo tastes like a puddle of crisp spring water that studied tomatoes its entire life. Open up your palate with this and a martini. photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc Oysters Every time we order oysters here, the people working at Fluke lean in and look at us like they’re about to share classified information. “Have you ever tried oysters with…,” a pause for dramatic effect, “...stracciatella?” The $12 side of stracciatella you’ll inevitably buy isn’t purely an upsell. It is indeed a delightful combination you should try once. PlayMute video credit: Ryan Pfeffer Big Macch Burger The medium-rare patty is topped with fontina cheese, thin slivers of mushrooms, and comes with a genovese sauce for dipping. If the entirety of Fluke’s menu didn’t consist of refreshing raw bar dishes, these layers of savory flavors might be too rich. We said, if. photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc Seafood Tower If you’re here with three-ish people, get this. It’s a greatest hits of Fluke’s raw bar dishes, arranged with the vertical panache we expect from a seafood tower over $100. photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc Fluke Sundae The tart fruit granita (blood orange on the most recent visit) keeps you going back for spoonfuls of creamy gelato. This is a dessert with perpetual motion. We could eat this for infinity if it were big enough. PlayMute video credit: Julia Malavé" - Ryan Pfeffer