So Annoying

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My Take on The Meatball Joint

Remember when I mentioned my dinner at The Meatball Joint oh so long ago?

Here's a recap of what I ate, followed by an article I wrote before it opened.

I shared a Calle Ocho Sandwich (pork ball with caramelized onions and mojito sauce) and the Lamb Ball Sammy (flattened on focaccia bread and served with tsatsiki sauce). Both meatballs were the day's special.

I suspect that The Meatball Joint will be one of those places where the special, very creative and very delicious, will always be too good to pass up and just go for the usual: Classic Italian (beef and pork), South Beach (turkey) or West Hollywood (vegetarian). But I still want to try them all - I wish they let you mix and match!

Also couldn't resist upgrading to the veggie of the day: deliciously roasted brussel sprouts along with broccoli, carrots and-- surprise-- pear! My friend also got the mozzarella balls with cherry tomatoes. Very fresh.

Oh and of course we had to get the ice cream balls squeezed in a sandwich of one chocolate chip cookie and one white chocolate macadamia nut cookie. Also sweet but hard to eat.

One of the most enjoyable parts of the night (besides eating! because trust me, that was certainly the most enjoyable part) was scribbling my order down on the dry-erase menu with a marker. Fun and whimsical.

Anyway I loved it all and want to go back. It's super cool how Chef Bernie Matz can put his spin on any concept and, in my opinion, it's a success!

Check it out at www.themeatballjoint.com.

P.S. The hostesses, waiters and staff are all very friendly! Yay.

So, as for the article, I wrote this prior to the restaurant's opening (on May 21) for a school project. Because it was never published, and I figure I might as well put it somewhere, it's going on my blog.

If you want more specific details on the restaurant, go somewhere else: Miami.com, Thrillist, Eater, etc. I sat down to talk with Chef Bernie Matz, so I'm hoping you find that this story has a more personal look at the thought process behind starting up the meatball concept.


Let me know what you think! And if you've eaten at The Meatball Joint already, feel free to tell me how you enjoyed your meal too.

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April 9, 2012

Chef Bernie Matz brings meatballs to Miami Beach

BY LYSSA GOLDBERG

The Meatball Joint, next to Chef Bernie Matz's L.A. Cafe, has taken the spot of Alton Road's King Kone.
COURTESY MIAMI NEW TIMES

Bernie Matz sits at an outdoor table on Lincoln Road. Dealing with his waiters at the end of their shifts, Matz sips his ice water from a compostable, plant-based plastic cup—one of the many personal touches he brings to his restaurants.

Chef and owner of Bernie’s L.A. Café and the Café @ Books & Books, Matz connects his passions for nutrition and the environment to his work everyday. Fresh, natural ingredients and modern, South Floridian recipes are the key at his two Miami Beach restaurants.

Now Matz will bring his foodie flair to a third eatery this May.

The concept for The Meatball Joint was born just six weeks ago, meaning Matz has taken on the task of planning and executing an entire restaurant in only two months.

This is possible, Matz said, because he’s ready to embrace a more minimalist attitude.

While his two cafés serve various sandwiches and New South Florida-style hot meals, the focal point of The Meatball Joint menu will be combinations of meatballs and sauces.

“After having all these broad, creative menus, the beauty is the simplicity,” Matz said.

The Meatball Joint’s menu will be fun and encourage sharing, but the idea is also to keep a typically messy meal “girl-friendly.”

Matz settled on the meatball-themed restaurant after the landlord of the storefront—who will also be his partner in the business—challenged Matz to come up with something simple enough to operate out of the existing space. The Meatball Joint will be housed in a tiny space that seats 32 people, conveniently located on Alton Road, right next to L.A. Café.

Several fast food venues surround his location, but Matz is confident that this is a risk worth taking. Noting demand and excitement from friends in the food industry, he hopes to see the same success that New York City’s The Meatball Shop has had. This success has allowed the similarly run restaurant to open up three locations across the city.

“People’s eyes light up and they go, ‘Oh, it is a pretty cool idea,’” he said. “And there isn’t one down here.”

Matz wants The Meatball Joint to be a casual neighborhood hangout. He hopes that Miami Beach locals and tourists love The Meatball Joint enough that he can expand it around South Florida.

Keeping with his healthy food philosophy, Matz has designed special offerings in addition to the traditional meatball—all sorts of veggie balls with low-carb and whole grain options, too.

Matz has had a blast playing around with recipes for vegetarian options, with ingredients like quinoa, black beans and sweet potato. The challenge is making sure that they not only taste good but also hold together nicely and feel like a meatball, he said.

Although coming up with recipes can be a guessing game, he made sure to stick to what he knows.

“A real musician knows what it’s going to sound like before he starts to play,” he said, drawing a comparison to his culinary experiments.

Like at his other venues, the wine selection will be “cool, fresh and unpretentious”— keeping prices as low as $6 to $10 a glass. 

“I like value,” he said. “I don’t like making people spend $400 or $500 on a bottle of wine.”

Wines will be imported from around the world, primarily California, Chile, Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand.

Matz has been in the business since opening Wet Paint Café—one of the first restaurants on Lincoln Road—back in the late ‘80s. As a child, he loved food and loved to cook.

“My mother always encouraged me to be a chef, but I didn’t envision it at all,” he said. “Does a kid that paints very well dream of being a painter when he grows up?”

Matz, the type who is early to bed and early to rise, said the restaurant industry is not for people like him. Still, he was lucky enough to find the leeway to shape his cafés around his own lifestyle.

That means hungry patrons on Miami Beach are just as lucky to have a meatball place coming soon.