March 26, 2008

Red Light, Green Light

Red Light Opens

In the name of love. To smell the roses. In the midst of an intense game of freeze tag.

Sometimes you gotta stop.

Like at Red Light, chef Kris Wessel’s (Mark’s Place, Paninoteca) new restaurant. As of tomorrow, the bar will be serving food, but the phones might not be up.

Located in the up-and-coming MIMO District’s Motel Blu, the space formerly housed a lunch counter (note original glass door refrigerator), Chinese restaurant, and the Gold Dust Lounge.

Friend Jeff Vaughn designed the 1970s, Danish-style lamps, mahogany tables, and creamy yellow booths overlooking Little River.

New Orleans-raised Wessel developed a menu of low-temp, ecoprepared, regional dishes: Junior League conch chowder, a Florida fish plate, sour orange-garlic Glades frog legs, oyster tart, carrot-braised rabbit (cooked five hours). On the side: flax biscuits, cheese grits, collards, callaloo, and the curiously named “smelly gooey macaroni and cheese.”

Trust us: Go for it.

Red Light, 7700 Biscayne Boulevard (305-757-7773).