A Close Call: Slices

Did you ever get to Slices?  I did tell you to go eat there.  And I wasn't the only one.  Victor Romano and Steve Taylor were the ones who told me.

I got myself all in the mood on a recent Sunday evening, only to find them closed.  Someone else found them closed on a Sunday, too.  I thought the worst, but it turns out it was just logistics.  They're still open, and I was there last night.  Whew!

The owner/manager is a French guy named Alexandre.  His son cooked there for a while last year, until he went off to cooking school in France.  There were other cooks, who had interesting resumes.  What they had in common was that they had never done this before, until they came to Slices.  Alex taught them everything.  The head waiter was Sylvain (he's been transferred to a different restaurant).  Terrific guy, who turned out to be a magnificent cook when he took over for a spell.  There have been a few different waitresses, and my favorite is Felissa.  She's there now.

The signature menu entry is the Rodizio dinner.  It's patterned after Brazilian churrasco (Alex's wife is Brazilian), and it's all-you-can-eat carbohydrates and fat, a mix of pizza, pasta, and risotto.  If you want to know which one isn't great, the answer is none of them.  It's true they love cheese at Slices, but it really isn't overdone.  And the range of pizzas, pastas, and risottos (risotti) are endlessly interesting.  And always delicious.  If you want a pizza with a certain topping, or a pasta or risotto with certain ingredients, they'll just make it for you. 

The food comes along without stopping.  Sometimes, they bring it faster than I can eat it.  It isn't over until it's over for you.  And when you say it's over, they offer their dessert pizza, which is pizza dough with Nutella and fruit on top.  A very interesting concept, that's more interesting than it is spectacular food.  Not bad, though.

Two things happen if you get there before 7:00.  One is the "early bird" price of $13 for all you can eat, of remarkably good food.  After 7:00, the same menu is $16.  And that's just the Rodizio.  They have a full, normal menu of Italian food, including salad, veggies, and other dishes if you don't have a Rodizio appetite.

The second thing that happens if you get there before 7:00 is the "happy hour."  Two beers, or two glasses of wine, for the price of one.  They have some terrific beers, and excellent wines, and the prices are not high to start.  I get Shock Top, a Belgian-style beer, which is on tap for only $4 a glass.  So that's $2 a glass before 7.

Slices is a wonderful, satisfying, friendly place to eat.  They have to deal with a slightly problematic location at about 138th and Biscayne, and prices that seem unsustainably low, but boy, do they provide a magnificent dining experience.  Go there, or be square.  And although they advertise a super low Rodizio price for lunch, they're actually only open for dinner.


Addendum:  Je suis desole.  Il n'y a plus de happy hour, ni de early bird special.