Entrées offered a variety of dishes that lent themselves well to winetasting. The skin on a sweet, apricot-glazed confited duck leg ($15/$27) wasn't quite as crispy as we were expecting, though the juicy, rich duck meat beneath more than made up for it. Served with a puréed acorn squash crepe, this was a rich dish end to end, though the crepe was so thin that it was more like dumpling skin than French pancakes. Shaved Brussels sprouts were tender and balanced the duck.
Braised short ribs ($16/$29) were the wine-braised, fall-apart cubes of beef we expected, yet the accompanying truffled mashed potatoes, with Sabatino truffle oil that its makers claim is "100 percent organic," were starchy-tasting and mealy, more like an overcooked baked potato as opposed to the rich, earthy flavors we were expecting.
Carnival Chicken: a buttermilk-marinated, half-fried bird, funnel cake, and powdered sugar.
Details
d.b.a./café, 2364 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale; 954-565-3392; dba2z.com. Open Tuesday to Thursday 5 to 10 p.m., Friday to Sunday 5 to 11 p.m., Sunday brunch 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Chicken liver crostini $9
Pan-seared sea scallops $13
House-made herb papardelle $13/$19
Carnival Chicken $14/$24
Apricot-glazed duck confit $15/$27
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Onion-crusted Florida grouper ($15/$27) showed off the local goods that trendy restaurants today must have on their menus. Zobel says the combination of a smaller space and the recent decision to not serve lunch (though d.b.a. serves Sunday brunch) makes it easy for him to pick up the day's produce at local sources like Fort Lauderdale's Marando Farms. A fat fillet of white fish came atop a rich mushroom risotto with just enough earthiness to cut through the grain's buttery sauce. A vanilla beurre blanc paired perfectly with the delicate fish but made the bread-and-onion crumb topping a bit soggy.
Zobel no doubt has the résumé and the credibility to helm kitchens in far fancier restaurants with prices well beyond $30 per plate. South Florida should consider itself lucky that he stepped away from high-volume corporate restaurants and "thought it would be nice to work for a mom-and-pop type of place and get back to cooking." We're happy that he did and that he brought some of the decadent French dishes from his past along for the ride.
