Despite its upscale demographics, Key Biscayne is not restaurant country. There are more and, to a large extent, better spots to eat in working-class neighborhoods. One must assume that hungry residents gun their luxury wheels toward the Gables and the Beach, or let the hired help cook their dinners.
Still, eateries come and go here. Some stay, and even manage to be quite good. In the latter category one must count Costa Med, which, as often happens on the Key, started out as a fancy coffee-shop and has evolved into a fine restaurant with a subtly imaginative menu.
The cuisine is a familiar South Florida mix of Argentine (though owners are Venezuelan), Italian and Mediterranean, and here it works wonderfully.
A lunch special of Moroccan salad -- couscous flecked with bits of black olive and matched with grilled shrimp and figs -- offers a pleasurable sweet-sharp contrast. Ravioli might be made with spinach dough at lunch, filled with Parmesan cheese and topped with tomato sauce, or tomato dough at dinner with a more elaborate fresh pear and Gorgonzola stuffing and a fig and marsala cream sauce. Grilled lamb chops are served perfectly medium rare.
Costa Med's success among locals is moving it further into fine dining territory, with upgrades coming later this year in décor, service ware and wine list.
• Costa Med Restaurant, 260 Crandon Blvd., Key Biscayne; 305-361-7575. Lunch and dinner. Dinner entrees $14.95-$21. Beer and wine. Free parking.
DON PAN
Another Venezuelan-owned spot, Key Biscayne's branch of the local bakery chain Don Pan, is also a work in progress. Again, it's the push of popularity, particularly among the Key's growing Venezuelan community, which gathers here for coffee, pastries, sandwiches and the South American nation's version of a country breakfast: beans, braised meat, farmer's cheese and arepa.
A section of the bakery-coffee shop is set aside all day for white-tablecloth dining, and at night the entire place is transformed, with a limited menu of elaborately prepared dishes.
The signature grilled prawns are crunchy and well seasoned, but the idea of serving them perched on a glass filled with wine for dunking is more interesting than satisfying. Grilled lamb chops, prepared al ajillo, have delightful flavor, but are overcooked.
Appetizers are Spanish tapas, like gambas al ajillo and fried garbanzos -- pretty good, though not up to what one can find across the bridge on Coral Way. A dessert of crepes laced with dulce de leche hits the Latin sweet-tooth target and is big enough to share.
Don Pan offers live music on the weekend, with owner Edgar González occasionally taking the mike to croon Latin classics in a smoothly romantic and surprisingly professional voice.
• Don Pan Bakery and Restaurant, 700 Crandon Blvd., Key Biscayne; 305-361-8288. Lunch and dinner. Dinner entrees $12.50-$24. Beer and wine. Free parking.
LINDA B
Linda B Steakhouse is not evolving. On the contrary, its pleasure lies in what a Miami Herald review found early on: ``Though relatively new (1994), Linda B feels as if it's been here forever.''
The menu of steaks, pastas and a few other dishes is no-nonsense. A signature Linda B Bleu salad is a variation of iceberg wedge with blue cheese (also on the menu). In this case, romaine, tomatoes and sliced onion are topped with crumbled blue cheese and a fine blue cheese dressing.
Among the grilled meats, the skirt steak -- Miami's ubiquitous churrasco -- is tender, juicy and big enough to share. Also popular, the sirloin strip a poivre is done with a rich sauce of black, green and red peppercorns. The Linda B potatoes, scalloped with onions, are the perfect side.
This is a true local hangout, piano bar and all. Practically everyone knows everyone else, and newcomers feel like regulars on the first visit. The only other cocktail emporiums on the Key are the bars at a luxury resort, which, though quite elegant, have a hotel's transient air. Linda B. is home base.
• Linda B. Steakhouse, 320 Crandon Blvd., Key Biscayne; 305-361-1111. Lunch and dinner. Dinner entrees $17.95-$33.95. Full bar. Free parking.
