Review: Route 9

Last weekend while the Carnaval Festival was raging on Miracle Mile, I decided to head away from the madness and check out a new little spot up the way on Ponce De Leon.  I had heard that Route 9 had quite a nice beer selection and thought I would check it out for myself.

Make sure you have the address when you are looking for Route 9 because they are missing a sign out front right now but the building number is clearly designated so I knew I was at the right place.  The decor inside is very minimalistic with wood floors and detail.  There's nothing much on the walls except the back wall that harbors a sitting area with a full-size chalkboard with drawings and a mission-statement-like Virginia Woolf quote.  The high ceilings make the small room seem much bigger.

The beer list, although not a 300 bottle selection, had a good range of all styles.  Here is a sampling of the beers:

Dogfish Head 60 Minute

Rogue Deadguy

Stone Pale Ale

Great Divide Hoss Rye

Left Hand Milk Stout

Delirium Tremens

Saison Dupont

Tripel Karmeliet

Scheider Weisse

Ayinger Celebrator

Penn Pils

Carib

Oskar Blues Dales Pale Ale (on draft) 

One of the other great things about the beer menu is the price range from only $4.50-$7.00.

The menu had quite a few items that I wanted to try out.  We started with Marinara Braised Meatballs (served in a little crockpot) and Focaccia with Caramelized Onions, Grannysmith Apples, and Blue Cheese.  The foccacia was the highlight of the appetizers.  The sweetness of the apples and the tangyness of the blue cheese works well together.

For my main course I decided to try the skirt steak with blue cheese vinaigrette poured over grilled hearts of romaine while my wife had the salmon with sweet potato puree.  I decided to have a Rogue Deadguy with my main course and my wife had a Stone Pale Ale.  The steak was brought out in a pile, pre-sliced.  The grilled hearts of romaine was a whole head of romaine that had been thrown on the grill (pretty self-explanatory).  It seemed to be missing the blue cheese vinaigrette but I didn't realize it until after I had already finished.  The manner in which it was served, sadly, really turned me off.  The steak, while tasty, was offset by the romaine that didn't do it for me at all.  The Deadguy with the steak was a nice combination.  My wife's salmon looked very appetizing and tasted great, and I would recommend trying it.

Some friends of ours joined us and had a few other appetizers.  They ordered the foccacia we recommended and they also chose the baked goat cheese and the sticky chicken wings. They enjoyed the wings although when they asked the waitress what the flavor was for the sticky chicken wings, prior to ordering them, they were told, "Sticky."  Sticky is not a flavor I'm familiar with but they decided to try the wings anyway and liked them.  The baked goat cheese was great along with the crusty bread that it was served with.

Overall, Route 9 seems to be a new restaurant with some great ideas. Maybe they could use a little tweaking but there were great highlights. I would definitely like to give another main course a try and see what else they have to offer. The beer selection was a definite high point in range and price. Everyone enjoyed the selection - friends specifically ordered Dale's Pale Ale on Tap, Dogfish Head 60 minute, and Great Divide Hoss Rye - and that alone makes it worth coming back.

Route 9
1915 Ponce De Leon
Coral Gables, FL 33134
(305)569-9009

Hours:
Tuesday-Thursday 11:00-10:00 (Lunch, Dinner)
Friday 11:00-11:00 (Lunch, Dinner)
Saturday 10:00-11:00 (Brunch, Dinner)
Sunday 10:00-3:00 (Brunch)