Fans of Canyon may be mourning the closure of the restaurant, but former owner Mario Di Leo teamed up with chef-partners Dave MacLennan and Brad Phillips to help them open a second outpost of Even Keel on Las Olas Boulevard. In addition to all the seafood delights found at Even Keel’s first location in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, diners at the Las Olas location can enjoy the prickly pear cactus margaritas and white chocolate bread pudding made famous at Canyon. Even Keel at 1109 E Las Olas Blvd. has a laid-back nautical vibe and ample seating, much of it outdoors by the Himmarshee Canal.
MacLennan and Phillips met while working with James Beard Nominee Dean Max at his award-winning restaurant, 3030 Ocean at the Marriott Harbour Beach. They opened their Lauderdale-by-the-Sea restaurant at State Road A1A and Commercial Boulevard a few years ago and helped put the area on the map for a younger crowd of foodies.
MacLennan conducted a tasting for So Flo Flavors and talked about how the partners wanted to stake out the middle ground as a chef-driven restaurant that featured local seafood. For example, MacLennan loves the taste of locally caught kingfish when it’s smoked and its somewhat fatty nature works well as a fish dip ingredient. Mahi Mahi and grouper are also readily at hand, so why not use them in sandwiches and fish and chips instead of ubiquitous cod?
We started with an appetizer seafood-tasting platter. One nice touch was popsicle stick labels for the oysters, in our case, Blue Points from Connecticut and the less common Mamma Mias from Prince Edward Island. MacLennan loves oysters from super cold waters. The saltine crackers showed attention to detail since they were brushed with butter and then seasoned with Old Bay.
The hamachi (yellow tail snapper) poke bowl with edamame had a delightful sweet and spicy flavor with soy sauce and citrusy yuzu. The cocktail sauce was house-made with Fresno chiles, but there was also a nice change of pace: tarragon mignonette with vinegar, shallots, and pepper.
Then it was time for some yummy comfort food: Grilled cheese sandwiches made out of crab meat with brie cheese. Mama never made them like this.
The entrees were magnificent.
A Spanish styled version of charred octopus had a thin hot honey glaze. It was served over crispy fingerling potatoes, olives and some pickled golden raisins, which added a touch of sweetness. There were chunks of chorizo, which goes well with the potatoes, and some spicy greens. Add some salsa verde on the bottom and some lemon aioli on the plate and you have not only a banquet for the taste buds, but a feast for the eyes as well.
Keeping up with MacLennan’s liking of local seafood was a beautiful piece of cobia.
“When I was growing up, that was always like the fish that the fishermen kept, so we never got our local cobia,” he says. It came with a summer truffle with some corn, zucchini and blistered tomatoes. The buttermilk sauce was made with fresh cream. Then, there was another aioli with dill-infused oil plus some truffled gnocchi made in-house.
Contemplating the dinner with a wonderful espresso martini and a piece of the Canyon-style chocolate bread pudding, we decided there was no doubt that Even Keel is a chef-driven kitchen and a real catch compared with many seafood restaurants.
