My Ceviche in Miami is a counter-service restaurant that moves serious volume without treating the food like a volume problem. Sam Gorenstein, who runs locations in Miami Beach and Brickell, has built a business on the proposition that fast and correct are not mutually exclusive — which turns out to be excellent preparation for a twenty-minute competition.
Gorenstein's seafood burrito technique is about internal temperature management: the seafood goes in last, after the rice and beans have been plated and are holding their heat, and cooks for exactly ninety seconds in a covered pan at medium heat. The protein is cured in citrus for eight minutes before heat touches it — not a full ceviche cure, which would cook the protein cold, but a partial cure that adds flavor and begins the protein denaturation so the heat step is shorter and gentler. The tortilla is griddled with butter on the press, which creates a different exterior than dry-griddled flour tortillas.
My Ceviche Brickell is the kind of place that makes you reconsider the ceiling for fast-casual. Bobby Flay's seafood burrito had a higher ceiling in theory and a lower ceiling in practice.
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