If you love tequila, you might want to check out Toro Latin Kitchen in Dania Beach. Aside from its stellar food and drink, the upscale restaurant features its very own tequila room. Here, you can find over 300 labels of rare, speciality, and vintage tequila and mezcal — or even stash your own favoritte bottle for social imbibing.
Celebrity chef and restaurateur Richard Sandoval is not new to South Florida dining scene. Most foodies know him for his acclaimed South Beach steakhouse, Toro Toro, loctaed at the InterContinetal Miami. In December 2019, Sandoval expanded north into Broward County, offering area foodies their own take on Toro Toro with its saucy sibling, Toro Latin Kitchen, and its spirited sidekick, La Biblioteca Tequila Library. Both opened to much fanfare, welcomed with open arms by foodies, socialites and scene-makers, all wowed by the restaurant’s sumptuous Pan-Latin cuisine and La Biblioteca’s unrivaled tequila "bible" selection.
After some pandemic-related downtime, both are officially back in business, and ready to serve South Florida foodies. The restaurant quietly reopened months ago with a truncated menu and reduced hours — but is now open and ready with full menus once again.
Here, Sandoval’s approach to food and service is simple: offer value and sophistication while staying exciting and consistent. And Toro Latin Kitchen delivers that in spades. The menu reads like an edible travelogue, hopscotching across the globe to touchdown in familiar and exotic locales and marry the spirit and cultures of an eclectic array of destinations. A celebration of Latin flavors, it is structured to share while being friendly to those who prefer a more traditional three-course experience.
The journey begins with everything from Colombian pan de queso and a variety of ceviches and crudos including chicharron de camarones (a must) and Peruvian fried chicken. Meant-to-be-shared standouts include amarillo ceviche (hamachi, aji amarillo, leche de tigre; mango, cucumber, and red onion); chicken, beef or Spanish octopus anticuchos (Latin-style charcoal grilled skewers); sweet corn empanadas with mozzarella, chimichurri and aji Amarillo; wild mushroom tacos with roasted poblano peppers, goat cheese, and ricotta; and an heirloom tomato and burrata salad with shaved fennel and ancho balsamic reduction.
La Biblioteca translates to "the library" in Spanish and boasts one of the largest collections of tequilas, mezcals, and agave spirits in South Florida.
From there, the restaurant’s wood-burning oven offers a place for carnivores to find their favorite new dish thanks to Toro's steakhouse-style. The Toro Skewer serves two and encompasses Brazilian-style picanha, A4 Kobe strip loin, New Zealand lamb chops and Cusco-marinated chicken thigh. Additional offerings include a 52-ounce Tomahawk ribeye, also for two, citrus-kissed New Zealand lamb chops and a bison burger with Morita bacon jam, garlic crema, chipotle and cheddar cheese. But Toro Latin Kitchen is not a singular sensation for meat-lovers. Among the restaurant’s most popular dishes are Asian-inspired diver scallops with brown butter and butternut squash. Blistered shishitos, a charred chili aioli and kabayaki sauce; achiote-marinated salmon with dashi braised bok choy and chef’s fish of the day, prepared zarandeado-style (split in half head to tail before it's grilled over coals) and served with a light shaved vegetable salad and corn tortillas.
In the pours department, La Biblioteca Tequila Library stands apart from the crowd. More than 300 selections abound, from smokey mezcals and anejos to ultra-premiums (a $165 pour of Patrón Burdeos anyone?) to a bevy of infused and blended selections. Those include Tanteo Habanero; Agavero Tequila Liqueur and Maestro Dobel Humito, among others. Every one of La Biblioteca’s bottle selections are available by the glass, as well as by the bottle — and those opting for a bottle would be wise to reserve their own private tequila locker.
Did you know you can store your favorite bottles of tequila and mezcal at Toro's exclusive library? They will place your name tag on the bottle, displaying it — while also keeping it safe — for you to enjoy the next time you're dining with them. Dividing the bar and Toro are 125 private lockers reserved for diehard tequila fans looking to store their cherished bottles in temperature-controlled security.
Love tequila, but don't have your own stash? Arguably one of La Biblioteca’s coolest features is the bar's own Tequila Tastings menu. Priced from $25 to $75 per person, the guided tastings are a perfect way to kickstart a night before dinner or as a standalone experience to learn more about the hallowed techniques, art and science of one of Mexico’s most cherished exports.
Rounding out the beverage program is a variety of beers, wines by the glass, and craft cocktails. Highlights include the Mercado, Tanteo Habanero, passionfruit, agave nectar, hibiscus-rosemary foam, and serrano pepper; the Casual Encounter, Sierra Norte yellow corn bourbon, Drambuie, Cocchi Americano and Fee Brothers orange bitters, delivered to the table in a smoke infused glass case; and the Gooseberry Daily, Diplomatico Reserva, lime, hibiscus tea, gooseberries and Angostura bitters.
Toro Latin Kitchen and La Biblioteca Tequila Library at Le Méridien. 1825 Griffin Rd., Dania Beach; open Wednesday through Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m.; 954-686-1200; torodaniabeach.com.