Sophisticated Simplicity

At Tablé in Miami, Francisco Miranda’s three-ingredient cocktails are anything but boring.

From Puerto Rico to Miami, Francisco Miranda has been honing his craft and serving up innovative cocktails.
From Puerto Rico to Miami, Francisco Miranda has been honing his craft and serving up innovative cocktails.

Francisco Miranda’s hospitality career began in his native Puerto Rico. “I was attending the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration at the University of Puerto Rico for college with the dream of attending culinary school,” he says. In this program he took a bartending course and his professor quickly called out that Miranda was a natural. Bolstered by this, he began working at a small bar close to campus. “There I fell in love with being behind the bar,” he says. Eventually, an opportunity stateside presented itself. “I moved to Miami to work at BLT Prime at Trump National Doral hotel—this was ten years ago,” he says. “The general manager Ricardo Gasparrini saw my passion and willingness to learn new things; he taught me to create perfectly balanced cocktails and design beverage menus.”

Miranda took this wealth of knowledge to his next venture at Bachour Restaurant & Bar, the now-closed concept by renowned Puerto Rican pastry chef Antonio Bachour. “Chef Bachour allowed me and, most importantly, trusted me to create and develop a beverage program and cocktail list that complemented his food,” Miranda says. When Chef Bachour was developing his newest concept, Tablé, with plans to open in the Miami Design District in early 2023, he invited Miranda to join the team as bar manager and corporate mixologist. 

Like the venue’s cuisine, there’s Lebanese and Mediterranean influence found throughout Miranda’s beverage program at Tablé (cocktails are $18). For instance, Miranda’s Mint To Bee features gin, cucumber mint juice, and honey labneh, while his Pulp Friction comprises mezcal, white Port, and tamarind. “I love utilizing culinary tools, techniques, and ingredients to create my cocktails and twists on those classic cocktails we all love,” Miranda notes. “I especially enjoy making three-ingredient drinks because I appreciate the challenge of making a perfectly balanced cocktail with minimal components.” 

Francisco Miranda’s Recipes

Mint To Bee

Ingredients

2 ounces No. 3 gin;

2½ ounces cucumber mint juice¹;

3 tablespoons honey labneh²;

1 cucumber ribbon;

1 teaspoon crushed pistachios.

Recipe

In a cocktail shaker, combine gin, juice, and labneh and dry shake for 10 seconds. Add ice and shake for another 10 seconds. Strain into an ice-filled Highball glass. Garnish with a cucumber ribbon and crushed pistachios.

¹First make cucumber juice: Cut one fresh English cucumber into small pieces. In a blender, combine the cucumber with 8 ounces water and blend until smooth, then fine strain. Next, make mint syrup: Heat 2 cups simple syrup on the stovetop until it starts boiling. Add ¼ cup fresh mint leaves and cook for 10-12 minutes, then turn off heat. Strain out the leaves and allow syrup to cool. Finally, mix together 2 ounces cucumber juice with ½ ounce mint syrup. 

²Whisk together 3 tablespoons labneh and 1½ teaspoons honey until smooth. 

Pulp Friction

Ingredients

1½ ounces 400 Conejos mezcal;

½ ounce Churchill’s Dry White Port;

2 ounces tamarind pulp³;

Spicy salt⁴;

Lime wheel.

Recipe

In an ice-filled cocktail shaker, combine mezcal, Port, and pulp. Shake for 10 seconds then strain into a spicy salt-rimmed rocks glass over a large ice cube. Garnish with a lime wheel.

³In a big pot on the stovetop combine 1½ quarts water and ½ quart simple syrup and cook on low-to-medium heat. Add 14 ounces tamarind paste, a small amount at a time, to the pot and cook for 1 hour. Let cool then strain. 

⁴Mix together 2 tablespoons salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, ⅔ teaspoon paprika, and ½ teaspoon cumin.