Stone crab season is over but shellfish lovers, never fear. Trulucks Miami in Brickell has you covered big time. May 1, they launched their amazing crab specials which complements their already wide selection of seafood including fish you seldom find in Miami, alternatives to the ubiquitous branzino. This is a seafood restaurant, but meat lovers are also well catered to with a large selection prime steaks and even prime rib. To make things even better they have a lot of great value specials, for lunch and early dinner, lunch at home, and one of the best happy hours in town. Plus in several categories they offer petit and full-size portion options to save on money (and calories). Service is friendly and very professional, the restaurant is spacious and comfortable, portions are generous, and it has indulgent menu items with a capital “I”. We went back to Trulucks Miami (probably my fourth time) and enjoyed it more than ever. And note there’s a Trulucks in Fort Lauderdale too.
First let’s talk about the crabs at Trulucks Miami, three kinds: Dungeness crab from the Pacific Northwest, Red King crab from the Bering Sea and Wild Bairdi (also known as Queen crab or Giant Snow crab) from Alaska. Choose one or get a flight with all three. I got the red king crab leg (a pound of meat) and was it ever delicious. It is served with their house made mustard sauce and TL Louie sauce and sides of mashed potatoes and asparagus. While we’re on seafood you can’t go wrong with the fresh fish including specials like the halibut which Mr. W chose. It was swimmingly fresh and came with risotto and topped with lobster meat.
The menu is divided into chilled & hot appetizers, soup and salads, crab and lobster, prime seafood, prime steaks and chops, indulge, plant based, vegetables, potatoes and such and desserts. There’s also a gluten sensitive menu.
As I mentioned, one of the things that stands out at Trulucks Miami are what I call the indulgent options, perfect for a celebratory meal. You may find a few of these kinds of dishes in other fine restaurants but not the number or kind you find here. Check out these dishes for examples –lobster tempura bao, Maine lobster thermidor, king crab truffle butter, bacon wrapped shrimp, brie mac n cheese , blue crab oscar and flaming baked Alaska.
Whatever you do, save room for dessert. We opted for the baked Alaska, torched tableside with rum. So good. They’re known for their four-layer carrot cake with cream cheese icing, spicy pecans and warm butterscotch. The chocolate malt cake with berries and chocolate sauce sounds pretty darn good too. They’re all available in petit and full sizes.
They have all kinds of deals at Trulucks Miami as well. Like a power lunch, 2 courses of prime dishes for $36 with a $7 add on for dessert including their “world class” carrot cake; lunch to go specials including soups, entrée type salads, lunch handhelds and deserts; a happy hour from 4 to 6:30 daily with 50% off all cocktails, wines by the class, spirits and oysters And finally, there’s the Tru Ninety-Two, a 3-course menu available daily for $59 including prime rib on Sundays!
On the a la carte menu the crab specials range from $28 to $88 with the crab flight $150. Fish choices classics range from $35 to $65 offered in petit and full versions and come with broccolini and blistered tomatoes. Crab and lobster ranges from $52 for petite stuffed lobster tails scampi to $175 for a pound of the prime king crab. Steaks range from $44 for a prime steak frites to $69 for a 16-ounce prime ribeye. Sides are $11 to $20 for the crab fried rice and desserts are $9 to $15. Portions are large.
Wines by the glass start at $13.5 (6-ounce pour), bottles at $52, and cocktails in the teens. In the beverage department, love the feature of the Tiny Tinis, 2-ounce martinis. They offer an assortment at $14 each or $26 for two.
Trulucks Miami has a warm, clubby steakhouse style décor with low lighting, rich mahogany paneling, and cushy banquettes that you should request when you reserve. Service is friendly and professional, as you’d expect from a professional restaurant management group. In particular we really liked Francisco, our waiter, and Mickey, a manager.
Trulucks Miami, 777 Brickell Avenue, T. (305) 579-0035. Valet parking is $10 at lunch and $20 at dinner. Parking garage next door.
