Arrangements by Alice

We’re into fresh, local ingredients for our menu items. But you knew that already. We believe that fresh ingredients make better food and drink and the last thing we’d place on your table is a stale flower arrangement. Dining at La Sirena Clandestina should be a transportative experience, and we know that every element within the space contributes to that feeling.   

So, it serves to reason that our flowers are fresh and local, too. Alice Hanson, our arrangement specialist, sources her materials from Steve’s Flower Market, just a few blocks away from La Sirena Clandestina, on a weekly basis. Just like John’s Green City Market forays, Alice goes into her weekly arrangements with an open mind and picks her direction based upon what’s available.

When Alice joined La Sirena Clandestina’s opening team, she quickly found that most of us wear more than one hat. So in addition to serving up our finest dishes a few night a week, Alice stepped up to handle the flower arrangements and now holds herself responsible for the unique and beautiful botanic vignettes around the restaurant. It’s a responsibility that comes naturally to her: The first inclination of Alice’s green thumb came when she got her very first job—which, of course, was at a greenhouse. Her first day of work found her cutting peonies in a field; a powerful memory that informs her arrangements today. (In fact, if you ever find yourself at La Sirena during peony season, you’re sure to find one of the papery blossoms sharing your table.)

Things can get pretty hairy around the mermaid shack, but Alice’s arrangements strive to strike a balance between masculine and feminine. Though she’s usually drawn to traditional styles of floral arrangement (or, in her words: “Grandma Flowers”), every now and then she’ll stray from the classical to something a little weirder—because, as she says, “I don’t think nature has created an ugly flower. Give them the right backdrop and anything can be pretty.”

Alice’s reputation quickly outgrew her weekly arrangements for us, and she now offers floral catering for any occasion. Does your table need sprucing? Go ask Alice: alice@roserosedesigns.com.

Lunch Menu: El Che

El Che - roasted pork loin, ham, swiss, malagueta mayo, yellow mustard, pickles.

It seems like there’s always some controversy surrounding the origin of a particular cocktail or dish. And if there isn’t an argument about origin, then someone’s nose is out of joint about the correct preparation. What can we say? There’s a lot of passionate feelings about food and drink swirling around outside the mermaid shack—and inside, too—but we’d rather spend our time perfecting a drink or dish than grilling each other about it.

Famed sandwich historian, The Internet, spends a lot of time raising inflammatory questions: Was the Cuban Sandwich born in Cuba or did it evolve into its current state within the Cuban immigrant culture of 1880's Tampa? Is the addition of salami required (Tampa) or a sacrilege (Miami)?

Well, we don’t get into territorial disputes and we don’t get too involved with ‘historically accurate’ preparation. None of our offerings come with a detailed provenance. We’re interested in taste and authentic experiences. Which is why our take on the Cuban Sandwich, featured on our lunch and brunch menus, isn’t even called a Cuban Sandwich on our menu. It’s the El Che, named after you know who—whose Argentine birth didn’t stop him from being a real player in the Cuban Revolution.

Sally Sells...

Most of our customers never take the time to really case the joint when they decide to dine at La Sirena Clandestina, but we hope you take a thorough look at our Morgan Street exterior during your next visit, because one of our favorite pieces of art (that one up above) lives on a garage door at the side of our building. 

We were really into the the graffiti/street art we found on the garage when we moved in. “Sally sells crack cocaine by the sea shore” was scrawled in black spray paint across the battered metal door. It was a sentence that we felt really encapsulates what La Sirena Clandestina is about—minus, you know, the crack cocaine. The unexpected, the slightly weird, and (we hope) a touch of genius; that graffiti says it all. Instead of trying to paint over it, like another tenant might have done, we tried to get the building’s owner to let us bring it into the restaurant. 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen, but we still took pride in our defaced door. Until the inevitable happened: we got tagged and the new graffiti covered up what Sally was really up to. As far as we know, Sally is no longer selling crack cocaine by the sea shore. 

Michelle Marrocco, a talented artist and one of our servers, was inspired to paint over the tag in a way that once more spoke to what we’re about. Next time you visit us, take a detour around the corner for a dose of the unexpected.

A Daiquiri in GIFs

 

Now you can watch Justin serve you a million daiquiris and still drive home (not nearly as fun as actually drinking them, though). This GIF reminds us that making a daiquiri is easy, just not as easy as ordering one at the bar. If you’re not into easy, here’s the recipe for all you homebodies.

Lunch Is Served!

You already know we look good by candlelight, but now we’re giving you a chance to see us in full daylight. Our lunch service is in full swing and we’re ready for our closeups.

Now available only on our lunch menu, served Monday through Friday (11am-3pm): 

 Three Cheese Panini

 Grilled Chicken Thigh

 Grilled Shrimp Salad

Late lunch-er? Our bar menu is fully stocked with snacks and heartier items to tide you over from 3pm-5pm when our full dinner menu is available. Does your day start at 5pm? No judgement; We’ve got you. Our bar menu continues to please until 12:30am most nights.

Know nada 'bout empanadas?

The how-to-eat-an-empanada debate might not be as heated as say, the mayo versus Miracle Whip debate, or the splitting-the-Oreo-in-half versus eat-it-whole debate—but it’s certainly more hotly debated than whether it’s cool or not to eat your Snickers bar with a knife and fork. (It’s not cool, even if you’re in the UK.)

So how do you eat an empanada? Pick it up in your hands and go for it, or knife-and-fork it? The light, flaky pastry may feel fancy, but it’s classic street food. (Spanish or Portuguese street food, though? That is a heated debate. We stay out of it by making ours in the Buenos Aires style: baked, never fried.) That the fact it’s all tucked up in a handy pastry means it’s a food that’s meant to be eaten on-the-go. Cutlery enthusiasts: it’s true our menu gets its vibe from beachside vendors, but you just feel free to go ahead and use that silverware if that’s what makes you happy.

We don’t have a set empanada filling on our menu, because our chef/leader, John Manion, is more likely to buy whatever catches his fancy at the market that morning. (No joke—he once created a pop-up dinner menu that listed ‘Things That I Bought At The Market Today Empanadas’.) So, because John likes how food tastes (direct quote: "The older I get, the more simple I like things, the more direct I like flavors"), and we all know fresh food tastes best, we wrap those fresh ingredients in a flaky pastry and serve it up just for you. And really, at that point, do you even need to ask what our daily empanada filling is if you know that what’s inside the package is going to be the very best the market had to offer?

Need to see it to believe it? Just feel like watching John handle some dough? Check out this video that describes John’s empanada process:

Attention, Pitchfork-ers!

When you’re nearing death-level dehydration, your ears are craving conversation-level audio relief, and you’ve walked through your last hacky sack circle, you should make the quick trip over to La Sirena Clandestina for a restorative snack + daiquiri.

On foot? It’s less than a mile (only 2,000 steps) if haven’t danced your legs off while Solange was onstage. Here’s a handy graphic from our very advanced mapping program that’ll point you in the right direction: 

(Head East on Lake Street to Morgan and turn left)

Biking? Even better. I bet you didn’t know that we were located kitty-corner from the city’s finest bike parking lot. 

Cabbing it? Boy, you’re lazy. The good news is that all you have to do is tell your driver to take you straight to Fulton and Morgan.