How does a Cuban chef get his raw-fish-averse mother to eat sushi? He creates an entirely new, maki-inspired concept called “shushi” that looks like traditional rolls but uses only cooked ingredients. That was, in a nutshell, the genesis of chef Francisco Antonio Blanco’s House of Food Porn, an omakase-style restaurant in the heart of Little Haiti. Reservations are required and made online, where diners select the number of courses (four, six or eight) and provide a short description about themselves and their reason for dining—which chef Blanco then uses to inform his menu. Dishes are intended to be eaten without utensils and everything served is a complete surprise, with the big reveal coming after the first few bites. If you’re into guessing ingredients or have aspirations of being a judge on a Food Network show, this part is especially fun.
On a recent visit, rolls included a toothsome vegan puff-pastry stuffed with a sweet-potato stirfry and topped with a dollop of chipotle sauce, a plantain-wrapped steak and an inside-out riff on a lamb kabob with a sweet-and-savory stuffing made of dates, goat cheese and asparagus. The prix-fixe experience includes a shared dessert and plentiful red wine—glasses are topped off throughout the night, so be sure to hydrate lest you intend to leave drunk.