This French restaurant is proof that you can make it in Hialeah without beans and rice
When no one imagined that a French restaurant could survive in Hialeah, Sandy Sánchez and her husband, chef Benoit Rablat, dared to try.
In a hidden shopping center in East Hialeah, they opened La Fresa Francesa in 2015 to highlight gourmet dishes inspired by Rablat’s family recipes. Rablat was born in Paris with a love for the food of the south of France, where he lived with an aunt.
They also serve dishes that have tropical flavors like their foie gras and guava pastry, with fresh jam from Redland, the agricultural area of Miami-Dade. The foie gras is flown in from Canada from a farm that treats animals compassionately, Sánchez says.
“When I suggested it to Benoit, he had a heart attack,” Sánchez says. “I brought him pastries from different bakeries, and after trying them, he realized it was a good idea. The guava, somewhat sweet, goes very well with the foie gras. In France it is eaten with a sweet onion jam.”
The foie gras is seared in a pan and the pastry is toasted in the oven, Sánchez explains about the preparation of this dish, which was made with the Miamian palate in mind. “On top we put toasted pistachios, and the portion is just the right size so you don’t overdo it.”
French and Cuban cuisine
Sánchez was born in Hialeah and grew up immersed in her family’s catering business. When she shares the recipe for La Fresa Francesa’s rabbit with mustard sauce, she’s not surprised to hear that it is similar to one I used to eat at El Conejito, a restaurant in Vedado, Cuba. It takes me back to birthday celebrations in Havana, and also to the kitchen of an uncle in the Canary Islands, who made a rabbit in salmorejo that was to die for.
“We seasoned the rabbit with mustard with a very good Dijon, and it has a spicy flavor. Then we roast it with bacon, onion, and a lot of white wine, like a fricassee,” she says, which sounds like how Sunday family dinners were prepared in Cuba before 1959.
Another dish that Sánchez says unites French and Cuban cuisine is the Oxtail Tarte Flambée, which takes the rabo encendido to another level. Oxtail can be both a very gourmet and a comfort food.
In Benoit’s version, a light puff pastry flambé serves as the base for the tender oxtail and for those of us in Miami who are lovers of ropa vieja and vaca frita, it is like a happy marriage of those two beloved dishes.
A French restaurant with a family atmosphere
La Fresa Francesa has a mural on an exterior wall of a big-eyed blond girl eating a piece of chocolate, announcing that you’re entering gourmet territory.
A few small tables with umbrellas are outside, echoing the relaxed atmosphere inside the restaurant, which has grown since opening and now has 40 tables.
The interior has thrift store charm, filled with paintings and decorations from local antique and second hand shops. You are transported to a French bistro with a familiar vibe. No need to get dressed up for a relaxed dinner with friends. There’s also no fighting over parking like in South Beach, downtown or Coconut Grove.
“Every so often [clients] leave me a set of dishes as a gift,” says Sánchez of regulars that donate their china to the restaurant, which adds to the vintage appeal of the space.
The space is also reggaeton-free zone. You may hear Nicolas Godin in “Les rues de Paris,” because the music is meant to complement the dishes and wines, not as a distraction.
The mussels with blue cheese and white wine, served with bread for dipping, or the potato balls with caviar and salmon roe in cream made with Spanish pepper – from the Basque region, Sánchez specifies – are just two dishes that bring diners from Kendall, Pinecrest and Coral Gables to Hialeah.
“Benoit likes simplicity, he doesn’t like a dish to have 40 ingredients, to show off,” says Sánchez. “He prefers that what shines on the plate are the fresh ingredients and the quality.”
The chef’s goal is to maintain tradition, which is why he doesn’t do “foam or dots” to decorate the dishes, says Sánchez.
A Frenchman in America
Hialeah would never have known Benoit’s French cuisine had he not dreamed of emigrating to the United States and had he not met Sánchez in Los Angeles, who moved to California to pursue acting.
“I moved to Los Angeles to continue my career, but like so many actresses, I started working in restaurants,” says Sánchez, but at a certain point she became more interested in the world of food than acting.
“If you had asked me on a Friday night if I wanted to go to a play or a new restaurant, I would have said restaurant,” said Sánchez, who later became a sommelier certified by the International Sommelier Guild and Court of Master Sommeliers.
Benoit followed the typical path of the immigrant. He came to San Francisco and spoke no English and started working as a busboy in a fancy restaurant.
“He moved very quickly, learned English, started working with wines, and went from a waiter to the wine director. He then opened his own restaurant, a little creperie, ”says Sánchez.
They met while working at a popular L.A. restaurant, Osteria Mozza, by Nancy Silverton, who won the James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Chef Award in 2014 and has gone on to build a restaurant empire.
In addition to expanding La Fresa Francesa, Sánchez and Benoit opened another restaurant in 2019. Silverlake Bistro in Miami Beach, named after the North Los Angeles neighborhood where they lived, Silver Lake, offers California-inspired American fare. They also recently opened a gourmet market in North Beach, Normandy Gourmandy.
When the couple opened La Fresa Francesa they wanted to awaken people’s curiosity. But one thing was not negotiable: they would not abandon their commitment to French cuisine.
“At first they told us: ‘If you are going to open a restaurant in Hialeah, you have to have rice and beans,’” says Sánchez. “But we always stayed true to the integrity of our concept.”
La Fresa Francesa
Where: 59 West Third St., Hialeah
Hours: Open Wednesday-Sunday and offers weekend brunch
Info: 786-717-6886
