Thursday, December 18, 7:00 pm
Members $90, guests $115

“Chocolate,” wrote Brillat-Savarin, “is one of the most effective restoratives. All those who have to work when they might be sleeping, men of wit who feel temporarily deprived of their intellectual powers, those who find the weather oppressive, time dragging, the atmosphere depressing; those who are tormented by some preoccupation which deprives them of the liberty of thought; let all such men imbibe a half-liter of chocolat ambré…and they will be amazed.”

Brillat-Savarin was referring to ambergris, found in the intestines of the sperm whale, and in his time used to make confections. If you relate to the symptoms he’s describing but aren’t keen on trying his chocolate potion, we suggest you pay a visit to the Beard House this month, where Edgar Leal will rejuvenate you with some Florida warmth, Latin flavors, and, as Pamela Robin Brandt put it in the Miami New Times, “the world’s most mind-blowing chocolate” sans whale intestine!

Leal started cooking 18 years ago at Gazebo restaurant in his native Venezuela. In 1992 he packed his bags for Hyde Park, New York, where he enrolled in the CIA. He followed his school training with internships in two of the best kitchens in the world: Daniel and El Bulli, then decided to extend his stay in the land of the zarzuela to cook under Iñaqui Izaguirre at Casa Carmona in Seville. In 1995, Leal returned to Caracas, where he became executive chef of the highly praised ARA restaurant. Last year, he left to open Cacao (Spanish for “cocoa”), some 15 minutes’ drive from Miami Beach. In the sleek dining room, Leal “shows off the culture, rhythm, and flavor of his Latin American roots,” according to Florida Travel Magazine, which featured Cacao among the “Twelve Gourmet Reasons to Visit Miami.”

Leal takes his diners on a journey of flavors that embarks in Mexico and finishes in Patagonia. Argentine empanadas, Peruvian chupe, Brazilian moquecas all appear on the menu. For dessert, he offers what is arguably Latin America’s greatest contribution to the world: chocolate. And not just any chocolate. Leal uses El Rey chocolate, made with 100 percent Venezuelan cocoa, which is reputed to be the best in the world. Hacienda Santa Teresa, whose rum-making tradition dates back to 1796, has generously donated the rums you’ll be drinking as well as tasting in the chocolates.

Who needs ambergris?