Rare 120 has a little brother and his name is Johnny Smalls.
The newest restaurant to hit the Hard Rock Hotel was unveiled April 13 and serves up lots of tasty little plates from around the world—all for $6-$12.
The eatery lives by a few simple rules: no reservations, no entrées, no sequence of service. It’s a departure from the Hard Rock Hotel and Dolce Group’s first culinary collaboration, Rare 120, which does take reservations, does serve meals in sequence and does offer entrées, charging between $29 and $56 for each of them. Still, the partners are hoping Johnny will follow in his sister spot’s successful footsteps.
Located in the new HRH Tower (near Vanity nightclub), Johnny Smalls’ menu has more than 50 eclectic tapas-style dishes. Chef Scott Minervini channeled Spanish, Asian, Mediterranean, Mexican and American flavors to create Smalls’ big menu, which features diet-busters such as Chinese Take-Out flat bread with soya chicken, cashews, chili sauce and scallions; Mac and Cheese Daddy Sliders; ale-battered alligator bites with Smack Ya Momma remoulade; and grilled PB&J sandwiches. Still, the talk of the town has so far been the “smalls balls”—rounds of creamy risotto laced with parmesan and short ribs. Open from 5 p.m. Wed.-Fri., 11 a.m. Sat. and Sun., 693-4414 (not that they take reservations).
