Café Margaux only Florida restaurant to earn elite award for culinary excellence

Café Margaux in Cocoa Village is only one of only 16 restaurants across North America - and the only one in Florida - to earn the 2024 Distinguished Restaurants of North America (DiRōNA) Gold Award of Excellence.

“The attainment of this recognition is a testament to years of dedication and unwavering commitment to culinary excellence,” said DiRōNA CEO Scott Breard. “Café Margaux has been a DiRōNA Awarded restaurant since 2006. For 2024, DiRōNA developed an elite Gold Award that would honor the best of the fine dining establishments that our organization represents.”

In selecting the restaurants, DiRōNA used criteria including attention to detail in the menu, décor worthy of a fine dining establishment and a wine list that is not only curated to match the menu, but also offers exceptional wines that have aged.

“We also thoroughly assess online reviews to make sure the level of service is that of a restaurant providing an exceptional dining experience,” Breard added.

Café Margaux is among excellent company in the DiRōNA list, which includes legendary restaurants such as Brennan’s in New Orleans and The Sardine Factory in Monterey, California.

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“We were first inspected and invited to join 18 years ago,” said Café Margaux owner Alex Litras.

“I was very excited because I had dined in restaurants across the United States and started to recognize the DiRōNA logo and plaque hanging in my favorite ones, Brennan’s in New Orleans, The Russian Tea Room in New York and Magnolia’s in Charleston," he said.

"I certainly wanted to be part of the specially chosen. DiRōNA is very particular that their awarded restaurants continue to provide guests with a culinary journey.”

Part of the culinary journey at Café Margaux includes a curated series of bar events and wine dinners. Bar events are informal, laidback and educational.

“Although it’s been a few years since the Café Margaux big remodeling, many guests are surprised to know they can have dinner at our sit-down bar area,” said Litras.

“We have a huge selection of spirits, not all of them displayed. I am somewhat of a collector, not only of wine, but interesting liqueurs, aged whiskey and special bottlings of liquor. Since there’s not enough room to display it all, we have fun every Wednesday night, hosting tastings to allow guests to learn about spirits they’re unfamiliar with, or more about the spirits they already love, including some mixology tips for home," he said.

"The bartenders are 'chefs' in their own right, only using fresh fruit, herbs and spices," Litras added. "During the events we offer flights of spirits to try neat, craft cocktails, and we feature interesting bar food additions just for that night and theme.”

As in the past, the restaurant’s bar events will also occasionally feature theme nights with costume contests for decades such as the 1930s, 40s, 60s and even the 90s, or “virtual visits” to countries such as Ireland, Scotland and Spain. During these nights, spirits and cocktails are also themed to the subject.

“For most of the events, we have a brand ambassador or a distiller visiting,” added Litras.

Phil King, president of craft spirits and wines representative iHospitality in Orlando will be the speaker at bar events in April through June.

“Café Margaux likes to focus on small batch, unique boutique spirits,” King said.

Bar events run from 5 to 7 p.m. on designated Wednesdays. For April 24, King will discuss Gin Lane 1751, a small batch gin distilled outside of London near the banks of the Thames.

“Gin makes good spring style cocktails, and this is a classic Victorian-style gin, which means not a lot of botanicals so each flavor is more prominent,” King said. “They’re very friendly, very easy drinking.”

On May 22, King returns to Margaux for a bar event focused on Heaven’s Door, a small-batch Kentucky bourbon whiskey distillery co-created by Bob Dylan, as in the Bob Dylan of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”

“It’s a real fun whiskey,” King said.

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On June 19, King is back again, this time with 44° North, vodka made from Idaho russet potatoes and named for the 44 parallel north, one of the premier agricultural regions around the world. The vodka also features fruit flavors such as mountain huckleberry from the Rockies and cherry vodka from Mt. Rainier cherries.

“Potato vodkas are uniquely different from grain, sweeter and earthier in style,” King said.

Bar events are slated for most Wednesdays in the next few months. Café Margaux’s wine dinners are also in full swing, with California wine dinners in April and May, a Tuscany dinner in June and a Greek wine dinner in July. An international beer dinner is also scheduled for June.

“The goal of our monthly wine dinners is to stage unique events that customers cannot accomplish by themselves and to enjoy those experiences surrounded by like-minded people with the same interest in the intricacies of pairing wine and food.” Litras said.

“These wine dinners are designed to be remarkable multi-course events that cannot be choreographed by simply coming to dinner! We plan these events a year ahead, keeping things seasonal – what’s in season today should be in season today one year from now. That allows plenty of time to create a perfect pairing, for winemakers to schedule a trip to Café Margaux, and to get special winery-only or highly allocated products in to make the events even more special.”

Events such as the wine dinners and bar events did not go unnoticed by DiRōNA.

“Alex Litras and his family with Café Margaux have far exceed the expectations we have for our DiRōNA Gold Award recognition,” Breard said. “The award is a testament to their years of dedication and unwavering commitment to culinary excellence.”

Café Margaux is at 220 Brevard Ave., Cocoa Village. For more information, visit margaux.com or call 321-639-8343.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: 'A culinary journey': Café Margaux earns elite distinction