A Shrimp and Shiitake appetizer from Vix. Photo courtesy of Hotel Victor

Oftentimes, when a quality chef leaves, a restaurant can teeter on the brink. Not so at Vix, in the Hotel Victor. Executive Chef Vincent Muraco stepped in last December and Vix hasn’t missed a beat. The worldly menu still reaches from Latin America to the Mediterranean to India and Asia. And the talented kitchen staff still hails from those parts as well.

Muraco himself comes from New York, went to cooking school in San Francisco, then worked for the Park Hyatt there. After eight years, the Hyatt had him open the Park Hyatt in Los Angeles. Three years later, he’s at Vix in the Park Hyatt Victor. In the hotel industry, you have to work with every type of cuisine, because of the desires of international clients. It’s like that nightly on South Beach.

We were fortunate to get seats at the stainless steel chef’s table, overlooking the active kitchen. Here you can hobnob with the chef and get a look at what you might want to order.

Menu changes are coming slowly. Muraco would lose a hand if certain old favorites were dropped. But his new ceviches are fresh and clean, without any fancying up. The Tasting of Two Ceviches ($18) featured fish pairings resting on fried tostones. The grouper achieved the proper citrus tartness, but with a nice hint of ginger. The prawn ceviche, topped with a Spanish olive, lit up our palates with habanero and jalapeno peppers.

The Beef Carpaccio ($23) was a treat on two levels. First, the beef was quality American Kobe, so rich and tender it melted in the mouth. But the dish wasn’t just about the beef. There was also an excellent calamari “salad.” The quotes are mine, because the salad was all about the squid — bodies only — quickly cooked with garlic and onions and served with a light jalapeño/lemongrass vinaigrette. An olive tapenade bordered the plate. Drag the beef through it for an added flavor. Kyoto Style Sashimi Tuna ($18) was center cut from #1 sashimi grade Ahi. The deep red tuna slices were seared just enough to color the outer rim, then draped over an aqua salad of radicchio, daikon sprouts, avocado, tomato and fried wonton in a wasabi-shoyu vinaigrette. On a corner of the plate was a small scoop of sesame sorbet that perfectly completed the dish.

Speaking of perfect, that’s exactly what the Summer Truffle Risotto (appetizer $19/entrée $39) was. This was truly a mix of flavors, since the power ingredient was oxtail. Muraco slowly braised the meat with raisins, rum and one more item: coffee. You could taste its influence, delicately in the background, as it gave the dish a Caribbean feel. The risotto itself was prepared with parmesan and mascarpone, with a parmesan crisp placed on top.

Following the risotto, our waiter brought an intermezzo to the table. We each had a spoon of diced honeydew and a pipette of passion fruit juice to cleanse our palates.

From the Indian/Mediterranean side came the Lamb ($41). This dish presented three separate cuts, each prepared differently. First came two meaty spit-roasted chops, medium rare. Next to the chops was slow-roasted shaved leg of lamb, resting atop a Moroccan chickpea eggplant relish, which imbued its flavor into the meat. Third was melting shoulder, a Moroccan lamb stew that had been braising all day. Another entrée arrived from the Asian side. But with its curry and coconut broth, it shared a little bit with the Indian. This was the Seafood Hot Pot ($41). Similar to a bouillabaisse in that it included shellfish and fish and could be enjoyed with a soup spoon as well as a fork, the comparisons ended there. The hotpot concept began with a plate of aromatics — ginger, Kaffir lime, lemongrass, star anise — over which hot water was poured at tableside. This created a fragrant aroma you could almost taste. Then the bowl arrived, filled with perfect shrimp, lobster tail, mussels, cod and grouper, white rice and straw mushrooms. The broth was a sweet and pungent mix of fish stock, coconut milk and curry with a beautiful hint of citrus.

We skipped dessert in favor of a new cheese and wine tasting platter that will be added to the menu soon. See what you can learn when you sit at the chef’s table? There were four separate levels, beginning with brie ice cream served over a citrus cracker. A lemon and olive oil cake shared a place with a Bermuda triangle of American goat cheese. We then moved on to goat cheese fritters. We closed with bleu cheese tarts covered in dark chocolate with French sea salt, truffle honey, white chocolate and caviar.

Vix had always been one of my favorite restaurants. It still is.

Vix ADDRESS: 1144 Ocean Drive, in the Victor Hotel, South Beach PHONE: 305-779-8888 FOOD: Global SERVICE: Skilled in service and with the menu ATMOSPHERE: Rich and sensual PRICES: Appetizers $14 to $25, entrées $26 to $50 HOURS: Dinner 7:30 p.m. until everyone’s gone home RESERVATIONS: Strongly suggested CREDIT CARDS: All