Inside Rendering of Sofia Miami Design District COURTESY OF Ink Entertainment
Miami continues expanding its culinary scene with new restaurants and offerings for every type of palate, even the pickiest and most challenging to please. This fall and winter, the Magic City is debuting highly anticipated and fabulous concepts by companies pushing the city's culinary maximum potential. Below find a list of some of these fantastic spots, some already opened and others that you soon, will be able to enjoy.
See Also: 8 Miami Restaurants With An Over-The-Top European Flair
Miami Design District / Website
A beloved Toronto transplant will make its Miami debut as part of INK's hospitality aggressive development plans, delivering the ultimate upmarket, modern Italian dining and entertainment experience. Sofia will exist as a bustling core hub within the Miami Design District, allowing visitors to enjoy dinner and drinks followed by late-night revelry and bespoke adventures, complemented by her sophisticated yet fun backdrop surrounded by a plethora of creative concepts and renowned luxury brands. Guests can look forward to a superior celebrating experience beyond traditional eating while exploring Sofia's exquisite indoor spaces and livened courtyard's private garden retreat, which features nightly DJs and handpicked live entertainment and musical acts. The restaurants is expected to debut later this month.
111 NE 41th St. / Website
This month, Major Food Group, one of the forces pushing Miami's food scene, is debuting Contessa, a concept expected to open on Oct. 26. This Northern Italian fare-inspired restaurant with a classic touch of the region's villas will continue offering the group's signature warm, charismatic, and polished hospitality, carefully tailored to the city the company has called home since 2021.
17885 Collins Ave / Website
On Nov. 18, Avra Estiatorio, the famous Greek restaurant concept, will open AVRA Miami in The Estates at Acqualina™ in Sunny Isles Beach. The new site is the fifth for the almost two-decade-old brand, which launched its initial store on Manhattan's East 48th St. in 2000. It now has two more Manhattan locations and one in Beverly Hills.
Bal Harbour Shops / Website
Aba is the newest entry to Miami's buzzling food scene, bringing a fresh light. The spectacular Mediterranean restaurant, from Top Chef alum CJ Jacobson and Executive Partner and Divisional President Marc Jacobs, will open on the ground floor of the Bal Harbour Shops this fall. Aba will present a menu that combines rich flavors from Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, and Greece with Chef CJ's Californian inspirations - a first for Miami.
6915 Red Road / Website
Grove Bay Hospitality Group co-founders and CEOs Garcia-Menocal and Francesco Balli have expanded their cooperation with Top Chef winner Jeremy Ford. Beauty and the Butcher is a new restaurant opening in the lovely city of Coral Gables. Chef Ford and Grove Bay co-founded Michelin-starred restaurant Stubborn Seed nearly five years ago. At Beauty and the Butcher, they will continue to exhibit an enhanced dining experience, contributing to Miami's ever-growing culinary industry.
3201 NE 1st Ave / Website
Italica, Midtown's newest destination, launched this month and is the area's only spritz and pizza bar, offering a modern take on Italian food. The mosaic-tiled bar around massive pizza ovens gives diners a front-row seat as their pizzas are skilfully created, not to mention the dozens of multicolored Aperol bottles decorating the inside walls. The flavorful menu includes gnocchi with boneless beef ribs, loaded jumbo shell pasta, and an assortment of pizzas and spritzes. Golden Hour, complimentary shared appetizers and chosen shots experience served from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., is not to be missed.
1874 Bay Road
Located in the heart of Sunset Harbor in Miami Beach, Casa Bufala will offer a casual setting to savor Italian delicacies. The restaurant will have a first-call Neapolitan Pizzeria and a first-class Italian kitchen to showcase Italy's staple dishes. Casa Bufala's décor and furniture pay will transport guests to the famous European peninsula with original and colorful artwork highlighting the country's foodie landmarks in a new and spacious setting. This new culinary destination is expected to debut in November or December this year.
2217 NW Miami Ct / Website
Chef/Partner Brad Kilgore, a James Beard "Best Chef: South" finalist and Food & Wine "Best New Chefs in America" alumna, will pair up with Bar Lab, the trend-setting culinary and cocktail collective led by Gabe Orta and Elad Zvi, to open MaryGold's at Arlo Wynwood this fall. The team will deliver a robust, flavorful Floridian-inspired brasserie offering a menu that will undoubtedly have Chef Kilgore's uniquely personal touch while providing big, bold, approachable flavors and textures on the ground floor of the all-new, nine-story hotel in Miami's preeminent creative and cultural district. A cocktail-centric third-floor club and a lively rooftop deck will be among the food and beverage options.
1020 Ocean Drive / Website
Kush Hospitality Group (KHG), the company behind some of South Florida's most unusual and imaginative restaurants and bars, is expanding into the hotel market. Matthew Kuscher, the owner, is excited to announce that he has joined up with Jesta Hotels & Resorts to take over the food program at the world-famous Clevelander South Beach Hotel & Bar. KHG took over the Games on Sports restaurant area on Sept. 1, just in time for football season, and changed it into Kush at Clevelander, a sports bar-style cuisine behind the hotel's iconic pool. Guests can enjoy the same one-of-a-kind dining and drinking experience that has established KHG's reputation, as with past Kush concepts.
180 NE 40th St. / Website
Tablé by Bachour is the next restaurant and café concept from famous chef and pastry specialist Antonio Bachour, set to open this fall. Tablé, located in Miami's Design District, just steps from some of the city's best high-end retail, will provide an imaginative menu steeped in French cuisine and a warm, inviting ambience reminiscent of a Parisian brasserie with a Miami twist. In addition to a comfortably chic interior dining space, a trendy bar, and outdoor patio seating, the restaurant will have a café section ideal for grab-and-go fare, including prepared sandwiches and Chef Bachour's acclaimed baked goods, as well as jamon serrano sliced to order, packaged, and ready to go with all the trimmings. The indoor/outdoor restaurant (which boasts a spectacular, glassed-in bakery, the famous "room where it occurs") spills into the corporate atrium that originally housed Michelle Bernstein's Crumb on Parchment.
3190 Commodore Plaza / Website
Kush Hospitality Group is also reimagining Vicky's House Milkshake Bar & Beer Store, a reproduction of Kuscher's childhood home named after his mother, opened in 2018 and has served enormous milkshakes, ice cream, craft beers, and nostalgia four years attached to LoKal. Vicky's House served its last sundae on Oct. 2. It closed for renovations, reopening in this December as Victoria's Vinos & Vermouth, a vermouth and natural wine bar and the official waiting room for LoKal, inspired by Kuscher recent trip to Europe. Victoria's will be a relaxed, European-styled retreat with a heavy emphasis on Spanish wines and ciders. Natural wines are a fast-growing European trend focusing on a low-intervention barreling procedure that produces more raw wines free of sulfites and chemicals. Victoria intends to capitalize on Miami's surge in interest in natural wine concepts. While waiting for a seat at LoKal or making Victoria their destination, guests can expect to sample a huge selection of natural wines, Spanish-styled ciders, large format craft beers, and various diverse vermouths. In addition to outstanding pours, it will provide tapas-style small meals, charcuterie, and other items. The stunning interior decor, true to the KHG brand, relies on meticulous attention to detail and will include a personalized mechanical long-pour specialist imported from Spain to ensure the ciders have the correct amount of fizz. House-marinated olives will be available with the homemade vermouth, La Mila.
9025 SW 72nd Place / Website
Eleventh Street Pizza, a beloved local spot, is opening a second location in the ever-expanding Dadeland region in South Miami this fall. Since the opening of the flagship location in February 2021, Eleventh Street Pizza has become a favorite among foodies and Instagrammers, thanks to a menu brimming with delectable Neo-New York-style meals. Eleventh Street's signature items are their exclusive sourdough pies and naturally-leavened Sicilian sourdough pies, which taste as decadent as they look and keep loyal customers coming back for more. With more than 25 inside and 40 outdoor seats, the new Dadeland facility will nearly double the size of its sister store.
1500 San Ignacio Ave / Website
With its grand reopening in November 2022, Fiola Miami's Member's Only rooftop terrace will now be open to the public. From Wednesday to Sunday, guests may enjoy the breathtaking views of Coral Gables while sipping cocktails and dining on Chef Danny Ganem's tailored nibbles menu for the private area.
1438 Washington Ave / Website
Sushi | Bar Hospitality founders, along with Executive Chef Ambrely Ouimette, opened their renowned omakase experience to Miami Beach, on Sep. 20. The popular omakase-style speakeasy concept first launched in Montecito, California (2018) and expanded to Austin, Texas (2020), and is located on the ground level of the Esmé boutique hotel, just steps from the Espaola Way promenade. A limited number of guests will be able to experience a 17-course full omakase menu for $175++ per person each evening. Ouimette is the only female omakase chef in the country. She will deliver her interpretative take on the conventional sushi counter experience at Sushi | Bar Miami, presenting unexpected twists on long-standing sushi staples with her distinctive refinement of house-made garnishes including koshos, ferments, pickles, and salt-blends. Sushi | Bar's menu changes frequently, but it always has the freshest fish sourced and flown in weekly from some of the world's greatest markets, including Japan, Australia, and California. Sushi | Bar locations are created to take diners to classic Japanese sushi bars from the 1930s, with a sensual, enigmatic allure that fades into a pleasant, private experience between chef and client. Nightly diners will be able to choose from a variety of drink pairings, including sake, cocktails, wine, and beer. Guests are urged to arrive 30 minutes before their assigned seating time to enjoy a welcome cocktail before diving into Ouimette's playful reverie on nigiri and other delicacies. Tock is the only place to get reservations for Sushi | Bar Miami.
Photography by: Courtesy Ink Entertainment, Avra, Jeff Marini, Grove Bay Hospitality Group, Italica Midtown, Casa Bufala, FCN Photography, Contessa, Sushi |Bar Miami Beach, La Terazza At Fiola Miami, Eleventh Street Pizza, Tablé By Bachour
