The swank new Regent South Beach hotel, which debuted all of a year ago, is now operating under new management, a group called Vincci Hoteles. Does this mean that the property’s signature restaurant, Table 8, will be deep-sixed? We’ll have to wait and see.......New owners of B.E.D. Miami, which opened in 1999, have temporarily closed in order to give the place a cosmetic makeover -- and presumably to change the sheets......Crystal Cafe, once the toast of mid-Miami beach, lost its luster once chef/owner Klime Kovaceski sold it. After floundering awhile under new ownership it went down, and now a new tenant, Fusion 41, has moved in. Rumor has it they will be serving fusion food......Early word on the McDonald’s Mex chain Chipotle Grill, just recently started up next to the Total Wine superstore in North Miami, is that a McBurrito is better than a McBurger. Which begs the obvious question: How can it not be?.......The Italian restaurant Pescecane is up and running on Harding Ave. in Surfside, hoping to give Cafe Ragazzi and Specchio a run for their meatballs.......Christine Lee’s Restaurant, longtime favorite of the Sunny Isles crowd, will be relocating their Chinese chow to a new space at Gulfstream. You can bet on it......Por Fin Restaurant, which has been imminently set to open in the Gables since sometime during the Carter Administration, is still not open. But they are close, and Catalonian chef Marc Vidal, who has Michelin-starred restaurant experience, might just make the wait worthwhile......BBQ Beach Too will, yes, be the second outlet of the popular BBQ Beach in SoBe -- look for it to take over the old Roadhouse location on Biscayne Blvd. and 133rd.......
From New York City and the Ventetian Resort Hotel & Casino in Vegas comes the over-the-top Tao Restaurant & Lounge, set to premiere in the old Beach Theatre on Lincoln Road. Expect to see a 20-foot tall Buddha statue, a crazy late night club scene, and an appetizer menu of Asian influenced foods that will probably cost more than Christine Lee’s lease at Gulfstream.......A late September opening is in store for Andu Restaurant and Bar in the Neovertika building on the Miami River. It will be operated by Chef Duly Viejo and his brother Tony (I am not making this up).......On Sept. 26th, a new 47,000 sq. ft. Whole Foods Market will open on Red Road in Coral Gables. Free breakfast for customers who show up opening day at 8 a.m. (I am not making this up, either). --Lee Klein
