Cake Thai and Myumi Will Open at The Citadel in Little River

As work trudges along at The Citadel, a sprawling Little River food hall and boutique market being developed by Conway Commercial Real Estate and Urban Atlantic Group, a handful of the dining options have begun to solidify.

Owners of Myumi, the beloved omakase food truck long stationed at the Wynwood Yard, will take up in the 10,000-square-foot food hall, as well as a smaller outpost of Phuket Thongsodchareondee's Cake Thai, which late last year opened its second location in Wynwood.

"Yes, it's true," Cake Thai partner Javier Ramirez says. "We will probably do a more limited Cake Thai menu, primarily the noodles and rices."

Myumi's move to The Citadel (8300 NE Second Ave., Miami), which developer Thomas Conway said will house about 20 food vendors and open this winter, represents a sizable expansion for the truck that for two years has put out some of Miami's most pristine nigiri.

The place's seating will double to 12, partner Jake Smith says, and will begin offering a brief list of Japanese beers on draft, as well as a concise list of sake, with most bottles priced under $100.

As far as the fish is concerned, Smith says the expanded kitchen, along with the addition of another cook to work alongside itamae Ryo Kato, will allow for the offerings to balloon with a larger, slightly costlier menu.

"We'll probably have at least 15, 20 kinds of fish every night," Smith says.
Myumi has about a dozen species of fish and shellfish for its hourlong seatings that cost either $40 or $60, depending upon the number of courses. At the conclusion of each, Kato offers an à la carte menu so you can choose additional pieces of the tasting's striped jack, horse mackerel, or flounder, or venture into uncharted territory, which recently included strips of silver-skinned needlefish (better know in Japan as sayori) and knots of translucent baby sea eels.

It's hoped the extra space and help will allow Kato and his lieutenant to cut fish to order. Meanwhile, the Myumi food truck and Kato will temporarily move to Los Angeles to train a new chef, and until the opening of The Citadel, Myumi's hand rolls, which cap off every meal, will be available at a yet-to-be-disclosed Wynwood pop-up.

The only other of The Citadel's food tenant New Times has confirmed so far is a chocolatier run by pastry king Antonio Bachour. Conway, in an interview last year, said the food hall hopes to integrate most major food categories — including seafood, burgers, tapas, pizza, rotisserie chicken, coffee, and wine — into the project.

The Citadel is just one of a number of food halls under development and comes a few years after similarly styled projects began cropping up in other major cities around the nation. La Centrale, an Italian-style food hall, is in the works at Brickell City Centre, and All Aboard Florida is trying to plug a handful of local operators into Central Fare, which will be housed in downtown's rising Miami Central station. This past December, Next Miami reported that Time Out Market, owned by the publication of the same name, filed plans to take over the ground floor of a parking garage on Drexel Avenue in Miami Beach. On the rumor-mill front, dreamers have long mumbled about the possibility of a Miami outpost of Mario Batali's Eataly. There's also been talk that NR Investments, the condo developer behind downtown's A+E District, is considering a food hall and that an Asian-style night market might be coming to Wynwood.

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