Mexican Seafood Cantina La Cerveceria de Barrio Opening on Lincoln Road

La Cervecería de Barrio, a seafood restaurant based in Mexico, will open its first U.S. location on South Beach's Lincoln Road in early August. With it comes a guacamole-making station, 300 varieties of tequila, and nearly two dozen kinds of fish and shellfish.

Created by Miami-based V&E Restaurant Group, which owns more than 30 eateries in Mexico, Las Vegas, and Miami, La Cervecería de Barrio will highlight traditional Mexican seafood dishes rooted in the country's seven regions.

"Miami is a top destination for companies looking to expand, especially in the food industry," says Jamil Dib, cofounder of V&E, "and Lincoln Road is one of Miami’s top pedestrian-only destinations for dining, nightlife, and culture. So we’re excited to bring the first seafood cantina concept here."

Inside the 3,560-square-foot restaurant, diners will be greeted by a glass-enclosed guacamole-making station where chefs will mash avocados in a piedra de molcajete, a traditional Mexican-style mortar and pestle used to ground food.

Inspired by typical Mexican marisquerías (seafood cantinas), the menu will rely heavily on cooking seafood over a charcoal grill, as well as offering grilled and breaded fish. A raw bar will be stocked with 15 varieties of shellfish, some of which will be cooked al carbon. Prices range from $8 to $28.
The menu, designed by Mexican chef Ricardo Martinez, will also include some of the restaurant's best-selling plates from Mexico, including a shrimp burger layered with onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and pickles, as well as tacos and tostadas on house-made tortillas.

The restaurant's bar will offer more than 100 beers, 300 tequilas, 100 mezcals, and a lineup of cocktails including Mexican micheladas, containing tomato juice and beer and topped with either clams, oysters, or shrimp.

Before you leave La Cervecería de Barrio, stop by the restaurant's merchandise station, which will sell máscaras de los luchadores and branded items.

La Cervecería de Barrio. 836 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach; lacerveceriadebarrio.com.mx. Opening early August 2018.