Sansara Switches From Brunch to Dinner Pop-Up and Plans Permanent Location

Beginning tonight, Aptil 5, Sansara, the Cuban-inspired pop-up inside Coral Gables' Tinta y Café, will transition from brunch to dinner. Owners Sachi Statz and Andres Vega will offer a small menu of entrées and desserts from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. every Thursday and Friday. Until further notice, brunch will no longer be served Sundays.

"It's a really exciting adventure to embark on now," Statz says. "We're trying to open a brick-and-mortar within the next year, so this will give Miami a taste of what we have in store."

The couple debuted Sansara last June, beginning with brunch service. For about nine months, they offered croqueta-cake Benedicts and fried eggs with maduro hash Sunday mornings at the Coral Gables restaurant, which is owned by Statz's mother and uncle.

"In this industry, one second you're in and the next you're out," Statz told New Times in November. "Popping up allows us to work out the kinks and test out something that isn't being done."

With dinner, Statz and Vega will serve an à la carte menu of nine items, which includes six savory plates and three desserts.

"It's still our take on Cuban-inspired food with Miami influence," Statz says. "We're most proud that there's no pork on the menu."

Notable entrées are papaya carpaccio; a malanga bisque with shellfish and chili oil; pollo asado accompanied by gold rice and plátanos maduros; 24-hour-braised Iron Beer oxtail; and "coñocchi" — gnocchi made with plantains and finished with a mint-chimichurri drizzle. Prices range from $8 to $25.

Desserts include flan brûlée and arroz con frijoles, in which a black bean and chocolate soufflé comes with a scoop of arroz con leche ice cream. There's also the Rum and Coke — rum ice cream infused with Coca-Cola and topped with tobacco-smoked whipped cream.

Though the couple declines to disclose many details about the future location, Statz says Sansara will be housed inside "a really cool structure."

"It's going to be somewhere between Little Havana and Brickell," she says. "The rest is a secret."

Sansara at Tinta y Café. 1315 Ponce de Leon Blvd., Coral Gables; 305-432-4661; sansaramiami.com. Dinner Thursday and Friday 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.