Restaurants

Scott Linquist’s Olla closed last night after dinner service. The restaurant, which New Times recently named Best Restaurant in South Beach, was open for six months.

Miami can’t seem to get enough of the Salty Donut. Since December 2015, when the concept first popped up inside a trailer in Wynwood, the artisanal doughnut shop has become a sensation. To this day, fans wait in hourlong lines for innovative interpretations of the traditional pastry, such as sticky bun or cannoli variations.

In the next couple of weeks, Miami Beach will gain yet another juice-centric, healthy-fast-food spot. Dr Smood is slated to open in South Beach’s Sunset Harbour before the end of June, joining eateries such as NaiYaRa, Jugofresh, and Dirt, which is also set to debut this summer.

Most days, executive chef Thomas Stewart can be found inside the former Versace mansion, whipping up mushroom risotto and crab and truffle gnocchi for the estate’s signature restaurant, Gianni’s at the Villa. But what he really loves happens shortly after he leaves the restaurant.

Now that Brimstone has settled into its new space, it’s ready to launch a boozy Sunday brunch this weekend. Curated by Brimstone’s culinary leader, Rick Schwager, the menu, which offers seven dishes, is unique to the Doral location.

It’s hard to imagine that lobsters were once so abundant they were cheap to eat. Now they’re synonymous with luxury dining, selling for outrageously high prices. June 15 is National Lobster Day, and Miami restaurants are celebrating with deals.

Izzy’s Fish & Oyster, Jamie DeRosa’s ode to New England seafood houses, has closed. The restaurant, located in Miami Beach’s South of Fifth neighborhood, was open for a little less than two years. DeRosa’s other restaurant, Tongue & Cheek, closed in fall 2015 after a two-year run. It was located just a few doors down from Izzy’s.

Icebox Cafe, the small and bright restaurant nestled in Miami Beach’s Sunset Harbour, has expanded to CityPlace Doral, Miami-Dade’s new entertainment, restaurant, and lifestyle destination. Though the menu and cozy atmosphere emulate the flagship, Icebox Cafe Doral is a massive, two-story dining space where an informal, café-style area with an indoor-outdoor bar leads to a more sophisticated main dining room on the upper level.

Miami’s dining scene continues to impress with its rapid growth. Each month sees new concepts serving interesting food by innovative chefs and restaurateurs. The first half of 2017 brought eateries such as Scott Linquist’s Olla and Stephen Starr and Justin Smillie’s Upland, and second half seems just as promising.

Once upon a time, Julie Piatt loved cow’s-milk cheese as much as the next person. Maybe more. But that was  before she realized the health, environmental, and ethical ramifications of consuming dairy. Fast-forward to 2017, and she and her husband Rich Roll are celebrity vegans, widely regarded as experts in all things plant-based. Piatt hosts a podcast, takes people on Italian retreats, sings, cooks for eager audiences, and writes, among other pursuits. These days, one of her culinary specialties is homemade vegan cheese.

Dale Talde, the Top Chef veteran behind Talde inside the Confidante in Miami Beach, likes to party. His Filipino roots and Chicago upbringing form a recipe for some of Miami’s wildest food memories: from brunch ragers with DJs and bottomless bubbly to weekly late-night noodle events.

Dark days followed the shuttering of Alberto Cabrera’s Little Bread Cuban Sandwich Co. in late 2015. The ruddy-haired chef who once worked at Karu & Y breathed new life into Miami’s galaxy of Cuban sandwiches when his shop opened with offerings like medianoches and Elena Ruzes built with house-made ingredients.

The weekend forecast calls for rain and more rain. The only thing to do: Grab your squad, get to brunch, and drown your beachless sorrows in bloody marys and mimosas. Here are five new brunches to try this weekend.

This past in April, Jeremy Ford announced he was leaving Matador Room to forge a partnership with Grove Bay Hospitality Group. Now details have emerged about the possible location of one of them.

With an open-air dining room overlooking Lincoln Road, Juvia’s swanky penthouse retreat is one of Miami’s definitive brunch spots. Thanks to the debut of an affordable prix fixe, there’s no need to wait for a special occasion to dine at the restaurant again.

South Florida is in the midst of a Philadelphia invasion. Steve Martorano has long made his mark in Fort Lauderdale by capitalizing on his hometown’s red-sauce Italian classics, and Philly-based restaurateur Stephen Starr has successfully introduced restaurants such as the Continental, Le Zoo, and Upland to Miami’s dining scene. Soon James Beard winner Michael Solomonov’s Dizengoff and Federal Donuts will storm Wynwood. Now Michael Schulson has opened Monkitail at the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood.

Dirt, the fast-casual restaurant that specializes in serving clean food at affordable prices, is expanding. The eatery will take over the space formerly occupied by Paradigm Kitchen in Miami Beach’s Sunset Harbour neighborhood.

Food truck owner Horatio Garrell scrimped and saved for six years to get together enough money to open a brick-and-mortar spot to serve his smoky jerk chicken and pork. When his eatery King Jerk finally opened at 14821 W. Dixie Hwy., the centerpiece was a $5,000 hybrid grill/smoker that was hardly used before thieves snatched it out of the parking lot surrounding Garrell’s new bright-red restaurant.

This Sunday, June 11, Peruvian-born celebrity chef Gaston Acurio will host the Cebiche Gang, an event that brings together some of Miami’s most talented toques to benefit Acurio’s culinary school, Pachacútec Culinary Institute, for underprivileged students in Pachacútec, Peru.

When BLT Steak closed in May 2016, Miami Beach lost more than just a steakhouse. The restaurant inside the Betsy Hotel served some of the best beef, seafood, and popovers Miami had ever tasted. About a year ago, chef Laurent Tourondel announced the restaurant’s transition from BLT Steak to LT Steak…

If you’ve been to Bird & Bone for dinner, you know Hales’ Nashville hot chicken is enough of a reason to return. But evening dining aside, the restaurant is worth a visit in the morning, when the kitchen quietly whips up an affordable, Southern-inspired breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m.

This past March, Max Santiago abruptly announced his departure from the Salty Donut, Wynwood’s famed artisanal doughnut shop. Now the acclaimed pastry chef has joined the Sugar Factory American Brasserie chain as a corporate pastry chef.