Photo by Cleveland Jennings
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One of Miami Beach’s most beloved taquerias is heading to the mainland (of Miami). Taquiza is closing its North Beach location at the end of July, but a new Little River outpost is coming this summer.
Winner of New Times‘ Best Tacos 2020, the taqueria is best known for its house-nixtamalized blue corn tortillas. It’ll serve its last tacos at 7450 Ocean Ter. on Friday, July 31.
The closure comes as The Broadmoor Miami Beach hotel, the building that Taquiza has called home since 2018, prepares to begin construction on the “Ocean Terrace” development project. Led by Witkoff Group, the luxury development will eventually put a 20-story residential tower on the site, with condos starting at $6.3 million.
Photo by Cleveland Jennings
A pop-up…that stayed eight years
When chef-partner Steve Santana first opened the North Beach location in April 2018, it was meant to be temporary.
The space was originally conceived as a short-term pop-up tucked into the Broadmoor’s oceanfront footprint. It lasted eight years and even earned a Michelin Guide recommendation. It soon became such a neighborhood fixture that both locals and tourists made a point of going. “What began as a short-term pop-up became a neighborhood institution,” Santana said in a statement. “While it is difficult to say goodbye to this chapter, we’re excited to bring Taquiza’s next evolution to Little River.”
Taquiza got its start in 2014, when Santana — a former web developer who worked his way through the Broken Shaker and Eating House kitchens — opened a small walk-up counter in South Beach. Grinding organic, non-GMO blue corn in-house daily and pressing tortillas to order, the stand introduced Miami to house-nixtamalized masa at a time when that process was rare in the city.
The operation grew enough to supply tortillas wholesale to other restaurants. It soon landed spots on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and the Travel Channel’s The Zimmern List. The original South Beach location closed in 2023.
Photo by Cleveland Jennings
What’s coming to Little River
The new location at 8246 NE Second Ave. has been Taquiza’s commissary kitchen and headquarters for more than three years, supplying the North Beach restaurant with tortillas and running wholesale production behind the scenes. Anyone who’s eaten there recently has already been eating from the Little River kitchen without realizing it.
The new restaurant will operate as a fast-casual, counter-service spot, with the nixtamal, masa, and tortilla processes visible directly from the dining area through imported Celorio production equipment. The menu will carry over Taquiza’s signature offerings — like the aforementioned corn tortillas, tacos, totopos, and other longtime favorites — and will add something the North Beach location didn’t offer, like take-home items, including fresh chips, salsas, taco kits, and a selection of specialty beer and wine.
Little River has become one of the more interesting culinary blocks in Miami over the past few years, with Michelin-starred Ogawa in the neighborhood along with Sunny’s, Fooq’s, Bar Bucce, and Magie. Taquiza is set to debut later this summer.
Taquiza — North Beach. 7450 Ocean Terrace, Miami Beach; taquizatacos.com. Open through July 31.
Taquiza — Little River. 8246 NE 2nd Ave., Miami; taquizatacos.com. Opening summer 2026.
