Co-Founder of Brooklyn's Roberta's Pizza Will Open Hot Satellite in Little River

It's not just snow birds and former residents of Queens who are heading to the Magic City. Last month, we reported New York's own Sullivan Street Bakery will bring its  breads and baked goods to Midtown. Drive past the corner of 81st and Biscayne and you'll see construction underway on Paulie Gee's, a staple in the world of Brooklyn pizza. Now it seems that one of the founders of Roberta's pizzeria in Brooklyn, which has achieved near cult-status for pizza lovers across the United States, is set to open a new space in Miami's burgeoning Little River district. And you should expect amazing things. 

During a pop-up event last night at Wynwood's Boxelder craft beer market and pub, we had a chance to catch up with the team behind Hot Satellite, which currently functions as a pizza oven on wheels with some folding tables. (There's also a bottle of tequila at the ready.) That team is composed of Eddie Diez, co-founder of Roberta's, Rick Dacey, a longtime friend and colleague of Diez, and Brian Best, who formerly helped run the kitchen at Los Angeles' Hatfield's. "I did some restaurants in New York. One in Brooklyn, called Roberta's," Diez says humbly, speaking of his time as the founder of one of New York's most beloved institutions. The trio may be humble now, but with food this good already coming from a trailer, we should expect nothing short of greatness once a full kitchen is in place.

Hot Satellite began as a farmer's market project three years ago in Los Angeles, when Diez and Dacey reunited after parting ways in New York. "We were in L.A. doing our thing, and we were actually close to doing something that wasn't pizza-related. We were gonna do fried chicken in the Grand Central market there," says Diez, when asked of how the group managed to end up in Miami.  "We started talking to an old friend of ours who is doing some development in [LIttle River]. They flew us out, and we checked out the scope of what they were doing, that they were trying to make an awesome neighborhood and it was an opportunity to put awesome shit in it. It was an opportunity for us to come out here and have really great partners." 

Standing in a parking lot full of locals drinking $7, $10, and even $16 craft beers, while noshing on pizza out of a trailer, listening to an entrepreneur talk about how he moved to Miami just because he could put awesome shit in a burgeoning neighborhood, is amazing. This city's future continues to look very bright. As for the restaurant, we can't wait. 

"It's gonna be a pizzeria to start. But Brian [Best] can do all kinds of stuff that we can do out of the kitchen that we're building. Mostly small plate driven, family-style restaurant," said Diez, while forming dough for the incredible 10-inch pizzas. Hot Satellite will be located at 7357 NW Miami Ct. "Brian's like a highly trained, mostly French-technique chef, and we figured out pizza together. But pizza is only about half of what we do." 

Last month, the team catered tacos for the three-night performance of My Soul's Shadow, sponsored by O, Miami, at the Little River // Miami space, which they will eventually call home. With lines extending from the back of the open courtyard to nearly the street waiting for tacos, it was a great preview of what we can expect when Hot Satellite opens, sometime in the early fall. For now, we'll just have to keep our eyes peeled for pop-up events, and a pizza oven on wheels. 

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