L'echon Brasserie, the Pubbelly Boys' new place in Mid-Beach's Hilton Cabana, is both the beginning of a new chapter and a big test for the blossoming restaurant group. There are plans to open restaurants on Miami's mainland soon. And the company recently announced it would open four places across Mexico, from Monterrey to Mexico City. It's clear the Pubbelly formula is successful, but there is a risk of repetition and uniformity with such breakneck expansion. It won't be easy for three Miami guys to keep tabs on almost a dozen restaurants at home and abroad.
Since launching their Asian-themed namesake in 2010, Andreas Schreiner, Jose Mendin, and Sergio Navarro have opened a handful of gastropubs as multicultural as Miami itself. Pubbelly Sushi began proffering clams and pork belly rolled up in sushi rice in 2011. Barceloneta, their ode to Spanish tapas, came the same year. In 2012, Macchialina, an unctuous-small-plates twist on Italian cuisine, opened with former Scarpetta chef de cuisine Michael Pirolo, who a year later bought out the restaurant. PB Steak launched in the early days of 2013. That restaurant shuttered in late July owing to the landlord tripling rent, though Schreiner says it will reopen elsewhere sometime this year.
Like its predecessors, L'echon, which opened in late June, prominently showcases pork in all its glory alongside interpretations of French bistro fare. The menu, however, speaks more about Pubbelly's obsession with powerfully flavored, pork-fat-glazed, multiethnic dishes than the brasseries of Paris or Lyon.
To see if the Pubbelly Boys' new spot makes the grade, read the full review of L'echon Brasserie, now posted on Short Order.
