Root & Bone in South Miami Launches All-Day Southern Brunch

Just in time for the first weekend of 2019, culinary power couple Jeff McInnis and Janine Booth are launching brunch service at their recently opened South Miami restaurant, Root & Bone.

Through a partnership with the Miami-based Grove Bay Hospitality Group, the opening comes nearly a year after the couple, best known for the Sunset Harbour restaurant Stiltsville, started a Root & Bone pop-up at the Shelborne South Beach, which will remain open. The first Root & Bone location, conceived by McInnis and Booth, debuted in New York City in 2014.

Similar to the Big Apple flagship, Root & Bone in South Miami offers an array of down-home goodies that call to the chefs' respective roots. McInnis is represented by the "bucket of bird," a half or whole sweet-tea-brined chicken dusted with pickled lemon. The barbecue brûléed spare ribs, which feature a smoky and burnt brown sugar crust, pay homage to Booth's Aussie background. The restaurant's Southern edge is also reflected in buttery biscuits, deviled eggs, and sweet-corn spoon bread.
For brunch, McInnis and Booth added a selection of breakfast plates. Some are classics, such as chicken biscuits ($12) — a thick, tender piece of fried chicken placed on a generously sized biscuit — and eggs Benedict, with house-made pork-belly bacon and lemon hollandaise on waffles with petite greens ($16).

Other items are more creative, from a fried chicken-and-waffle sandwich layered with melted cheddar cheese and bourbon maple syrup ($17) to sticky pork-belly bacon bites spiked with a spicy bourbon maple syrup ($7) and short-rib "meatloaf" with eggs, which includes sautéed Southern greens and heirloom tomato jam ($27).

As for sweets, there are banana cream pie waffles, topped with caramelized bananas, butter pecan ice cream, maple syrup, and whipped cream ($14), as well as a selection of desserts, including key lime pie and a warm chocolate molten cake.

Unlike Root & Bone's locations in New York and Miami Beach, the South Miami outpost offers a large bar area specializing in Scotch, whiskey, and bourbon. Some brunch services will also include a live band.

Root & Bone. 5958 S. Dixie Hwy., South Miami; 786-785-1001; rootnbone.com. Brunch Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.