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There's no denying it: Wynwood is a food mecca. It's the place to go for Miami's most creative restaurants, craft breweries, and unique cocktails. From an omakase sushi meal to a world-class bakery that offers much more than bread, Wynwood's dining spots are as vibrant and diverse as the street art that covers the colorful neighborhood.
Walk through a tiny record store/bodega to get to 1-800-Lucky, a 10,000-square-foot Asian food hall with indoor and outdoor seating. Vendors offer pan-Asian dishes from dumplings to bánh mì in an open dining room. 1-800-Lucky sports two full bars, a karaoke lounge, and a lush outdoor patio complete with DJ booth. Don't forget to get one of Taiyaki's Instagrammable soft-serve ice creams, served inside a fish-shaped cone.
Beaker & Gray is a lively restaurant that places equal importance on its cocktail and food menus, thanks to partners Brian Nasajon and Ben Potts. Nasajon serves as executive chef, while Potts sees to the bar program. Cocktails come fruity and fizzy (shaken) or bold and boozy (stirred), and the food is significantly elevated from the usual pub grub. Favorite like chicken wings and ramen bowls come with a sophisticated twist.
Wynwood is home to many breweries, but La Tropical is unique for its traditional Cuban beer recipes — and its food, created by Miami chef Cindy Hutson. Hutson is best known for her Coral Gables restaurant Ortanique on the Mile and has been cooking dishes tinged with the flavors of the Caribbean for decades. At La Tropical, she offers a Latin Caribbean-inspired menu that includes a fresh ceviche of the day, mussels steamed in La Tropical beer, fish tacos, and more. What brewery offers a whole fish or a 10 ounce certified Angus churrasco? Only La Tropical. Pair your food with fresh beer, brewed on premises and you have a win-win situation.
A veritable hole in the wall, Kush Wynwood may not look like much from the outside, but burger and beer lovers will find their own personal paradise here. Part of Matt Kuscher's growing empire of restaurants, Kush offers burgers made with locally sourced, free-range, antibiotic-free beef. There are also sandwiches, salads — even offerings for vegans. Kush is known for its well-curated beer selection, which includes 18 taps and a rotating list of "whales," or rare beers. The prices are customer-friendly, the restaurant dog-friendly, so don't be surprised if you have to wait for a table.
The focal point of Kyu (pronounced like the letter q) is its wood-fired grill, where diners can watch their meal being cooked via yakinku, the Japanese grilling method. The menu, designed for sharing, lists items in several categories, including "Fresh and Bright" (vegetables), "Chilled and Refreshing" (seafood), and "Wood Fired and Smoked" (meats). The biggest bang for the buck comes in the form of a generous portion of beef short rib served with lettuce to make your own wraps.
This small Wynwood shop, resplendent in bright pinks and greens, serves a small menu of food that's delectable and reasonably priced. Basically, Ono offers one dish: a poke bowl. But that bowl, customized to your liking, is filled with really good stuff. The fish is high-quality, sushi-grade tuna. In fact, the shop closes when it runs out of seafood for the day. Customize your bowl with rice, greens, ginger, pickled cucumbers, and other delicious toppings until your container looks as colorful as a Hawaiian garden after a rain. The result is a heavenly lunch that also happens to be nutritious.
R House chef and partner Rocco Carulli has had a long-standing love affair with Wynwood that dates back to the days before the neighborhood became a hot spot. His restaurant is a hip space that's half restaurant and half art gallery. The menu offers a series of Latin-inspired dishes, including an outstanding moqueca, filled with fresh seafood in a coconut-milk base. The high-energy restaurant also serves up innovative cocktails. On Saturdays and Sundays, join Carulli and crew for a sassy drag brunch.
Andy Rodriguez and Amanda Pizarro created magic in 2015 with the Salty Donut. These days, on any given weekend morning, sleepy patrons wait in line for a treat (or 12) from this small, artisanal doughnut and coffee bar. With doughnut flavors ranging from traditional buttermilk to maple bacon and booze-inspired creations, the shop has a borderline cult following. The Salty has additional locations in South Miami and Lincoln Road (and even in Orlando and far-flung Austin, Texas), but Wynwood is the flagship location, the doughnut mecca.
Austin-based Hai Hospitality founder Tyson Cole has opened Uchi, a sleek palace of sushi. The restaurant, decorated in neutral tones, is the perfect backdrop for Cole's colorful sushi options. Along with the signature rolls, sashimi, agemono (tempura), and yakimono (grilled items), diners are encouraged to experiment via three different omakase options, including a ten-course chef's tasting menu, a six-course tasting, or a six-course vegan omakase.
Zak the Baker isn't your average coffee shop selling a few pastries. Miami's Zak Stern, a James Beard-nominated baker, has found his way into hearts and bellies through his perfectly baked breads. Nearly every Whole Foods location in South Florida carries a variety of Zak's signature loaves, cookies, and other artisan delights (like chocolate babka), and his mighty wholesale operation provides many local restaurants with bread for their sandwiches. At his Wynwood bakery, you can purchase loaves of freshly baked sourdough, grab a few pastries, and even take a seat for breakfast or lunch.
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