The Best Things I Ate in 2024 (Round 2)

We're back! And only two(ish) months after posting the first half of The Best Things I Ate in 2024! And there's still nearly five months left in 2025! Look, I don't claim to be on the cutting edge of the viral restaurant trends; it's a more deliberative process here. Unfortunately, one of the results of my tortoise-like posting pace is that two of the places included in this second half of the list are now closed. But! They were both pop-ups with a limited shelf life, so this is not entirely unanticipated, and both are hopefully going to be coming back in some form, some day. Even so, there's no escaping that this has already been one of the most brutal summers for restaurant closings in Miami that I can recall, and we're just entering August.

There's always an ebb and flow here: the market suddenly heats up (often driven by inspired local chefs with local followings), and operators from all around the globe pour millions of dollars into buildouts of new spaces in the highest-rent districts. And then summers have always a struggle in South Florida. But the speed of the turnaround this time has been staggering: Massimo Bottura's Torno Subito, Henrique Sa Passoa's Sereia, NY imports Red Farm, and Ensenada: all shuttered within about a year.^[1] I can't think of a time so many places pulled the plug after only one season. But it's not just the newcomers: long-time stalwarts like Osteria del Teatro (38 years over a few different locations), Cafe Vialetto (26 years), Sardinia (20 years), Red Steakhouse (17 years), Sugarcane (15 years) all called it quits the past couple months. Even overwhelming critical and media recognition is no guarantee of survival: Val Chang has closed up the wonderful Maty's just a year after receiving the James Beard Foundation Best Chef South award.^[2] And EntreNos has ended their extended pop-up at Tinta y Cafe a year after picking up a Michelin star.

All of which is to say: if there's a restaurant you love, show your love. Visit often, be nice, tip well, tell your friends. It's a cruel summer^[3] – don't leave me here on my own. So let me do my part.

Luci's Chopped Salad - Boia De (Buena Vista Miami)

For reasons I've previously explained, I usually find it pretty difficult to answer the perennial "What's your favorite restaurant?" question. I wrote then that it was easier to answer if the question was "What's your favorite restaurant right now?" And back then, five years ago, the answer was Boia De, which had just opened a few months earlier. Well, while we've already established that I am not on the cutting edge of every latest dining trend, it is nonetheless somewhat out of character that if you asked me that question again right now, the answer very well might be the same. It's just impossible to not have a great meal there. While many dishes come and go, one menu stalwart remains an essential order for me on every visit and is simply one of my favorite dishes in Miami: Luci's chopped salad, chef Luciana Giangrandi's unabashed ode to Nancy Silverton's chopped salad at Pizzeria Mozza. I think Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen nailed why it's so great: it's got all the flavors of an Italian sub, in salad form. Perfect. Never change.

(More pics from Boia De).

Scallop, Pomelo, Rice Paddy Herb Oil, Coconut Nuoc Cham - Tam Tam (Downtown Miami)

I'd missed the "Phamily Kitchen" pop-up dinners that chef Tam Pham and his partner Harrison Ramhofer had been doing back in the day, and my first taste of Tam's cooking was a pandemic-era pho pick-up pop-up.^[4] I've been stalking him ever since, through a series of extended pop-ups in Little Haiti to his opening of a full brick and mortar restaurant in downtown Miami (in the old Diana's Cafe spot around the corner from the courthouse). It's been a thrill to see what he's able to do with a real kitchen at his disposal. The food is still fun and playful, inspired by Vietnamese "quán nhậu" – but it also shows some finesse and delicacy, nowhere more so than this absolutely delicious scallop crudo with tart-sweet lobes of pomelo, creamy-sweet-tangy coconut nuoc cham, and fragrant, verdant rice paddy herb oil.

(More pics from Tam Tam).

Unagi & Caviar with Okra - Shingo (Coral Gables)

Shingo Akikuni is another chef I've been stalking for years, going back to some nice meals at the counter of The Den at Azabu. In 2023, he finally got to open his own place, the eponymous Shingo in Coral Gables, and promptly made it on my list for that year. (Oh, and Shingo also got a Michelin star within the year). That first time, it was for the "simplest" of dishes: Akikuni's silky, rich tamago which serves as the last bite before dessert. This time, it's here for something a bit fancier: unagi, with its crackling grilled skin encasing fluffy, tender flesh, garnished with a very generous dollop of good caviar. But one of the things I love about Shingo's style is that he treats "humble" ingredients with the same reverence as "luxury" items: that caviar-crowned unagi was paired with some beautiful, fresh local okra, slippery but still with some snap. There has been a tidal wave of omakase openings over the past couple years. Shingo, along with a couple others, is at the crest of that wave.

(More pics from Shingo).

Proof Burger - Vice Versa (Downtown Miami)

Valentino Longo's aperitivo focused bar, Vice Versa, has been a very welcome addition to the downtown Miami landscape. Partnered up with Will Thompson and Carey Hynes (of the late Jaguar Sun downtown, and the current, and fantastic, Sunny's in Little River, which we'll get to below), it's got this delightful Italian Futurist vibe, and clever inspired cocktails that will go down easy but can simultaneously provide the opportunity to geek out on technique to the same degree as any served by a moustache-twirling, vest-wearing "speakeasy" mixologist. But what really completed the package for me was bringing in chef Justin Flit, last seen here at Proof. There are bright fresh crudos, perfectly tuned salads, and excellent pizzas. And to top it all off, there's the return of the "Proof Burger," which if  you go digging through the archives, was on this list way back in 2018. Here's what I said back then: "I could passionately argue that his burger was the best in Miami. Each component was carefully considered and executed with precision: two stacked grass-fed beef patties, featuring both crusty char and juicy interior; melted cheese, bolstered even further by a creamy cheddar aioli; caramelized onions, for an extra dose of umami and just a hint of sweetness; a house-baked potato bun, soft and tender but with enough structural integrity to hold everything together to the last bite." He's not lost his touch, and I can once again passionately argue that this is the best burger in Miami. Available Mondays only in limited quantities.

(More pics from Vice Versa).

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The Best Things I Ate in 2024 (Round 1)

Is May too late for a “year in review” post? Last year, I was asking this question in February, so the trendline is becoming clear. I hope you'll excuse my tardiness, as 2024 was an interesting year for the Miami dining world, and as usual, I have some thoughts, even if I'm only getting around to posting them several months into 2025.

Speaking of trendlines, I saw several in the past year. Maybe most notable is the massive influx of outsiders. After Miami had its moment in the sun in 2023 – Bon Appetit naming it “Food City of the Year,” local restaurants and chefs getting recognized in NY Times’ “Best Restaurants of 2023,” Esquire’s “50 Best New Restaurants,” and Food & Wine’s “Best New Chefs”  – the boom was inevitable. While those kudos went mostly to locally-grown products, the wave that followed, as is often the case here, came mostly from without and not within.

Restaurant operators from New York, Chicago, California, Europe, Canada and Latin America have moved into South Florida like a swarm of mosquitos. Only a small handful made this list. Prominent among the new additions were a lot of big ticket Italian places, most of which, honestly, I’ve blissfully ignored.^[1] Of the ones I have tried, the most notable and interesting was Torno Subito, chef Massimo Bottura’s brightly-colored, playful spot downtown atop the Julia & Henry food hall. And yes, I will acknowledge that a Michelin three-starred,^[2] “World's 50 Best Restaurants” first-place chef opening a restaurant in Miami is officially a Big Deal. But it didn’t make the list.

As usual, the trends I’m more interested in stay closer to home, and one that I found particularly encouraging was the opening of several inspired, independent restaurants with their own distinct styles. It may be odd to call a handful of new spots that are quite different from each other a “trend,” but the places I’m talking about – Itamae AO, Palma, Recoveco^[3] in particular, though there are others – while dissimilar in style, share a focus on great ingredients, thoughtful cooking, and maybe most importantly, their own particular culinary expression. I also put the wonderful EntreNos in this group, even if it doesn’t perfectly fit the timeline as a late 2023 opening.^[4] I was very happy to see EntreNos recognized with a Michelin star last year, along with new stars for deserving omakase venues Ogawa and Shingo.^[5]

And speaking of omakase: much as I’m a fan, it is probably a good thing that the barrage of new omakase openings seems to have tailed off some. I have my favorites – yes Ogawa, and yes Shingo, and I am quite overdue for a return visit to Naoe – but let’s just say I am not convinced of the sincerity of all these spots. One that I did very much enjoy, and which made this list, was the Inoshin pop-up at the Surf Club. Chef Shinichi Inoue is the real deal.^[6]

2024 was also a good year for reboots, the most impressive of which has been Sunny’s. The pandemic pop-up always would have had a special place in my heart, as I still recall the feeling of hope and civility it restored in some particularly weird times. But wow, talk about a “glow up.” More to come on that later. Other exciting reboots: the return of Michelle Bernstein’s Sra. Martinez, now in Coral Gables after a decade-plus hiatus; Niven Patel bringing Ghee back to us folks for whom Kendall is a different country (not quite in the Design District, but close by in Wynwood); and Kojin 2.0, also now in the Gables (in the old Eating House and briefly Lion & the Rambler spot), which I am due to pay a visit.^[7] 

Anyway, before another year goes by, on to the list. As always, a disclaimer: this does not purport to be a definitive “best of” list, only a very personal accounting of my favorite things over the past year. It is South Florida focused, but follows me around as well when we travel. And there are typically way too many footnotes.

HM ribeye - EntreNos (Miami Shores)

At EntreNos, chefs Evan Burgess and Osmel Gonzalez do some fantastically creative things – turning unripe green mangos into olives, using fish like blue runner, more often treated as baitfish here, in delicious crudos. They also do some very simple things very well. This big-boy ribeye, from HM Cattle Company in Central Florida, is one of the best locally raised steaks I’ve ever had – seasoned and cooked perfectly, and accompanied in minimalist fashion by some pickled vegetables, crispy yucca, and fresh leaves dressed in a sharp vinaigrette. It’s unusual to see young chefs exercise this kind of restraint. Like the motto of one of my favorite restaurants, Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica, says, “Simple Ain’t Easy.”

(More pics from EntreNos)

le bison - L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon (Miami Design District)

It is something of an anniversary tradition for Mrs. F and I to celebrate at an Atelier de Joel Robuchon, going back more than a decade to a visit to L’Atelier Tokyo for #20. The Design District spot is Miami’s only Michelin two-starred restaurant, and curiously, the only U.S. restaurant in the Robuchon empire with more than one star. While I’m not sure I can explain that quirk, I can say that L’Atelier reliably delivers what it sets out to do: French cuisine that is contemporized but far from revolutionary, prepared with precision. This Wellington variation is a great example: bison – lean but flavorful, and with a perfect cook – in place of the usual beef, layers of Swiss chard and mushroom duxelles, a crisp laminated pastry shell, a classic red wine jus.

(More pics from L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon)

Spaghetti alla Moro - Trattoria al Moro (Rome, Italy)

A slightly belated anniversary trip took us to Italy, starting in Rome, which is one of my favorite eating towns in the world. Our first-night meal was at Al Moro, an old guard spot just steps from Trevi Fountain. We were somewhat brusquely shuffled into a room that was clearly earmarked for tourists, where everyone was squeezed into one long banquette, and yet I found the place completely delightful. Especially the house signature “Spaghetti alla Moro,” essentially a carbonara with the addition of some hot chili flakes. Nothing fancy, just a great dish, perfectly done.

(More pics from Trattoria al Moro)

sbagei - Trattoria la Grotta (Riomaggiore, Italy)

I was led to believe that while the views in Cinque Terre are fantastic, the food was not so much. Still and yet, there were some local specialties I quite enjoyed – anchovies in all sorts of variations, lovely stuffed mussels in a spicy tomato sauce. But the most interesting, and unexpectedly delicious thing we ate was this dish of sgabei – a frybread with origins in Lunigiana, a region bordering Liguria and Tuscany – accompanied by dried tuna bresaola and a quenelle of prescinseua, a soft, fresh Ligurian cheese.

(More pics from Trattoria la Grotta)

calamari in zimino - Ora d’Aria (Florence, Italy)

In Florence, we paid a visit to Ora d’Aria, a restaurant run by chef Marco Stabile, who for a time was also associated with Miami’s Toscana Divino. It is a posh place – gold-rimmed white china and pressed linens – but the food actually pays tribute to a much humbler style of cooking. When you start a meal with a teacup of cavolo nero brodo – pot-likker, basically – you have won my heart. Nothing is deconstructed or reinvented or a “play” on anything here, it’s just cooked really well. Kale also played a feature role in my favorite dish there, a stew of tender baby calamari in zimino stewed in a dense, hearty green broth.

(More pics from Ora d’Aria)

pici all’aglione - Osteria il Borro (Arezzo, Italy)

We headed into the Tuscan countryside for a couple days to Il Borro, an absolutely magical estate near Arezzo which incorporates an old medieval village. They make excellent wines, they run a farm, they have cooking classes, all in a jaw-droppingly beautiful setting. During the day we learned to make pici, the rustic hand-rolled Tuscan pasta. At night we ate the professionals’ version of the dish, dressed with garlic, herbs, pepperoncini and anchovies. Much better than mine.

(More pics from Il Borro)

nigiri omakase - Wabi Sabi (Miami Upper Eastside)

Sometimes you want a great sushi dinner, but you don’t want to spend $200-$300 a head. Crazy, right? When that craving hits me, which is often, you will find me at Wabi Sabi, where the omakase platter offers a dozen pieces of nigiri plus a maki roll for $100. This is not a “cheap” meal by any means. But this is also a chance to dine on high quality fish, flown in from Japan, the selection changing with the market and the seasons, prepared with care and attention. It is exponentially better than many of the places selling commodity-grade sushi for the same prices, while still a fraction of the cost of Miami’s top sushi-yas. I feel incredibly fortunate to have this so close to home. Gochisosama!

(More pics from Wabi Sabi)

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The Best Things I Ate in 2023 (Round 2)

February isn't too late for "year in review" posts, is it? Not too late for me, anyway. Round 1 of my favorite dishes of 2023 actually made it up within a week of the new year. This sequel has experienced some delays, but is now resuming regular service. In the first post, we ventured through Oakland, Scotland, London, Lisbon and Marrakech before finding our way back home. Here, we pick up where we left off back in Miami – with one of my favorite new local restaurants.

bluefin tuna tiradito - Maty's (Midtown Miami)

How gratifying was it to see a huge picture of this beautiful dish splashed across the landing page of New York Times' list of "America's Best Restaurants 2023"? This was the year the national media really caught wind of the great things the Chang Gang are doing down here, as I noted in Round 1 while singing the praises of Nando's spot, Itamae. It took me a few months after it opened to get to sister Val's new restaurant, Maty's, but by the time I visited it was absolutely firing on all cylinders. While Itamae skews more towards the Japanese influences on Peruvian cuisine, Maty's sticks with a more "traditional" repertoire - cebiches, tiraditos, jaleas and saltados feature prominently, but done in a finessed and contemporary way. 

scallop cebiche - Maty's (Midtown Miami)

Pretty much every dish felt like a highlight, but I was especially fond of that tiradito which made the NYT cover, of bluefin tuna in an aji limo leche de tigre with canary beans for some earthy grounding and beads of finger lime to provide a little extra acidic pop. Also, this cebiche of delicate scallops in a scotch bonnet leche de tigre with cilantro oil and coins of slivered grapes for a sweet-sour contrast. Great ingredients, lots of legumes and vegetables, and bright flavors that almost ripple with electric energy. This was one of the most exciting, invigorating meals I've had in a while. 

(More pics from Maty's)

tostada de anchos - Bar Gilda (Miami Beach)

Over the summer, chef Juan Garrido was popping up Mondays and Tuesdays at Tropezon on Española Way with a pintxos-themed menu called "Bar Gilda". The rotation would change a bit from week to week, featuring staples like the namesake gilda,^[1] tortilla española, patatas bravas, and bocatas de calamares, with occasional detours. I thoroughly enjoyed every single bite – especially these delightful toasts of Cantabrian anchovies, fancy butter, and a sharp, fresh parsley-garlic dressing, mounted over crisp puff-pastry crackers. A classic combination, and an ode to really good ingredients. Having now recalibrated my pintxos-meter with a visit to the motherland later in the year, I can say that this as close to a real-deal Basque pintxos bar as I've experienced in Miami.

(More pics from Bar Gilda)

le homard - L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon (Miami Design District)

It had been a minute since I'd last visited L'Atelier, the Joel Robuchon outpost in the Design District, and the only Florida restaurant which has been bestowed two stars in the Michelin Guide. The design of the Atelier restaurants is consistent throughout their locations around the globe, and for me anyway, there's still something slightly surreal about encountering the distinctive shining black, red, polished wood and gleaming chrome dining room and open kitchen here in Miami. There are a few ways to experience the Miami L'Atelier – the "Evolution" tasting menu, a shorter seasonal menu with a couple options for each round, some classic "specialties" that can be added on, and even a straight a la carte menu on weekdays. From an early fall seasonal menu, my favorite dish was this spiral agnolotti with lobster and chanterelle mushrooms, swimming in a rich, powerful lobster bisque.

Comparing the ratings of the Ateliers around the world is a curious exercise. The "flagship" Atelier in St. Germain, Paris has one star, as does a second location in Etoile, Paris as well as the Tokyo outpost. Meanwhile, the Miami Atelier has two stars, as do the ones in Geneva and Taipei. The Atelier in Hong Kong has three stars! The ones in London, Madrid and Dubai have none. What does it all mean? That you can get a better meal at an Atelier in Hong Kong or Miami than at one in Paris? That Michelin is grading on a curve when it awards stars in different cities? That maybe the stars are kind of arbitrary? Inquiring minds want to know!

(More pics from L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon)

akamutsu, buro - Mila Omakase (Miami Beach)

Miami has seen a boom in high-priced omakase venues over the past few years, and I am far from convinced that they all are capable of delivering on their sometimes vertigo-inducing tariffs.^[2] So I approached Mila Omakase with a healthy degree of skepticism. Also, Mila, the main restaurant in which it makes its home, seems like a douchebag magnet? But after clearing our way past the hostess stand and entering the insulated inner sanctum of the omakase room, where a cherry blossom tree overhangs the sushi counter, I was very pleasantly surprised. Chef Reiji Yoshizawa and his crew show some solid technique and use some very good ingredients, but what I was particularly enamored of were the occasional flashes of Filipino flavors that appear here and there (Chef Yoshizawa grew up in Manila). It showed up in one of the opening bites, a canape with creamy kinilaw flavors in a crispy round shell. And it came around again with a nigiri of lightly torched akamutsu^[3] topped with a daub of buro, a rich, funky fermented shrimp and rice paste, which nicely complemented the pleasingly fatty fish.

(More pics from Mila Omakase)

spiny lobster chawanmushi - EntreNos (Miami Shores)

Maybe the most exciting newcomer of the year for me is EntreNos, an extended pop-up at Tinta y Cafe in Miami Shores by chefs Evan Burgess and Osmel Gonzalez. The two chefs both did time at Michael Beltran's Ariete, and Evan's resume also includes Miami's late great Alter and Chicago's Boka restaurant group, while Osmel spent time on the west coast as sous chef at one of my favorite places, SingleThread in Healdsburg. Back home and together, they are focusing on local products through a short, tightly curated menu with a dedication and creativity I have rarely seen here. A crudo uses blue runner, a dark-fleshed local fish in the jack family used more often as bait than as dinner, but which when sourced and handled well, as here, is deliciously rich and meaty. Accompaniments include a carambola vinaigrette, local leaves and blooms, and another thing I've never seen done with a local product — mango "olives" made by brining young, unripe mangoes. Oysters from Sebastian Inlet are grilled and topped with brown butter chimichurri. Desserts include a tomme cheese panna cotta topped with a sorbet of sea grapes, a ubiquitous but rarely used local product. I've had a couple different variations of their chawanmushi – one with smoked grouper, and another, pictured here, with spiny lobster. A creamy, frothy onion foam blankets the egg custard, hiding nuggets of savory confited potatoes underneath. This simultaneously triggers memories of seafood chowder (lobster / cream / potato), tortilla española (egg / onion / potato), and maybe even carbonara with the smoked grouper version (smoked fish playing the role of bacon). Regardless of what associations you may draw, it is flat out delicious.

(More pics from EntreNos)

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