Meet Me In Miami

It’s your turn to pick the restaurant. Maybe the boss is in town, or the in-laws are visiting, or it’s just you and that friend you’re trying to impress with your well-renowned restaurant knowledge. You’ll be heading down to Miami, and it’s on you to find the trendiest new spot, the place where all the foodies are all posting Insta photos of that amazing dish.

How do you pick just one place in a city that has exploded in recent years with great restaurants? Do you pick the spot that just got a Michelin star, or the one run by that chef you love?

No need to stress, because we’ve got you covered with Miami restaurants worthy of a trip down to the city.

L’Atelier and Le Jardinier

latelier-miami.com, lejardinier-miami.com

Nobody has won more Michelin stars than the late chef Joël Robuchon, so it should come as no surprise that the fine dining restaurant empire run now by his protégés have continued that tradition. The restaurants they opened in the Design District share the same building. Upstairs is L’Atelier, which earned two Michelin stars and downstairs is the more casual cousin, Le Jardinier, which also has a star. It would be hard to find a restaurant in Florida that takes a chef tasting menu more seriously than L’Atelier or Le Jardinier, where a modern dining room gives way to a quaint outdoor area perfect for brunch. Both restaurants are the kind of places where chefs create menus of dishes that look like nothing else you’ve had anywhere, outrageously artfully plated using classic French techniques. Le Jardinier is largely vegetable focused, while you’d do well to order a chef’s tasting at L’Atelier.

• Dish Not To Miss: Menus here change daily, but be sure to order a side of L’Atelier’s mashed potatoes, an ultra-creamy presentation of the dish, while downstairs expect dishes like spelt risotto with caramelized artichokes.

The Surf Club Restaurant

surfclubrestaurant.com

The fact that fine-dining pro Thomas Keller came to town to open a restaurant neighboring the Four Seasons might sound like a place to find a stodgy, overly serious meal. Instead, Keller created a restaurant that’s fancy-yet-approachable, full of comfy banquets and a lively soundtrack behind all of it. The local chef de cuisine is Michael DeCicco, a real talent who nails a menu dotted with American classics.

• Dish Not To Miss: The Lobster Thermidor is a stunning presentation of tail meat plated atop a sea of rich sauce, with a few morel islands floating nearby.

Boia De

boiaderestaurant.com

Chefs Luciana Giangrandi and Alex Meyer had cooked in some of the country’s best restaurants before opening a food truck in Miami in 2018. It became so wildly popular they opened a restaurant of their own a year later. Pulling into the parking lot of this unassuming shopping plaza, it would be easy to think you’re in the wrong spot, but underneath Boia De’s neon exclamation point, you’ll find a little restaurant putting out excellent dishes of whatever the chefs feel like cooking, with service that’ll make you want to become a regular.

• Dish Not To Miss: The tagliolini nero with king crab, vin jaune, truffles and herbs is like nothing else in town, and you’ll want to order it every time you go.

Stubborn Seed

stubbornseed.com

Celeb chef restaurants on Miami Beach might not sound like a recipe for something great, but Jeremy Ford created an eatery here that shows off his skill along with his ability to entertain. This is a lively spot that always seems to feel like a party, with a happening, yet not-too-much bar spilling over into the dining room while dishes coming out from the kitchen are just as fun. What’s on the menu from night to night depends only on what Ford feels like cooking, but expect dishes that are reminiscent of things you’ve had before, like cacio e pepe cheesy puffs that remind you of the Roman pasta dish but reinvented into a killer puffy bread.

• Dish Not To Miss: The crunchy truffle bravas are one of the rare things that remain a regular on an always-changing menu and that’s good news: the crispy potatoes, truffle aioli, sopressata and aged parm combine to make a memorable dish.

Ariete

arietecoconutgrove.com

Chef Michael Beltran is a master at making a meal feel like a special occasion, serving one of the most interesting tasting menus in town and also putting out dishes with elaborate tableside presentations that’ll have you thinking about them for, well, ever. Few chefs work harder to rethink, reinvent, and introduce diners to something new, most evident in his monkfish Wellington.

• Dish Not To Miss: The pressed duck is just what it sounds — an entire duck pressed at your table using a glamorous French vice, with the gravy produced from it getting added to the roasted duck, along with always-changing side dishes like a tangy fresh greens salad and duck tamales.

Macchialina

macchialina.com

In a city with great Italian restaurants every few blocks (Casa Isola and Carbone are about a mile away), Macchialina somehow manages to top them all, putting out creative pastas in a cozy neighborhood-bistro vibe with stellar service and drinks.

• Dish Not To Miss: The creamy polenta with wild mushroom ragout and charred scallions cooks for hours, turning a typical comfort dish into something truly special.

Zitz Sum

zitzsum.com

During the pandemic, Chef Pablo Zitzmann started selling dumplings as a pop-up. They were such a hit, he spun off the concept into a restaurant. Like the pop-up, Zitzmann combines flavors and cuisines in ways us mortals wouldn’t think possible, like pork potstickers in a brown-butter tosazu and chicken dumplings in a parmesan-soy dashi broth.

• Dish Not To Miss: The menu changes constantly, but expect dumplings stuffed with the totally unexpected, like pork potstickers with brown butter tosazu, cucumber, and crunchy garlic.

La Mar

mandarinoriental.com

Gastón Acurio might be the best-known chef out of Peru, a country with a world-class dining scene, but the restaurant he opened in Brickell Key’s Mandarin Oriental also happens to have one of the most stunning views in the city. Best of all, Acurio tasked Chef Diego Oka with running the kitchen. A mastermind of Peruvian flavors, Oka produces creative and flavorful dishes that are just as pretty as the views across the bay.   

• Dish Not To Miss: There might not be a better place to order ceviche, which comes in all forms and looks like pastel-colored paintings with fresh fish and creamy-tangy leche de tigre.

KYU

kyurestaurants.com

While the dining scene in Miami often rewards whatever restaurant a big-name chef opened yesterday, KYU survives as a mainstay because of its execution of excellent dishes.

It also bucks the restaurant trend of the moment by serving things that are recognizable — barbecued ribs, roasted cauliflower, a hot pot — quite possibly better than you’ve had anywhere else.

• Dish Not To Miss: It’s those bits of crispy rice that form on the side of the sizzling-hot pot that make the Thai fried rice one of the best dishes in town, so waiting to stir becomes a practice in patience.

Ghee Indian Kitchen

gheemiami.com

Acclaimed Chef Nivel Patel made many of us rethink what we knew about Indian food. At his Dadeland restaurant, he turns fresh veggies (much of them grown on his own farm) and meats like lamb and freshly caught fish into dishes that both highlight simple ingredients and are full of spice.

• Dish Not To Miss: Be sure to ask what just arrived from Patel’s farm. Whether it’s carrots, beans or mangoes, the dish featuring it will be memorable and likely an entirely new creation Patel dreamed up that day. 

THE CLASSICS

Joe’s Stone Crab

joesstonecrab.com

Don’t let the hype — and the lines that sometimes form out the door — scare you away from this century-old restaurant. The very place that made stone crabs a thing is still putting out a solid menu of everything from a burger to fried chicken — and making even a Wednesday night dinner feel like a celebration.

La Camaronera

lacamaronera.com

A tropical diner in a strip mall doesn’t sound like the type of restaurant you want to go to every week. But order the simple-grilled fresh catch, the crispy fish served on a Cuban bread roll or the fajita-style shrimp tacos, and you’ll instantly become a fan.

Islas Canarias

islascanariasrestaurant.com

This longtime mainstay often ends up on the list of best Cuban sandwiches in town, but you should go

— at the very least — for the croquetas, which set a benchmark with which to compare all future hammy, gooey fried sticks of Cuban pride.

Tropical Chinese

tropicalchinesemiami.com

A generation of Miamians have celebrated birthdays and graduations with a traditional Hong Kong-style pushcart dim sum in a restaurant that feels very much like an institution, one in which you should decidedly not pass up the dumplings.

Versailles

versaillesrestaurant.com

Presidents and celebrities have all dined on picadillo and sipped cafe con leche in the hallowed, tiled halls of Versailles, and you should too.