Forget sidewalk cafes (those belong on Ocean Drive and Lincoln Road). Next year, Little Havana will introduce a courtyard boasting restaurants and a beer garden.
The new development will be called El Jardin of Little Havana, a communal outdoor space between 15th and 16th Avenues comprising existing businesses along Calle Ocho such as Union Beer Store (which is slated to introduce a beer garden) and Ella's Oyster Bar, plus new ventures from the duo behind Coconut Grove’s 33 Kitchen, chef Sebastian Fernandez and his wife and business partner, Leslie Ames. The new project will be named Leslie and feature two separate concepts: wood-fired pizza to one side and experimental Peruvian cuisine to the other. Each kitchen will occupy its own 1,600-square-foot space and share a dining room.
Customers will enter the courtyard from SW Seventh Street through a shaded walkway, which is currently an unoccupied alleyway behind Ball & Chain and Azucar Ice Cream Company. Construction plans and opening dates are still being worked out but it looks like El Jardin will debut sometime early next year—just in time for cooler temperatures.
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