The 18 best new restaurants in Miami

The menu at Platea features many highlights you’d expect from a high-end steakhouse: prime beef, sides and a few classic starters. And then it takes some surprising turns, making it far more interesting than your average Morton’s clone. For instance, a ceviche made with pretty dollops of sweet potato puree and lots of sliced shrimp and other seafood, all soaking in an earthy-sweet leche de tigre. This one-of-a-kind Pinecrest offering, a Peruvian steakhouse tucked away in an unsuspecting strip mall, is every bit worth traveling close to the edge of civilization, where the Everglades begins to take over. 

The restaurant group behind it, Lost Boy Co., knows how to channel nostalgia (see their namesake bar downtown and Fox’s Lounge for proof). At Joliet, they've taken a corner of a hotel lobby next to Sunset Harbour and closed it off into a space that’s both modern and like a neighborhood staple that's been around since the Nixon administration. 

The menu doesn’t overdo the New Orleans theme, either, just an occasional gumbo and po’ boy here and there. But many of the dishes have a Cajun kick, including the crab Louie salad, baked oysters and blackened red snapper. Like any good meal in New Orleans, we were two-plus hours in and wanting more. Maybe a late-night rhubarb julep or a brandy crusta? Yeah, that sounds just like how the Cajuns would do it.

Rosie’s is the bountiful collaboration between Michelin-trained chef Akino West and his wife, creative and hospitality director, Jamila West. What began as a pandemic pop-up is now a full-service brunch garden in Little River serving Southern-inspired dishes with hints of Italian flavors. Just over the fence, a historic home is being converted into what will soon become Rosie’s next iteration with expanded dinner service throughout the week. In the meantime, they're is serving up some of the best breakfast in Miami: deviled eggs topped with crispy chicharrones and chines; burrata topped with fresh mango from the Wests’ own backyard as well as wildflower honey; and a hangover-curing pastrami hash with sweet potato sformato, charred green onion gremolata and goat cheese.

You might have come for the famed beef rib, served with the bone, as long as a forearm, the meat removed, sliced and neatly reassembled. But there's so much more to explore here, like the Japanese yellow crudo dry-aged for 48 hours until the meat becomes firm, almost steak-like. Even when Michelin-starred chef Jeremy Ford might be challenging us to try things we don’t normally order, it’s still clear that everything at Beauty and the Butcher is done with great command over flavors and ingredients, right down to the little measuring cup of caramel drizzled slowly onto what will be one of your last, very good bites.

Conceived in collaboration with Chef Tristan Brandt, this 18-seat tasting menu restaurant tucked away off the lobby of the Carillon is an intimate, dinner party-styled homage to the resort’s 1958 cocktail and conversation lounge of the same name. If the idea of going to a restaurant to consume six technically intricate, beautifully plated works of food art, none of which you will choose, leaves you a bit nervous, we get it. But at Tambourine Room, trust that the kitchen and the staff have enough credibility and experience to provide an interesting, albeit oftentimes precious, dining experience. 

The idea of taking a traditional French technique or ingredient and trying to perfect it or improve on it, that’s the entire point of this place. It’s not an easy task, considering all the hundreds of years the French have been perfecting their stuff already. But Brasserie Laurel nails plating and technique and even the atmosphere that ought to surround all of this Frenchiness, a brasserie that will likely bring the stars and Beards and all the honors bestowed to restaurants this good.

For some restaurants, it’s all about the views, or the historic vibes, or the fact that you’re in the middle of Coconut Grove. At MaryGold’s, you go for the chef. Brad Kilgore is famous for cooking and, mostly, for doing things on a plate that nobody else would dare try. And that’s exactly what he’s trying again at MaryGold’s. Headlining in the new Arlo Hotel in Wynwood, it is a stunning space to behold, serving a few dishes that are downright memorable, and it’s almost certainly going to become a favorite of many people. It’s not all perfect, but, and stick with us here, that might be part of its magic. 

Miami's Major Food Group restaurants are undeniably good—albeit quite expensive and notoriously hard to get into. And the latest of them, Contessa in the Design District, just might be the best of them yet. Similar to the Boston location, Miami’s Contessa sports a glamorously nostalgic yet modern design, sort of like if Wes Anderson was tasked with designing a disco party. The menu reads like a greatest-hits of Northern Italian cuisine. Think heaping burrata atop a pile of skinned cherry tomatoes, a flawless Margherita pizza with a well-seasoned crust, and a deceptively simple spicy lobster capellini coated in a buttery tomato sauce infused with all the gorgeous flavor of the lobster chunks inside.

In Austin, the similarly clandestine Sushi | Bar sells out months in advance, and the knowledge of that fact can make the first moments of sitting down at this dimy lit, 12-seat counter feel like something big is about to happen. Indeed, the whole experience is theatrical, each piece of nigiri imparting renewed surprise, like a caramelized pineapple hat on the hiramasa, Calabrian chili honey atop the scallop and a bruleéd skin above the cold-smoked sawara. Along the way, there are options for drink pairings, but definitely spring for the sake option. It’s a mix of bottles not found at the Big Daddy’s down the street, including one brewed to taste like whiskey, served in a wooden box meant for catching any spillage from the shot glass, a deliberate nod to excess.

Branja is a funky, 1970s-inspired modern Insraeli restaurant in Upper Buena Vists, created by the transplanted MasterChef Israel winner, Tom Aviv. Whether you come for weekend brunch or dinner, the Fish & Bread is a staple menu item, and rightfully so. This is a savory, ceviche-style dish made with the day’s catch, that you yourself whip up with herbs, balsamic glaze and a creamy aioli before spreading over a Pullman toast. We then jumped right into a deconstructed kebab followed by the Mama Ligua “Polenta,” a souffle-like dish with truffle, leeks and parmesan.

Previously a senior sous chef at the two Michelin-starred L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Giselle’s chef Gustavo Zuluaga has created a menu that somehow manages to upstage the grandiosity of the space. Perched atop E11even, the famed downtown mega-club, Giselle evokes an Alice-in-Wonderland-on-molly, mushrooms-in-Vegas sort of vibe. But beyond the disorienting decadence, the contemporary French-Asian food shines through. At the end of the meal, you’ll head back out toward the elevator, through the made-for-selfies hallway, and back to whatever simpler life existed out there before. But for a few hours at Giselle, you’ll feel very much like a blissed-out Vegas high-roller. 

Since its arrival as an order-online-only pop-up during the pandemic, Miami Slice has been the hottest debutante at the ball, written up often as the best new pizza spot in Miami and Instagrammed by those who have become famous for eating pizza. Their massive, New York-style pizzas become available to order online a few days in advance. If you see that the pies say “Sold Out” (as they almost always do), you’ve missed your chance. There’s also a dine-in option for slices, and we will admit: watching the cooks microplane parmesan and scoop oozy stracciatella onto hot pizza slices is very sexy food porn. The standout, Leeks on Bacon, is a simply unimpeachable slice made with garlic confit cream sauce, crunchy smoked bacon and leeks that lend an oniony bite. 

Walrus Rodeo, the playful new concept from Boia De’s Michelin-starred co-chef/owners Luciana Giangrandi and Alex Meyer, strives for a similarly understated yet ambitious menu and service-oriented experience. Located in the same plaza as Boia De, Walrus’ contemporary kitchen centers around the hulking wood-fired oven, a remnant from the space’s previous life as a pizza joint. Everything on the ever-evolving menu benefits from the kiss of its flames, borrowing flavors and techniques from Italy to Mexico to the Caribbean. The atmosphere here is decidedly more casual, though the dishes, like the mustard green lasagna and potato gnocchi, are anything but.

The concept here is Spanish tapas, along with a few larger plates, all served on a rooftop six floors above Coconut Grove. Toronto-based Ink Entertainment, the folks behind Sofia, Byblos and Amal (which sits a few floors down), have created a spot in Level 6 that will quite likely survive the crash and burn that tends to follow a flashy rooftop opening. It is a stunning space to behold, looking out over the Coconut Grove tree canopy, Brickell’s skyline to the north and Biscayne Bay to the east. Expectedly, the place gets packed, starting with a wall of happy hour drinkers surrounding the bar who linger past sunset.

Norwegian king crab, heritage cattle beef and a jaw-dropping waterfront setting—no one does extravagant surf-and-turf quite like Klaw. The restaurant dropped into the once-abandoned Miami Women’s Club building in Edgewater, bringing the neighborhood's first rooftop bar and a handsome place to enjoy some of the finest quality meat. Smart-looking servers present well-marbled, dry-aged steaks and—should you opt for an order of the king crabs—artfully stacked spindly legs tableside, which they'll scissor open and serve razor-clam-like, laid out in rows along with herbed butter. It's all a bit showy but appropriate for a grand building that’s been reborn.

This new Coconut Grove sushi spot doesn’t bother trying to be authentically Japanese. It’s not stuffy, like those omakase places, where you’ll whisper to your dining companions out of fear of offending the knife-wielding chefs right in front of you. No, Sushi by Scratch is about experimenting with some of the rarest pieces of fish that can be sourced, in a vibe that’s so fun it feels like entertainment. Dinner includes 17 courses with the option of an additional drink pairing (it's expensive but worth it), and seatings are limited to 10 people, all convivially crammed around the intimate sushi counter.

Chef/owner, Michael Beltran, turned The Mighty into The Gibson Room at just about the time he was hanging a Michelin star at Ariete. He called on friend Kris Huseby to create the out-of-the-box menu, featuring dishes like crispy nuggets filled with eel, shrimp and pork head cheese; charcuterie, headlined by the chicken liver mousse and head cheese; and rainbow trout tartare with pickled fennel and potato. And then on bartender Tom Lasher-Walker to whip up the drinks, including the signature Gibson he's worked by adding sherry and serving tableside encrusted in ice. Is it a bar? Yes. Is it a restaurant? Yes. It's all of those things and it’s probably not something you’ve ever seen before.

After nearly seven years, the Lost Boy & Co. team (Lost Boy, Tropezón) brought back this beloved South Miami lounge. It's been restored and revamped to include much of its original furnishings from when it first opened in 1946, down to new replicas of the retro art that hung in the former space. The so-called “darkest bar in Miami,” sticks to the classics when it comes to food and drinks: martinis, Manhattans, prime rib, fried chicken and french onion soup are among the favorites here.