Best of the City: The best things Time Out Miami editors saw, ate and visited in 2025

Cotoa is the rare restaurant that works just as well for a casual lunch as it does for a romantic dinner. Earlier this year, chef Alejandra Espinoza transplanted her Ecuadorian concept from a quiet downtown food hall to an effortlessly charming corner space in North Miami. The 24-seat restaurant is filled with relaxed guests who seem like they’ve been coming here forever. Dishes are lean, flavorful and beautifully composed, representing Ecuador's cultural heritage through a thoroughly modern yet unfussy lens. We recommend starting with an order of pillowy Pan de Yuca, followed by an aromatic ceviche and a shareable main such as El Pincho, a smoky chimichurri hanger steak served with crunchy gold potatoes and Jerusalem artichoke chips.

Where else can you listen to the warm, fuzzy sounds of classic salsa on vinyl, watch a passionate tango unfold just in front of your table and dance to soulful electronic sounds on a hi-fi system until late, all in the same week? Hidden behind MiMo’s cozy Italian eatery Battubelin, Conventillo channels the bohemian vibe of early 20th-century Buenos Aires with its rustic clay bricks, lush greenery, intimate outdoor seating and eclectic programming that invites locals to come together Monday through Saturday. Aside from the ambiance, the drinks shine too, with cocktails developed by Miami’s award-winning Unfiltered Hospitality. As an added bonus, Battubelin has curated the bar’s food menu, including aperitivo from 6 to 9:30pm and late-night pizza and pasta from 9:30 to midnight.

This year, we found the best piano bar in Miami—and it’s hidden behind a dumpster. La Poubelle is a speakeasy cabaret in Normandy Isles that never advertises, barely promotes and doesn’t even come up on a Google Maps search. The exact location is revealed when you purchase tickets, and even then, you may struggle. (Hint: “Poubelle” is French for “trash can.”) What started as a once-monthly cabaret in August of 2024 has since evolved into a neighborhood staple with 50 seats and five-plus shows per month. There’s piano bar night and original one-man shows, songwriter debuts and even a “cabaret dragaret” with South Florida’s live-singing drag queen, Miss Bouvèé. In a city notorious for tardiness, La Poubelle is packed well before showtime. Why? Gnocchi mac and cheese rendered in duck fat. Also, torchon foie gras, bacon-wrapped dates and classic meatballs in a San Marzano sauce, all catered by Silverlake Bistro, which shares the space.

Elliot & Erick Jiménez: El Monte is the Cuban twin photography duo’s first solo museum exhibition, marking their leap from award-winning image makers for the likes of Prada, Tiffany’s, Bad Bunny and Selena Gomez to multi-disciplinary artists on an institutional stage. Inspired by the Afro-Caribbean spiritual tradition of Lucumí and Lydia Cabrera’s seminal text El Monte, the show centers on a womb-like, chapel-meets-forest installation alongside photographs and sculptural works that explore spirituality, ancestry and identity. 

The 11th edition of Miami’s III Points music festival didn’t have the splashiest lineup. It didn’t introduce any major changes, expansions or relocations. It didn’t try to rebrand or outdo itself. If anything, it leaned more into itself: indie, edgy, urban, unapologetically late-night—curated for locals, by locals. III Points is like Ultra’s weirder and unquestionably cooler little cousin, and we wouldn’t want it any other way. This year, we watched the friendliest mosh pits break out during Turnstile’s epic set; Fcukers jumped around the stage for an iconic 45 minutes; Darkside delivered a life-changing live performance; Mk.gee made his wild Miami festival debut; Despacio returned with its legendary vinyl system; the ravers raved until 4am. It takes a beautiful alchemy for a music festival to remain so steadfast yet still surprise, and III Points does that. Its success also gives us hope that there’s room in Miami for even more indie music festivals—we love the Bladerunner vibes at III Points, but we also wouldn’t say no to some daytime frolicking and greener views.

Miami’s supper club landscape is saturated. Why sit still and talk when you can shimmy in your seat and wave your napkin in the air between courses? But there’s always room for one more—especially when it’s the French Riviera-inspired hotspot everyone is talking about. Inconspicuous at the base of a high-rise on Brickell Avenue, the perpetually packed restaurant offers one of Miami’s most glamorous nights out—think cabaret-style performers roaming the dining room, artfully plated French-Mediterranean dishes and a festive atmosphere that makes even a simple dinner feel like a celebration. As our writer Falyn Wood put it, “You’ll find these basic elements at clubstaurants all over Miami, but Claudie seems to have captured that je ne sais quoi that makes her better than all the rest.”