Restaurants

In April, chef Helene Henderson will open her third Malibu Farm location, at the recently transformed Nobu Eden Roc Miami Beach Resort.

Following the success of his Wynwood oasis, Plant Food + Wine, vegan celebrity chef Matthew Kenney is opening another eatery in the 305. Plnthouse is taking root at the 1 Hotel & Homes South Beach in mid-March. The casual spot will serve smoothies, juices, salads, sandwiches, and bowls for breakfast, lunch, and early dinner.

Chef Richard Sandoval is celebrating the transformation of his downtown Miami restaurant, Toro Toro. The restaurateur is involved with more than 40 locations in the United States, and that number is only growing.

This year has already been a busy one for the South Florida restaurant scene. Two months into 2017, we have a new crop of restaurant openings and closings. In February, celebrity chefs Geoffrey Zakarian (Point Royal) and Ralph Pagano (Naked Crab) unlocked the doors to their new restaurants. There were even a few brewery openings.

February is the shortest month of the year, but with the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in town, restaurants pop up to feed the hungry masses who need to soak up their libations with fine fare. Employees Only Miami, the offshoot of one of New York’s most well-respected speakeasies, opened in South Beach, and Yaku by La Mar at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel promises cocktails and bites by chef Diego Oka.

Stocked with more than 100 whiskeys and enough grub to keep even the pickiest of diners satisfied, a new South Beach speakeasy-style craft kitchen is worth visiting for the better part of a night out. Commonwealth, which opened this past November, is the neighborhood’s first bar dedicated to more than just booze.

If you’re in the mood for some mouthwatering, meat-free burgers, no need to wait until November for Seed Food and Wine Festival’s annual battle. Love Life Wellness Center is hosting its very own veggie burger bash on Saturday, March 4th.

North Miami Beach’s 36-seat Mazzi Cucina has the veneer of a hidden gem. It sits in a strip mall near the former location of Yakko-San that today houses favorites such as the Vietnamese spot PhoMi2Go, Filipino restaurant Lutong Pinoy, and Lettuce & Tomato, which is run by a former Epicure…

It’s last call for the 2017 South Beach Wine & Food Festival. Today, it’s back to reality after spending five days eating and drinking.  And, while most of us are slightly hungover and hoarse from shouting, “rose all day”, it’s time to look back at the winners and losers of the festival.

When the South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s Chicken Coupe first nested at the W South Beach five years ago, the bulk of the event fell under the purview of the Dutch’s Andrew Carmellini. In recent years, the festival has taken over that role while upping the price of a ticket to the all-you-can handle fried chicken-and-champagne orgy from $250 a head to $325 this year.

If cocktails are a religion, tiki is some hybrid of Santería and gold-wrapped, incense-burning Catholicism. While classic cocktails like the daiquiri — a humble shake of lime juice, dark rum, and simple syrup — rely on only a handful of ingredients to balance out the alcohol’s burn, in tiki, no less than a half-dozen powerfully flavored ingredients, ranging from spice-infused syrups to tropical fruit juices, cloak enough rum to pickle someone’s liver three times over.

Miami Beach’s briny ocean breezes were tinged with the scent of grilled beef last evening as thousands took to the sand for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s Burger Bash — the annual feast that celebrates all things on a bun.

This weekend, the white sands of Miami Beach fill with celebrity chefs and foodies when the South Beach Wine & Food Festival celebrates its sweet 16. If you haven’t snagged tickets, some are still available for the high-profile Burger Bash and Grand Tasting Village. Miami is also teeming with satellite dinners and parties where chefs from around the globe cook for our city.

The new South Beach restaurant Forte dei Marmi (150 Ocean Dr., Miami Beach) describes itself as having “sophisticated simplicity” in both its cuisine and atmosphere. Perhaps more interesting, however, is chef Antonio Melino’s background.

The South Beach Wine & Food Festival is in full swing. Celebrating its sweet 16, SOBEWFF will draw an estimated 70,000 attendees plus scores of chefs and celebrities for culinary events spread across Miami Beach and the mainland. With more than 85 events to choose from, guests can enjoy a bacchanalia of innovative treats such as doughnut-wrapped fried chicken and kimchi-garnished burgers.

Marc Summers is about to stuff his face with burgers. The former host of Nickelodeon’s Double Dare, a TV game show where kids (and families) got covered in green slime, will judge the Best of the Bash award at this year’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival Burger Bash. The award, sponsored by restaurant chain Red Robin, gives a chef $10,000 and a chance to get his or her creation on the eatery’s menu.

Barclay Graebner, who opened Wynwood’s Morgans Restaurant in 2010 with Jamaican movie producer Richie Effs, is opening two restaurants after she fell quiet following the closure of Georgia’s Union in the former Joe Allen space in 2012.

When Mari Rubio began culinary school at Johnson & Wales in 2009, she “hated pastry.” Eight years later, Rubio, who now owns her own dessert business, makes the most indulgent cookies in town.

Who says sushi has to involve fish? Let ’em stay in the ocean, because Sushi Garage has your fish-free sushi cravings covered. The Sunset Harbour eatery now offers an array of menu options that are all good for vegan and vegetarian eaters.

Find your way around the South Beach Wine & Food Festival with this map of party and event venues.

It was December, when Richard Hales’ Southern spot, Bird & Bone, had just opened inside the Confidante Miami Beach, that he realized he was out of place. He was standing behind a weathered wood-framed bar turning out smoky Aperol spritzes and bites of auburn fried chicken when a group of drunken, scantily clad vacationers cozied up to him. They had just learned he was the chef.