Restaurants

New Year’s Eve is tonight and, like most of us, you’re probably glad to see 2016 get the hell out of Dodge. From a painful presidential election to the deaths of some of the world most iconic figures, 2016 pretty much sucked. That means it’s time to kick the old year out on its ass and ring in 2017 properly. From dining out tonight to curing your hangover on New Year’s Day, here are five stories to help you make this the best year ever.

Thomas Keller, among America’s most revered chefs, put to bed nearly a decade of speculation and dreams yesterday when he announced via the Miami Herald plans to open a yet-to-be-named restaurant in partnership with Surfside’s Surf Club Four Seasons in early 2018.

Where you have brunch this Sunday is important. Saturday is New Year’s Eve, which means Sunday calls for a cozy spot prepared to whip up a gluttonous meal filled with meats and sweets and some more booze to wash it all down.

Miami is brimming with unique Italian restaurants. In the past few months, Via Emilia 9, a quaint Northern Italian-inspired eatery in South Beach, received a significant makeover; Michael Schwartz opened his highly anticipated Italian spot, Fi’lia, inside the SLS Brickell; and Ocio brought lobster ravioli, carbonara, and beef lasagna to Doral.

Earlier this month, Corey Bousquet fulfilled a lifelong dream when he opened his first restaurant, the Brick, in Downtown Dadeland. The farm-to-table restaurant is the first of its kind in the area, opening December 3 inside Kendall’s up-and-coming residential and retail development complex.

So many of us would like to forget this past year happened. There was the mind-numbing presidential election, plus a barrage of sucker punches in the deaths of greats Alan Rickman, David Bowie, Prince, Gene Wilder, and Harper Lee. The Miami dining scene provided a respite. The onslaught of mediocre celebrity-backed…

December is traditionally a hot time for restaurants to open in Miami. Between Art Basel and tourist season, chefs and investors hustle to take advantage of visitors to our city in an attempt to kickstart business. Of course, a restaurant also has to woo its local patrons to ensure a steady stream of income.

As part of an annual year-end ritual, Instagram has determined the 25 most Instagrammed restaurants in the U.S. over the past 12 months, a list based on the number of geotags from each location. Miami Beach’s Sugar Factory was the only Florida restaurant to make the cut, coming in at number 15.

When the AC Hotel opened in June 2015, it gave Miami Beach a swank, affordable cocktail lounge. Now the bar, which remained unnamed for about a year and a half, has officially opened as Gin + Collins. It’s located in the same space as the hotel’s earlier cocktail lounge, where Jennifer Massolo, founder of the Liquid Projects and the Craft Spirits & Beer Festival, created and curated its original beverage program.

A restaurant with roots in Florence, Italy will open its first U.S. restaurant early next year, and its owner has chosen Miami’s MiMo district to debut the stateside iteration. The restaurant is known as ‘O Munaciello, a well-known and longstanding pizzeria built in an annex of the 17th century Florentine Santo Spirito Basilica. When it opens in early 2017 at 6425 Biscayne Blvd., expect authentic cuisine and from Italy’s Campania region some real deal Neapolitan pizza.

The best way to spread some holiday cheer is through food and drink. Luckily, Miami is a playground for inventive restaurants, offering everything from lavish, booze-flowing outposts to intimate spaces with ingredient-driven menus. Besides lunch and dinner outings, make sure to add an alfresco brunch to your to-do list this holiday season. As the weather cools, Miami’s brunch scene has largely moved outdoors, creating fun and inviting environments filled with pork belly sliders, shakshuka, and meringue-infused sweets. Grab your fanciest hat and largest shades because these are the five best places across town to snag a tasty brunch-inspired meal under the warm winter sun.

You see them all over Miami: pampered pups riding in pastel strollers or walking on Louis Vuitton leashes. Pooches dine on freshly baked doggie biscuits at tony restaurants. Heck, there’s even a special South Beach Wine & Food Festival event, Yappy Hour, that caters to dogs. To these pooches and…

In 2017, Miami can expect one eatery wildly different from anything seen this past year. Edukos describes itself as “an exuberant tavern for the adventurous.” Inspired to name his restaurant for the Latin word educo, which means “to lead, to draw out,” founder/owner John Guilarte wants to encourage diners to try new foods and build new experiences.

Mooyah Burgers, Fries & Shakes is expanding its reach in South Florida with the opening of a second Miami-area restaurant, part of a fast-track growth plan spearheaded by franchisee Enzo Di Giovanni. The new Mooyah restaurant opened December 15 at 2000 NW 87th Ave. in Doral, one of several additional locations the restaurateur plans to launch as part of a six-unit deal to expand the company throughout Miami-Dade County.

Attention, New Yorkers: The Halal Guys are headed for South Florida.For all of you Miamians, if you don’t already know about the Halal Guys’ famous fare, you better keep reading. When the popular Manhattan-born brand opens its first Florida restaurant in the Tower Shops in Davie next month, just know the gyros (and that white sauce) will most certainly be worth the drive out of town.

My Ceviche, the fast-casual seafood restaurant by partners Sam Gorenstein and Roger Duarte, has opened its midtown Miami location. This marks a new look and menu for the small local chain. Along with offering its signature ceviches and burritos, My Ceviche has introduced items such as fresh made-in-house juices and build-your-own tacos, burritos, salads, and bowls.

Paula DaSilva recently celebrated 30 years since moving to the United States from Brazil, but her home country, a land best known for soccer stars and samba, is still in her heart, especially around the holidays. “It’s customary to celebrate Christmas Eve. It’s sort of our really big holiday there. It’s a huge party of food and a smorgasbord of all kinds of stuff,” she says.

A wide grin spreads over Niven Patel’s black-bearded face as he emerges from his gray stucco house in Homestead and strides into the backyard he’s slowly converting into a farm. His thick-framed Ray-Ban eyeglasses disappear into a dense crop of hair that swivels side-to-side as he surveys rows and rows…

Ricardo Jose Bueso is only 25 years old but already has the philanthropic spirit and business savvy of the Dalai Lama and Warren Buffet put together. Last year, he, along with his brother Ricardo Juan, founded the Thx Co., a “social good” brand company based in Hollywood that allows customers to donate to any nonprofit of their choosing with the purchase of the company’s products.

The restaurant losses of 2016 might have been some of the most staggering of any recent year. Sure, we lament the good food we can no longer enjoy at these establishments, but even worse is the city lost the work of many chefs pushing the local culinary scene forward.