Restaurants

South Florida is in the midst of a Philadelphia invasion. Steve Martorano has long made his mark in Fort Lauderdale by capitalizing on his hometown’s red-sauce Italian classics, and Philly-based restaurateur Stephen Starr has successfully introduced restaurants such as the Continental, Le Zoo, and Upland to Miami’s dining scene. Soon James Beard winner Michael Solomonov’s Dizengoff and Federal Donuts will storm Wynwood. Now Michael Schulson has opened Monkitail at the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood.

Dirt, the fast-casual restaurant that specializes in serving clean food at affordable prices, is expanding. The eatery will take over the space formerly occupied by Paradigm Kitchen in Miami Beach’s Sunset Harbour neighborhood.

Food truck owner Horatio Garrell scrimped and saved for six years to get together enough money to open a brick-and-mortar spot to serve his smoky jerk chicken and pork. When his eatery King Jerk finally opened at 14821 W. Dixie Hwy., the centerpiece was a $5,000 hybrid grill/smoker that was hardly used before thieves snatched it out of the parking lot surrounding Garrell’s new bright-red restaurant.

This Sunday, June 11, Peruvian-born celebrity chef Gaston Acurio will host the Cebiche Gang, an event that brings together some of Miami’s most talented toques to benefit Acurio’s culinary school, Pachacútec Culinary Institute, for underprivileged students in Pachacútec, Peru.

When BLT Steak closed in May 2016, Miami Beach lost more than just a steakhouse. The restaurant inside the Betsy Hotel served some of the best beef, seafood, and popovers Miami had ever tasted. About a year ago, chef Laurent Tourondel announced the restaurant’s transition from BLT Steak to LT Steak…

If you’ve been to Bird & Bone for dinner, you know Hales’ Nashville hot chicken is enough of a reason to return. But evening dining aside, the restaurant is worth a visit in the morning, when the kitchen quietly whips up an affordable, Southern-inspired breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m.

This past March, Max Santiago abruptly announced his departure from the Salty Donut, Wynwood’s famed artisanal doughnut shop. Now the acclaimed pastry chef has joined the Sugar Factory American Brasserie chain as a corporate pastry chef.

Todd Erickson is opening GLAM, a plant-based fast-casual concept in midtown Miami, at the end of June. “GLAM,” by the way, stands for “Green Living Animals Matter.”

Frans is standing in the middle of her compact organic garden just steps from the beach. After a two-year hiatus, she has returned to Essensia at the Palms Hotel & Spa to introduce a Caribbean-inspired menu, a direct reflection of her travels during that time away.

A Miami Beach ice-cream institution is taking its flavors to new heights. JetBlue passengers are now able to enjoy frozen treats from the Frieze 35,000 feet in the air. The Lincoln Road staple was selected as one of five artisan ice-cream makers to participate in the airline’s new locally sourced ice-cream experience on Mint flights.

So far, 2017 has been a year of big openings and bigger expectations on Miami’s restaurant scene. The SLS Brickell illustrates the trend via new offerings from both Spanish superchef José Andrés and local hero Michael Schwartz. Then there’s Kris Wessel, whose short-lived Oolite and beloved Red Light Little River…

At the Acqualina Resort & Spa in Sunny Isles Beach, find challah bread, grape juice bottles, and Zak the Baker chocolate babka inside a glass display case. This past April, the resort opened Kosher-to-Go, a modern kosher marketplace.

Miami’s restaurant scene is better than ever, with many new eateries opening this mast month.This weekend, why not find a new favorite place to eat? Here are stories on five new restaurants to give you a delicious head start.

Brunch is still one of Sugarcane’s staples. But the restaurant has made a few changes. As of May, brunch is now bottomless and offered only Saturday. Find unlimited mojitos and sangrias from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for $25 per person. Drinks are accompanied by live music from Los Clasicos de Cuba, a four-piece band specializing in Cuban-inspired tunes, from noon to 4 p.m.

Here are the best ways to snag freebies on National Doughnut Day.

Sherwood’s Bistro & Bar, a new place on Northeast Second Avenue and 83rd Street, gets its name from Sherwood Forest. That is not only Robin Hood’s merry hangout, but also a subdivision of the Village of El Portal. And like the nearby community that bears its name, Sherwood’s is charming, slightly idiosyncratic, and steeped in the area where it’s located.

Sunday, June 4, is National Cheese Day, and because cheese makes everything taste better, New Times scoured the Magic City for the best and brightest dishes offering gooey goodness.

This week’s National Doughnut Day isn’t just another silly, made-up food holiday. It’s actually a 78-year-old day of remembrance established by the Salvation Army in 1938 to commemorate “doughnut lassies,” women volunteers who were sent to France during World War I to help distribute the fried-dough treats in an effort to make soldiers feel more at home. That translates to specials on plenty of doughnuts when the annual holiday rolls around, this year Friday, June 2.

May in Miami saw both the weather and the city’s restaurant scene heat up. Once again, significantly more restaurants opened than closed. A host of local concepts continue to expand, including Tap 42, Harry’s Pizzeria, Raw Juce, and Angelo Elia.

New England seafood with Cuban flair has arrived in Miami with the opening of Ella’s Oyster Bar in Little Havana.

Good news, dessert junkies: You have plans for National Dessert Day this fall. Miami’s largest sweets fest — Dessert Wars — will return a second time this year, October 14, with more than 30 vendors and 20,000 sweets.