Firestone Walker Brewery

Set in the up and coming industrial neighborhood in Paso Robles, Firestone Walker Brewery will play host for a rare, elegant evening across their brewing deck.  Known for being the hub of bustling and brewing labor, we invite you to experience the infamous glory of Firestone Walker exemplified by the cuisine of (chef). The four-course meal will take you on an adventure that can stand up to the stoutest of beers. Yes, even the Belgium ones.  

Le Jardinier

Design District

Fire up your cameras for the most instagrammable food of summer
Sleek, all-white décor and a menu with $44 entrees is usually a big Miami restaurant red flag. But this spot from longtime Joel Robuchon protégé Alain Verzeroli actually lives up to the fancy furnishings. Step up to the Starship Enterprise-looking bar and order a cocktail then relax among the soft white walls, enjoying some of the most beautifully-plated dishes in Miami. But Le Jardinier is not all style over substance. The melon burrata salad looks like modern artwork, but has a combination of flavors that’s completely original. And bigger entrees like fingerling gnocchi and heritage chicken with sweet corn are flavorful and filling without making you mandate gym time the next day.

Boia De

Buena Vista

Seat-for-seat, the best new restaurant of summer
Giant pink neon exclamation points always mean good things, right? That’s why Boia De has gone full-on Gen Z and opted for a punctuation mark instead of words for its signage at this Buena Vista strip mall. Inside you’ll find a cozy space with only 24 seats, full of inventive twists on Italian classics like sweet corn agnolotti with lobster mushrooms; and pappardelle alla lepre with rabbit and rosemary. Boia De also boasts a wine list that would be impressive for a restaurant five times its size, so be sure to ask your waiter for a taste of something you’ve never tried.

Via Emilia Garden

Midtown

South Beach’s best North Italian — now al fresco
If you’ve been to the original Via Emilia 9 in South Beach, you know it’s the best place in Miami to find the buttery, savory flavors of Italy’s best culinary region. Now, that same food has crossed the bridge into Midtown, serving tortellini in brodo, pumpkin cappellacci, lamb tortellini with truffle, and a massive selection of meats and seafood. As the name might imply, the restaurant’s central feature is its charming outdoor garden which, when the weather cools off, will feel a lot like having dinner on the Italian Riviera.  For now, though, you may find it best to enjoy the fresh pasta an Italian wine inside, where the modern art and exposed concrete keep everything figuratively and literally cool.

Chotto Matte

Est. 2018 | South Beach

A retractable-roof tropical paradise with first-class sushi and over-the-top drinks
Miami’s most visually-stunning new restaurant of 2018 feels almost like dining at the bottom of a cenote, where tropical foliage drapes down the restaurant’s open center, leading to a boulder and palm trees behind the perpetually-buzzing sushi bar. The London Nikkei-Peruvian import has a retractable roof, for obvious reasons, under which you’ll feast on some of the most expertly-created Asian food in Miami. As you’d expect, the seafood is divine, with flavorful offerings like the langosta deluxe ceviche, tuna tartare with dragonfruit and ponzu chili dressing. And you’d be remiss not to indulge in the 96-hour marinated, applewood-smoked lamb chops. But the drinks here are almost as impressive as the decor, worth a visit lychee picante, topped with three slices of dragonfruit. Or Holy Water, delivered in a literally-flaming grail.  

Le Mar by Gaston Acurio

Brickell 

Gourmet Peruvian and sushi with Miami’s top waterfront view
The hottest chef in Peru put his first American outpost right on the water at the Mandarin Oriental, serving up the best ceviche in Miami plus Peruvian favorites like lomo saltado and an insanely extravagant seafood brunch. Daytime dining here means enjoying the breeze blowing off Biscayne Bay as you sip pisco sours and gaze out at the Rickenbacker Causeway. At night it’s a front row seat to the expanding Brickell skyline, a restaurant where both the food and the environment let you know exactly where you are. Eat here when the weather is nice and it’ll remind you why, despite all the irritations, you still live in Miami.

Michi’s

Est. 2017 | Doral

A Spanish-TV star creates the best healthy Latin food on the planet
As much as we in Miami love the spicy, savory flavors of Latin America, we’re also well aware that rice, beans, and pork don’t always make for a healthy diet. That’s why Venezuelan actress Michelle Posada struck out to become the Gwyneth Paltrow of Telemundo, creating a menu of healthy takes on Latin classics full of stuff that tastes like it should be way less healthy. Think dishes like tostones topped with ahi tuna and fresh mango, or lomo saltado served over brown rice. Quinoa arepas, and cauliflower crust pizza topped with ham and mushrooms. Posada also has a full menu of juices and smoothies, plus a gluten-free, sugar-free vegan carrot cake that actually still manages to taste like carrot cake. There’s a reason Spanish TV starts from the nearby Telemundo and Univision studios are regulars in this nondescript strip mall restaurant. They, like anyone who’s been here, know it’s easily the culinary highlight of sprawling Doral.

Mignonette

Est. 2014 | Edgewater

Simple seafood that’s still the best in the city
Seafood is as much of a staple on Miami menus as kitschy takes on the Cuban sandwich and an 18% automatic gratuity. But like with so many things in life, the ones who do it simplest, do it best. Case in point: Danny Serfer’s seafood outpost, where the menu starts off with the best selection of fresh oysters in Miami, then graduates onto a lobster heavy-list of appetizers highlighted by the croissants with lobster butter. The “plain” entrees are great here too, as Serfer lets the selection of local fish speak for itself. 

Alter

Est. 2015 | Wynwood

The ultimate Wynwood foodie experience
If there is a restaurant that is completely emblematic of what Miami’s art district has become, it’s Alter. The place is hipster and casual at first glance, but upon further examination is sophisticated and upscale. The big, light, warehoused area is full of causal seats, waiters in jeans, and tropical plants. The food however, is as fine-dining as it gets. Menus are of the five-and-seven course variety, and because Brad Kilgore is constantly creating new plates, you’ll have a different experience every time you go. This season’s selections include sake-cured duck breast grilled over pinecones, and snapper sashimi peta, cucumber and lime vinegar. But enjoy it while you can, your next experience will be significantly different. Since every time here varies, it’s ideal both for a special night or, or to take out-of-towners who think everything great in Miami lies in South Beach.