After weathering a tough summer, the Grove restaurant scene is experiencing a refresh, with some casual options that are bringing new flavors to the mix.
Restaurants in Miami, like hope, spring eternal.
Every new season brings new restaurants, even as rising rents, higher food costs, and fewer diners forced a rash of restaurant closures in Miami last summer, including nearly a dozen in Coconut Grove.
Many of those closures were pandemic pipe dreams. Out-of-town restaurateurs hoped to exploit the many new residents that moved to Miami with overbuilt, expensive generic restaurants.
It’s time for a reset. This time, it’s locals who are trying their luck. They comprise a wide variety of new dining destinations, from a Vietnamese sandwich shop to a moody cocktail lounge, and from burgers and fries to unbeatable barbecue.
These are the new and soon-to-open restaurants to treat yourself and your out-of-town guests.
3190 at 3190 Commodore Plaza
You’ll never need a menu at 3190, both the name of the restaurant and the address of this nook of a dining room between longtime Grove favorites Lokal and Atchana’s Homegrown Thai restaurant.
All you have to say is, “Si Papa,” and the staff will bring you the only item on menu, a lasagna that the chef used to make for his daughter. (There’s also a vegetarian version without beef.)
3190 is the latest limited-option restaurant from 84 Magic Hospitality, which founded the nearby Cotoletta, which serves only a pounded-flat veal cutlet on the bone, big enough for two.
Reservations aren’t taken at 3190, only walk ins, and repeat diners get seated first. It pays to be a local and a loyal customer here.
Aiko & Mumu at 2770 SW 27th Ave., Suite 2
Grove residents are risking a mad dash across U.S. 1 to visit this viral sandwich shop next to Grove Central on 27th Avenue. It’s worth the effort.
Since it opened in August, the lines at Aiko & Mumu have died down, and it’s easier than ever to walk in and order a Japanese sandwich that’s as delicious as it is beautiful.
More than a dozen hot and cold sandwiches, like a crispy pork loin tonkatsu or the soft-boiled soy egg with Kewpie mayo, are served on house-made Japanese milk bread.
They’re sliced in half and open like a jewel box, made for sharing on social media.
Bento boxes feature a rotating chef’s choice of sushi — rolls, nigiri and sashimi. And donburi rice bowls star blue-fin tuna and scallops. This is no grocery store sushi. It’s artisanal Japanese served to go.
Ava at 2889 McFarlane Road
We haven’t forgotten about Peacock Garden Café, but Ava in the Grove is putting its own stamp on the popular spot’s former location after opening this month.
Nestled against the historic Coconut Grove library on McFarlane Road, Ava takes advantage of the tree-covered, inside-outside dining areas that make the space special.
Ava serves what it calls “MediterrAegean” cuisine, focusing on the cuisine of the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea. Expect a menu that includes tuna ceviche, seabass carpaccio, lobster pasta and lamb moussaka.
It’s the second location for Ava; the original in Winter Park has been a hit with diners. The restaurant group also owns other high-end restaurants popular with celebrities and influencers – Mila on South Beach’s Lincoln Road and Casa Neos on the Miami River.
Bahn at 3409 Main Highway, inside Books & Books
Two TV cooking competition alums bonded over a love of food to open Banh sandwich and boba tea shop inside Books & Books in Coconut Grove.
Aidan Friedson feared he was done with cooking after twice winning “Chopped Junior,” earning a job inside a fine-dining restaurant at 15 but feeling bullied by chefs who wanted to see him fail.
He said he left restaurants until “Chopped Junior” judge Marcus Samuelsson offered to mentor him at his New York restaurant, Red Rooster Harlem.
Friedson later made ready-to-go meals while attending the University of Miami, where he met Phuoc Vo, chef at a local catering company and a “Cutthroat Kitchen” alum, who taught Friedson the magic of Vietnamese cuisine.
At Banh, they serve four sandwiches, from a traditional cold banh mi with banana-leaf roasted pork sausage to a French-dip-inspired short rib banh mi that you dip in pho broth. Their boba teas use Café Du Monde’s chicory coffee.
Friedson is at the counter daily, wearing the tie-dye apron handmade for him by the staff at Red Rooster, where he learned to love cooking again.
Chèvre at 3065 Fuller St.
One Grove developer found a creative way to endear itself to Grovites while selling multi-million-dollar condos — by putting a favorite local shop inside its sales center.
Chèvre, an artisanal cheese, wine and sandwich shop with a strong following in Shenandoah, will open a location inside the sales center for the upcoming Ziggurat development, owner Mario Narr said.
Chèvre is known for selling quality cheeses and meats at its Coral Way market, and using the ingredients in its sandwiches. Its Frenchman sandwich is stacked with comté cow’s milk cheese, thin-sliced jambon de Paris, crisp cornichons and Beurre de Barrate butter (a French favorite of chef Ina Garten) on Ficelle Bakery’s baguette.
La Italiana piles Italian mortadella, whipped ricotta and house-made pesto inside Sullivan Street Bakery focaccia-style bread. Hearty sandwiches start at about $20, a trifling against the $2.3 million starting price of Ziggurat’s condos.
Chèvre and Ziggurat plan to put on dining events on the closed Fuller Street, including brunches, wine tastings and fondue parties, after the shop’s expected opening, the week after Thanksgiving.
Chuggie’s at 3444 Main Highway, Suite 21
Ariete chef Michael Beltran has Michelin-star fame, but his heart has always been in accessible Miami street food.
He gives himself over to this at Chuggie’s, a burger joint he’s been mulling for years, where the star of the show is a Cuban frita, traditionally an all-beef or beef-and-pork smashburger with crispy potato strings and spiced with chorizo flavors.
Beltran’s version uses a pork chorizo patty, served simply, as good frita shops do, with ketchup and crispy papitas.
Chuggie’s is ‘50s diner Americana mixed with ‘60s Cuban immigrant culture, much like Beltran himself, born in Miami to Cuban parents.
The rest of Chuggie’s menu reflects this, with spins on his Chug’s burger (served occasionally at Ariete and Taurus Whiskey Bar), fried chicken sandwiches, house-made chicken nuggets and the Mimi, a fried-chicken patty melt named after his mother.
Fries, shakes and Crispy Critter style cookies round out the menu.
Drinking Pig at 3444 Main Highway, Suite 16
Three chefs from Asian smokehouse Kyu in Wynwood started barbecuing in front of their home in northeast Miami-Dade during the pandemic shutdown and created the most remarkable barbecue in Miami for about year.
Now, that pop-up barbecue gets a permanent home in the Grove. Raheem Sealey, now the executive chef at Shiso in Wynwood, his wife Yohanir Sandoval, and their close friend Mark Wint will revive Drinking Pig, next door to Chuggie’s.
Their barbecue is a blend of their Caribbean palates: Sealey, a St. Croix native; Wint, Jamaican; and Sandoval, Venezuelan, all bring their culinary sensibilities to this barbecue.
Expect tender, juicy brisket flavored with Caribbean spices and finished with apple juice spray, jerk-rubbed spare ribs, casserole-style mac and cheese, uniquely fragrant smoked beans and sweet cornbread, flaked with kosher salt.
Their finger-liking sauces — vinegar-mustard glaze, Asian glaze and Alabama white lightning — go on everything, even though it often doesn’t need it.
Sealey said he expects Drinking Pig to open this week.
Grove Bazaar at 3000 Florida Ave., inside the Mayfair House Hotel & Garden
Take the best parts of the Grove — its walkability, hidden corners and lush canopy — and put it all in covered one place, with mimosas.
The new Grove Bazaar is a Sunday market where local artisans, florists, food purveyors and more, will set up in the atrium at the Mayfair House Hotel & Garden.
Miami chef Giorgio Rapicavoli (Eating House, Luca Osteria), who took over the restaurant at the Mayfair, kicks things off with a mimosas and brunch, so visitors can sip, stroll and shop.
The list of vendors includes Miami women’s clothing brand Mann, the Grove’s Left on Saturn vintage store and Hallandale’s Mintage Records vinyl shop. The Grove Bazaar will take place Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Mae’s Room at 3444 Main Highway, Suite 17
Sharing the courtyard with Drinking Pig and Chuggie’s is a new, moody cocktail lounge.
Mae’s Room aims to be the pre-dinner and after-dinner stopover for Grovites, said co-owner Marc Chasin. The 12-seat bar sets a mood with warm low light, dark wood counters, velvet golden stools and three booths for small and medium parties tucked into the side of the room.
Drinks are designed by bartender Tom Lasher Walker, an alum of Jaguar Sun, co-owner of Scapegoat bar in Miami Beach’s South of Fifth neighborhood and a partner here.
Each cocktail is a creative venture, like the Hidalgo, which combines mezcal with pomegranate amaro, or the Diamon Fizz, with gin, lemon, sparking wine and egg-white froth.
Cocktails are all $16, including a Dealer’s Choice, where you pick the spirit and leave the creativity to the bartender. Happy hour, which runs 5-7 p.m., includes five classics, like a gimlet or Tom Collins, for $9.
Mae’s doesn’t take reservations. Allowing walk-ins only will let diners to pop in and out.
Miami Slice at 2996 McFarlane Road
Miami Slice started as a “pizza speakeasy,” selling pies on Instagram out of La Latina Venezuelan restaurant in Midtown, before opening a sort of pizza bar downtown with about a dozen seats, no reservations and lines of dedicated fans.
Now, Miami Slice is opening its first restaurant with full seating at the former Harry’s Pizzeria in the Grove.
There’s no opening date yet, one of the owners, Alejandro Diaz, said. What’s certain is fans will follow, as Miami Slice became a FOMO dining destination, drawing Miami celebrities (who most certainly didn’t wait in those same long lines), including a pizza night for the families of David Beckham and Tom Brady that made Page Six.
Miami Slice is known for their 72-hour, cold-fermented pizza with simple, quality toppings. Swirls of pesto, marinara and vodka sauce top its La Salsera, garlic confit cream is the base for the Leaks on Bacon, and of course you’ll find the hot-honey pepperoni that started the trend in Miami.
Ophelia bakery trailer at 2140 South Dixie Highway
Ophelia is the little RV that could.
Inside the creamy yellow towable trailer just off U.S. 1 near SW 22nd Avenue, Ana De Sa Martins and Juan Vieira delivery fresh-baked breakfast treats that inspire early lines.
The couple, who met in the kitchen of “Top Chef” Jeremy Ford’s Stubborn Seed as they won their first Michelin star, make everything from scratch.
The truck shines with savory dishes, like the breakfast sandwich with soft-scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, cheddar cheese and tangy sauce on a house-made English muffin.
A smoked gouda and jalapeño scone or spinach and artichoke hot pocket are crowd pleasers, too. Sweet bites include cinnamon rolls that sell out early.
A three-person operation that bakes offsite means some favorites, like the rolls and breakfast sandwich, tend to sell out by 11 a.m.
It’s one of the few places where you can grab a scratch-made savory bite, sweet pastry and a cup of Miami-roasted Great Circle coffee, and get out of there for less than $20.
Ophelia is open Wednesday to Saturday from 8 a.m.
