Pizza Volante, the highly-anticipated pizzeria from Pacific Time's Jonathan Eismann, was set to open today, but the opening was pushed to tomorrow after a few products failed to arrive on time. As of tomorrow, the pizzeria will be selling its wood-fired pizzas from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day except Sundays.
We've been hearing conflicting reports about the status of Sosta, the new pizzeria from the Quattro Gastronomia Italiana folks. People kept saying it was open, but phone calls to the restaurant proved otherwise. But we just heard it from the mouth of a KNR Restaurant Group spokesperson: the restaurant is opening tonight at 6 p.m. It will be open just for dinner initially, but in a couple of weeks, expect lunch to be introduced.
We just got our hands on the menu, the full version of which is after the jump. Highlights, of course, are the pizzas, which are made in the special Italian-made Morello Forni rotating pizza oven. In addition to pizza, there's a selection of salads and a few pastas and paninis.
Is Sosta Open Yet?: The Miami Herald reports that Sosta Pizzeria, the new spot on Lincoln Road from the owners of Quattro Gastronomia Italiana, is open. And tpigeon on Chowhound says "Early reports on Solsta [sic]...are very positive." So, most evidence points to yes, the pizzeria is open. But we just called KNR Restaurant Group and were told that it is most definitely not open and that the menu is still being finalized. And no one's picking up the phone at the restaurant either. So we're going to conclude with no, you cannot get your pizza from a fancy rotating brick oven just yet. Any day now though.
The Original Pancake House is taking over the old RJ Gator's spot at 4364 Northlake Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens and should be open sometime next month. The reason the company can afford to expand? They waited out the real estate boom. Steven Kamelhair, a managing partner of the company that owns nine of the twelve franchises in Florida, told the Palm Beach Post that the company didn't do much in terms of expansion in the past few years; now, the rents are coming back down considerably, so it's a good time to lock in a lease. Smart move.
Breakfast picks up where Gators left off: Original Pancake House to open in former R.J. Gators location [Palm Beach Post]
Photo: mamamusings/flickr
• Elwood’s Dixie BBQ is closing. A blog post on the restaurant’s MySpace page says only “yes its true….elwood’s is sold 4-30-09’…..to be continued??????” and a local chowhound reports that the restaurant is no longer serving food. [MySpace via
Chowhound]
• The Legal Sea Foods in Sawgrass Mills is closed as of yesterday. The West Palm Beach location is already shuttered, so it looks like the only branch of the chain that’s left is the one in Boca Raton. [Chowhound]
• And while we’re on the subject of closings, we might as well mention the fact that the owner of Spoto’s Restaurant Group was sued by National City Bank for failure to make payments on two loans, one of which is a $1.5 million loan for Spoto's Oakwood Grill. The restaurant is doing a brisk business, but with that much debt, it might be difficult to stay afloat. [Palm Beach Post]
• The second South Florida location of the California-based Yard House opens this Sunday at Merrick Park in Coral Gables. If you've been to the one in Palm Beach Gardens, you know what you're in for here: standard American fare and one heck of a selection of beers on tap. You can even get a beer float to go with your burger — Young's Chocolate Stout or Lindeman's Framboise with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
• Mezza Mediterranean Grill, a new downtown Miami lunch spot, opens its doors on Monday at 11 a.m. The menu serves typical Middle Eastern fare like hummus, falafel, and shawarma; the express lunch of gyro, kafta, kibbeh or falafel at $8.95 seem like good deals.
• Also opening on Monday: Bar Rosso, a sleek new wine bar in the old Ivy spot in Aventura. The wine list — almost entirely Italian — is the draw, but the bar will also serve tapas-sized portions of Italian fare.
The pizza options in south Miami-Dade are about to get better: Anthony's Coal-Fired Pizza is opening its second location in the county tomorrow at 10205 S Dixie Highway in Pinecrest. This will be the local chain's 15th restaurant, and there are more on the way; the company is planning statewide expansion and is opening a location in Las Vegas this summer. This all from a company that began in 2002 with a single restaurant in Fort Lauderdale.
The newest location will be open tomorrow from 11:30 a.m. until 10:30 p.m.
Sara reports that Zuma, a London-based Japanese restaurants with outposts in Hong Kong, Istanbul and Dubai, is heading our way. The restaurant is scheduled to open at the Epic Hotel in the fall. [All Purpose Dark]
So Kobe Club is closing tomorrow, but just temporarily — Terry Zarikian, China Grill's director of product development, told the Miami New Times that the steakhouse is reopening in August. He had mentioned this to Florence Fabricant, who wrote the initial report of the restaurant's closing for The New York Times, but she had to leave that key little detail out because of space constraints. One would think she could've cut an article here and there to make room for "but reopens in August." [Short Order]
Like its New York cousin which closed last week, the Kobe Club in Miami Beach is closing on Friday, May 1. Such a loss for the local dining scene. Where else will we go to dine with the threat of death looming overhead in the form of samurai swords? [New York Times]
The new W Hotel in Fort Lauderdale opens Thursday, April 30 and with it will be Steak 954, Stephen Starr's first foray into the South Florida dining scene. The 224-seat restaurant is the latest spot to offer a "modern interpretation of the classic steakhouse menu." Chef Jason Smith, formerly of Table 8, is in the kitchen. In the dining room you'll find a 15-foot-long reef aquarium with a school of jellyfish. The restaurant opens for lunch and dinner on Thursday and will add breakfast in the coming months.
You can check out the whole dinner menu after the jump. Of note: a Kobe cheesesteak that costs $100. MP: Philadelphia wrote recently about the pricey cheesesteak, also featured in Starr's Philadelphia steakhouse Barclay Prime; it's got foie gras, Kobe steak, truffles, and Taleggio cheese. And according to the restaurant, it seems the recession hasn't stopped people from ordering it.
What do you do when the fishing business gets too tough? Well, two Keys fishing guides decided to open a restaurant: MA's Fish Camp in Islamorada near mile marker 81. Naturally, the focus is the freshest possible local seafood at reasonable prices. According to co-owner Andy Butetti, the restaurant buys in small batches, so it can serve fish like mutton snapper or tripletail that normally aren't found on restaurant menus. Sounds like a good place to try something new. [Keynoter]
After months of waiting, it looks like Au Pied de Cochon is finally on the brink of opening. The French restaurant, with branches in Paris, Mexico City and Atlanta, lists menus on its site already, although there's no word yet on when exactly there's going to be a grand opening.
But in the meantime, lax2mia over on Chowhound has begun to compare the menus from the Atlanta restaurant and the new Miami spot, and he's noticed one little thing: the prices in the Miami location are much higher. For example, a plate of 12 escargots in Atlanta run $14, while in Miami it's $17. But that pales in comparison to some of the meat markups: a 14-ounce NY strip steak in Atlanta is $24, while in Miami the steak is $41 and it's two ounces smaller. Same goes for the bone-in ribeye — $28 for 20 ounces versus $46 for 18 ounces. We'll attribute the high prices to the difference in rent between Atlanta's Buckhead and South Beach, but still. Ouch.
Au Pied de Cochon - Miami [Chowhound]
Photo, of oysters at Au Pied de Cochon in Paris: ayustety/flickr
GR Restaurant Management, the folks behind the popular Coal Mine Pizza in Boca Raton, are venturing south to North Miami Beach with Rack's Italian Bistro & Market. While Coal Mine is more of a family-style pizzeria, the company is targeting an older and more upscale clientele with this new spot — it'll have a coal oven and offer pizzas, but there will be much more to the northern Italian menu. The marketplace will sell fresh breads, salamis, and the restaurant's own pasta sauces, among other things. The restaurant, at 3933 NE 163rd Street in North Miami Beach, is scheduled to open on Monday, May 7.
We're turning our attention south for the moment to the Keys, where a few noteworthy restaurants have opened up in the past month:
• It's been 12 years since the Chappy's Steak & Seafood owners bought the land next to the Seven Mile Bridge in Marathon. Three weeks ago, the restaurant finally opened. It's entirely open-air, affords excellent views of the bridge, and even has a swimming pool where diners can take a pre- or post-lunch dip. The owners are still working on the menu, but expect, of course, a wide variety of both steak and seafood. [Keynoter]
• Puerto Vallarta is a Key Largo offshoot of the Homestead Mexican restaurant with the same name. So many Upper Keys residents would drive to Homestead to eat at the original restaurant that the owner decided Key Largo would be a good spot for a second location. If you're a local, you can get a card that'll give you 10 percent off your meal. [Keynoter]
• And way down in the Southernmost City, there's a new spot for barbecue. Daddy Bones opened earlier this month with a wood-fired pit and a menu of brisket, pulled pork, dry-rubbed pork spare ribs, and Kansas City baby back ribs. [Keynoter]
The final new restaurant in the Fontainebleau is open. Hakkasan, a branch of the London restaurant by the same name, held its grand opening party on Saturday and is now officially open for dinner each night. We don't have a preview of the menu yet (we're told it hasn't been finalized), but here's what was served at the opening night bash, according to Lee Klein of Short Order:
A few of the passed snacks snatched: shrimp on garlic toast, duck egg rolls, braised short ribs (amazing), assorted steamed dumplings of astonishing delicacy, and Peking duck carved and rolled into mini-pancakes with celery, scallion, hoisin, and beluga caviar.We could certainly use some really great dumplings in this town.
Sara at All Purpose Dark also raves about the food, and says she spotted Alfred Portale. Let's hope he uses his time in South Florida to remedy the situation over at Gotham Steak.
Hakkasan Open For Business [Short Order]
Hakkasan Miami Grand Opening [All Purpose Dark]
Photo: Wolfiewolf/flickr
Zushi Flirt had a soft opening earlier this week, but tonight it officially opens its doors with an invitation-only party celebrating not just the new restaurant but the new hotel too — the Regent hotel is now the Z Ocean Hotel, a Crowne Plaza. As of tomorrow, the restaurant is open for regular lunch and dinner business.
The name may seem familiar; it's a variation on Flirt Sushi, which opened a little over three years ago at Washington and 12th. That location didn't last long, but owner Marko Radisic (who owns the original Flirt Sushi in Allendale, New Jersey) is hoping that this second stab at South Beach will be more successful.
The menu, which is identical to that of the New Jersey location, features sushi rolls with names like Sexyshimi, Viagra, Foreplay, Passion and Menage a Trois. Oh, and who can forget the classic Mi-so Horny Soup?
We've got two new restaurants to tell you about today. First up, Calamari Italian Seafood now open in the old Sammy C's spot in Coconut Grove, offering, as one might imagine, lots of seafood Italian-style. There are a few non-fish options, but clearly pesce is the focus here. Like Grouper Acqua Pazza, with clams, mussels and tomato; Snapper Oreganato, Risotto Frutti di Mare. The restaurant opened on Monday and is currently serving lunch and dinner daily.
And over in downtown Miami (at 17 E Flagler St, to be exact), a new Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurant called Mezza Miami is slated to open May 1. The restaurant will offer delivery throughout downtown and Brickell and has some express lunch meals on the menu that seem to be a good value — gyro, kafta kabob, kibbeh, falafel, or grilled vegetables, each paired with Moroccan rice and a salad for $8.95.
Cupcakes? Fro-yo? Sometimes, it's so hard to pick one over-hyped dessert item over the other. Enter Allegria Frozen Yogurt & Cupcakes, which opened recently in Pompano Beach and actually guarantees "happiness in every cup." The shop offers four flavors of yogurt — original, green tea, chocolate and pomegranate — with an array of toppings, in addition to a number of cupcake variations like red velvet, Caribbean coconut, strawberry shortcake, and vegan carrot. They come in mini sizes too for $1.
B.B. King's Blues Club just signed a deal to open in the old Legal Sea Foods spot in CityPlace, according to the Palm Beach Post. Not only will you get live music there — blues rock, soul and R&B — but you'll also find a restaurant serving Creole and Southern food. The club promises two venues, one of which is dedicated to acoustic music, and outdoor seating. Should be a while though — the restaurant isn't planning to start the hiring process until August.
Thrill is here: B.B. King club plans local site [Palm Beach Post]
Photo: Rebel Sights/flickr
We've been trying to get some more information on Norman's 180, Norman Van Aken's return to Coral Gables. As we reported before, the restaurant will be opening in the Hoja Nueva spot in the Westin Colonnade. Van Aken is apparently keeping a tight lid on any new developments. But we did manage to glean one piece of information: the restaurateur is hoping for an opening sometime this fall.
Grub Street points us to Donatella Arpaia's new blog on iVillage, where she mentions that her newest "baby" at the Viceroy Hotel will be open in just a few days. A call to the Signature Restaurant at the Viceroy confirmed that the new menu will be rolled out by the end of next week. There are no plans to change the name of the restaurant.
Psilakis Miami [Grub Street]
We just got word that there's a gastropub coming to Sunny Isles Beach. Calafate Grill is opening in the old PrimArepa spot at 17100 Collins Avenue. The location has been completely redone, and it should just be about three weeks before the doors open. The menu will feature fish-oriented Continental cuisine. That's all we've got for now, but we'll have more information soon.
L.L. Bean's granddaughter is trying to bring Maine lobster rolls to the rest of the country, and she's starting with Delray Beach. The first location of Linda Bean's Perfect Maine Lobster Roll outside of Maine will be opening on Atlantic Avenue in June. The restaurant started last year inside the L.L. Bean store in Freeport; this summer, the company is opening five more locations throughout Maine, and is looking at a few other locations in Florida: St. Augustine, St. Petersburg and Naples.
The Delray Beach spot will be a sit-down, upscale fast-food spot with a small, focused menu:: a lobster roll with a quarter-pound of lobster meat on a toasted bun, a shrimp roll, a salad topped with either lobster or shrimp, and hot dogs for those who aren't seafood-inclined. The drink menu will be Maine-centric: beer from Maine microbreweries, Maine wines and Maine Root sodas.
According to company spokeswoman Caryn Harris, they chose South Florida because of the snowbird factor, figuring lots of people down here would be familiar with lobster rolls. They also wanted a spot with lots of foot traffic, which shouldn't be hard to come by on Atlantic Avenue. Opening at the beginning of the low season wasn't the company's plan, said Harris, but they're hoping the locals will develop a taste for Maine lobster.
Check out MP: Boston's post about how Linda Bean wants to be the "Frank Purdue of lobster."
A new wine bar is coming to Aventura. Bar Rosso should be opening in the coming weeks with a menu of small plate Italian fare and a list of 40 to 60 different wines by the glass. The wine list will be about 85 percent Italian, although eventually they'd like to include a wider range of wines from other countries. Other features include a mozzarella bar, an exhibition kitchen, and a wood-burning grill. According to general manager Ian Falconi, the fare won't be influenced by any one particular region of Italy.
Falconi said the restaurant is in the last stage of permits and inspections, which means it can get the OK from the county either tomorrow or a few weeks from now. His educated guess is that the restaurant will open its doors in the first week of May.
The menu isn't ready yet, although Falconi offered a few sample items: arancini, burrata salad, wood-grilled ribeye steak, and pastas like carbonara and amatriciana, which will be available in full and half portions.
The newest location of Segafredo Espresso, on Española Way in Miami Beach, is hosting a grand opening party tonight at 8 p.m. The open bar lasts for two hours, and there will be plenty of hors d'oeuvres and entertainment. Get there early and you might be able to score a Segafredo goody bag. To RSVP, send an e-mail to events@verestaurants.com.
Speaking of Segafredo, the Bal Harbour location is hiring. Specifically, the cafe is looking for young women who speak Russian to serve beverages. Russian? We'd heard that Russians were buying condos in droves, but this is the first we've seen of employers seeking out people who spoke the language.
Dim sum is coming to the Gables: Mr. Chu's, which until a few months ago was serving up dumplings, noodles and fried rice on South Beach, is opening in a new spot in Coral Gables: 2728 Ponce de Leon Boulevard. Mr. Chu is hiring servers and bartenders, so it shouldn't be too much longer before the restaurant opens.
The recession is claiming Laffing Matterz, downtown Fort Lauderdale's comedy venue/dinner theater. The restaurant just announced that Sunday, April 19 will be its last day, so you still have time to get in a comedy show. Seating for the very last show is at 8 p.m. and will be $31 per person.
Mr. Chow, the legendary swanky Chinese restaurant with locations in New York, Beverly Hills and London, is coming to the soon-to-be-opened W Hotel on South Beach. The hotel will also feature a Mediterranean-themed restaurant — someone has been chosen to run it, but the hotel couldn't release those details yet — that'll open on June 2, with the hotel. We'll all have to wait a bit long for Mr. Chow; we're told they're hoping for a July opening, although nothing is definite yet. And we all know those restaurants always open right on schedule.
For a good idea of what we're getting, check out this profile of Michael Chow in New York Magazine:
To eat at a Mr. Chow restaurant is to participate in a roving party, one that has migrated through four decades, three continents, and an awful lot of soup dumplings. It is to acknowledge that the rich and famous will get better tables than the rest of us, and everyone will have a better time for it. In his L.A. restaurant, Mae West got a standing ovation just for finishing her dinner. And it was at Mr. Chow on 57th Street that John Lennon took his last meal before walking home across the park. It was the center of London’s swinging sixties, L.A.’s silky seventies, and the glamorous debauch of the Manhattan art world, circa 1984. Mr. Chow on 57th Street is still a party—now starring Lenny Kravitz or Jay-Z—seven nights a week.Not that we're lacking in sleek celeb-studded restaurants/bars/clubs down here (or Mediterranean restaurants for that matter), but we can make room for one more.
The Sayings of Chairman Chow [NY Magazine]
Photo: Of the inside of Mr. Chow at the W Hotel South Beach
The steakhouse craze continues. The newest entry into the fray is Boca Dolce, an Argentinean-style steakhouse in West Boca. All of the usual suspects are there in the beef section of the menu: lomo, bife de chorizo, vacio and entraña. Other options include lamb, veal, salmon and chicken, and, of course, mollejas (sweetbreads), chorizo and morcilla. Veggies? Well, there are potatoes, mushrooms, and a nod to greens with some lettuce and asparagus, but they clearly seem like an afterthought.
As steakhouse-saturated as we are down here, West Boca actually doesn't have too many good options in that category (Roadhouse Grill, anyone?), so this could fill a nice little niche in the neighborhood.
Meat Cravings Satisfied at Boca Dolce Steakhouse [Short Order]
Elevation Burger, the Virginia-based chain that prides itself on making burgers with organic grass-fed beef and other environmentally-friendly ingredients, is coming to South Florida this year. The company has signed a franchise agreement with two entrepreneurs who plan to open at least three units in Broward and Palm Beach Counties.
The menu is concise: there are beef or vegetarian patties, which you can even mix together in a double stack burger. Sides are fries (fried in olive oil), salads, mandarin oranges and cookies. Add a shake or malt and that sounds like a good meal.
Elevation Burger to enter South Fla. [Fast Casual]
The owners of Quattro Gastronomia Italiana are planning to open a Neapolitan-style pizzeria on Lincoln Road, just across the street from the restaurant. According to a spokesperson for the pizzeria, called Sosta Enoteca, the owners are importing an authentic wood-burning oven from Italy and expect to open May 1.
East meets west at the new Tasters Grille Market, which has taken over the old Anthony's spot in Tavernier. It's run by a sommelier who's no stranger to the Keys dining scene — he's also consulted for Braza Leña, Snapper's and Old Tavernier Restaurant — and a kitchen veteran who's mastered South Carolina's low country cooking and South Florida's own brand of Caribbean-style cuisine. The menu is all over the map, although it keeps the focus on locally-caught fish cooked in Caribbean and Asian flavors, like crab rangoon or mahi mahi tacos, which come with pico de gallo. We're actually most intrigued by the "Keys Limeade," made with key limes, fresh ginger and cane sugar. Certainly sounds refreshing.
Tasters offers mix of international flavors [The Citizen]
The much-anticipated BLT Steak, Miami's first Laurent Tourondel restaurant, is officially open at The Betsy Hotel on South Beach. The restaurant held a grand opening party yesterday evening where the entire menu was served buffet-style.
This is the ninth BLT Steak location; the first one opened in New York in 2004. Rather than offer the same menu at each restaurant, Tourondel seems to tailor it to the area. For example, there's a variation on the Cuban sandwich (pressed pork belly and speck with garlic fries) on the Miami Beach menu, while the New York menu doesn't offer sandwiches at all. The same goes for chimichurri, which is one of the sauces available down here. The Miami menu offers fewer meat options — no Kobe steak, for one thing — and more local seafood, like stone crabs and red snapper. And he's hit the nail on the head with the dessert menu: lots of citrus, tropical fruits, sorbets and mousse, which are sweet, light, and refreshing. Exactly what's needed while on the beach.
Sara at All Purpose Dark has photos from the grand opening party — the meat looks great, but it's the cheese table photo, even with the poor lighting and the grainy quality, that is making us swoon.
BLT Steak Grand Opening @ The Betsy Hotel [All Purpose Dark]
The owner of the old 251 Sunrise in Palm Beach is returning to the exact same spot with a new lounge called 251 Palm Beach. It opens tonight with a VIP reception at 9 p.m.; if you're not on the VIP list, you can head over after 11 p.m. For now, it's just a lounge, but owner Gus Renny, who also co-owns Grease Burger Bar in West Palm Beach, expects to add a restaurant in another few weeks, according to the Palm Beach Post.
Renny points out that there's a need on Palm Beach for a swanky place to go. The problem? All of these trendy people are about to fly away home to their summer retreats.
"Is this really the right time, especially on the island that is so seasonal?" asks bartender J.P. Bowles. "You're not really going to have a summer crowd, but we're confident it's the right time, even though it's not the right time."Well, that's sure to instill confidence. If they can make it to October, they'll be in good shape.
251 Sunrise lounge transforms into 251 PB, aims for trendy, chic crowd [Palm Beach Post]
New lounge opening in tough times [WPTV]
After 58 years, the The Olde Lighthouse Restaurant in Jupiter has shut its doors. According to the Palm Beach Post, the restaurant's last day was Saturday. It's tough when a bad economy counts a piece of history among its victims.
Jupiter's landmark Olde Lighthouse Restaurant shuts its doors [Palm Beach Post]
The new location of Lime Fresh Mexican Grill opens early next month in Midtown Miami at 3201 N Miami Ave. According to chief operating officer Tom Ingersoll, everything is ready to go, and they're just waiting for the final inspections.
The grand opening is set for April 16, where there will be complimentary hors d'oeuvres, cocktails and Dos XX, in addition to a mariachi band. If the free food doesn't entice you enough, perhaps this will: the company is presenting a $2,000 check to the Humane Society of Greater Miami's Adopt-A-Pet program.