There are some consequences to delay, and one of them is that some of the places that appear in this list are now gone. Itamae AO. Awarded a Michelin star, chef Nando Chang named James Beard Foundation Best Chef - South in 2025. Entrenos. Also awarded a Michelin star. Both closed in 2025. They each had their reasons, entirely unrelated to the quality of the food and experience. Nando's reincarnation of Itamae as an omakase counter inside sister Val Chang's wonderful restaurant Maty's (Val herself was named Beard's Best Chef - South the prior year) had to close when Maty's shut down last summer – likely a victim of a mismatch between concept and venue, a very large and probably very expensive space in Midtown Miami. And Entrenos was always intended as an impermanent pop-up inside the Tinta y Cafe space in Miami Shores. Since then, chef Osmel Gonzalez went north to open Emelina in West Palm Beach (which itself picked up a Michelin star this year), and now chef Evan Burgess is in process of opening a new restaurant, Yonder, in Coral Gables.
In retrospect, 2025 turned out to be a pretty brutal year for the industry. Longtime stalwarts like Cafe Vialetto, Osteria del Teatro, Sardinia, Sugarcane, La Mar, Le Zoo, and Harry's Pizzeria all appeared in the restaurant obituary columns. So did a bunch of big-name newcomers like New York's Red Farm and Ensenada, Henrique Sa Passoa's Sereia, and Gordon Ramsay's Lucky Cat. All opened in 2024, none made it through 2025. It's tempting to try to discern some broader lesson: Miami rents and operating costs are too high, the market is too oversaturated, Miami diners are too fickle. There is some truth to all of those. If anything, it seems to me to highlight the importance of controlling costs, connecting with the local dining community, and giving people reasons to keep coming back. One thing I note it that many of the restaurants from this 2025 list that are still standing are not in the high-rent hot-spots like Wynwood and Brickell, but instead places like Little Havana, North Miami, South Miami, Little River, and North Beach.
Despite the market's challenges, last year offered some of the most interesting, inspired cooking I've experienced in Miami in quite some time, much of it from a new generation of younger chefs who were opening their first restaurants. That's genuinely exciting. I also had the good fortune to travel, and eat, very well last year outside of Miami, including a return trip to Japan, and visits to Cape Town, Copenhagen, the Bay Area and Hudson Valley. As always, a disclaimer: this does not purport to be a definitive “best of” list, only a very personal accounting of my favorite things over the last year. It is South Florida focused, but follows me around as well when we travel. And there are typically way too many footnotes. A new one for this year: em-dashes notwithstanding, all content here is generated by an actual human who pays for all his meals. We're going to do things a little different this year – let's start with the South Florida list, and then do a second round with all the rest of the ground we covered last year. Let's get on with it!
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| stone crab rice - Itamae AO (Midtown Miami) |
Way back in 2017, I went to a one-off pop-up dinner called "Nisei" with a young chef cooking a menu from a genre I was just then starting to grasp: nikkei, the mash-up of Peruvian and Japanese flavors that is a sort of organic example of "fusion" cuisine. The chef (and part-time hip-hop recording artist) was Nando Chang, who I continued to follow as he went from food-hall kiosks to a mostly open-air space in the Design District to the omakase counter he opened as Itamae AO. Every iteration was an improvement and refinement, and every meal was better than the last. This dish is a great example, bringing Florida into the Peruvian-Japanese mixtape: local stone crab, a claw draped with anticuchera sauce, sitting atop a bowl of creamy rice enriched with more crab, chile and herb oil. Unfortunately, this would turn out to be one of the last bites from my last meal at Itamae AO. Nando has been popping up here and there for collaboration dinners since the closing – I'm eagerly waiting for the next track to drop.
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| ballyhoo - Recoveco (South Miami) |
There is such a confidence in the cooking of Maria Teresa Gallina and Nico Martinez, the co-chefs and partners who opened Recoveco, that it is hard to believe it is their first time running their own restaurant. The menu is short – typically four apps, four mains, two desserts. While operating within this self-circumscribed universe, it's also typically pretty weird: one of the staples is chicken-liver mousse over speculoos crackers dotted with tropical fruit jam (could be guava, maybe starfruit, depending on what's growing); what's called "papaya salad" is a mutant hybrid of Thai som tum and Italian (actually Mexican) Caesar. And when it's not weird, it's often pretty minimalist: another staple is their "golden chicken," an Amish bird simply but expertly roasted, maybe served with a piri piri buffalo sauce. But both concept and execution are so consistently, and uncannily, on target that this has become one of my favorite restaurants to visit. This dish of ballyhoo (typically used locally as baitfish, though it's of the same family as Japanese sayori, a/k/a halfbeak) is a great example: the shiny fish fileted, cured, and cut into bite-size pieces, dappled with a white soy and sweet potato vinegar ponzu, and accompanied by a dab of fresh wasabi. Nowhere to hide; no need to.
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| snow crab, corn, uni & caviar chawanmushi - Omo by Jont (Orlando) |
We took the Brightline north to spend a weekend in Orlando, which has long been a haven for excellent Vietnamese food, and has more recently made leaps and bounds in all sorts of other kinds of dining experiences. We have a lot more exploring to do, but on this visit the primary focus was Omo by Jont. Its chef is Ryan Ratino, who has the Michelin two-starred Jont and one-starred Bresca in Washington DC, opened MAASS in Fort Lauderdale in late 2023 (which appeared in my 2024 list, and picked up its own star last year), and then Omo a few months later (which also picked up a star last year). Normally I would be very skeptical of this expansionist approach. But from my experiences at MAASS and Omo, it seems Ratino has some good systems, and good crews, to maintain quality control across his multiple venues. Omo is a really nice experience: the meal starts in a cozy lounge area with several small bites, moves to a dining counter in the open kitchen for several more courses, than finishes with dessert in another little lounge area. Over maybe 18 different bites, there were no misses and several highlights, the most memorable being this chawanmushi with snow crab, sweet corn, Hokkaido uni and caviar.[1]
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| aori ika with osetra caviar - Ogawa (Little River Miami) |
Miami has seen an influx of high-end omakase venues recently. Some of these are better than others. Ogawa, in Little River, is among my favorites. Over the past several years, restaurateur Alvaro Perez Miranda has opened several Japanese spots that hit multiple points of the market: the casual Wabi Sabi (now called Midorie 79, with a sibling in Coconut Grove), the somewhat higher-end Hiywakawa, and the all-out Ogawa. Given the price (currently $395, which includes tax and service charge), it is definitely a "special occasion" spot, while I'm at Midorie 79 nearly every other week. But in my opinion, it's worth it on those special occasions. The narrow dining room with one long counter, in a building that backs onto the railroad tracks, makes me feel like I'm back in Japan. And with chef Masayuki Komatsu behind the counter, usually accompanied by Royce Appling, and sometimes Jaime Liu in the kitchen, the food gives me those feels too. The dishes change with the seasons – during this spring visit, ayu (sweetfish) tempura, sayori (needlefish) nigiri, and sakura masu (cherry trout) nigiri were all featured – but one nigiri that seems to hold steady is this one featuring aori ika (big fin reef squid) topped with a generous dollop of osetra caviar. It's a great combination: the squid slightly sticky and sweet, playing against the pop and salinity of the roe. I'm not generally a fan of the intrusion of "luxe" ingredients into every pricey omakase lineup – save your caviar and truffles and wagyu and toro, give me something perfect and peak of season instead – but this one works.
(continued ...)
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| shrimp pie - Bar Bucce (Little River Miami) |
I love Macchialina, chef Michael Pirolo's longstanding homage to hand-made pasta and good wine on the less-trafficked west side of South Beach. But I don't get there often enough. So I was thrilled when he brought things even closer to home for me, opening up Bar Bucce in Little River in April of last year. Its setup seems like something of a model for a newer generation of leaner restaurant operations: you order at the counter and find your own table, you can grab a bottle off the well-stocked wine shelves (selected by sister Jacqueline Pirolo, who has impeccable skills in crafting a wine list) for just a small mark-up over typical retail prices, most of the seating is al fresco under a shaded gazebo, there's an indoor-outdoor bar tying together the spaces. The menu is concise: a few salads and antipasti, a short selection of pizzas, and a couple rotating entrees in the evenings. And it's all great, especially the pizzas, which is something Pirolo has been toying with for years and has finally been given a home. My favorite might be this pie topped with sweet rock shrimp, slivered onions, tomato, cream and stracciatella – unorthodox and delicious.
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| berkshire pork coppa, malted yuca, okra escabeche - EntreNos (Miami Shores) |
EntreNos came to life as a pop-up by chefs Evan Burgess and Osmel Gonzalez, but really punched above its weight. The combination of inspired uses of local ingredients, refined technique, and great flavors earned it a Michelin star in its first year (and a couple appearances in my Best of 2024 list). But not everything is meant to last. The pop-up ran its course last year, and now Osmel is up in Palm Beach where he's doing great things with a Cuban-inspired tasting menu at Emelina (awarded its own Michelin star this year), and Evan is in process of opening his own new place, Yonder, in Coral Gables. Fortunately I was able to make a few more visits to EntreNos in 2025 before it closed, and there were several more candidates that could have made this list. I'm going with this one, from a collaboration dinner they did with Palma and Recoveco shortly before the closure. It's an example of everything they did so well: berkshire pork coppa (a cut from the neck), plated with a malted yuca puree, okra escabeche, and tamarind jus. I'm looking forward to seeing more from both Evan and Osmel in the next year.
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| Demon Pig Girl pizza - Fratesi Pizza (Downtown Miami) |
Every few years Miami seems to go through a pizza phase. This is almost never a bad thing. Way back in 2009, around when I first started this blog, we did an extended, multi-day pizza crawl to size up a new wave of pizzerias. Miami seems to be seeing another wave now, and part of what I am enjoying about it is the sheer variety of styles we're seeing. Case in point: the pies at Fratesi Pizza. I suppose if we're placing this on a pizza family tree, the closest relative would be a bar pie or tavern style pie – but don't try to classify it, just enjoy. The crust is thin and crispy, the toppings are laid on all the way to the edges, and the flavors are all turned up to eleven, like in this "Demon Pig Girl": tangy, slightly sweet tomato sauce, creamy whole-milk mozzarella, sausage, banana peppers, both pecorino romano and grana padano, a subtle drizzle of hot honey (not usually my thing but it works here).
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| smoked brisket nigiri - Shiso (Wynwood) |
Raheem Sealey may be one of the most under-the-radar talented chefs in Miami. An alumnus of Michael's Genuine, Sugarcane, and Zuma, he was part of the opening team at Wynwood stalwart Kyu and is now its global executive chef. Along the way, he also started up Drinking Pig BBQ during the pandemic (now brought back in Coconut Grove), J&C Oyster in Hollywood, and in early 2025 opened Shiso in Wynwood together with chefs Monika Dominguez and Sandra Prieto. Shiso, much like Kyu, played in the intersection of Southern and Asian flavors, with some variations including a more intensive focus on sushi. That playground produced some great bites, most memorably for me this nigiri topped with tender, meaty, smoky BBQ brisket and chopped pickles. Alas, the gargantuan indoor-outdoor space that Shiso took, on the second floor of a building on the northern edge of Wynwood, proved too much to fill on a regular basis, and last month the restaurant was switched over to serve as an event space (for which the Shiso crew will continue to do catering).
(All my pics from Shiso).
If you are a veteran diner, sometimes the chances to experience something truly "new" to you can become increasingly scarce (unless you are in a city like New York where virtually every cuisine in the world can be found). But I'm pretty certain I'd never had Ecuadorian food before visiting Cotoa, which chef Alejandra Espinosa opened in North Miami last year after garnering high regard for her flagship Somos in Quito. While there are surely parallels – i.e., empanadas and ceviches appear in many Latin American cuisines, as they do at Cotoa – there were notable differences too. Here, empanadas were made with purple corn dough and filled with a savory goat stew; ceviches may come with tomate de arbol or jipijapa-inspired coconut and peanut leche de tigre. These are not traditional dishes, though they draw on traditional ingredients and flavors. My favorite bite was this "crudo salsero" of hamachi, the fat slices of fish nestled atop a fragrant and spicy passionfruit sauce dotted with cilantro oil and black sesame seeds.
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| hiyayakko tofu - Hiyakawa (Wynwood) |
Hiyakawa got a mention above as part of the small portfolio of Japanese restaurants opened by Alvaro Perez Miranda. It gets its own appearance here for a dish I had last summer when they rolled out an izakaya-inspired menu courtesy of chef Jamie Liu. Hiyayakko tofu reads like something that would be incredibly boring: basically just plain, cold tofu with some toppings. And yet, during a hot Miami summer, with some well chosen accompaniments, it is exactly the kind of thing I want to be eating. Here, creamy soft tofu came with the usual katsuoboshi shavings, a nicely balanced ponzu, and, less traditional, some marinated cherry tomatoes that were absolute flavor-bombs. Wonderful. And I am very happy to advise that Hiyakawa has brought back the izakaya menu this summer as well. I can strongly recommend the okonomiyaki (another of my favorite dishes) and the stone fruit and strawberry kakigori dessert.
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| pork chop, jimmy nardello pepper, romesco - Walrus Rodeo (Buena Vista) |
When you're the younger sibling of a very successful first child, sometimes it can be a challenge to stand out on your own instead of always being compared to number one wunderkind. And yet those younger children often go on to find their way on their own terms, instead of constantly worrying about the comparison. Sometimes I feel like that's been the path of Walrus Rodeo, the second restaurant opened up by Alex Meyer and Luciana Giangrandi catty-corner to their phenomenally successful and wonderful debut, Boia De. Yes, for a long time, Boia De was my top-of-mind answer when anyone asked the inevitable "What's your favorite restaurant?" question. Now, I love them both in their own ways. I ate lots of good things at Walrus ("Walrus?" "Rodeo?" "The Walrus?" "The Rodeo?" I still can't decide on the short version) last year, but maybe none more memorable than this big-boy bone-in pork chop cooked in the wood oven, served simply with roasted Jimmy Nardello peppers and a smoky, rich romesco sauce. Pro tip: Walrus now has a full liquor license and is serving up cocktails along with their usual selection of intriguing, funky wines.
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| goat curry, egg noodles, lemongrass, sate oil - Tam Tam (Downtown Miami) |
While I love a good pho, or banh mi, or bun cha, as much as the next guy (maybe more), I also think that chef Tam Pham did the right thing when he threw out the "customary" Vietnamese menu at Tam Tam to focus instead on his own version of Vietnamese drinking foods and other less typical dishes. I love the scallop crudo with pomelo, coconut nuoc cham and rice paddy oil, the drinking quail, the fish sauce caramel chicken wings. But also save room for at least one of the big-format dishes. I am a fan of the lamb wrap situation, but the winner from a visit last year was this goat curry with egg noodles – incredibly rich and flavorful, bright with lemongrass and deep with sate oil – the kind of thing you order for the table and then hope there's more left for seconds once everyone takes their share.
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| harissa rubbed whole roasted chicken - Michael's Genuine (Design District) |
Way back in the day,[2] one of our favorite ways to spend a night out was to perch at the back counter overlooking the kitchen at Michael's Genuine, and nibble on snacks while waiting for a whole roasted chicken to come out of the wood-burning oven – then devour the bird like animals. That counter is gone, taken out during the most recent remodel and expansion. But the chicken is back, as we were happy to discovery on a visit last year. In its original form, chef Michael Schwartz's chicken was an unabashed ripoff of / tribute to the famous one Judy Rodgers would do at Zuni Cafe in San Francisco, with the same bread salad tossed in the pan drippings. No shame in that – it's among the pantheon of roasted chicken recipes. The latest version makes some tweaks: rubbed with harissa paste for some smoky spice, served with toum to dip in for a garlicky kick. It's still a perfect meal. This coming March will be twenty years for the MGF&D team and it is still one of the most reliable spots in town to have a good meal and a good experience – a testament to keeping it genuine.
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| crudo salsero - Cotoa (North Miami) |
If you are a veteran diner, sometimes the chances to experience something truly "new" to you can become increasingly scarce (unless you are in a city like New York where virtually every cuisine in the world can be found). But I'm pretty certain I'd never had Ecuadorian food before visiting Cotoa, which chef Alejandra Espinosa opened in North Miami last year after garnering high regard for her flagship Somos in Quito. While there are surely parallels – i.e., empanadas and ceviches appear in many Latin American cuisines, as they do at Cotoa – there were notable differences too. Here, empanadas were made with purple corn dough and filled with a savory goat stew; ceviches may come with tomate de arbol or jipijapa-inspired coconut and peanut leche de tigre. These are not traditional dishes, though they draw on traditional ingredients and flavors. My favorite bite was this "crudo salsero" of hamachi, the fat slices of fish nestled atop a fragrant and spicy passionfruit sauce dotted with cilantro oil and black sesame seeds.
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| Razzle Dazzle - Zitz Sum (Coral Gables) |
Honestly, I never would have ordered this on my own. Grape sorbet with white chocolate and frozen yogurt? Nothing about that is calling out to me. But someone at the table ordered it, and it turned out to be one of my favorite desserts of the year: a great interplay of textures, and a variation on the "creamsicle" combination of flavors that I'm always a sucker for. A meal at Zitz Sum is usually full of these kind of little surprises: a salad of summer stone fruit with avocado and radish in an "agua diablo;" cabbage charred until its edges are black and its leaves are tender, in a subtly spicy fresno chile butter topped with mimolette cheese shavings; a tranche of local black grouper dressed up with melted leeks and a soigné potato soubise.
(All my pics from Zitz Sum).
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| Caesar Salad - Marc's Artisanal Pizzeria (North Beach) |
I mentioned earlier that Miami is having one of its periodic "pizza moments," and Marc's Artisanal Pizzeria certainly fits into that story. Their pizzas are another sui generis style that doesn't neatly fit into any particular category, especially because they do both a thin, round crust or a fluffy Sicilian version for almost all their pies. At their heart is a slow-fermented dough, top-notch ingredients, and attention to all the details. But I'm not writing here about their pizzas, as great as they may be. Instead, I'm writing here about their Caesar salad, which embodies all the same qualities as their pizzas. Perky little gem lettuce, generously draped but not overwhelmed by a tangy savory dressing, blanketed with fluffy shavings of aged Parmesan and toasted breadcrumbs, and topped with fat Sicilian anchovies (if you wish; I wish). Honestly, it's kind of hard to make a truly terrible Caesar salad;[3] but it's also not easy to make a truly great one. This is a great one. I'm thrilled that folks seem to be lined up every day that Marc's is open to grab a table in their pocket-sized dining room by Normandy Circle – and even more so that their small crew always manages the room with such graciousness, kindness and warmth.
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| chawanmushi with scallop, matsutake & ikura - Elyu Omakase (Coral Gables) |
Along with pizza, 2025 may also have been the year of chawanmushi. This is the dish's second appearance on this list, and there could have been a couple more if I didn't edit them out for other options. I do love a good chawanmushi – the silky, dashi-infused Japanese egg custard – and I saw a whole bunch of them last year. Among my favorites was this one from chef Reiji Yoshizawa at Elyu Omakase, which opened late last year in Coral Gables. Chef Yoshizawa had been at Mila Omakase, where I had a very good meal a couple years ago,[4] before making this move. My visit to Elyu was very shortly after they'd opened, but I saw no rough edges. I really enjoy how Chef Yoshizawa's Filipino background shows up here and there – a sinuglaw inspired tartlet of smoked sawara, a tamarind tare to accompany madai sashimi – but my favorite bite of the night was this chawanmushi studded with delicate scallops, fragrant matsutake mushrooms, and topped with baubles of ikura. I am overdue for a repeat visit.
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| black cod, garleek, fish demiglace, savoy cabbage - Kojin (Coral Gables) |
I was a big fan of the first incarnation of Kojin, from chef-couple Pedro and Katherine Mederos, when they did an extended pop-up behind a ramen bar in Little River. After a hiatus, they came back to reopen in Coral Gables, in the space that was home to the original Eating House. It's now a choose-your-own-adventure kind of thing where you can either order from their a la carte menu, or opt for a more elaborate tasting menu which is somewhat loosely inspired by the Japanese kaiseki format. I did the latter and came away really impressed by what this small team is doing. An opening "hassun" course of seasonal bites included an oyster with citrus kosho and preserved ramp mignonette, a tartlet with smoked trout roe and pickled ramps, and a plump dashi-cured cherry tomato. A crudo of beautiful kona kanpachi was plated with tangy starburst pomelo and an intriguing gin and bergamot gelee. Ducks that are dry-aged, then hung over the grill become a dish that uses "the whole duck" – the breast seared, the leg meat pulled and formed into a croquette, a squiggle of foie gras ganache rounding things out. I am torn to pick a favorite, but am going with this plate of fatty black cod, served over a fish-bone demiglace, topped with a "garleek" pil-pil sauce, and accompanied by a leaf of savoy cabbage wrapped around picked cod head meat. Great ingredients, thoughtful technique and utilization, and a delicious end result. Speaking of being overdue for a return visit – I need to get back here soon.
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| turbot, roasted fish skin sauce, sunchoke, zucchini - Palma (Little Havana) |
It took me a little while to get to Palma, which chef Juan Camilo Liscano opened early in 2024. It has become one of my absolute favorites, every visit full of delights and surprises. The menu (a tasting menu that usually features about ten courses, though several of these are small bites) changes every month. The dishes often highlight what's coming from local growers like French Farms and Tiny Farm, but not to the exclusion of great ingredients that can be sourced from elsewhere. The cooking is driven by flavor extraction and enhancement above all else, in which time can play as much of a role as heat – marination, maceration, slow poaching before high heat grilling. The style is contemporary, but occasionally draws from the classics – I've seen sauce choron, sauce maltaise, sauce américaine all make appearances. The combinations can often be eye-opening, but rarely jarring. Here, from a meal last November: silky turbot (the "king of the sea," maybe my favorite fish), served with a frothy sauce made from its roasted skin, plated with coins of crispy sunchokes, zucchini, and its blossoms. Just a beautiful dish. This is such thoughtful, intentional cooking, and every month is something new.[5]
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| stone crab, milk bread - Recoveco (South Miami) |
And, we're back at Recoveco, with another dish that doesn't look like much but captures why I love it so. In season, pretty much everyplace in Miami tries to figure out how to get stone crabs on their menu. Which typically means throwing some chilled claws on a plate with some mustard sauce and charging $50. Unsurprisingly, Recoveco does it a little different. Here, they've picked the meat from the claws to make a lovely allium-flecked salad; made their own fluffy milk bread to dollop it onto; and presented it with a creamy aioli-ish sauce from pickled local eggs, ringed with scallion oil, to pull it all together. Every bite is a little DIY project, and the combined effect is pure bliss.
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| blue crab agnolotti - Sunny's (Little River) |
I'm typically not much into New Year's Eve festivities, and especially not at restaurants, where fixed menus, conspicuous consumption, and forced conviviality are usually a formula for misery. I made an exception last NYE for Sunny's when I spotted a late-opening same-day seating. It's close to home, it was an early seating, we'd be back on the couch hours before the fireworks started. Also: I think Sunny's really is a close-to-perfect restaurant, a winning combination of great food, great drinks, great service, and great vibe. So I was willing to chance it. We were not disappointed. There were a couple variations from the usual menu, all positives: luscious bluefin tuna replaced the hiramasa that usually comes dressed with a charred serrano chile relish, there was a really gorgeous chicken ballotine in vin jaune sauce with shaved black truffles on top. But my last, favorite bite of 2025 was this bowl of agnolotti with blue crab – delicate pasta pillows, even more nubbins of sweet crab meat strewn atop them, a rich bisque-like sauce holding everything together, a generous dollop of caviar because it's New Year's Eve, after all.
This post took nearly nine months to gestate before it emerged. And there's still a whole other list coming of a lot of great things from Japan, Copenhagen, Cape Town and elsewhere. I regret having sat on this for so long: there are so many people in the restaurant industry and its broader ecosystem who work incredibly hard to give diners a memorable experience, and deserve recognition when they do so. To all of you: thank you.
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[1] Looking back, I see that this is virtually the same dish that I was served at MAASS and which made my 2024 list. I know Ralph Waldo Emerson called consistency "the hobgoblin of little minds," but in the restaurant world, I consider it a virtue.
[2] We're talking circa 2007, when MGF&D first opened and there was nothing else worth mentioning in the Design District.
[3] I feel the same way about Reuben sandwiches. The combination of ingredients is so inherently sound that it will usually come out OK even if your technique is wanting.
[4] I was very pleasantly surprised by Mila Omakase – mostly thanks to Chef Yoshizawa's fine work – despite some serious doubts about the "douchebag magnet" qualities of the bigger Mila restaurant in which it makes its home.
[5]If a tasting menu is not your thing, early this year Palma rolled at an a la carte menu which also makes for a very nice meal with a smaller commitment.
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