Miami has three of the country’s best new restaurants, this national publication says
Miami’s restaurants have been getting a lot of national attention in the last year, and this time, it’s Bon Appétit lavishing praise.
Three Miami restaurants landed on Bon Appétit’s list of 50 best new restaurants in the country, including a seasonal pop-up that is closed for expansion.
The publication highlighted Los Félix in Coconut Grove, Paradis Books & Bread in North Miami and Sunny’s Steakhouse, a pop-up outdoor spot in Little River from the founders of downtown’s Jaguar Sun.
Bon Appétit’s recognition comes just months after Los Félix was among 11 Miami-area restaurants to receive their first Michelin stars. And Paradis was named among Esquire’s best new bars in America for its wine-only program. Sunny’s was a pandemic hit the last two years as the Jaguar Sun owners pivoted to offer an outdoor dining spot for the loyal diners at its intimate downtown restaurant.
This outdoor steakhouse in Miami delivers the big night out you have been missing
Restaurants that are more than just one thing seemed to be the unifying theme in Bon Appétit’s choices.
Bon Appétit fell in love with Los Félix’s mix of themes, which co-owner Josh Hackler outlines simply as, “corn, vinyl and natural wine.”
The restaurant offers house-milled corn dishes using heritage corn imported from Mexico, while pouring low-intervention wines from the Americas, Spain and Portugal, thanks to Hackler’s background as an importer. And they play vinyl records throughout the day.
“The restaurant practically buzzes, whether you’re seated inside in the dinner-party-like space (often complete with a DJ spinning vinyl) or outside amidst the evening bustle of Coconut Grove,” Bon Appétit wrote.
Colombian chef Sebastián Vargas created the menu and partnered with Hackler and Pili Restrepo, whose family founded the Frisby fried chicken restaurants in Colombia.
“It’s been an explosive year,” said Hackler, a South Carolina native who moved with Restrepo to Miami from New York in 2018.
“There was a need for casual, amazing food and the stars aligned for us,” said Restrepo, who is also a jewelry designer.
Paradis Books & Bread, which Bon Appétit noted as a “worker-owned hybrid retail shop and restaurant,” won the magazine over with its casual setting, fresh-baked malty-crusted “bread-centric evening menu” with “tinned fish,” natural wines and “rows of radical books.”
Despite not having a liquor license, Paradis was named one of Esquire magazine’s best new bars in the country in June.
Bon Appétit’s was a belated honor for Sunny’s Steakhouse. Jaguar Sun, the versatile cocktail bar with a creative menu downtown, pivoted to outdoor dining for three of the four seasons at the Lot 6 event space in Little River in 2021, during the heart of the pandemic.
“And as soon as your dreamy meal reaches its close,” the publication wrote, “you’ll want to come back for every occasion.”
Around a large banyan tree, Sunny’s was set up strictly as outdoor dining, with a menu fit for a fine steakhouse before the summer heat and rains set in. It was so successful that the owners decided to hang on to the outdoor space while they closed for the summer and build out an inside dining room. In the meantime, co-owner Will Thompson hopes the Bon Appétit honors will direct new diners to their current restaurant downtown, Jaguar Sun.
“I’m super excited for Miami to have three spots on a list of 50,” Thompson said. “It’s really great to see Miami hailed as a place people take seriously for food — not just fun vibes.”
Los Félix
3413 Main Hwy., Coconut Grove
Paradis Books and Bread
12831 W. Dixie Hwy., North Miami
Sunny’s Steakhouse
Closed for renovation. Currently at Jaguar Sun, 230 NE Fourth St., downtown Miami
