See-and-Be-Seen Succulence
The lines are deservedly long at South Beach’s hottest newcomer, the rooftop Juvia (below), high atop the architecturally inspiring 1111 Lincoln Road parking garage. Four A-list chefs, hailing from the kitchens of headlining restaurants like Nobu, unite for a pan-Asian-European-Latin American gastronomic extravaganza. Also new and noteworthy in South Beach this summer, Lantao (right) presents the diverse and robust flavors of Asia’s food stalls in a circa 1970s vintage luxe setting. The sights, smells and tastes are sure to evoke nostalgia for those who’ve dabbled in authentic street cuisine during Southeast Asian sojourns.
For the Love of Wine
Enophiles flock to Miami’s reinvented steak house, The Forge, enticed by one of the finest rare wine collections in the world. The Forge’s 300,000-bottle, eight-room wine cellar includes vintages from the nineteenth century. Patrons can easily tour the crypt or arrange private dining in this romantic cavern. Above ground, the Enomatic wine system spans the perimeter of the restaurant, offering pours small and large of more than 80 wines.
Miami Heat
Flavors rise in tandem with temperatures at 1500°, where Executive
Chef Paula DaSilva serves up bona fide farm-to-table brilliance in her Brazilian-inspired seafood and steak house. While prime cuts are broiled to the perfection of its namesake, side dish fanatics rejoice over the ever-changing selection of 17 indulgent sides, including the jumbo Vidalia onion stuffed with über-creamy potato gratin.
Photos by Michael Pisarri
Where the Locals Go
Miami’s foodie and cocktail revolution reaches new heights on the Miami mainland, namely in the trendy mini-neighborhoods of the Design District and Midtown, catering to locals in the know. Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink is the most popular foodie institution among these ’hoods, where freshness is key and dishes nary fall short of experiential. (Think: wood-oven-roasted dayboat catch with roasted fennel, grilled lemon, smoked fleur de sel, fennel and pollen.)
In the Kitchen
Learn tricks of the haute cuisine trade in one of Miami’s most state-of-the-art and renowned kitchens, Azul at the Mandarin Oriental. In a space known for producing celebrity chefs, individuals and small groups cook (and then consume) their choice of three signature dishes during a three-hour interactive session with the chef, complete with sommelier-chosen wine pairings.
Foodie HQ 
The Fontainebleau Miami Beach rules the beach as a one-stop foodie shop. 2009’s re-launch of the Golden Era glamorpuss unveiled a whopping billion dollars in upgrades and additions that created a 22-acre, 1,504-room beachfront mega hotel, standing unabashedly as a self-contained world of decadence. The hotel’s massive expansions included a slew of world-renowned restaurants, such as Gotham Steak by Michelin-star chef Alfred Portale, Scarpetta (dining room, below) by Scott Conant and Michelin-starred Hakkasan (Dim Sum, right) from London. Each of these alluring, design-driven restaurants doles out the divine reality of Food Network fantasies. Even the simplest dishes like Scarpetta’s tomato-basil spaghetti can be classified as blow-your-mind delicious.
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