Mario Carbone Reveals Some of His Favorite Miami Restaurants
On most days and nights, you’ll find Mario Carbone at one of his Miami restaurants, a portfolio built with his Major Food Group partners that now includes Carbone, Dirty French Steakhouse, Contessa, Sadelle’s, and for one weekend in May, a little place called Carbone Beach.
But like most chefs, Carbone also loves dining out, and well, we always think it’s always a good idea to eat where the chefs eat. So, we asked him for some of his favorite spots in Miami.
Joe’s has become my Sunday night ritual. It makes me very happy. It’s a big menu, and every now and again I like throwing something new on my order. But the baseline for me is the chopped salad, a potato product, the creamed spinach, and then a protein — shrimp, fried chicken, or sometimes just a blackened mahi mahi. I would order the coconut shrimp every time if I could.
Here, Eleventh Street Pizza is the closest thing I’ve found to a Joe’s New York slice. So, as a New Yorker living in Miami, it’s a nostalgic thing — and it’s also a necessary thing to know where I can get something close to a quintessential New York slice.
Like a lot of people, I love Boia De. Luciana [Giangrandi] was a somewhat of a protege of ours and she worked for us years ago at Carbone. I have vivid memories of working alongside her for the opening, and it’s a point of pride to see all of her success. I love the spirit she cooks with — it feels ever-changing to me, not static. And when I go to Boia De, I like not know what I’m getting myself into.
Bachour just opened a new bakery in Design District. He obviously does a great job with pastries but I also love the savory stuff. The sandwiches he’s doing — on his own baguettes — are amazing. I just had the ribeye with gruyere at the new one. And his original location made one of the best Cubans, if not the best, in town. Don’t sleep on his savory stuff.
I like Mignonette as a local, very chill night out, a place to get a dozen oysters. What did I have the other night? I had oysters, a great rendition of Clams Casino, a cold beer. It’s a cute date night vibe.
I go to Pura Vida a ton. I get the spicy ahi tuna cabbage salad very frequently or maybe I’ll do the chicken and cilantro rice bowl. Those are my one and two, and then a smoothie if it’s early. Thankfully, it seems like there’s a Pura Vida next to all my places.
I love the new location of Motek — that’s like rock solid. When I’m not at any of my restaurants, my dining habits are sometimes pretty delivery-heavy, and Motek is a fantastic delivered product.
