At Rosemary’s in Wynwood, a South Florida Homecoming For a West Village Star

The people behind Rosemary’s are locals.

Suarez is Cuban-American, and despite his New York roots, spent many of his formative years in Coral Gables. His original aim was to some day bring Rosemary’s to his cultural homeland in Havana, but ultimately decided Miami was the next best thing.

“I started poking around [in Miami] back in 2014, thinking that I would one day expand the restaurant group to Cuba,” he says.  “I quickly realized Cuba was not happening in my lifetime, but held onto the dream of Miami. And every time I step out of Miami airport, I feel like I’m home.”

Rosemary’s chef is also a Dade County local, as Suarez has tapped executive chef Craig Giunta to helm the kitchen. Giunta’s previous stops include local Italian icon Macchialina, as well as Walrus Rodeo, the tony Concours Club, and Mother Wolf. In other words, he has plenty of experience working with local ingredients – a fundamental part of the restaurant’s ethos.

Yes, Rosemary’s is building a garden in Wynwood.

Perhaps the most intriguing thing about Rosemary’s is how it’s integrating agriculture into concrete-covered Wynwood. The restaurant’s 3,500 square feet of outdoor space will be nearly one-third living garden, growing anything Suarez and his team can get to grow in South Florida.

“We’re entering this neighborhood that has a kind of industrial quality, and we’re bringing this agricultural element to it,” he says. “We’re converting a parking lot into this garden and outdoor dining area, and it’s gonna be pretty unexpected to walk into a restaurant in Wynwood and see a tool shed with shovels.”

Guests will enter to find themselves surrounded by tomato vines, basil plants, rows of lettuce and stalks of eggplants. They’ll literally dine among the crops, like they might at farm dinners down in Homestead or up in Loxahatchee.

“It’s been described as an urban farmhouse,” says Suarez. “We’re gonna welcome you to the restaurant and walk you through the garden to get to your table. Everyone’s gonna have the opportunity to experience that.”

Suarez concedes he won’t be able to source everything from his urban farm, so he’s also working with Little River Cooperative to source from as many nearby farms as possible. Tiny Farm, Borek Farms, and Swank Specialty Produce are among the purveyors, though Suarez expects that list to expand.

All the pasta will be made in-house (even the hard ones).

Italian restaurants making their own pasta is now commonplace – walk past the window at any number of local Italian establishments for proof of that. But some pastas are so complicated and challenging, most restaurants opt to outsource them. Not Rosemary’s. Suarez says his team isn’t shying away from hard work, crafting everything from simple ravioli to complex, ear-shaped pastas.

“Orecchiette, to my knowledge, we’re the only ones doing it by hand. That requires literally shaping every noodle, every single ear by hand,” he says. “And it’s like a two or three move process for every little ear. So it’s very labor intensive. That’s why nobody else does it. But the result is worth the effort.”

The orecchiette will be served with a homemade sausage ragu, bitter greens from the onsite garden, and Calabrian chile. It’s one of several enticing pastas Suarez is excited about, a lineup that also boasts a butternut squash ravioli with walnuts and brown butter, and several seasonal dishes.

In a nod to the owner’s Cuban roots, there will be pork.

The menu, Suarez says, will be similar to other Rosemary’s, with a collection of seasonal pastas and Italian classics. There will be some nods to Cuban cuisine, too, though don’t expect plantain pastas or arroz con pollo arancini. Mostly, it’ll involve pork.

“Given my Cuban roots and the opportunity to connect with an audience that appreciates pork as much as me and my family, we’ll probably see some more pork on the menu than we would in New York. Which is still in line with the Italian tradition.”

The ambience is inspired by family dinners in Lucca.

The community Rosemary’s cultivated in the West Village with its events, outreach, and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies will continue in its new Miami location, as will the ambiance inspired by leisurely summer dinners at Suarez’s family home in Lucca.

“At our home, you start the meal in the kitchen with a glass of Prosecco, standing around, catching up, seeing what’s cooking,” he says fondly. “We have a wine bar area that is inspired by before-dinner gatherings with friends. Then you move to dinner, and the weather’s nice so you sit outside under this little portico overlooking the valley. In Miami, we keep this connection between indoor and outdoor with big doors that open up between the dining room and the outdoor terrace.”

Rosemary’s laid the groundwork with pop-ups around Miami.

Rosemary’s Miami was slated to open in January. But because restaurant openings in Miami can occasionally take a little longer than expected, they cut their chops early with some cool collaboration pop-ups around the city. Most recently, they hosted a dinner with Mediterranean mainstay Mandolin in mid-November, which featured the aforementioned orecchiette, as well as a caponata and rosemary focaccia, and grilled grouper with winter squash.

Previous collaborations also included an aperitivo hour with Magie Wine Bar in Little River, and a three-course dinner with Macchialina in October. Suarez says the experiences were invaluably educational and showed him the depth and passion of Miami’s culinary scene.

“It’s been incredible, and it’s been very humbling on a number of levels,” he says. “I’m so impressed by the Miami restaurant community’s warmth, openness, and hospitality. In New York, we’re all kind of lacking a little bit of the optimism, spirit, and kind of joy that the Miami restaurant operators exhibit. It almost seems that people in Miami are just generally happier.”

Rosemary’s opens on February 7. Reservations are live and can be booked here.