Photo courtesy of Flora Plant Kitchen

GuidesMiami

How to Spend a Perfect 72 Hours Eating Your Way Through Miami

Updated:

Miami continues to level up its restaurant game. From Michelin stars to backyard pop-ups turned national darlings, the South Florida food scene is soaring — and showing no signs of coming down.

To maximize your best eating during a three-day Miami weekend, you need a plan. Think you can have happy hour cocktails in Kendall and make a 7 p.m. reservation in Aventura? Without a helicopter? Good luck.

So: You land Thursday night, you’re wheels up by Sunday afternoon, and you want to make every meal count. Here’s your 72-hour guide, fully refreshed for 2025, to eating like you live here.

 

Evan S. Benn is senior director of special projects and communications at The Philadelphia Inquirer and former food editor and restaurant critic of The Miami Herald. He wrote about the 10 moments that defined Miami dining in the past decade. Follow him on Instagram. Follow Resy too.

Friday Lunch to Saturday Breakfast

Photo courtesy of Miss Crispy Rice

Recoveco South Miami

Recoveco chicken
Photo courtesy of Recoveco

Creative Comforts for Dinner

Spanish for “nook,” this snug spot run by former Alter cooks Maria Teresa Gallina and Nico Martinez gives diners comforting dishes with frequent surprises on its always-changing menu. Golden tilefish with galangal and tamari. Grassfed beef with chimichurri and whipped sesame. Chicken liver mousse with starfish jam. Everything on each dish is there for a reason, and you’re going to be hearing Recoveco’s name for a while to come — say you were there first.

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Recoveco chicken
Photo courtesy of Recoveco

ViceVersa Downtown Miami

Photo courtesy of ViceVersa

Nightcap (And Maybe a Burger)

This 2025 James Beard Award finalist for Best New Bar is technically an Italian aperitivo spot, but it’s perfectly OK to go to ViceVersa, located in the Elser Hotel, for a post-dinner drink, too. With a cocktail menu divided into negronis, martinis and signature cocktails, there is nothing from bartender Valentino Longo’s mind that doesn’t work in a deliciously classic-meets-playful way. Justin Flit, formerly of beloved pizza-and-burger spot Proof, is in the kitchen, which means the pizzas — and yes, the burger — are absolutely worth it for a late-night indulgence.

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Photo courtesy of ViceVersa

FLORA Morningside, Miami

Photo by James Jackman, courtesy of Flora

A Breakfast Passport to Latin America

Aussie co-owner Marnie Gelhard tapped Cuban American chef Fabio Delgado to helm the kitchen of her casual cafe and restaurant, which opened in Miami’s Morningside neighborhood in late 2023. Delgado’s nature-inspired menu puts its best foot forward during weekend brunch, when you can indulge in red-and-green huevos divorciados; an Instagram-ready breakfast sandwich sporting scrambled free range eggs and a chipotle-guava aioli; and orange-zest waffles with poached apples and pears, granola and lemon curd. From the drinks menu, stay clean with ginger-turmeric wellness shots or dig into your day with watermelon-strawberry-lime mimosas.

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Photo by James Jackman, courtesy of Flora