At Silverlake Bistro, the Burger Was Always a Part of the Plan
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At the counter of Silverlake Bistro, there’s always someone who’s already in the know. The customary routine is to sit down, maybe open a book, and when the server approaches, they order the burger without any hesitation or need of the menu.
A few minutes later, the plate arrives — two sizzling patties on a brioche bun, a pile of fries alongside — and they pick it up with both hands: This is what they’re here for.
When it comes to operating a restaurant these days, some are perpetually in the chase for what’s next. Silverlake Bistro has spent eight years proving they already found it.
Silverlake Bistro opened in 2018 in Miami Beach’s Normandy Isles, the second restaurant from Sandy Sanchez and chef Benoit Rablat, who also run La Fresa Francesa in Hialeah. The name nods to the Los Angeles neighborhood where the two met while working at Osteria Mozza, and the cooking reflects what they learned there: California-influenced, Americana-forward, the kind of menu that is just perfect for a burger.
When they built Silverlake Bistro’s opening menu, the burger was always part of the plan. Getting everything right about it, and then leaving it alone, was the real challenge.
“Ben really stands by simplicity and really good ingredients,” Sanchez says. “There’s not a lot going on. We’re just letting what’s there speak for itself.”
For the signature Silverlake burger, the patty is a custom beef blend sourced through the butcher, Bush Brothers, hormone-free and grass-fed, with a custom fat ratio that Rablat created especially for this burger — and has purposely kept the recipe to himself. The blend is formed into two patties and cooked medium on the plancha, making them juicy without going greasy. They are thinner than a traditional single patty but not smashed, somewhere in between, and that helps the meat shine through without overpowering the dish.
Its bun is a French brioche, small and close-crumbed, toasted on the flat top before anything goes on it. “We don’t want the bread to be the star,” Sanchez says. “It’s more of a supporting role. But it needs to be a good one.”
Porcini mayo goes on the bottom bun first. Rablat has long used porcini powder as a steak marinade, and the mayo carries that habit into a new form, adding something savory to the palate without necessarily giving a strong mushroom taste. The patties go on next, each topped with white cheddar chosen for its tang and the clean way it melts. The top bun gets the housemade steak sauce, a condiment Rablat is careful to distinguish from barbecue. Built from molasses, Worcestershire, sherry vinegar, orange juice, ketchup, and dry sour cherries, the fruit and molasses bring a subtle sweetness with the vinegar there for balance.
Bacon was originally part of the recipe, then moved to an optional add-on after enough guests requested it removed. Sanchez still recommends ignoring the option — and we agree with her. “If you’re not opposed to bacon, get it,” she says. “It’s definitely adding a flavor profile that we originally intended the burger to have.” Rablat tosses the side of truffle fries in black truffle butter, which keeps the earthiness present without overwhelming anything else on the plate.
Rablat settled on two patties rather than one thick round for a reason that becomes clear during a busy service. A single thick patty needs precise attention to temperature, while two patties cook more evenly and more forgivingly across a long night. On some nights, the kitchen sends out close to 100 burgers, and Sanchez watches new cooks on the station carefully. “People have been having the burger for years and years,” she says. “If they detect anything different, there is hell to pay.”
People have been having the burger for years and years … If they detect anything different, there is hell to pay.
Getting Rablat to alter anything about the burger is its own negotiation. It took Sanchez years to convince him to offer avocado as an add-on, and even the bacon was only offered after steady guest demand. But the burger’s recipe itself has not changed. “We just wanted to make something delicious,” Sanchez says. “It is what it is. It exists, and we’re happy that people love it.”
Sanchez’s preferred pairing for the burger is a beer, something crisp enough to cut through the richness. During the off-season, the restaurant has offered a burger-and-beer Monday special for around $22. For wine, she points toward a pinot noir. New guests are often surprised when she steers them toward the burger at all. “They’re like, ‘Oh, really? We didn’t come here to eat a burger,'” she says. “It’s more the people who are in the know — the locals, or someone who told them you have to have it.”
Silverlake Bistro does not promote itself as a burger destination, and Sanchez doesn’t push it on tables that haven’t asked. The regulars at the counter already know. But the ones still figuring it out will get there. They always do.
Bonus: Catch Silverlake Bistro’s Burger (and a Show) Nearby at La Poubelle
Right next door to Silverlake Bistro, past an unmarked door in the alley, sits one of the more unlikely nights out in Miami Beach. La Poubelle is a cabaret harkening back to the smoke-filled piano bars found in Miami in the 80s and 90s, and on most Thursday nights, the show runs for two hours: a pianist and a singer working through requests from the crowd, comedic interludes breaking up the set, the whole room in it together. Tip well and your song moves up the list.
The name translates from French as “the garbage can,” a nod to the alley entrance and the dumpsters flanking the door. Inside, the space seats about 40 people across intimate two-tops and a few larger tables up front. Red and leopard print on nearly every surface, gold-trimmed mirrors, blue palm tree chandeliers overhead. It’s certainly not subtle, nor was it ever intended to be.
A limited Silverlake Bistro menu runs throughout the show — with hits like the burger, the gnocchi, the butter lettuce salad — along with a full bar.
Surprisingly, the origin of the cabaret was a matter of real estate. Silverlake Bistro had been using the neighboring pawn shop’s patio for dinner seating. When the shop closed for good, owner Sandy Sanchez took over the lease to protect that space, without a clear plan for what to do with the interior. The cabaret grew from there, quietly and organically with little to zero promotion. Shows sell out most weeks, sometimes weeks in advance, but the place still carries that underground, “if you know, you know” energy.
La Poubelle is open on Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 10 p.m. and is located at 1207 Mai Monides Street. Find tickets on Eventbrite via their Instagram.
Silverlake Bistro is open daily for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m., and for lunch/brunch on Sunday from 11 am to 3 p.m.
A fourth-generation Miamian, Olee Fowler knows every corner of the city. She spent a decade as the editor of Eater Miami, and now as a freelance writer, she captures the stories that make Miami unique. When she’s not exploring Miami’s newest restaurants and bars, you can find her at home with her dogs, Foster and Peanut, or cheering on her beloved Florida Gators. And yes, that’s probably a Coke Zero on her desk. Follow her on Instagram. Follow Resy, too.
