The Miami Insider’s Guide to Industry Hangouts and Late Night Hot Spots

Chefs chasing smoke and heat find them emanating from the wood-fired pizza oven that’s central to the menu at Walrus Rodeo, the new sibling from Boia De’s Luciana Giangrandi and Alex Meyer, with chef Jeff Maxfield. Charred bone marrow with crispy capers, a pizza topped with salty anchovies and spicy tomatoes, carbonara-style cabbage with fermented hollandaise — these are dishes that attract chefs like moths to a flame. Lucky for us, you don’t need a Culinary Institute of America degree to dine there — just a desire to experience some of the most exciting food in Miami.  

You know what impresses cooks more than comfort food? Comfort food with quality ingredients, made by people who care. That’s the draw of Off Site, the restaurant and nano brewery from Steve Santana (Taquiza) and Adam Darnell (Boxelder). The burger is a six-ounce blend of chuck, brisket, and short rib that’s cured in koji for an extra jolt of umami. The Cuban sandwich stars Duroc heritage pork and Benton’s award-winning ham. Even the Chicago-style dog gets an upgrade in the form of poppy seed milk bread bun from Miami’s Oori Bakeshop, a complement to the dog’s real-deal neon-hued relish. No surprise it all pairs well with Off Site’s Super Good Lager — a comforting American-style lager brewed with quality ingredients by people who care.

No reservations. See the menu and get more details here.

It’s so easy to stop for a cocktail at Jaguar Sun and wind up staying for dinner. Such is the lure of drinks like the Living Dead — a chef’s catnip blend of Haitian clairin, absinthe, lime, and Tabasco — and pasta dishes that hit all the right notes. Bucatini cacio e pepe. Tagliatelle with mushrooms and egg yolk. Strozzapreti with mussels and ’njuda. Agnolotti with corn and blue crab. It’s the kind of place where you want to come two nights in a row, even if you’re only in town for a weekend. 

Chef Josh Elliott’s izakaya-meets-tapas fare at the new QP Tapas marries the best of two super chef-friendly cuisines. The no-fuss deliciousness of Spanish dishes like pan con tomate and yuccas bravas (yucca playing a South Florida-local starch substitute for potatoes) contrast smartly with bolder flavors like charred lamb belly with fish sauce and a large-format okonomiyaki with chorizo or mushroom. Elliott, who has led some of Miami’s most acclaimed kitchens, is getting heaps of praise from fellow chefs for what he’s cooking at QP — and it’s no wonder why. 

The Fox’s fabulously retro menu is a nod to its long history on South Dixie Highway serving great food and stiff drinks. There’s a Thursday prime rib special (complete with au jus and horseradish sauce), breaded frog legs with garlic butter, and a chilled shrimp Louie salad with thousand island dressing. Classic cocktails and a lager-heavy beer list suit the dark environs, perfect for hiding out after a long shift on the line.

B-Side, from the Chang family of Itamae fame, brings vibrant and fresh sushi rolls and bowls to Wynwood’s 1-800-Lucky food hall. Find chefs and other industry insider rubbing elbows over Lost in Translation (tuna, salmon, avocado, crispy quinoa, and aji amarillo mayo) and Spirited Away (spicy tuna, eel, scallion, chili crisp, and kewpie mayo) rolls with tallboys of Liquid Death at the side. With B-Side open late-night, it’s always a good call for last call or — in Miami where a midnight snack is just a warmup for the evening — a sushi roll to start the night.

Every concept from the team behind NIU Kitchen is a magnet for Miami chefs and industry insiders thanks in part to the laid-back hospitality and expertly sourced wines of co-owner Karina Iglesias. NIU Wine, her natural-wine bar with a rotating selection of Spanish-leaning small plates and curated wines by the glass, is no exception. Fresh oysters, marinated olives, semi-firm cheeses, anchovies on toast with smoked butter — all exceptional to pair with old-vine  albariño, Ligurian pigato, organic Beaujolais, or whatever Iglesias is pouring. 

You don’t name a place The Gibson Room without a mighty-fine Gibson on the cocktail menu, and chef-owner Michael Beltran comes correct on that front (they’ll make it with vodka if you prefer that over the traditional gin). After years of making hollandaise for hungover patrons, most chefs run as far as they can from brunch, but Beltran gives them a reason to flock to The Gibson’s Sunday brunch service. A hefty bowl of ramen with bacon in oxtail broth, a double-stack burger with a house-special sauce, or a “big-ass” Caesar salad with a fried egg are the kinds of things even the most brunch-hardened restaurant worker can find joy in on a Sunday morning. 

No reservations. See the menu and get more details here. 

A veteran on the industry-hangout circuit, The Corner has been slinging very-late-night drinks and jazz since 2011. The bar food is salty and snackable: grilled cheese, German pretzel, French onion dip, a bowl of olives and cornichons. And the bartenders are just as adept at dialing up top-shelf craft cocktails as they are generous with their well pours. When last call is this close to sunrise, you know some line cooks are going to go straight from The Corner to brunch service.

No reservations. Get more details here. 

Seven Seas (stylized as “Se7aS”), the come-as-you-are, cash-only, seven-day-a-week, nautical-themed dive bar, fills up quickly on its karaoke nights (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday). So grab a cold beverage, warm up your vocal cords, and get in line to belt out “Real Love” by Mary J. Blige before a tipsy restaurant publicist beats you to it.

No reservations. Visit Se7aS on Instagram for more details.