At To Be Determined, Your Favorite New Dish Is Always Around the Corner
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At To Be Determined in Coral Way, the menu is never fixed, the dishes are always evolving, and the entire experience is driven by the thrill of the unexpected. It’s an invitingly casual-yet-ambitious wine bar and restaurant in Coral Gables where diners can discover new takes on familiar comforts — like delicate housemade pasta and perfectly seared steak — and return for the constant surprise of what’s next. Even the restaurant’s name playfully references an ever-evolving approach to cuisine.
The chefs behind it, Richard Ortega and Jhonny Delgado, are no strangers to culinary innovation. Longtime collaborators with parallel and distinct paths, they’ve sharpened their knives in some of Miami’s most respected kitchens and carved out unique followings through their individual ventures.
Ortega developed his reverence for indigenous ingredients while working in the kitchen at Los Félix, before bringing heirloom corn to the spotlight with his Venezuelan street food concept The Maiz Project. Delgado, meanwhile, worked his way up from line cook to executive chef at B Bistro and then turned heads with Sandoches, a Japanese-Latin fusion sandwich shop that has become one of the city’s beloved pop-ups.
Both Venezuelan-born and kitchen colleagues over the years, their chemistry as co-creators became especially evident at Siete, a seven-course private dinner series that developed as a pandemic-era collaboration between the pair.
So, when the chance came to open a permanent space, teaming up felt like a natural fit. Together, Ortega and Delgado have designed To Be Determined to be a wine bar and restaurant that thrives on reinvention, while consistently delivering dishes with precision and respect for the ingredients on the plate.
“At its core, it’s about openness and authenticity — a space where the menu evolves every few weeks based on inspiration from local and seasonal ingredients,” Ortega explains. “Every visit offers something new, both in flavor and ambiance.”
Though the menu changes, certain staples continue to make a return appearance, dressed in new ingredients and flavor combinations. Delgado and Ortega recently took us through the core dishes that form the backbone of the short, rotating menu.
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Crudo
According to Delgado, the restaurant’s rotating menu will always feature a raw fish crudo, prepared from peak seasonal products available from their purveyors. One day it might be scallops, another day it could be hamachi.
With each new iteration, the idea for the dish starts with the ingredients, not the other way around. That kind of spontaneity is exactly what To Be Determined is all about.
“Our crudo is where creativity and quality intersect,” Delgado explains. “Freshness leads, and inspiration follows.”
Past plates have included a bright cured hamachi crudo with strawberry aguachile and smoked oil, as well as a delicate-yet-bold dish of scallops with green tomato gazpacho, dill oil and dulce. During a recent service, the kitchen was serving sliced bluefin tuna paired with summer peaches and a grape sake dressing. Every version brings something new to the table.
Pasta
It’s a guarantee there’ll be pasta on the menu — and you should get it. TBD’s semolina pasta is made in-house daily, and it’s typically a small, shell-shaped cavatelli or stuffed cappelletti.
“This dish quickly became a guest favorite, and its staying power comes from its adaptability. We’re always playing with flavors that highlight the best of the season,” Delgado says.
The chef team experiments with new sauces and seasonal pairings, and they’re especially proud of recent riffs, like a standout dish of cavatelli with crab and Calabrian butter.
In the past, they’ve also served preparations like creamy truffle cavatelli or pork cheek cappelletti in pork brodo, a deeply comforting dish with layers of flavor.
Steak
When designing their core menu, Ortega and Delgado knew they wanted to offer a generously portioned, shareable protein entree that would feel satisfying — hence, their signature steak dish.
While you’ll always find a dry-aged steak on the menu at To Be Determined, the specific cut and sauce may change with the seasons. One recent standout preparation was a seven-day dry-aged ribeye served with a dark lager au poivre.
But what defines this dish is the cooking technique — the steak is always prepared over a charcoal grill, which imparts a deep, smoky flavor that’s become a hallmark of their kitchen. The smoke ties back to both chefs’ Latin roots, evoking the traditional way they grew up cooking meat in Venezuela.
“Nothing brings people together like a beautifully grilled steak,” Ortega says.
The team recommends ordering the steak medium or medium-rare to fully appreciate the quality of the cut and the depth of its dry-aging.
Flan
A decent flan is not hard to come by in Miami, but none taste quite like this. TBD’s take on the baked custard dessert is inspired by traditional Venezuelan quesillo, resulting in an incredibly creamy-smooth texture with the perfect balance of sweetness.
“It’s elevated through a technique we’ve perfected — one we like to keep a bit of a secret. Let’s just say it’s not your typical Miami flan,” Delgado says.
Ortega adds: “It’s one of those dishes you just have to come in and try for yourself.”
Wine
Just as the food menu at To Be Determined is ever-changing, so is their wine list. They like to feature a variety of red, white and orange wines from around the world, each carefully selected without pretense.
Aspiring oenophiles will enjoy the weekly ritual of TBD Winesdays (which, yes, takes place on Wednesday nights). The series celebrates wine in a relaxed way, with a hand-picked list of unique by-the-glass pours and small plates designed to encourage exploration.
“It’s a new tradition we’re excited to grow,” Ortega says.
Lyssa Goldberg is a Miami-based freelance writer and content strategist. She loves telling stories about food, wellness, and travel, and you can find her byline in Parade, The Points Guy, U.S. News & World Report, American Way, Mashable, Time Out, and more. Follow her on Instagram and X. Follow Resy, too.
