La Sponda Takes Miami Diners on a Tour of Italy, One Region at a Time
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At La Sponda Ristorante & Grill, dinner comes with two kinds of sightseeing: panoramic views of Biscayne Bay beyond the windows, and a tour of Italy on the plate.
The Coconut Grove restaurant comes from Gioia Hospitality Group, the team behind Michelin-recognized Daniel’s, A Florida Steakhouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Daniel’s Miami, which appears on the World’s Best 101 Steak Restaurants list. Co-founders Thomas Angelo and daughter Kassidy Angelo have built the group around polished hospitality and world-class steak, and La Sponda, which is set to open on Sept. 21, hopes to bring that same attention to service and sourcing to a menu that travels across Italy.
The Angelos have spent years traveling throughout Italy — more recently with culinary director-chef Danny Ganem and wine-beverage director Daniel Bishop — exploring regional cooking and building relationships with producers, winemakers, artisans and suppliers. At La Sponda, those experiences inform everything from handmade pasta and imported olive oils to the wine cellar and even the steak knives.
The project will be particularly personal for the Angelos, whose family roots are in Puglia, Italy. But the menu will range far beyond southern Italy, with dishes also inspired by regions from Marche to Liguria.
Then there’s the setting. Inside, Italian-made furnishings and materials are paired with details that nod to Coconut Grove, all framed by unobstructed views of the bay.
Here’s everything you need to know before you go.
The Resy Rundown
La Sponda Ristorante & Grill
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Why We Like It
Gioia Hospitality Group’s new Italian restaurant pairs one of Miami’s more distinctive waterfront settings with a menu that travels across Italy, while keeping their family roots in Puglia front and center. -
Essential Dishes
The ricotta cavatelli al pomodoro recipe that took six months to perfect; fresh fish crudo finished with Puglian olive oil; and a Wagyu bistecca Fiorentina from the same team behind Daniel’s. -
Must-Order Drinks
Italian wine will be a major focus here, with more than 500 bottle selections. Cocktails will take their cues from Italian classics, including the Summer in Amalfi Spritz.
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Who and What It’s For
Celebration dinners, dates, business meals, and anyone who considers top-notch service as important as what’s on the plate. -
How to Get In
Reservations drop 30 days in advance, early in the morning. Guests can also reserve bar seating, where the full dinner menu is served. Since it’s located in a gated private island, La Sponda is unable to accept walk-ins. -
Pro Tip
Save room for dessert. Housemade vanilla gelato will be served tableside with a choice of accompaniments like chocolate sauce and strawberries compote.
1. The menu takes a regional approach to Italian cooking.
At La Sponda, chef Ganem and the Angelos have built a menu that will introduce diners to the intricacies of Italian cuisine, with dishes drawing on regions ranging from Puglia and Marche to Tuscany, Liguria, and Emilia-Romagna.
“There’s a dish on the menu from almost every region of Italy,” Thomas Angelo says. “We saw this as a love letter to all of Italy, obviously with an homage to Puglia, the region that my family was from, and specifically the town of Gioia del Colle that my father was born in.”
Many of the ingredients will draw directly from those southern Italian roots. There will be traditional southern Italian plates like orecchiette con salsiccia, for example, as well as signature crudos simply dressed with lemon and olive oil imported from Puglia.
Two different Italian olive oils will play their own roles: A robust Coratina accompanies the bread service and mozzarella, while a lighter Leccino is paired with crudo so it doesn’t overpower the fish.
From there, the menu will move around the map. The gamberoni nods to Marche; buffalo mozzarella comes from Campania; Wagyu bistecca Fiorentina represents Tuscany; and troffiette al pesto Genovese takes inspiration from Liguria.
The sourcing won’t be restricted to Italy, however. Chef Ganem plans to continue working closely with South Florida farms, as the group is known for, while bringing in the best ingredients from farther afield, including Australian Wagyu beef and langoustines from New Zealand.
2. The cavatelli pomodoro took six months to get right.
For all of the menu’s regional range, one of La Sponda’s most meaningful dishes may also be one of its simplest.
The story starts on a trip to Piedmont. Along with Bishop and his daughter Kassidy, Angelo was visiting the legendary Italian wine producers behind Gaja winery when winemaker Angelo Gaja asked about La Sponda’s plans for their ricotta cavatelli al pomodoro. “You can’t have a great Italian restaurant without a great pomodoro,” he remarked.
Angelo and chef Ganem took the challenge seriously. Over the next six months, they worked on their version of the sauce, testing different tomatoes and dialing in its sweetness and balance. For the pasta, they’ve settled on cavatelli, a pasta shape that originated in Puglia.
The broader menu will include fresh pasta housemade daily, a rotating selection of crudos, antipasti, seafood, and larger plates. Among the highlights are spaghetti alla chitarra al tartufo with Burgundy truffles, cultured butter, and Parmigiano espuma; paccheri al campagnolo with branzino and datterini tomatoes; and Wagyu tagliata di manzo ribeye with arugula and Gioia olive oil.
“While traveling in Italy with Mr. Angelo and Kassidy, we realized that we share a common love for so many dishes, and this menu really is a reflection of the amazing collaboration among all of us and the team,” chef Ganem says.
3. Tableside service will be part of the show.
The culinary action at La Sponda won’t end when a plate leaves the kitchen. A number of dishes and desserts will have their finishing touches done tableside, a style of service the Gioia Hospitality team is known for.
The branzino intero al sale is presented at the table, and the lighter of those two Puglian olive oils is poured over crudo in front of guests. Dessert brings even more of the action into the dining room.
The restaurant makes its own gelato al tavolo, which arrives tableside with a choice of toppings and sauces, including chocolate sauce and strawberry compote. Tiramisù and babà Napoletano are also on the menu.
For Angelo, those moments are all part of the larger experience. “We want people to really be transported to another place — like they’re in Europe having this amazing meal with friends and family,” he says.
A meal at La Sponda should “wow” guests from beginning to end, Angelo notes, whether they’re having a business outing, celebrating a special occasion, or simply enjoying dinner with a great bottle of wine.
4. The wine list features more than 500 selections.
If choosing a bottle becomes one of the harder decisions of the evening, that will be by design.
“It’ll be a very extensive wine list, as our group is known for. The Daniel’s list is one of the most extensive in Miami,” Angelo says.
Bishop oversees a wine program starting with more than 500 selections. Italy will be the anchor, with Barolo and Barbaresco from Piedmont, Tuscan wines, Etna reds from Sicily, bottles from Puglia, and mineral-forward coastal Italian whites. The cellar extends beyond Italy, too, with French, Spanish and California wines, plus select vintages reaching back 20 to 25 years.
Like the food menu, the wine program is informed by travel. Bishop has joined the Angelos on trips to Italy, and those visits have helped the team form relationships with winemakers and producers along the way.
Cocktails stay in the Italian orbit, with spritzes and riffs on classics. The Summer in Amalfi Spritz combines Prosecco, elderflower liqueur, gin, and cucumber, while the Zio Tony takes a tropical spin on a Paper Plane with bourbon, herbal liqueur, and passion fruit.
5. The design looks to Italy — but the little details belong to Miami.
La Sponda’s setting will do some of the work before dinner even starts. The restaurant sits perched on Grove Isle, a private island in Biscayne Bay with wide-open views of the water. Angelo says the unusual location was a major part of the appeal.
Inside, Martin Brudnizki Design Studio carries the Italian influence into the dining room. Handcrafted furnishings, imported stone, custom tables and other artisan finishes have all been sourced from Italy. Angelo even commissioned a Tuscan knife maker to create custom steak knives with natural bone handles. The 120-seat restaurant also features white tablecloths, hand-painted details, a baby grand piano, and a private dining room.
But the space won’t ignore its surroundings. Custom charger plates feature palm trees, while lamps at the bar were commissioned from a local South Florida artist and hand-painted with imagery tied to the area. The lamps depict subjects including peacocks, flamingos and nearby landmark Vizcaya, the former villa estate of James Deering — small touches intended to bring a sense of South Florida into the dining room.
Some details get even more personal. Near the entrance, there’s a Florida landscape painting that previously hung in Angelo’s own home — one he chose because its view of the shoreline suited a restaurant whose name, La Sponda, means “the shore.”
La Sponda Ristorante & Grill will serve dinner Wednesday through Sunday at its debut, with future plans to introduce lunch and Sunday brunch.
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, American Way, Mashable, Miami New Times, Time Out and more. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter. Follow Resy, too.
