On the waterfront
Le Jardinier, Magie, EntreNos, best waterfront restaurants, Rosewood Mayakoba, new Aventura listings, Charlie XCX tix, spreadsheet obsessions, MORE
RESTAURANTS • FOUND Table
Miami comfort
Situated in a Design District plaza, the intimate, airy dining room of Le Jardinier has a cheeky, mod Space Age appeal, awash in glossy black and white marble with porthole-like detailing, custom white marble tables, and frog green armchairs resembling lily pads. It’s all very French.
On a relaxing Sunday night at the end of long weekend, a group of friends and I opted for a table on the garden-like patio with pistachio-green cushioned bench seating and natural woven chairs. The pared-down, vegetable-forward menu, with its emphasis on seasonality, is constantly changing per the latest produce haul. On our visit, this meant an abundance of late summer greens — avocado mousse with tuna carpaccio, mint fava bean puree atop halibut, sprightly and verdant broccolini puree accompanying a juicy bavette steak — and capers (and caper berries) everywhere. Each dish, a small work of art unto itself, managed to feel simultaneously indulgent and restorative, antidotes to the occasional hard-partying Miami lifestyle.
Le Jardinier’s cocktail program is equally refined, with a variety of low ABV, spritzy, liqueur, and brandy-based options befitting the fresh menu. Take the “Caribbean Breeze,” made with lychee and banana liqueurs and prosecco. We eventually let head sommelier Henrique Castillo take us on a journey of small production French whites (there’s a lovely crémant d’Alsace brut reserve by the glass, $16 per). And for dessert, pastry chef Salvatore Martone rounds out a beautifully balanced meal with confections like the cool and sublime roasted peach with Thai basil sorbet, tahini crumble and vanilla chantilly. Comfort food by Miami standards — exactly what we needed. –Shayne Benowitz
→ Le Jardinier (Design District) • 151 NE 41st St, Suite 135 • Lunch Mon-Thurs 12-3p, Fri-Sun 12-4p; Dinner Sun-Thurs 6-9p, Fri-Sat 6-10p • Reserve.
MIAMI RESTAURANT LINKS: Broken Shaker founders opening Margot Bar & Bistro today in South Beach • Marion reopens in Brickell following $4M renovation • London Italian import Sparrow Italia has opened in Wynwood • H&H Bagels opening in Boca Raton sparks frenzy • NYC Italian standby Rosemary’s coming to Wynwood later this fall • Oktoberfest beer is everywhere. But what is it?
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
Three for-sale listings that came to market in Aventura in the last month.
→ 6000 Island Blvd APT 2307 (Aventura) • 3BR/3.1BA, 2840 SF condo • Williams Island with panoramic views • Ask: $2.79M • Days on market: 17 • Agent: Roman Garcia, Brickss.
→ 3370 Hidden Bay Dr #2900 (Aventura, above) • 4BR/4.1BA, 4080 SF condo • gut renovated, 1600 SF of terraces • Ask: $4.15M • Days on market: 17 • Agent: Alan Eskenazi Bone, Miles Goldstein.
→ 4100 Island Blvd #904 (Aventura) • 3BR/3.1BA, 2608 SF condo • furnished unit in Williams Island • Ask: $2.4M • Days on market: 17 • Agent: Maria Barbosa, Elite International.
WORK • Thursday Routine
On Broadway
GINO CAMPODÓNICO • senior director of communications & storytelling • Adrienne Arsht Center
Neighborhood you live in: North Miami
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
I’m focusing on storytelling and content creation highlighting the Arsht Center’s AileyCamp Miami, an annual free summer camp for Miami students that uses dance as an outlet to build confidence and self-esteem. I lead and co-produce the creation of a video that features the camper’s development and growth over six weeks, and it’s showcased at the camp’s finale. I end every summer in complete awe and amazement of our campers and how the arts truly have the power to change lives.
What’s on the agenda for today?
End of summer is a great time to prep for a new season at the Arsht Center. The season officially begins in October, and I’m so excited for Miami audiences to once again connect with and be inspired by the performing arts (but especially for the Miami premiere of Broadway hits Some Like it Hot, MJ, and Beetlejuice). And with spooky season around the corner, I cannot wait for the Rocky Horror Picture Show, featuring special guest Patricia Quinn (the OG Magenta!) and all our costumed guests.
Any bar or restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
My husband and I recently checked out Magie and EntreNos, and it made for a delicious, fun date night close to our neighborhood. Magie is in Little River and the perfect spot if you love a good bottle of wine and charcuterie board complemented by a loungey living room vibe. EntreNos is a Michelin-starred nightly popup restaurant located inside Tinta y Café in Miami Shores. The menu is eclectic, bold and creative, but what I Iove most is that every ingredient is sourced from Florida. The tropical stone fruit salad and royal red shrimp chawanmushi were highlights for me.
How about a little leisure or culture?
My husband also works in the arts and culture scene in Miami, so we’re constantly out and about. The Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science has a cool and interactive Journey to Space special exhibition. Superblue in Allapattah is a go-to for immersive, innovative art experiences. (Check out French artist JR’s Printing Press and go home with your very own portrait.) And while you’re in the area, cross the street and visit the Rubell Museum to view one of the largest private art collections in the country.
Any weekend getaways?
I’m looking forward to finally experiencing The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach for a friend’s birthday — it’s so easy to get there using the Brightline and I’m so ready to live out my Palm Royale fantasy. For local staycations, our go-to is The Standard. The pool views, spa, and mid-century charm get me every time. I also really love The Miami Beach EDITION and its ultra-chic Matador Room for dinner.
What was your last great vacation?
Last year, we did an amazing three-week tour of South America including Brazil, Iguazu Falls, Argentina, Chile, and Easter Island. In Rio, we loved Satyricon for great seafood, drinks or dinner at Copacabana Palace, Sugar Loaf Mountain during sunset for stunning views, and a day at Ipanema or Copacabana beach is a must.
In Buenos Aires, there’s Café Tortoni (founded in 1858!) for good coffee and pastries in a historic setting. CoChinChinaBar is one of the world’s top cocktail bars. There’s dinner at Don Julio for the best steak ever. And we enjoyed a stroll down Plaza Mayor and the Caminito neighborhood.
In Santiago de Chile, there are so many incredible places to visit and admire nature’s wonders, like Iguazu Falls and Easter Island. We also visited La Chascona, a lovely and quirky museum dedicated to poet Pablo Neruda. Head to Boragó for an insane dinner experience highlighting cuisine from across the various regions of Chile.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
We’re in the midst of home renovation projects in our backyard and found some incredible tiles from clé Tile for our outdoor shower that reminded us of our time spent in Ipanema. They’re inspired by the famed mosaic beach sidewalks.
MIAMI WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Members-only Sunset Padel Club opens in Miami Beach • Approval granted for Standard Spa expansion in Miami Beach • Adam Neumann launches sales for Flow condos at Worldcenter • Celebrity real estate agent Fredrick Eklund developing Miami-centric reality show • New interior renderings revealed for Elle Residences • More companies are moving comp to bonuses • You’re probably using AI wrong.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Saturday Night
The Marley Brothers: The Legacy Tour • FPL Solar Amphitheater (Bayfront Park) • Sat @ 730p • section 1, $282 per
Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida: Classical and Neoclassical Ballets • Amaturo Theater at Broward Center (Ft Lauderdale) • Sat @ 730p, orchestra, $40 per
Charlie XCX and Troye Sivan • Kaseya Center (Downtown) • Sat @ 730p, section 107, $305 per
GETAWAYS • Riviera Maya
Playa, meet game
Among the 129 spacious rooms at the Rosewood Mayakoba — a luxurious haven surrounded by mangrove jungles and freshwater lagoons in the Yucatan Peninsula off Playa del Carmen — guests can select among some truly great sleeping options. The Lagoon Suites, for example, have an overwater bungalow feel with a private plunge pool. Meanwhile, the Beachfront Studio Suites offer private beach access, the Caribbean turned backyard.
My personal favorite are the rooftop Ocean View suites, with a deck and private plunge pool away from the rest of the world. From there, one presides over the mangrove jungles and freshwater lagoons abutting the mile-long beach.
The rooftop view isn’t the only drama to be had here. Upon check-in, a boat takes you on the lagoon to your villa, where a dedicated butler awaits with two beach cruiser bikes — the best means of transportation on this 620-acre property.
There are a number of dining options on the property (plus access to the three adjacent Mayakoba hotels — the Fairmont, Banyan Tree, and Andaz). The highlight for me was Rosewood’s family-style chef’s garden dinner at La Ceiba Garden & Kitchen, where we ate at a communal table beneath the stars and a grand Ceiba tree — considered sacred in Mayan culture — and indulged in traditional Yucatan cuisine with an emphasis on open-flame cooking and seasonal ingredients, from an heirloom tomato salad with goat cheese and a sour orange vinaigrette to the decadent ribeye and lamb tamal in a blackberry mole. After-dinner options include Zapote Bar and La Isla Secreta, a bohemian speakeasy tucked away in the lagoon’s mangrove forest, only accessible by boat.
At the Sense spa, a sanctuary of tranquility designed around a cenote, guests can book a multitude of treatments, including the traditional Temazcal ceremony, a shaman-led healing ritual performed in an indigenous sweat lodge. –Victoire Loup
→ Rosewood Mayakoba (Playa del Carmen, Mexico) • Ctra Federal Cancún-Playa del Carmen Km 298, 77710.
GETAWAYS LINKS: On St Barths, four hot new vacation villas • Tony Robbins opening Caribbean resort • Virgin Atlantic overhauls loyalty program • New Grand Hyatt coming to Deer Valley in time for ski season • Will raft of new luxury hotels spell the end of Hokkaido’s ski charm?
WORK • Quarterly Report
Sheet music
It’s the first week of a new quarter — goodbye to Q3, a bottom-three quarter, with its summer lulls and dogged liminality — which means a fresh start on expectations (and the dashboards that track them).
Here at FOUND, in our infancy and with a predilection for software we don’t have to build ourselves, we’ve got ready-made dashboards available via Substack and Stripe, Meta and Quickbooks. They are all good and fine. At previous, more grown-up companies, I’ve used more sophisticated tracking tools, programs custom-built to pull data from varying sources and slice it multiple ways. Some of those were excellent.
But what really gets me excited these days is a Google Sheet I update by hand. It’s got subscription metrics from the four FOUND cities — NY, LA, SF & Miami. I created it out of necessity to aggregate this data (as each city is a different Substack, with its own Substack dashboard). And now, I’m addicted to it.
I update “Subs Data Network” every morning over coffee before the workday has begun. When I get word of new subscribers midday, via alerts from other programs, I get anxious because they haven’t yet made it in. And I wonder what the day’s paid subscriber upgrades will do to the conversion rate in cell B13.
It’s definitely not the most efficient way to operate. But an obsessed-about, handmade spreadsheet is also the surest indicator I have that a project has taken hold in my psyche. The practice has crept into my personal life, too. I wear a watch that tracks my runs, all available in a sophisticated app. But I also transfer them to a Sheet, day by day, mile by mile.
Someday, FOUND’s new business hires will demand that we employ better tools to track progress. Sheepishly, I’ll agree. But, on this dawn of a new quarter during these evolutionary days of FOUND, I already miss Subs Data Network, and — rudimentary as it is — the promise for our future it holds. –Josh Albertson
ASK FOUND
First, a quick primer on how this works: You send us the pressing questions of the day (on dining, services, living in Miami and surrounds). We all put our heads together (us at FOUND, + you, FOUND subscribers, who are also FOUND) in search of truth and beauty.
Today, three FOUND subscriber PROMPTS for which we are seeking intel:
Where are you excited about dining this fall?
What’s your favorite bookstore in Miami?
Which spa are you booking to escape the chaos of the season?
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfoundmiami.com.
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Waterfront restaurants
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of Miami’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundmiami.com.
Ocean Social at the Eden Roc (Mid Beach), elevated Caribbean-inspired food by Chopped champ Tristen Epps