Paradise found
Soya e Pomodoro, Sweet Liberty, Medium Cool, The Zebra Club, Sunny Isles listings, live events, Miami Spa Months, Miami resorts, MORE
RESTAURANTS • FOUND Table
That’s amore
Part of Soya e Pomodoro’s charm is its sheer improbability. After 20 years, the Italian restaurant still somehow feels like a perpetual hidden gem amidst the cacophony and flash of downtown Miami.
Tucked beneath an arch of the 1920s-era Shoreland Arcade, a rare example of downtown’s historic Beaux Arts architecture, it’s a cool, dark escape. The narrow dining room with original terrazzo floors is flanked by frescoed walls with a mix-and-match approach to furnishing, surrealist artwork, assorted curios and bric-a-brac. A pediment bearing the name “Pompei” sits towards the rear, giving the entire space a vaguely Neapolitan-lost-paradise vibe.
I was let in on the secret of Soya e Pomodoro shortly after moving to Miami by friends who had been indoctrinated during their UM days. Through the years, it’s been the backdrop for impromptu dinners with girlfriends, romantic first dates, and a memorable wedding reception.
The unchanging menu skews traditional Italian made with quality ingredients (bruschetta, beef carpaccio, and Manila clams sautéed in white wine, for starters). I almost always order the fazzoletti di formaggio e pera: silky pasta purses stuffed with pears and cheese, tossed with plump sauteed shrimp in a creamy ricotta sauce. There’s also a paccheri with roasted cherry tomato ragu served with the catch of the day, a fettuccine Bolognese, and plenty of secondi options ranging from filet mignon medallions to branzino. For added romance, there’s live jazz on Thursday nights.
A classic, through and through. –Shayne Benowitz
→ Soya e Pomodoro (Downtown) • 120 NE 1st St #2502 • Mon-Fri, 1130a-430p, Thu 6p-10p, Fri-Sat 6p-1030p • Reserve.
MIAMI RESTAURANT LINKS: Chef Giorgio Rapicavoli taking over kitchen at Coconut Grove’s Mayfair Grill • Milan microchain Saint Ambroeus coming to Miami in forthcoming South of Fifth office tower • New Mediterranean restaurant Elia opens on Miami River • Pandemic delivery favorite Belly Fish debuts first restaurant in Coral Gables • Reddit users weigh in on Miami’s worst nighclubs.
WORK • Thursday Routine
Very cool
NAREN YOUNG • creative director/principal • Sweet Liberty, Medium Cool
Neighborhood you live in: South Beach
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
After an hour bike ride up and down the Miami boardwalk — which I try to do most days, as part of my morning exercise routine (plus some reading and a meditation) — I'm meeting with Dan Binkiewicz and David Martinez, two of my partners at Medium Cool, a cocktail & jazz lounge that we opened last year with our other partner, Josh Wagner. We’re meeting at Panther Coffee in Sunset Harbour to discuss our next project — The Zebra Club — a very high-end cocktail bar with a supper club vibe on South Beach. We've been trying to catch up for weeks, as we're all busy and travel a lot, so I'm excited to finally get this all moving. It's an exciting and unique venue.
What’s on the agenda for today?
After meeting Dan and David, I shoot over the bridge to Pastis in Wynwood for a lunch meeting with my friend Marita, who works for Campari. I’ve built my career on cultivating long and solid relationships with many liquor brands, and part of that is about having lunch or dinner meetings with them to catch up socially, but mostly, to talk business and find creative ways to help each other. I like Pastis, and they've really created some buzz since opening. The menu is full of French classics that are always consistent. Then, I race back to Sweet Liberty, to be present for our pre-shift meeting (“line up”) with our manager on duty and the opening staff. I like to be present for this whenever I can, as I usually have something to contribute.
Any bar or restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
We just launched a new cocktail menu at Medium Cool, so I'm trying to be on hand this week in case the staff have questions or concerns. After that, the newly renovated Macchialina on Alton Road, one of my favorite restaurants in the entire city. Owners Mike and Jackie are on hand, working the floor. My girlfriend Gaby and I have an amazing meal, and Jackie always picks incredible wines for me. I've never even looked at a wine list there.
Tomorrow morning, to cleanse myself, I'll probably take a steam and swim at Soho House, which sorts me right out. And at night, we might head over to Cafe la Trova for dinner, which is always a great time. David is a main partner there, as is my friend Julio Cabrera, a legend in the bartending world. The food is delicious, they treat me really well, and the vibe is like nowhere else in Miami.
What was your last great vacation?
South Africa for a Sweet Liberty pop-up, which I guess isn’t strictly a vacation; more a working holiday, but an amazing time, nonetheless. I love Cape Town so much, especially my friend's bar Cause & Effect for drinks, and The Nines for a sunset meal overlooking the ocean.
MIAMI WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Revised renderings released for SHoP-designed new development One Southside Park in Brickell • Buyers closing quickly at newly open Aston Martin Residences • After neighborhood opposition, Miami planning board rejects 55-story Edgewater tower • Terrestrial Funk opening new record store in Design District this Saturday.
REAL ESTATE • On the Market
The Jades
A four-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot corner unit at the Jade Signature in Sunny Isles Beach, listed for $4.99M, was the most expensive Miami-Dade condo contract signed last week (per The Eklund-Gomes Team). The 57-story, 192-unit waterfront tower was designed by Herzog & de Meuron and opened in 2018.
Elsewhere in the neighborhood, a handful of new oceanside condo listings came online this month, including at the (not to be confused) 51-story Jade Beach and 52-story Jade Ocean. Here, those two, plus one more down the block for your Thursday enlightenment:
→ 17201 Collins Ave #3305 (Sunny Isles Beach) • 3BR/3.1BA, 3018 SF condo • plus den/office with oversized balconies • Ask: $2.65M • Days on market: 10 • Agent: Luiza Nogueira, Coldwell Banker Realty
→ 17001 Collins Ave #804 (Jade Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, above) • 3BR/3.1BA, 1927 SF condo • marble floors throughout and floor-to-ceiling Atlantic views • Ask: $3.2M • Days on market: 7 • Agent: Lucia Nguyen, Haute Real Estate.
→ 17121 Collins Ave #2701 (Jade Ocean, Sunny Isles Beach) • 4BR/4.1BA, 2485 SF condo • wraparound with east & west views and private elevator • Ask: $3.99M • Days on market: 3 • Agent: Allan Filgueiras, AF Realty.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Service
Miami Spa Months
If it feels like you’re the only one left holding down the 305 while the rest of Miami is in Italy, don’t stress. In fact, de-stress, because it’s Miami Spa Months, the summertime answer to pampering for less. Here’s a quick list of some of the season’s best offers:
Faena’s Tierra Santa Healing House (Miami Beach, above) is offering a group yoga class, hydrating hair mask, or scalp massage and blow dry for $109 each.
At Lapis at Fontainebleau, the CBD Swedish massage includes 50 minutes of muscle-relaxing bliss along with 150mg of high-potency, organically sourced, THC-free CBD oil infused with anti-inflammatory lavender for $159. You can also partake in the spa’s numerous ritual water journeys, like a eucalyptus steam room, mineral jet bath, and rain shower, while on location.
At Carillon Miami, opt for the signature seaside glow ($199 for 50 minutes). Then, choose between a ginger coconut scrub for the body or the seaside facial with alpha-hydroxy renewal, cooling eye mask, and antioxidant mask. Finally, stick around for the thermal hydrotherapy circuit, followed by a hang at the cabana pool or beach loungers. Valet is complimentary, too.
Here’s the full list of participating spas, treatments, and prices. –Ginger Harris
WORK • Events
Keynote addresses
Four years ago, after Covid wiped out the in-person events calendar for the media company I was running, we wondered whether events would ever come back. A flurry of digital events companies emerged to help companies like ours fill the void. (The future was Hopin!)
Eventually, as we inched back into gathering IRL, we allowed ourselves to believe that big events would play a central role again. That people would get on planes, sit in ballrooms full of their peers, stroll through exhibit halls during cocktail hour with a bagful of swag. But it wasn’t a sure bet.
This year, with business travel having almost fully rebounded, industry conferences are leading the way. Sixty-three percent of corporate travelers expect to make at least one trip to a conference or exhibition in 2024, more than any other travel purpose, per a Deloitte survey.
Events are hard to execute. Want to distract your entire team for a quarter or two? Plan an event. But there’s no better way to prove your audience is real (and engaged) than by asking them to show up in person somewhere. And if you can keep them engaged once they’ve arrived, well, then you’ve really got something.
We can’t risk the blinding distraction right now, but, someday, there will be a FOUND event. Hopefully, it’ll be somewhere glorious, and you’ll be there. In the meantime, prices go up at the door! –Josh Albertson
CULTURE & LEISURE • Saturday Night
Blake Shelton • Hard Rock Live (Davie) • Sat @ 8p, section 114, $206 per
Slaughter • The Grill (Dania Beach) • Sat @ 8p, floor, $71 per
Puebla v Inter Miami • Leagues Cup • Chase Stadium (Ft Lauderdale) • Sat @ 8p, section 101, $204 per
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:
What’s your favorite Miami flower shop (or flower delivery service)?
I need a wardrobe update. Can you recommend the best women’s boutiques?
What is your Restaurant of the Summer?
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfoundmiami.com.
GETAWAYS LINKS: New overwater bungalows at Royalton CHIC Antigua now bookable for fall • Kimpton’s new DR hotel, in Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo, just opened • New St Regis Cap Cana residential resort targets 2025 opening in DR • French Riviera’s newest members club opens in Cannes.
GETAWAYS • The Nines
Resorts, Miami
Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club (Surfside), historic club meets modern day opulence, $916