Winter Restaurant Rush
Sparrow Italia, Brickell listings, Christy's, John Varvatos, Sra. Martinez, Sunny's, ski Alta, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Word
Notorious
There’s an interesting pairing going on in Miami’s restaurant world these days: Italian food and old-school rap. Bolognese comes with a side of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Tupac accompanies the tagliatelle.
It’s subtle in most restaurants, but at Sparrow Italia, the pairing is pronounced. Not only is “Hypnotize” on the soundtrack, there’s a B.I.G. meatball on the menu. It’s a little on the nose, but also a signifier of the appealing evolution of Miami’s Italian restaurants, of which Sparrow is a shining example.
Gone are red-checked tablecloths and baskets of Chianti. In their place are sleek, light woods, dim lighting, and minimalist aesthetics that code more Scandi-Asian than classic Italian-American. A curved dome ceiling calls to mind train station dining. Everything about this London import in Wynwood feels a little underground, from the narrow cocktail bar to the modernist chandeliers crowning the dining room.
The restaurant’s menu keeps its dishes tethered to the classics, playing hits you cherish, with a little remastering. Your standard spaghetti pomodoro comes with chili and burro de Parma. Lobster linguini brings lemon and Calabrian chili along, and penne Bolognese is prepared with wagyu. There are new hits on the culinary playlist, too. Truffle pizza with mascarpone is one indulgent white pie. See also Sparrow’s crudo, featuring ahi tuna with truffle ponzu, or hamachi with Amalfi lemon, cucumber, and Italian chili. Then there’s the impressive steak menu, with a Calabrian chili-rubbed New York strip bringing serious heat through the fat.
If you’re not up for the full carb-laden experience, you can still soak up ambience and rap nostalgia at the bar, where pizza gets served by the slice. The Flashy Ways cocktail comes on a wooden sparrow stand, made with vodka, elderflower, poached pears, butterfly pea flower, pink peppercorn, lime, and prosecco.
Sparrow not so subtly reminds us that dining’s changed since Biggie ran the radio. And savoring a sweet, spicy gourmet pizza in a sophisticated setting with a retro soundtrack has never tasted so good. –Matt Meltzer
→ Sparrow Italia (Wynwood) • 255 NW 25th St • Tue-Thur 5-11p, Fri 6p-12a, Sat 5:30p-11a, Sun 5:30-11p • Reserve.
MIAMI RESTAURANT LINKS: Wynwood’s culinary arms race is on • Fine dining vet opening steakhouse/speakeasy The Joyce tomorrow in South Beach • Ficelle owner goes French with Le Bistro • Brickell Key’s La Mar by Aston Acurio closing this summer, will relocate • After 15-year run in Midtown, Sugarcane closing Jan 31 • Is red wine out?
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
Three for-sale condos in the Brickell sky that came to market in the last 40 days.
→ 1331 Brickell Bay Dr #1011 (Brickell) • 2BR/2.1BA, 1878 SF condo • Ask: $2.495M • corner unit in Jade at Brickell Bay • Days on market: 6 • Annual taxes: $25,316 • Agent: Gershon Adjaye, Keller Williams.
→ 1000 Brickell Plz #5003 (Brickell) • 3BR/4.1BA, 2076 SF condo • Ask: $3.1M • in Brickell Flatiron with glass-enclosed wine cellar • Days on market: 27 • Annual taxes: $37,697 • Agents: Miltiadis Kastanis & James Hait, Douglas Elliman.
→ 1425 Brickell Ave #59E (Brickell, above) • 4BR/4BA, 4471 SF condo • Ask: $9.99M • combined unit in Four Seasons Residence • Days on market: 38 • Annual taxes: $68,946 • Agent: Daniel Goodstadt, Douglas Elliman.
MIAMI WORK AND PLAY LINKS: New Turkish hammam Hürrem Hammam Wellness & Spa opens in North Miami • Mandarin Oriental set to close May 31 for five-year makeover • Plans revealed for 36-story mixed-use development The Helm in Design District • First glass going in at supertall Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and Residences • Easterlin, ‘father of happiness economics’ dies at 98 • Middle managers are getting squeezed.
WORK • Thursday Routine
Piece by piece
RAY CORRAL • founder • Mosaicist
Neighborhood you work in: Coral Gables, Country Club Prado
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
Thursday starts early, 530 or 6a. It’s a quiet scene as I try to squeeze in some design layouts or napkin sketches before the phone starts ringing. At Mosaicist, we design mosaic pools, murals, and architectural elements working with the world’s finest artisans and materials.
What’s on the agenda for today?
Working on a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired mosaic design to be installed in an entire swimming pool floor.
Any bar or restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
I love to swing by Christy's for a cocktail. It’s close and easy, always welcoming. I also want to check out the Biltmore Hotel’s new speakeasy.
How about a little leisure or culture?
My neighborhood is full of tree canopy and we have a double-sided sidewalk. I’ll take conference calls and even respond to emails while walking through this lush, architecturally significant neighborhood. I play doubles tennis at Salvadore Park with the local terrible, unruly players, as well as great friends. Music many times leads the way and Sundays are dedicated to my daughter at the studio as she’s recording her new songs.
Any weekend getaways?
My business takes me to very unique places; I’ve got St. John on the horizon for a project. And I just returned from Aspen for the winter holidays. It’s a yearly tradition, snowboarding.
What was your last great vacation?
Can’t believe I agreed to this — Silver Seas Voyage to Antarctica — but it was simply another world. I also booked Italy to visit my associates at mosaic studios in Venezia.
What store or service do you always recommend?
I can tell you, the only thing on my mind is the new John Varvatos opening in the Brickell City Center.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Snow Birds
Sarah Silverman • The Fillmore (South Beach) • Sat @ 8p • orchestra center, $109 per
Steve Martin & Martin Short • Hard Rock Live (Davie) • Sun @ 8p • section 114, $184 per
South Beach Jazz Festival • Multiple venues (Miami Beach) • Thurs-Sun • platinum all-access pass, $275 per
GETAWAYS • FOUND Ski
Alta-rnative digs
Renowned as one of the last true skier’s mountains in America (no, snowboards are most definitely not allowed), Alta can be a tricky nut to crack if you’ve never graced its slopes. That stems in part from the fact that it lacks a village of any sort; the resort, such as it is, is a series of hotels and boarding houses that line the side of the two-lane road running up Big Cottonwood Canyon, a 45-minute drive from the Salt Lake City airport. There’s no luxury shopping to be had, and no restaurants outside of the hotels to reserve.
And Alta’s hotels — if that’s even the right word for these throwback ski lodges — aren’t the sort of places to be booked on points. Five of them, all independently family-owned, line the valley from the (extremely) rustic Goldminer’s Daughter and the nicer Peruvian at one end, to the more upscale (but still very firmly set in the ski era of the ‘60s and ‘70s) Rustler Lodge at the other. To further that feel, these lodges all include breakfast and dinner — board, in the parlance — as part of one’s stay.
I’d never skied Alta myself until last winter, when a friend and I sought it out for a February ski weekend. Having not yet made heads or tails of Alta’s old-school lodging offerings, we booked at the one new hotel to open in the valley in the past several decades, Snowpine Lodge. Billed as the valley’s first luxury ski resort when it opened in 2019, the vibe is actually one of familiar modern alpine charm, with warm woods throughout its 59 guest rooms, many with balconies. As vertical as the mountain it faces, Snowpine covers six floors, including a spa, as well as two very enjoyable restaurants, Swen’s for fine dining (consider the large format elk osso buco, $160 per) and the casual Gulch Pub for drinks and bar fare (though the mountain’s true après spot is back at the Peruvian — all hail the P-Dog).
As for the skiing, Alta’s terrain and snow need no introduction; both proved sublime over our three days on snow. Snowpine Lodge is ski-out ski-in, with a private chairlift to hoist one back to the resort at the end of the day — a final luxurious touch. Perhaps next time, we’ll try one of the old-school lodges, but for Alta newbies, a stay at Snowpine Lodge will make you feel like you’ve been skiing these slopes your whole life, and rather stylishly at that. –Lockhart Steele
→ Snowpine Lodge (Alta, UT) • 10420 Little Cottonwood Rd • King rooms from $1059/weekend night.
GETAWAYS LINKS: American adds more weekly flights between MIA-EIS (Tortola) • Appreciating the design at new St. Regis Longboat Key • British Airways rebrands loyalty program, plans new rewards system for later this year • I tried Delta’s new (first-class only) Shake Shack burger, and • Why secret luxury hotels are opening inside existing properties.
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 seek intel:
What new fitness/wellness trend/class will you take on in the New Year?
What’s your new winter bar?
Tell us a secret about your favorite ski mountain!
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfoundmiami.com.
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Restaurant Rush, Winter 2025
Nine notable openings to book this season. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundmiami.com.
Mimi Chinese (South Beach), Toronto import brings high-gloss Chinese dining w/ black truffle shumai, tableside duck carving