The best new restaurants of 2024
The best places we ate in Miami this year
Dec
18
2024
These are the best new restaurants of 2024.
In 2024, The Hungry Post team did plenty of eating and drinking. We explored our neighborhood favorites and visited over 200 restaurants, including at least 90 new spots—some of them more than once.
Every year, we create a guide spotlighting the Best New Restaurants that opened. This year’s list is shorter than usual, as we’ve chosen to focus on the places that we feel have truly elevated Miami’s dining scene with their exceptional flavors, techniques, creativity, and dedication to delivering unforgettable experiences. These are the places that made us think, “Damn, Miami, you continue to impress.”
To everyone behind these restaurants (and all restaurants): thank you for what you do every day. We’re so grateful.
SUNNY’S
Neighborhood: Little River
Address: 7357 NW Miami Ct
Cuisine: Steakhouse
The wait was worth it—Sunny’s Steakhouse, created by the talented team behind Jaguar Sun, is on its way to becoming one of the best restaurants in the U.S.—mark our words.
After two years of construction and a complete transformation, it’s exactly what we hoped for. They’ve kept the charming outdoor courtyard with its iconic banyan tree from the pop-up days, but the real magic is in the upgrade. What was once a temporary setup has become a dapper stainless-steel kitchen, paired with a new dining room with an old-school Palm Beach charm, the most amazing indoor bar with golden lights, and an outdoor terrace bar for a more casual hang.
You can expect top-notch service and killer cocktails like the new Circus Permit, a delicious take on the spicy margarita with watermelon and elderflower. Of course, all your favorite variations of martinis are available. On the menu, you’ll find playful questions like “Feeling flirty?” or “Feeling nerdy?” Choose your path, and the amazing team will guide you from there. We’re also obsessed with their new Mezcal Service—a must for any dinner party. It comes with a flask of smooth Espadin Mezcal, homemade sangrita, and a slice of orange with tajin.
As for the food, there wasn’t a dish we didn’t love. Favorites like hiramasa, corn agnolotti with blue crab, and Wagyu carpaccio make a return. New highlights include the fluke in a strawberry aguachile and KO egg with ossetra caviar, lamb saddle, duck cavatelli, and rotisserie chicken, which we paired with all the salsas—don’t skip any of them. The hanger steak is reasonably priced and just as good as you’d expect, and the potato butter, XO sauce, and Béarnaise are perfect for dipping those crispy fries.
Sunny’s Steakhouse can be whatever you need it to be—whether you’re stopping by the terrace for a casual drink or planning a birthday dinner party.
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RECOVECO
Neighborhood: South Miami
Address: 6000 SW 74th St Ste 1
Cuisine: Modern American
Recoveco is hands down the best restaurant in South Miami. It’s the spot for a relaxed night out and for those who genuinely love good food and interesting flavor combinations. You may not know every ingredient listed on the menu, but you’re intrigued and curious enough to ask about it and try something different.
This new establishment, created with love by Chefs Maria Teresa Gallina, Chef Nico Martinez, and wine expert Shannon Gable, is where we want to live. From the silverware to the lighting, the amazing wine selection, and the carefully crafted dishes, Recoveco shows us how great Miami restaurants can be.
The menu changes based on the best available ingredients and is cooked in their open kitchen, intentionally keeping things simple yet bursting with flavor. Standout dishes include one of the best salads you’ll ever have, the Celery & Lovage Salad with apriums, pepitas, and a mountain of Parmigiano Reggiano, the Great American Red Snapper Crudo in a savory horchata sauce, as well as the Royal Red Shrimp in white soy ponzu and the Grassfed Beef Tongue with whipped sesame, chimichurri, paired with the crispiest carta di musica crackers. Oh and for sure order, the Fig Leaf & Cucumber with lemon sherbet and juniper berry meringue. This was the best dessert we had this year.
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VICEVERSA APERITIVO BAR
Neighborhood: Downtown
Address: 398 NE 5th St
Cuisine: Italian, Pizza, Aperitivo Bar
Allora!! The team behind our favorite Miami bar, Jaguar Sun (now closed), has joined forces with Valentino Longo, one of the city’s most talented bartenders, to open their second bar: ViceVersa. Located inside The Elser Hotel, this funky Italian aperitivo bar offers classic Italian cocktails made with Italian spirits and Miami’s seasonal ingredients. Longo, drawing on his experience at The Champagne Bar at the Four Seasons, has crafted a creative cocktail list with sections like the Negroni Family, Martinis, and Signature Cocktails.
We’re coming here with friends who love a cozy yet lively downtown bar. Together you’ll nerd out about Negronis, Americanos, and basically any vermouth-forward Italian cocktail.
The menu, designed by Jaguar Sun’s chefs Carey Hynes and Justin Flit, includes raw bar offerings like the most delicious Scallops and neo-Neapolitan pizzas. Our favorite so far is the white sauce Clam Pizza with middleneck clams, lemons, and scallions, and the Sungold Tomato Pizza with guanciale and pecorino.
On their lunch menu, they have our favorite new pasta of 2024: slow-cooked saffron cavatelli with Sunday gravy and XO sauce. They also serve the best burger in Miami, available only on Mondays. They make about 40 burgers, and chances are they’ll run out by 6:30—maybe later if you’re lucky.
Oh, and if the seasonal Mango or Passion Fruit Gelato is available, get it. But honestly, all their homemade gelatos are incredible. Shout out to the team for adding a drizzle of olive oil and sea salt to our scoops.
ViceVersa is open every day from 5 PM to midnight. They’re also open for lunch on Saturday and Sunday from 12 PM to 2 PM. Don’t have a reservation? The bar is a great seat if you’re looking for less food and more drinks.
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KOJIN 2.0
Neighborhood: Coral Gables
Address: 804 Ponce de Leon
Cuisine: Modern American, Japanese
If you ever went to Kojin’s speakeasy concept in Little River, you only got a glimpse of what they can do. They have stepped it up with Kojin 2.0., a chef-driven concept in a new space with an actual kitchen and an incredible menu. It works for all types of occasions. We also love a non-Italian dinner, in a neighborhood that has a fixation with Italian restaurants. Yes, Coral Gables, we’re talking about you.
Chef Pedro Mederos & his team are cooking over wood and while the menu is influenced by Japanese cooking and flavors, to say that this restaurant is Japanese, would be putting them in a box. It’s the food of fine dining but they’re back in the kitchen wearing their kicks. Think of really pro chefs cooking what they love to eat in a very relaxed vibe.
They have a la carte dining and tasting menu options. And the best part is that if your date wants the a la carte menu and you want the tasting menu, you can both get what you want.
Some of the dishes we are constantly daydreaming of include the Maitake mushroom with parmesan, wild rice risotto, and some apricot; the most deliciously cooked brown butter Scallop we’ve had in a very long time with smoked pork in a white bean sauce; and Kojin Caesar Salad, which they describe as a Flangian’s salad that was dropped off in Kyoto for a year. And as far as the mains go, we can’t get enough of the Market Fish and the grass-fed Short Rib. For dessert, get all of them especially the Donut with foie creme and a chocolate sage sauce for dipping.
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ITAMAE AO
Neighborhood: Midtown
Address: 3225 NE 1st Ave
Cuisine: Nikkei, Omakase
If you want to check out a very original and out-of-the-box Omakase experience, then add Itamae AO to your list. The name might ring a bell because it’s from the same creative minds behind B-Side, Maty’s, and of course the original Itamae.
To get to Itamae AO, you’ll have to enter sister restaurant Maty’s in Midtown and go all the way to the back and through the light wooden double doors. There has been an evolution from the OG Itamae you knew in the Design District. But you can still expect incredible flavors, delicate slices of tiraditos, a mix of aji & spice in their sauces, lots of acidity, and Chef Nando Chang leading the way.
At Itamae AO you’ll get a 14-course Nikkei omakase that highlights Japanese techniques with Peruvian influences at $165 per person.
We are obsessed with the space. Think of it as your cool friend’s, sleek open kitchen with DMX and Fugees playing in the background where you’ll experience the most unexpected yet incredibly wild flavor combinations with a front-row seat to all the action.
The “AO” added to Itamae means blue in Japanese, making the tasting menu focused solely on seafood. Our favorite dishes were the Grouper with gooseneck barnacles and yuyo served alongside the Squid with fermented yuzu and huacatay. The Octopus with Botija olive and anchovy reminded us of their original Octopus Bañadito. The Scallop nigiri with apple banana and ají charapita was a great balance between sweet and spicy. As big fans of Eel, we must say, their version with strawberry and ají panca is probably the best pedacito we’ve ever had. The Bluefin Tuna with short grain rice and cilantro was a comforting arroz a la marinera. We finished with a sweet note and were blown away by the Lúcuma with shitake mushroom and soy caramel, a creamy salted caramel ice cream, but with a soy sauce kick.
Itamae AO is an elevated dining experience (yet laid back) and a great spot for a special occasion like an anniversary. We’d say the best way to enjoy it is with one other person. They’re currently open from Tuesday to Saturday and have three seatings.
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