After 15 years, this groundbreaking restaurant that helped make Miami cool is closing
After 15 years of stuffing Miami with bacon-wrapped dates and beautifully colored beet mojitos, the restaurant that made Midtown cool is closing.
The trend-setting Sugarcane, which opened at 3252 NE First Ave. in 2010, announced the news on its social media platforms, thanking its customers “who brought the energy day after day.” It will remain open until Jan. 31.
“Great food! Spirited cocktails! Excellent staff! We brought it all to Midtown and you chose us year after year,” the announcement said on Instagram and Facebook. “We were the ‘go to’ local spot for our neighbors and the ‘must go’ destination location for those visiting.
“Our outdoor garden has hosted more engagement parties, baby showers and promotion dinners than we can count. We have celebrated them all and more together!”
Midtown has drawn other popular restaurants recently — notably Maty’s, the Peruvian hotspot from James Beard Award-winning chef Val Chang, and her brother Nando Chang’s omakase spot Itamae AO. But in 2010, Sugarcane, co-founded by New York Sushisamba’s Shimon Bokova, was cutting edge, showing off trends that would become the rule rather than the exception.
Bokova enlisted one of his top chefs, TImon Balloo, to helm the kitchen that would go on to serve small plates and excel at inducing diners to indulge in favorites like short rib or tiradito or the legendary Sugarcane Brussels sprouts.
Balloo, who has moved on and is now the owner and chef of The Katherine in Fort Lauderdale, even persuaded Miami to fall in love with crispy pig ears. You might remember how well they went with a beet mojito in the restaurant’s constantly packed outdoor bar and garden.
In recent times, the restaurant, which also has a Las Vegas location that will remain open, leaned more toward raw bar choices and sushi as well as brunch fare and a daily happy hour.
And despite bowing out of Miami, the hospitality brand that owns Sugarcane, now called Sugar Duck, remains healthy overseas as well. In fact, the evolving Sugarcane menu has continued to inspire. A popular duck and waffle dish — crispy duck leg confit with a fried duck egg with maple syrup — inspired a popular London restaurant, Duck & Waffle, which has a restaurant in Edinburgh and also recently opened a location in Dubai.
You’ll also find some Sugarcane-esque dishes like harissa roasted cauliflower and grilled octopus with chimichurri on the menu.
