This brand-new Miami steakhouse was just named one of the must-try spots of fall
With a new restaurant opening just about every day in Miami, choosing where to eat can be a confusing and frustrating decision.
But there’s one spot in the Magic City you shouldn’t miss, according to a national magazine.
Bon Appétit just published its must-visit new restaurants list for 2024, and Sunny’s Steakhouse, which just opened its doors in Miami’s Little River neighborhood, made the list.
Co-owners Will Thompson and Chef Cary Hynes of Jaguar Sun, which closed earlier this year, created Sunny’s in response to the 2020 pandemic. The outdoor-only spot was known for its tables under a giant banyan tree, great steaks and tableside martinis.
The restaurant, which made Bon Appétit’s list of the 50 Best New Restaurants of 2022, eventually closed in 2022, and just reopened in a new indoor-outdoor space, which Thompson calls a “refinement” of the original Sunny’s.
“One of the things I was scared about was the idea of making it overly fancy and losing what made it so attractive to people,” he told the Miami Herald. “It was an effort to try and capture everything that was Sunny’s. We had to think how to make this a year-round restaurant with a dining room. How do you make sure that feels as good as sitting under that big beautiful tree?”
Bon Appétit praised Sunny’s for its innovation — and retaining that banyan tree.
“There will still be an outdoor brick courtyard replete with that majestic banyan tree and full bar, but diners can now enjoy Sunny’s rain-or-shine in the indoor mid-century modern space,” the story says, going on to praise the raw bar that highlights local Florida seafood and the wood-fired meats, particularly the wagyu skirt steak — “best paired with potato butter or pineapple hot sauce.”
“Diners can also delight in many headliners from the team’s now-closed restaurant, Jaguar Sun, such as housemade pasta like squid ink paccheri with octopus or fluffy Parker House rolls,” the story continues. “Don’t miss a pick-your-path martini, a house cocktail like the Jailbreak with coffee-infused rum, or a seriously good N/A drink to wash it all down.”
The magazine also praised Paya, the new Miami Beach restaurant from Chef Niven Patel and Mohamed Alkassar, saying its opening in September was “a high note” in Miami’s culinary development.
The menu from Patel and Alkassar, also owners of the upscale Italian restaurant Erba in Coral Gables and Ghee Indian Kitchen in Kendall, highlights island fare like Sebastian inlet oysters jackfruit mignonette, scallop crudo with peach, jalapeño and passionfruit and whole spear-caught hogfish.
The other must-try restaurants on Bon Appétit’s list are: Cantina Rose in Chicago; Lady of the House in Detroit; Perseid in Houston; Rasarumah and Gu Grocery in Los Angeles; Time and Tide and Bar Kabawa in New York; and Judith in Tennessee. All are expected to open by the end of 2024.
If you go
Sunny’s Steakhouse: 7357 NW Miami Ct., Miami; sunnysmia.com, 305-456-4562
Paya: 1209 17th St., Miami Beach; www.payamiami.com; 305-397-8080
