The steakhouse everyone in Miami has been waiting for is finally opening. Take a look

One of the most anticipated restaurant returns of the year is almost here.

The new and improved Sunny’s Steakhouse, the outdoor pandemic pop-up from Will Thompson and Chef Carey Hynes, is opening in October at its new location at 7357 NW Miami Ct., Miami, just north of Little Haiti.

“It’s amazing to see it come to life,” Thompson says. “It’s such a long process, but we’re starting to see the pieces come into place and seeing what it will feel like when it’s done.”

Co-owners of downtown restaurant and cocktail bar Jaguar Sun, which they closed permanently at the end of August to focus on the new spot, Thompson and Hynes created Sunny’s in 2020 as a response to the Florida’s COVID shutdown. Under a giant tree at Lot 6 in the Little River neighborhood, they served steaks and crudo and other dishes on and off for two years.

Sunny’s drew a large audience — reservations weren’t always easy to get — and was named one of the best new restaurants in America by Bon Appétit. It shut down in 2022, with Thompson and Hynes ready to open the concept for good.

Thompson calls the new Sunny’s, which features indoor dining, an outdoor bar and a private dining space, a “refinement” of the original concept, one that he hopes is timeless and a true reflection of Miami.

“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 admits. “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?”

Designed by New York-based designer Amy Butchko of The Springs Collective, Sunny’s now seats 220 across 13,000 square feet, with antique light fixtures and hand-carved woodwork.

In the kitchen, Hynes and Thompson have enlisted Aaron Brooks of Edge Steak & Bar as executive chef (Hynes calls him “a master of charcuterie”). The menu will now include pasta, including the popular corn agnolotti with blue crab and saffron from Jaguar Sun, as well as a raw bar with seafood and other Florida favorites like Treasure Coast oysters, royal red shrimp, grouper and stone crab.

“We had constraints before, like not being able to boil water,” Hynes says. “Now we can boil water, so we can offer pasta, which is a great way to round out your meal.

“We took the idea of a steakhouse as a jumping off point and thought: What do we like to eat in a steakhouse? For us that’s a lot of raw bar items, here with a slightly higher level of spice or acidity than you’d find at most steakhouses.”

You can also expect grilled fish, he said, including a tilefish dish the kitchen is still working on that’s wrapped in cabbage and grilled.

Also for the first time, Sunny’s will have the ability and space to dry age its own meat.

“That level of control would’ve been unimaginable in the pop-up phase,” Thompson says.

Jaguar Sun was known for its eclectic cocktail program, but Thompson says the drinks menu, while still offering signature libations and old favorites from Jaguar Sun like the Green Ghoul, will change. He plans to lead the cocktail program back to basics, creating elevated, perfect versions of the classics instead of cocktails with over-the-top ingredients.

“We want to lean into stuff people really want to drink,” he explains. “People really love a John Daly, so we’ll have that on the menu. We’ll have a Cosmo on the menu. We’re thinking, ‘What are people drinking at Flanigan’s and can we do a version of it?’ If you finish a cocktail and you don’t order a second one, that drink needs to be reconsidered. So many of the drinks celebrated right now don’t pass that test.”

Getting the new Sunny’s up and running hasn’t left either Thompson or Hynes much time to mourn Jaguar Sun, which was named a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2023. But Thompson isn’t sure he would mourn much anyway.

“It doesn’t feel gone to me,” he admits. “The things people loved most about Jaguar Sun, we’re still making available. Now we need all of Miami to come hang out with us here.”

Sunny’s Steakhouse

Where: 7357 NW Miami Ct., Miami

Opening: Oct. 2

Hours: 5-midnight Wednesday-Saturday; 4-10 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday-Tuesday

Reservations and more information: https://resy.com