The Latest Restaurant in Miami Has No Menu

Are you an overthinker in relation to eating out? You reserve a desk weeks upfront, examine the climate app each day to plan an outfit, and peruse the menu 4 occasions over, realizing precisely what you’ll order. Hell, you’ve determined for the desk — you’re sharing the calamari, certainly one of you is getting the ocean bass, the opposite the lamb, and also you’re undoubtedly pairing the port with cake.

One restaurant desires to throw this decision-making out the window. Effectively, at the very least for the meals. Miami’s latest waterfront Italian eatery, San Lorenzo, has no menu.

“In a world of infinite decisions, the place distractions are round on a regular basis, to be guided is definitely welcome and a little bit of recent air,” says co-founder of San Lorenzo, Andrea Fraquelli. “The principle alternative is coming to the restaurant. Allow us to do the remainder.”

The restaurant is the latest eatery from 84 Magic Hospitality, by Fraquelli, Ignacio Lopez Mancisidor, and Mattia Cicognani, and it opens this Saturday, Could 31. It provides a four-course menu for $140 for 2 individuals. You get to make only one alternative: fish or meat. The programs embrace an appetizer, two pasta dishes, and a dessert; vegetarians could be accommodated by request. Reservations can solely be made the old-school method — by telephone. Or just, stroll in.

Eduardo Suarez and Milan’s Alessio Bernardinito designed the area with heat tones that really feel breezy and coastal, alongside crisp white tablecloths, recent flowers, and Venetian lighting. The indoor eating room seats 44 individuals, plus there’s a standing bar space. Exterior, an Italian terracotta terrace seats 30 at candlelit tables with views of Little River.

Tuscan-born Giulio Rossi leads the kitchen and is resurrecting a signature dish from his storied previous. Rossi ran eating places in Italy within the Eighties, together with Ristorante Mario Fiesole, which he owned for 18 years, and Panacea, a seafood-focused restaurant that earned a Michelin star in 1991. Rossi is bringing a lobster, crab, and king prawn seafood pasta from his time at Panacea to San Lorenzo. And that’s nearly the one meals element the restaurant let slip to Eater.

Cotoletta

The now-closed Romeo’s Cafe in Coral Gables had a no-menu idea, providing six programs of rotating Italian staples. Different eating places across the nation have experimented with related concepts for years like chef Thomas Keller’s Advert Hoc in Yountville, California, the place the family-style dishes change each day, and Fuad’s in Houston, Texas, the place dishes are custom-made to the diner’s choice.

Scott Roth

A meals for thought experiment

Fraquelli has performed with a restricted menu in Miami. He’s the brains behind Cotoletta, which opened in October final yr in Coconut Grove. The Italian bistro is thought for serving only one key dish: veal Milanese.

“Milanese [at Cotoletta] has been my check case for this experiment, and we couldn’t be happier. Individuals are not bored,” says Fraquelli. “It’s like, you go to a pizzeria they usually don’t have antipasti, pasta, secondi… they’ve pizza. This manner of working with limiting the menu creates belief and consistency.”

Fraquelli speaks of his favourite thinker, Alan Watts, when explaining his imaginative and prescient. Watts is famously identified for saying, “In freely giving management, you bought it,” and a perception that Fraquelli hopes diners will observe in letting go. He hopes individuals will spend their time speaking to 1 one other on the desk somewhat than worrying about what to order.

“Management is an phantasm. Cease selecting, allow us to do it.”

The thought is akin to the favored Japanese omakase-style of eating, the place diners belief the chef to decide on the meals and its development. Or prix-fixe tasting menus that change typically. Fraquelli says his restaurant is extra of a family-style consolation meal somewhat than a fine-dining night.

Fraquelli provides that limiting the menu at San Lorenzo means the restaurant has minimal waste in relation to components. The kitchen will get to fireside and excellent fewer dishes, letting the seasonality of produce shine somewhat than attempting to steadiness a multi-page menu. “By narrowing the main focus, we be certain that each dish is a standout,” he says.

Scott Roth

Scott Roth

The philosophy extends to drinks, too. 4 pink wines, 4 white, a rosé, and two glowing wines, together with a Franciacorta, will probably be obtainable. A single model of every spirit to supply basic cocktails, alongside a collection of digestivos additionally line the bar — attention-grabbing finds just like the Greek Kástra Elión vodka distilled from inexperienced olives, and regionally made Harry Blu’s gin from Miami are on deck.

San Lorenzo is called after Fraquelli’s grandfather, Lorenzo who co-founded U.Okay.’s fashionable Italian restaurant group, Spaghetti Home. Fraquelli is a third-generation restaurateur who hopes individuals will belief him with out a menu. The restaurant opens this Saturday and is situated at 620 Northeast 78th Road. Reservations could be made by calling (786) 828-7136. Simply be able to reply: carne o pesce?