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Top Chef vets and James Beard semi-finalists Janine Booth and Jeff McInnis have open the doors to their latest restaurant in Miami, Mi’talia Kitchen & Bar (5958 South Dixie Highway). Located right next to their Southern-style spot, Root & Bone, it boasts modern Italian fare and an extensive limoncello program.
The restaurant is in partnership with Grove Bay Hospitality Group, who the duo also partnered with for Root & Bone and their Miami Beach restaurant, Stiltsville Fish Bar. The dinner menu offers updated takes on Italian classics with a wide selection of small plates and salads, along with pizzettas and entrees. Think dishes like cauliflower arancini, bucatini carbonara, bolognese with ricotta gnudi, Tuscan brick chicken with hazelnut romesco, truffle-crusted filet mignon, and the sunflower pizza.
Guests can pair those dishes with one of the restaurant’s house-made limoncellos or cocktails like the Ms. Cesario with Elyx limoncello and lemongrass green tea or the Lemon Queen made with Beefeater limoncello with lavender honey. The bar also serves two local Miami brews on tap alongside two wines on tap, in addition to an extensive wine list that focuses on (no surprise here) Italian wines.
The indoor 98-seat dining room melds Italian details with Miami’s tropical vibes. Booth spearheaded the design process herself, utilizing white and black patterned tiles and a frosted glass spherical chandelier running the length of the restaurant, a backlit wall of wooden shelving in the front of the dining room filled with bottles of wine and jars of yellow-hued preserved lemons for Limoncello. The dining room offers a variety of seating options including a communal table and a 10-seat bar. Outside, the 60-seat offers lounge seating and full tables under umbrellas and amongst palm trees wrapped in lighting.
The restaurant is currently open for dinner service nightly from Sunday through Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday until 11 p.m. Happy hour is offered daily from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., with other specials including half-priced wine bottles on Mondays also available. For more information call 305-885-4008.
