Esquire names Miami and Coral Gables spots as best new restaurants of the year

Two Miami-Dade restaurants — one in Midtown, the other in Coral Gables — were named the best new restaurants of 2023 by Esquire.

In “50 Best New Restaurants in America, 2023,” the magazine named the Italian restaurant Erba in Coral Gables and the Peruvian spot Maty’s in Midtown as restaurants that “stood out from the rest.”

Erba, the collaboration between Chef Niven Patel and partner Mohamed Alkassar, opened in October, while Maty’s, from Chef Val Chang, formerly of Itamae, opened in March.

The Florida-forward Erba offers Italian specialties with a tropical twist, often courtesy of Rancho Patel, Patel’s farm in Homestead. The tropical touches charmed Esquire writer Kevin Sintumuang, who praised the pasta paired with conch, the crudo of local wahoo topped with star fruit, the tiramisu with a hint of tres leches.

“There is a grandness to the room at Erba,” Sintumuang writes. “It makes you want to settle in for the evening and bathe in the lushness. . . . But it’s the Florida-tinged Italian cuisine that will make you a regular.”

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Such praise means a lot to Patel and Alkassar, whose Alpareno Restaurant Group also includes the restaurants Orno and Mamey in the Thesis Hotel in Coral Gables and Ghee Indian Kitchen in Kendall.

To Alkassar, who grew up with a famous Esquire cover on his bedroom wall — the shot of boxer Muhammad Ali pierced with arrows — getting the attention from the national magazine was thrilling.

“I never thought I’d be noticed or recognized by Esquire, so for me it was special,” he said. “At the restaurant industry level, we’re among some of the best restaurants in town. . . . it means a lot to our team. We opened right into the season with no training wheels, and we were slammed. They handled it incredibly well. This recognition is a nice tap on the shoulder.”

Patel agrees.

“We’ve put in so much hard work on Erba for the last three years,” he said. “To have it open and be recognized, it’s a great honor.”

Since the restaurant opened, the response has been positive, Patel said. Only a few minor elements and menu items have been tweaked, although guests should expect to see changes as South Florida heads into its prime growing season. Patel is looking forward to the Romano bean crop and says he has already incorporated Rancho Patel turnips into the menu.

“It’s prime time for us,” Patel said, “especially with the vegetables and seafood. I think the evolution of the farm and the menu will keep our diners excited.”

One thing that won’t change: the mafaldine (crinkly pasta) with Bahamian conch, one of the dishes beloved by Esquire, will remain on the menu. “It’s a staple,” Alkasssar said.

At Maty’s, Esquire writer Sintumuang was taken with the ceviches and tiraditos, writing that eating a traditional crudo then experiencing Val Chang’s take on the dish is “like going from a 3D theater to a 4D one, where objects fly at you, the seats rumble, mist fills the air, and for those brief moments you are in another reality.”

“Ocean trout takes on the tropics with a passion fruit, each bite topped with sliced gooseberries; slices of kanpachi are artfully layered with kohlrabi, a kiwi berry, and a bright, fiery aji dulce sauce,” he writes. “You could order everything from this part of the menu and leave happy.”

Such praise has helped Maty’s earn similar tributes. In April, Bon Appétit named the restaurant one of the best new spots of 2023, the only Florida restaurant to make the list. A month earlier, Chang and her brother Nando were singled out as part of the reason the magazine named Miami the Food City of the Year, using a photo shot at their restaurant Itamae on the cover.

Also in 2023, Food & Wine named Chang and her brother Nando Chang among the best new chefs of the year. Itamae closed in August and was replaced by the Changs’ fast-casual sushi concept B-Side. Nando Chang plans to open an omakase spot, Itamae Ao, in Midtown Miami near Maty’s.

The praise for the ceviches and tiraditos hits home, Chang said.

“That’s the influence of Itamae on this restaurant,” she said of the beloved Design District spot. “It’s a continuation of the things we do and things we love and who we are.”

Chang is grateful for the national recognition from Esquire and the platform it brings, but, as always, is ready to keep working.

“We just want to keep our head down and focus on the mission in front of us, and let the rest kind of happen,” she said. “That has been the way we’ve operated since we opened! Just focused on putting in the work and to keep progressing. But I’m forever a subscriber now. I’m forever grateful to all of these publications.”

Esquire’s best new restaurants in Miami

Erba: 227 S. Dixie Hwy., Coral Gables; erbamiami.com; 305-712-7788

Maty’s: 3255 NE First Ave., Miami; www.matysmiami.com; 786-338-3525

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