The Best American Food in Miami

Patio or dining room, the kitchen sends the same meal either way, which tells you something about how this Coconut Grove fine-dining room operates. Michael Beltran's French-inflected New American menu earns a Michelin star on the strength of sauces that feel like the actual point of each dish, with venison tartare and bone marrow sabayon as a case in point. The kind of place where the bread course quietly becomes a highlight.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star
2. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurant
3. Miami New Times 2024 · Best Restaurant When Someone Else Is Paying · Best of Miami New Times

The glass-fronted kitchen puts the cooking on full display at this sleek, intimate fine dining spot on a busy Miami Beach corner. Jeremy Ford runs an ambitious tasting menu that pulls in Latin and Asian influences, and the kitchen supplies itself from its own organic farm in Redland, which is either admirable or showing off. Probably both. Michelin has given it a star, and the room fills accordingly.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide 1 Star
3. Miami New Times 2023 · Best Restaurant (Miami Beach) · Best of Miami New Times

The courtyard at this Design District gastropub has been full since before the neighborhood had boutiques worth shopping in. Michael Schwartz's wood-fired, farm-sourced menu holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and landed a New York Times best-of list, which hasn't made the regulars any harder to find. Concrete floors, a good bar, and a crowd that ranges from deal-closers to friend-catchers keep the room feeling like somewhere rather than somewhere to be seen.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Michael Schwartz
3. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Michael Schwartz

1. USA Today Restaurants of the Year
2. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: South · Jeremy and Cindy Bearman

A short rib empanada with aji amarillo sauce has been the anchor of this Palm Beach restaurant's menu long enough that regulars would riot if it disappeared. Chef Clay Conley runs a contemporary American kitchen where crudos, pastas, and small plates rotate with the seasons, though a handful of signatures stay put. Half-orders of pasta let you try more than one, which is the kind of quiet generosity that keeps locals coming back.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: South
3. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: South

Caribbean spices do the work that Texas smoke usually handles at this Coconut Grove barbecue spot, where the brisket runs 14 to 16 hours and the spare ribs come jerk-seasoned. The team also runs the fine-dining restaurants Kyu and Shiso, and the patience shows in the supporting cast too: collards, baked beans, cornbread made from fresh-shucked corn. The open courtyard under the hammocks makes a strong argument for ordering an old-fashioned alongside.

1. Miami New Times Best New Restaurants
2. The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Miami Right Now
3. Miami New Times 2024 · Best Barbecue · Best of Miami New Times

A hulking beef rib crusted with salt and pepper, served in a warehouse the size of a small airport, is your first clue that this isn't Miami's usual scene. Pitmaster Bill Durney's Brooklyn original comes to the Miami Produce Center, where forklifts idle outside and the smell of smoke drifts past a long bar and open kitchen. The Michelin Bib Gourmand BBQ shop does brisket that would hold its own in Texas, with yucca bowls on the side for local color.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Tucked into a South Miami-Dade golf course in a way that makes zero sense until you smell the smoke, Apocalypse BBQ is a bare-bones barbecue shop with a no-phone, no-takeout policy and a cult following to match. The menu leans Miami: cafecito ribs, brisket bacon, wild boar burgers. The wait is long, the free beer while you stand in line is a nice consolation, and the skull-shaped cornbread drizzled with hot honey is not subtle about what kind of place this is.

1. Eater 38 Essential Restaurants in Miami
2. Miami New Times Top 100 Restaurants

1. Eater 38 Essential Restaurants in Miami
2. Miami New Times Top 100 Restaurants
3. Miami New Times 2024 · Best Chicken Sandwich · Best of Miami New Times

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: South · Rick Mace

1. Miami New Times 2025 · Best Diner · Best of Miami New Times

1. Miami New Times Top 100 Restaurants

1. Miami New Times Top 100 Restaurants

1. Miami New Times Top 100 Restaurants