Andean amor

Maty’s (Midtown)

RESTAURANTS • FOUND Table

The Backstory: In May 2023, chef Valerie Chang opened Maty’s, a restaurant serving Peruvian cuisine as comfort food, the kind she grew up eating in her grandmother’s kitchen. Her cooking previously won the city over at Itamae, a Design District darling devoted to Nikkei cuisine and one of the most exciting and creative new restaurants to come on the scene in years. When the James Beard Foundation named her Best Chef South last summer for Maty’s, it confirmed something Miamians already knew — Chang deserves to be ranked in the rarefied strata of local Beard Award-winning chefs (like Michelle Bernstein and Michael Schwartz) who’ve come to define the city’s dining scene.

The Experience: Set inside an airy, spacious Midtown dining room with a minimalist, industrial aesthetic, Maty’s features high ceilings, exposed ductwork, and floor-to-ceiling windows, softened by gleaming white-tile finishes, sage-green accent walls, and blonde wood furniture with globe pendant lighting. The design works to create a calming effect that also allows the food to take center stage. Within the restaurant, Itamae lives on as Itamae AO, an intimate 10-seat chef’s counter offering a multi-course, Nikkei-inspired tasting menu helmed by Valerie’s brother, chef Nando Chang, who was also her business partner at the original Itamae.

Maty’s smartly edited ever-changing menu is arranged in a single column, progressing from lighter to heartier. There’s also a pared-down cocktail menu highlighting pisco; the classic pisco sour made with Peruvian 1615 is the obvious choice. On a recent visit, we ordered ceviche prepared with red onion and Peruvian corn nuts in a divine lime and aji amarillo bath. Scallop crudo with sliced green grapes in a burnt serrano cilantro sauce is as beautiful as it is delicious, if a bit small in size. Corn is a cornerstone of Peruvian cuisine, and thus Maty’s menu, as in the “tortitos de choclo,” corn fritter discs served with pickled vegetables and hot sauce. The dish simply named “corn” is also a hit, a blend of both Andean and local Florida corn, in a sweet, creamy huancaina sauce.

For mains, there’s a beautiful butterflied whole roasted dorado in an aji amarillo beurre blanc, and also (when on the menu) the piéce de rèsistance: wagyu oxtail saltado, a decadent, tender spin on the classic Peruvian stir-fry with crispy potatoes.

Why It’s FOUND: An instant classic for elegant Peruvian cuisine by one of Miami’s stars. –Shayne Benowitz

→ Maty’s (Midtown) • 3255 NE 1st Ave • Daily 5-10p • Reserve.