Endless summer

La Petite Maison, The Jolie Filtered Showerhead, best coffee shops, Coconut Cartel, St. Augustine, Meadow Collective, Off Site Brewery, reader survey results, MORE

Sep 12, 2024

RESTAURANTS • First Person

Very Nice

Miami in the late summer might not be the South of France, but with a bit of imagination and a reservation at La Petite Maison (LPM), it can certainly feel like it. Since opening in 2017, the chic restaurant has been abuzz with locals who can’t get enough of it — myself included.

The convivial space is sophisticated, yet playful and cozy, especially when the table centerpieces are juicy tomatoes and crisp lemons. (The idea is to cut up the fruits and create a little salad, one that’s even better paired with a freshly baked baguette.) Like other LPM outposts worldwide, from London to Dubai, the buttery, garlicky escargot is a highlight. The restaurant’s signature Tomatini martini is an ode to the natural sweetness of a fresh tomato, complemented with white balsamic vinegar and simple syrup and topped with a fresh crack of black pepper.

The restaurant’s summer menu, Les Precious Moments, is available through September 30 and offers two prix fixe, three-course dinner experiences. The St. Tropez ($60 per) includes classics like homemade arrabbiata rigatoni pasta and risotto with seasonal mushrooms and Parmesan. The Monte Carlo ($90 per) features grilled filet mignon, duck confit with orange and endive, and that escargot with garlic butter and parsley.

Pair your meal with LPM’s newest rosé, LPM x Figuière, crafted in collaboration with Domaine Figuière, and available by the glass. And save room for dessert, perhaps vanilla cheesecake topped with berry compote and French toast with spiced ice cream. –Melissa Puppo

→ LPM Miami (Brickell) • 1300 Brickell Bay Dr • Mon-Sun 6-11p • Reserve.

MIAMI RESTAURANT LINKS: BonApp’s 20 best new restaurants of 2024 includes Tam Tam • Sushi by Bou returns tomorrow in hidden Wynwood speakeasy • Is Foxhole reopening in Miami Beach? Sure seems like it.

GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Sponsor

The beauty of a good shower

Ryan and Arjan here, the co-founders of Jolie, a beauty wellness company focused on purifying the quality of one’s shower water for better skin and hair. We’re both fans and readers of FOUND, which is why we decided to sponsor this newsletter to reach like-minded folks like you.

Jolie was founded with one simple goal in mind: to purify your shower water for better skin, hair, and wellbeing. That's what we do.

The quality of our shower water is fundamental to the quality of our hair and skin. And the Jolie Filtered Showerhead helps you address all your skin and hair concerns starting at the source… the water.

We offer a 60-day, no questions asked, money-back guarantee. So if you're generally skeptical (like we are), try it and see for yourself. If you don't love Jolie, we'll refund your money. –Ryan Babenzien & Arjan Singh

→ Shop: The Jolie Filtered Showerhead (Jolie) • available in brushed gold, modern chrome, brushed steel, jet black, and vibrant red • $148.

WORK • Thursday Routine

Zig zags

DANI ZIG • co-founder & CEO • Coconut Cartel
Neighborhood you live in: Coconut Grove

It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
Hopefully I wake up early and make it to the gym. Then, a morning matcha is a must, and I head out on a five-minute walk from my house to our “office house.” After COVID I relocated HQ to a bungalow in Coconut Grove where we all work, and it’s a total vibe. Open windows and palm trees set the mood, and a beautiful, newly remodeled kitchen in the middle of our workspace is ideal for cocktail recipe testing and happy hours. Running a spirits brand is a creative pursuit, so between the serious work we like to share drinks and exchange ideas around the kitchen island.

What’s on the agenda for today?
We’re getting ready to launch a new product. It’s the first-ever line extension we’ve done, so there’s a lot of excitement in the air. Our creative director is prepping for a photoshoot and new recipes to feature on our sales materials and websites. The marketing team is filling in the PR team on deadlines and media strategies. You can also hear Zoom calls flowing as the sales team prepares our distributors to get out there.

Any bar or restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
Date night Fridays are for NIU Kitchen in downtown Miami. This authentic Spanish spot knows how to properly dress a pa amb tomaquet, and they keep their wine selection fresh.

Any weekend getaways?
Okay, I’ll let you in on a little secret… the best outdoor music venue on the East Coast is the Amphitheater in St. Augustine. There’s great food from local vendors, solid cocktails, and the sound system is really good. I appreciate when a music venue prioritizes quality food and beverage, so I try to go at least once a year to see music and make a little vacation of it.

I recommend renting a house on St. Augustine Beach, where you can wake up and literally walk right out onto the wide sandy beaches. There’s a cute historical town to spend the afternoon walking around, and some great bars and restaurants worth visiting, such as Ice Plant, Boat Drinks, and Forgotten Tonic. I love St. Augustine; it’s such a low-key beach vibe and a nice contrast to the glitz and glam of Miami. It’s a five-hour drive from Miami or a quick flight to Jacksonville to visit the oldest city in America.

What was your last great vacation?
Last summer we visited Puglia and it was amazing. We traveled to the very tip of the boot to a town called Gagliano del Capo and stayed at Palazzo Daniele, which will forever go down in history as one of the most special places I’ve ever stayed. Nobody in the town spoke English and it seemed like everyone vacationing there was Italian. The palazzo is a family heirloom transformed into a boutique hotel and art space, with incredible contemporary art in the common areas. I highly recommend the pasta making class with the hotel’s chef and, of course, go for the wine pairing.

We then ventured a bit north to an area near Fasano and stayed at the brand new Masseria Calderisi hotel, with gorgeous grounds on an olive grove within a five-minute drive to a private beach club for guests. At the nearby beach village, Savalettri, we ate lunch at Osteria del Porto literally three days in a row because it was that good. We indulged in fresh sea bream, raw shrimp, and grilled prawns everyday. I’ll dream of that sea bream carpaccio forever.

What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
I bought my childhood dream car, a 2001 BMW 330ci convertible in classic BMW silver with the red leather seats. She needs a little work and the radio is broken, but I love her and it’s so fun to drive.

GETAWAYS LINKS: Wyndham plans major glow-up for Grand Rio Mar Rainforest Beach in Puerto Rico • Nikki Beach breaking ground on first-ever Carribean resort, on Jolly Beach on Antigua • Luxury riverboats are giving superyacht charters a run for their money.

CULTURE & LEISURE • Visible

Herbie Hancock • Au-Rene Theater (Ft Lauderdale) • Fri @ 8p • orchestra, $87 per
Philadelphia vs Inter Miami • Chase Stadium (Ft Lauderdale) • Sat @ 730p, section 101, $184 per
Los Amigos Invisibles • North Beach Bandshell (Miami Beach) • Sat @ 8p, GA, $71 per

GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Shop

Farm to facet

Tucked away in an unassuming plaza in Pinecrest, Meadow Collective is a little slice of boho paradise. Entering the boutique feels like walking into a friend’s amazing closet.

On any given day, owner Meadow Gerrich will be there. After raising her family on a farm in Costa Rica for 15 years, she moved back to Miami in 2017 and one year later, opened Meadow Collective. In addition to sustainable clothing brands like Spell and Nine Lives Bazaar, the shop also sells eco-friendly goods, ranging from hand-crafted bio-acetate sunglasses (they’re biodegradable) to clean beauty products. It’s also a destination for “permanent bracelets.” Make an appointment, choose a 14k gold chain and a gemstone or diamond, and then Meadow will weld your bracelet. –Katelin Stecz

→ Shop: Meadow Collective (Pinecrest) • 8245 SW 124th St • Mon 10a-5p, Tues-Fri 10a-6p, Sat 10a-5p.

WORK • Feedback Loop

Don’t ever change

The results of the first FOUND reader survey are in, and… you’re in good company! Here’s a quick snapshot from across the network:

As expected, FOUND readers dine out — 72% spend at least $500 per month on average, and 34% spend at least $1000
FOUND readers also travel — 91% expect to take at least two leisure trips in the next 12 months and 41% expect to take at least five
They’re frequent recommenders themselves — 64% often recommend products/services/experiences to friends/family/colleagues and another 29% sometimes do

Of course, none of you can be reduced to a series of numbers, but here’s an idea of the demo:

31% are 35-44 years old, 23% are 25-34, and 20% are 45-54
52% earn annual household income of $250K+; 6% earn $1MM+
51% have net worth of $1MM+; 9% have $10MM+

Fifty-six percent own a home, and 16% own multiple homes. Top work fields? Technology (17%), media (17%), finance (9%), and law (8%).

Meanwhile, here’s a sampling of our favorite responses to our fishing expedition, “What is your favorite part of FOUND?”

First person reporting feels like a note from a friend — rather than a traditional, expected "critique" by a "professional" paid, reviewer
The super local recommendations! Things that are in my neighborhood and on my mind. It's one of the few Substacks I receive that I read all the way through the DAY I receive it.
Makes me feel like I have an insider's edge and can make reservations or buy tickets in advance to feel in-the-know
I like that it seems human-driven, no-frills
Love the old-school approach, mixing food and real estate and art and fun together
The personal touch, it feels curated with love
I love the mix of content and everything is perfect length. Long enough to have substance but not so long I skip any of it. I literally read every one top to bottom.

Blushing. As for your “what would you like to see less of” responses, sorry, we’re already pushing “perfect length” for this item!

We’ll keep the survey open for another couple days and draw our two subscription upgrade winners at the end of the week. Thanks again for all of the responses and good feedback as we continue building in year two of FOUND. –Josh Albertson

Interested in advertising in FOUND? Hit reply or email us at sales@itsfoundmiami.com.

MIAMI WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Construction tops off at The Standard Residences in Midtown Miami • The most expensive condo rentals in Miami-Dade • The weird truth about work is we actually like it.

BARS • First Round

Brewery dogs

The corn dog has never been anything one might consider “gourmet.” I first met it as an after-school snack served fresh out of a freezer box. Later, we became better acquainted between rides at the Youth Fair or Santa’s Enchanted Forest. At its most refined, it might’ve come dipped in Grey Poupon. I remember them tasting good in the way childhood nostalgia always tastes good, but epicurean, it was not.

That is, until I wandered into Off Site Nano Brewery and Kitchen in Little River and my curiosity was piqued by a masa-covered corn dog. It arrived, and one bite into the crispy-buttery outer layer, I instantly rethought everything I ever knew about corn dogs. It’s not just as good as childhood memories, it’s exponentially better.

Steve Santana of Taquiza fame is the big reason why. He’s the culinary half of the power team that’s made Off Site a smash, and he’s using the same masa on his corn dogs as his famous fluffy blue corn tortillas. The result is the corn dog batter of the gods — airy, sweet, and buttery, with a light crispiness that subtly announces itself as freshly made. Like great restaurant cornbread, only served on a stick.

It surrounds an all-beef hot dog, which incorporates a little of the brewery’s beer in production, creating more complex flavors in a corn dog than the world has ever known. I’m not saying it’s the best corn dog on the planet, but I challenge anyone to find better.

The corn dog comes with a curry mustard sauce that could give Chicken Kitchen a run for its money. While its spicy, creamy allure might be strong, try a couple unadulterated bites first, so you can experience Santana’s vision. Then dip away and decide for yourself if it’s better au naturel.

Perhaps the best part about Off Site’s next-level corn dog is its accessibility. The nano brewery’s cozy confines make it feel more like a corner tavern than a tap house, so you can saunter in by yourself, order a corn dog and a Super Good Lager, and enjoy them like you’re about to settle in for two hours of after-school cartoons. –Matt Meltzer

→ Off Site (Little River) • 8250 NE 2nd Ave • Tues-Sat 12-10p, Sun 12-9p.

Photo: Anthony Nader

GOODS & SERVICES • The Nines

Coffee shops

Threefold Cafe (Coral Gables, above), indoor-outdoor cafe on Coral Gables’s prettiest pedestrian street
Surry Hills Miami (Little River), trendy spot serving Australian-style brunch and coffee
Panther (Wynwood & other locations), Miami’s OG coffee shop, roasting ethically sourced beans onsite since 2010
Cafe Grumpy (Coral Gables), Girls-famous, now ubiquitous NYC coffee shop takes the Gables
Magdalena Coffee & Houseplants (Edgewater), one-stop shop for cappuccinos and monsteras; tropical minimalist design
Sky Coffee Buenos Aires (Brickell), morning coffee and medialunas in reclaimed airplane on edge of Brickell
Brewing Buddha Cafe & Arthouse (Pinecrest), for purists and those who prefer cinnamon dulce de leche lattes alike
Navi Coffee and Flowers (Coconut Grove), the Grove’s newest coffee shop for Saturday morning self-care
La Colada Gourmet (Little Havana), Little Havana’s best spot for a classic cafecito

The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of Miami’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundmiami.com.

ASK FOUND

First, a quick primer on how this works: You send us the pressing questions of the day (on dining, services, living in Miami and surrounds). We all put our heads together (us at FOUND, + you, FOUND subscribers, who are also FOUND) in search of truth and beauty.

Today, three FOUND subscriber PROMPTS for which we are seeking intel:

Where are you excited about dining this fall?
What’s your favorite bookstore in Miami?
Which spa are you booking to escape the chaos of the season?

Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfoundmiami.com.