Inn crowd
Claudie, Coral Gables listings, Patrick Schwarzenegger, FOUND launches, Key West Historic Inns, best Key West restaurants, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Word
Brickell Riviera
The Skinny: A new French Mediterranean restaurant opened last month from the Riviera Dining Group (MILA, CASA NEOS), Claudie is an opulent dinner scene and a see-and-be-seen hotspot, building energy as the night unfolds.
The Vibe: A portico-framed entrance opens into a massive outdoor space dotted with lemon trees under string lighting, all centered on a stunning fountain. Inside, the dining room is anchored by a wraparound bar with Noguchi-like lamps floating above the banquette-lined space adorned with an eclectic array of abstract art and terracotta pottery cast in a soft pink glow. The women’s bathroom delivers serious art deco drama with its selfie-worthy statement mirror.
The Food: Servers set the tone by snipping fresh herbs tableside directly into the olive oil for bread service — a nice touch. A salade Niçoise arrived beautifully composed with jammy quail eggs and chunks of tuna confit. Burgundy escargots swim in classic garlic-parsley butter, while truffle toupie macaroni delicately balanced earthy truffle with ham and Comté cheese. And a grilled branzino with sauce vierge arrived perfectly à point, bathed in a bright tomato-olive oil. For dessert, the lavender crème brûlée yielded lightly floral notes as promised, beneath its crackling top.
The Drink: The cocktail menu draws inspiration from 20th century artists and writers, as in Hemingway’s Hilltop made with Remy 1738, Calvados, Benedictine, and vermouth, while the wine list highlights French vintners.
The Verdict: Claudie delivers French Riviera opulence to Brickell — a sophisticated marriage of culinary precision and South Beach energy on the mainland. –Olee Fowler
→ Claudie (Brickell) • 1101 Brickell Ave • Wed-Thu 6p-1a, Fri-Sun 530p-2a • Reserve.
Photo: Kris Tamburello.
MIAMI RESTAURANT LINKS: At Miami River Inn, River House Wine & Bar debuts • Eagle Room popping up at Margot in Downtown Miami • New bar Conventillo opens in MiMo with Argentine, Italian flavors • NYC ice cream shop Van Leeuwen opens first Florida shop today in South Beach • Stop asking your bartender to surprise you.
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
Three for-sale properties in Coral Gables near Riviera Country Club that came to market in the last 30 days.
→ 907 Jeronimo Dr (Coral Gables) • 5BR/4.1BA, 4830 SF house • Ask: $5.49M • 2017 reno, will sell furnished • Days on market: 24 • Annual taxes: $56,323 • Agent: David Siddons, Elliman.
→ 1515 Urbino Ave (Coral Gables) • 5BR/6.1BA, 4200 SF house • Ask: $6.1M • new build with 5 en suites • Days on market: 24 • Annual taxes: $14,004 • Agent: Esther Prat, Elliman.
→ 4620 Granada Blvd (Coral Gables, above) • 7BR/6.1BA, 8600 SF house • Ask: $9.75M • 256’ on the Coral Gables Waterway • Days on market: 4 • Annual taxes: $77,745 • Agent: Dennis Carvajal, One Sotheby's.
WORK • Thursday Routine
Brain candy
This post appeared in last week’s edition of FOUND LA. Looking for a little more LA in your life? Subscribe to FOUND LA, with new issues dropping each Thursday.
PATRICK SCHWARZENEGGER • actor • co-founder & CEO, MOSH
Neighborhood where you work: Brentwood
Neighborhood where you live: Santa Monica
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
It’s always packed and usually has a fun, busy atmosphere. In addition to being the office for MOSH — The Brain Brand that I co-founded with my mom, Maria Shriver — the space is also the office for Shriver Media, The Sunday Paper, and a few people who work with the Women's Alzheimer's Movement at Cleveland Clinic (which receives a portion of proceeds from the sale of every MOSH bar). Lately we’ve been doing a ton of sampling and bar testing in anticipation of some new flavors we’re creating to launch later this year.
What’s on the agenda for today?
First, we’re going to make some new content for MOSH’s Instagram and TikTok. Then, we’re going to be drafting messaging about the brand for the employees at Erewhon and Ralphs to help educate them about our brain-boosting protein bars and our overall mission, which is all about supporting physical and cognitive nutrition. We’ll also be going over final designs for the new flavors we’ve been working on, and making some final decisions about what imagery we’ll be using for the packaging.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
It's my fiancée’s birthday, so we have a packed weekend of food. We're going to Jon & Vinny’s for Italian, then out for steaks the night after (we’re big steak people!). Then I’ll be traveling to New York, Spain, and Germany… so I know I'll be eating a lot of great food very soon.
How about a little leisure or culture?
We like to stay pretty active on the weekends and spend a lot of time outdoors. This weekend is supposed to be nice and sunny, so we’ll probably take our beach cruisers out to the Venice Beach boardwalk, and hopefully hop in the pool.
Any weekend getaways?
We're both working a lot right now, but we try to get to Santa Barbara — which has become a favorite local getaway for us — when we can. The beach is obviously great there, and there’s beautiful hikes and biking. There's a steakhouse there that we love, Lucky’s, and tons of great coffee shops.
What was your last great vacation?
I was in Thailand for seven months [filming season 3 of The White Lotus]. Although it was work, it was also vacation; we got to hop around from Ko Samui to Phuket to Bangkok. We explored the Phi Phi Islands and spent time on some beautiful beaches (including the beach from the movie The Beach).
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
I don't buy much, but I did get a new car this past year, which was a big one for me. And I bought some new stocks. Honestly… I usually just spend money on stocks!
MIAMI WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Luxury homes spending more time on the market in Miami-Dade • Hilton Residences Miami Bayfront unveiled • Nomadic art gallery Homework settling down in Little River • Half-past four is the new five o’clock.
WORK • Launches
Lunchwire
It’s launch week at FOUND, with our London edition launching yesterday, followed by the debut of Paris tomorrow. We’re celebrating the new frontiers from our home offices, having officially spoken our plans to build a GLOBAL MEDIA BRAND into an inbox near you.
Last decade, when we were launching a series of blogs in more than two dozen North American cities under the Curbed, Eater, and Racked banners, we would celebrate each launch with a special lunch at Curbed HQ in Manhattan’s East Village. I went back and checked the tape (i.e., emails to the team from Curbed ops czar Jackie Goldstein) on a handful of these lunches, which peaked during the release frenzy of 2011-2013. It’s a study in the power of pushing the ball forward and the ’10s downtown NYC lunch scene (Torrisi/Parm turkey hero, legendary).
Date: Sept 7, 2011
Sites: Curbed Atlanta & Detroit; Eater New Orleans
Lunch: Torrisi
Date: Jan 25, 2012
Sites: Eater Philly & Vegas
Lunch: “Unfortunately due to the NYT review of Parm we do not think they'll be able to cater to our large order on short notice so we're going to try NO. 7 SUB.”
Date: Nov 15, 2012
Sites: Eater Louisville, San Diego & Minneapolis
Lunch: Rubirosa
Date: Dec 5, 2012
Sites: Racked Boston, Philly & SF
Lunch: Parm
Date: June 27, 2013
Sites: Eater Detroit & Nashville
Lunch: “Parm recently started delivering and is amazingly on Seamless now.”
Date: Sept 24, 2013
Site: Racked TK (Which Racked??)
Lunch: “Amazing newish salad spot Sweetgreen… They don't actually do catering but are doing us a favor, so we have to get them the order today.”
Date: Oct 2, 2013
Sites: Eater Toronto, Montreal, & Vancouver; Curbed Toronto & Vancouver
Lunch: Mile End
Jan 2, 2014 (!)
Sites: Racked Dallas & Miami
Lunch: Parm
Here’s to more lunches in 2025 for all who launch. –Josh Albertson
CULTURE & LEISURE • Bad English
Rockets v Heat • Kaseya Center (Downtown) • Fri @ 8p • section 107, $148 per
John Waite • Amaturo Theater (Ft Lauderdale) • Sat @ 7p • orchestra ctr, $55 per
Miami Open • 3rd Round • Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens) • Sun @ 7p • 72 Club, $283 per
GETAWAYS • Key West
Old charmers
There’s a collection of five historic inns scattered across Key West’s Old Town that have lived many lives. While some were built in the 1880s by the island’s first settlers, the modern provenance dates to 2018 when a San Francisco-based private equity firm scooped all of them up for $109 million from innkeeper Julie Fondriest, in one of the island’s largest real estate transactions ever. In 2021 the collection reopened as a Kimpton property, having endured a sweeping refresh to guest room interiors (while maintaining their historic bones and character). Last January, under new management again, the collection rebranded as Key West Historic Inns.
I’ve been checking into these inns for the last 20 years, and I can confidently say that this current iteration is the best they’ve ever been. The hospitality is warm and personalized, and the properties’ quirky charms gel beautifully with modern, stylish rooms and an upgraded culinary program for a delightful stay. While each inn offers a slightly different vantage point on Old Town (and a range of price points), they all feature lushly landscaped courtyard swimming pools and that sublime feeling of Key West residential living.
Most of my recent stays have been at the adults-only Ridley House (above), one of the late 19th-century homes on Caroline Street — an unbeatable location — originally built by a sponger who classified the native Ridley sea turtle. Especially great are the front rooms overlooking the street, which grant exclusive access to a furnished porch — there’s simply no better place to lounge and watch the world go by in Key West.
Among the other inns, I’m partial to the Lighthouse Hotel on Whitehead Street for its conch cottage compound layout and location by the namesake lighthouse in Bahama Village, directly across the street from the Hemingway House. There’s also Winslow’s Bungalows, the largest inn (at about 90 rooms) with the best pool, set on busy Truman Avenue, as well as Ella’s Cottages on Simonton Street and Fitch Lodge at the far end of Eaton Street, which tends to be the most budget-friendly.
The updated guestrooms sport contemporary design with a subtle nautical motif in a palette of soft blue and cream, featuring voluminous, Balinese-inspired dark hardwood furniture and wooden beaded chandeliers. Among the many room types spread across five properties, there’s still a feeling that no two are exactly alike. The most interesting touches are preserved from the original properties, like stained glass windows, a spiral staircase leading to a loft, decorative wainscoting, or a built-in bookcase spanning an entire wall.
While Key West Historic Inns operates more as bed and breakfast without proper restaurants onsite, the latest rebrand brought much-needed dining improvements. At Ridley House and Winslow’s Bungalows, a dedicated chef is on site every morning to prepare eggs made to order alongside a thoughtful breakfast buffet. At Ella’s Cottage, breakfast baskets are delivered to rooms every morning, while Fitch Lodge provides freshly made breakfast sandwiches in a grab-and-go setting. Winslow’s Bungalows and the Lighthouse Hotel both feature laidback poolside bars serving Key West-inspired cocktails (Winslow’s also serves a light lunch). And the properties lacking bars still offer complimentary daily curated happy hours, ranging from sangria to vodka lemonade spritzes.
One thing’s for certain, you can make your own personal paradise at any of these charming inns — I know I have, many times over. –Shayne Benowitz
→ Key West Historic Inns (Old Town) • 601 Caroline Street & other locations across Old Town • Rates from $549/weekend night king at Lighthouse Hotel.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Why Manalapan’s trophy homes market is booming (this $55.5M sale is a teardown) • New TAP Air Portugal/Avianca premium lounge debuts at MIA this week • Marriott Luxury Collection eco-resort Salterra opens on South Caicos • Should chatbots book tickets?
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 seek intel:
After London and Paris, where should FOUND launch next?
What shops are you keeping an eye on for spring lines?
What’s your spring Caribbean getaway?
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfoundmiami.com.
GETAWAYS • The Nines
Restaurants, Key West
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of Miami (and surrounds)’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundmiami.com.
Blue Heaven (Bahama Village), for lobster benedict and banana pancake brunch beneath ship’s sails in the backyard