Keys please
Casa Vigil, new Morningside listings, FOUND Paris & London, Martorano’s, Fish Peddler East, Taylor tix, best fall Keys getaways, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Word
Heavenly temptations
The Skinny: Located in Upper Buena Vista, Miami’s Casa Vigil is the first North American outpost of the lauded Argentine restaurant, specializing in elevated, meat-forward dishes with Mediterranean influences.
The Vibe: The space is divided into three levels, inspired (as at the original) by Dante’s Divine Comedy. La Cava, the dark wood dining room, is centered on an impressive wine cellar, housing over 700 labels. A grand arch anchors the space. Outside, El Patio offers outdoor seating underneath a mural of the Virgin of Carrodilla, patron saint of vineyards. She can’t turn your water into wine, but she can turn your money into the restaurant’s 1999 Château Marguax ($1850 per). El Cielo, the rooftop terrace, is paradiso with a breeze and a glass of wine.
The Food: Chef Cesar Gonzalez Aznar blends Argentine and Mediterranean cuisine in dishes like osso buco empanadas. The scallop tartare is another standout, dressed in ponzu, topped with tobiko roe and edible flowers. For entrees, the fideuà is an Argentine variation on paella, rich with veal cheeks and garlic aioli, while a New York strip a la parilla or a 45-day dry-aged prime ribeye satisfies fundamental Argentinian steakhouse requirements.
The Drinks: Heavy on Argentine and European reds, the list is curated by the restaurant’s founder, Alejandro Vigil, aka the "Messi of wines." On the cocktail menu, the yerba mate evokes the Argentine tea tradition, with yerba mate-infused vodka, passionfruit, citrus, and orange flower water.
The Verdict: For a divine melding of Argentine and Mediterranean flavors, Casa Vigil is a welcome import. –Katelin Stecz
→ Casa Vigil (Upper Buena Vista) • 5020 NE 2nd Ave • Sun-Wed 12-10p, Thu-Sat 12-11p • Reserve • Photo: Ruth Kim
MIAMI RESTAURANT LINKS: Japanese sushi restaurant Kasumi opening at Waterstone Resort & Marina in Boca Raton on Saturday • Cotoletta, specializing in veal Milanese, opens tomorrow in Coconut Grove • Shuckers Waterfront Bar & Grill closing for good on Oct 27 • Why so many chefs don’t want restaurants anymore • The time to start aging your eggnog is now.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Sponsor
Water & all that we love
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.
As much as we love discussing water’s impact on skin and hair, we’re equally enamored by the connection of water to all else that we love in life — art, coffee, surfing, food, oysters, ceramics, and so much more. That’s why we created a fun video series, Water &, which looks at these topics through the lens of water. Some highlights:
We spent an early morning in Montauk with artist Joe Henry Baker who used the salty ocean water to paint with and wet his canvases, resulting in a crystallization in the painting as it dried.
We spent an evening with Esben Piper, the founder of the renowned Danish coffee company, La Cabra, at their Soho location in New York. Did you know that the parts per million of minerals in water (or the water’s “hardness”) made to brew La Cabra’s coffee is finely tuned to extract flavor while not making the coffee taste sour?
We joined designer Cynthia Rowley for a morning surf out east on Long Island, where the water is both a calming force for her and “balance” to her planned out, calendared work days.
We’ve always loved oysters, but we loved them even more once we started spending time with both the Billion Oyster Project and Montauk Pearl Oyster’s Mike Martinsen. Oysters clean the water by filtering water as they eat, removing ecosystem-destroying pollutants such as nitrogen. They also act as a natural storm barrier and help foster biodiversity. (The Billion Oyster Project, our non-profit of choice, is restoring the oyster reefs in New York’s harbors to clean the Hudson and East Rivers. Last we checked, 122 million oysters have been restored in New York’s harbor over the last 10 years.)
You can watch all of our Water & videos on our website here.
We worked with these partners because we think they are the best at what they do. If you are thinking about buying a Jolie, we encourage you to do so via the link below. We are picking five FOUND buyers to gift a year’s worth of La Cabra coffee to make at home.
The role of water is all around us. –Ryan Babenzien & Arjan Singh
→ Shop: The Jolie Filtered Showerhead (Jolie) • available in brushed gold, modern chrome, brushed steel, jet black, and vibrant red • $148.
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
Three for-sale listings in Morningside that came to market in the last 30 days.
→ 520 NE 51st St (Morningside) • 4BR/3BA, 2213 SF house • Ask: $2.5M • last sold in ’93; zoning allows 2nd floor addition • Days on market: 3 • Annual taxes: $5408 • Agents: Marina Chacon & Lourdes Rodriguez, MC Realty Services.
→ 630 NE 55th St. (Bayshore) • 3BR/2.1BA, 2032 SF house • Ask: $4.195M • offered fully furnished; sump pump crawl space • Days on market: 30 • Annual taxes: $38,413 • Agent: Cyril Bijaoui, Corcoran.
→ 5600 NE 6th Ave (Morningside, above) • 5BR/5.1BA, 4917 SF house • Ask: $5.9M • not holding back; includes 2-story guest house • Days on market: 14 • Annual taxes: $56,433 • Agent: Darin Tansey & Alice Troyanovsky, Compass.
MIAMI WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Closings underway at Seaway at the Surf Club condo development • ICA Miami acquires Design District’s de la Cruz building, announces expansion • Are directors of founder-led companies being set up to fail? • Some of the carbon credits were fake.
WORK • Going Global
Onward to Paris & London
Another lifetime ago, when we were building Curbed, Eater, and Racked, we fanned out across the country, eventually launching local sites in 30 markets. There was Eater Nashville and Curbed Detroit and Racked Philly, each dedicated to obsessive coverage of their respective markets.
There were also national versions of all three brands, which we created in part to establish credibility with advertisers, who we thought were more apt to spend on EATER than on Eater PDX.
After we sold to Vox Media, the local sites kept chugging along (some of the Eater locals still exist), but VC-backed Vox was mostly interested in scale. The advertising team (and management) had a hard time figuring out how the city-specific approach fit with the business. (This was in a time before digital subscriptions, except at a few outliers, like the NYT, which launched their offering in March ’11.) Over time, the national gloss drowned out much of the local flavor.
We created FOUND to return to our earlier approach of meeting readers where they are. In New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami, we wake up every morning thinking about how we can help our subscribers get more out of these great cities.
But this time, instead of dotting the U.S. map with local sites in vibrant secondary markets, we’re going global. The world is smaller than it was then, and as much as we love Charleston and Austin, we’ve got our eyes on Paris and London next.
In fact, we’re planning launches in both markets this winter. As of right this second, we’re looking for savvy local contributors in Paris and London who have something to say about restaurants, shopping, real estate, getaway travel, culture and leisure, and the modern workplace. If that’s you, hit reply or email us at found@foundny.com. (Or, if you know someone who fits the bill, pass this along!)
In the meantime, we haven’t sworn off FOUND Nashville; if our friends at Vox are reading and are ready to give it up for good on the local Eaters, drop us a line. –Josh Albertson
WORK • Thursday Routine
Fist-pumping fun
LINDA VILLAFANE • area director of public relations • Loews Miami Beach Hotel & Loews Coral Gables Hotel
City you live in: Fort Lauderdale
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
I oversee all PR initiatives, strategic communications, and social media efforts for the Loews Miami Beach Hotel and the Loews Coral Gables Hotel. I’m an early riser and love to hop on my Peloton to set intentions and dial in for the day. I begin the work day by reading, scanning local and national headlines in the travel and hospitality space and travel trades. I check our media monitoring system for new press placements, and send an email out hotelwide to each property with the latest coverage. When I’m at the hotels, I like to walk the properties and say hello to our team, and see who our guests are on that particular day.
What’s on the agenda for today?
It’s season in Miami, which means events to plan and news to share. I’m in the middle of coordinating a photoshoot at the Gables hotel and finalizing our Loews Miami Beach Art Basel partnerships with SCOPE Art Show and Jonathan Carver Moore — our first ever Gallerist in Residence, who’ll bring his San Francisco gallery to life in our lobby.
Any bar or restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
To kick off the weekend, my husband will make old fashioneds as part of our Old Fashioned Friday tradition. I bought him a tabletop smoker for his birthday, so he’s enjoying smoking cocktails. My hometown bestie will be visiting and we’re taking her to dinner at Martorano’s for maximum, fist-pumping Italian fun. It’s my favorite Italian spot in South Florida — a completely different experience, with the legendary Steve Martorano DJing on the weekends, classic mob movies playing, and an excellent menu of homemade Philly Italian dishes. If the weather behaves, we’ll head to Coconuts for cocktails and oysters. If it doesn’t, we’ll early bird it at Runway 84 for cocktails and apps.
When in Miami, you can find me at Macchialina for dinner, Hillstone for lunch, or Aba for cocktails.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I’m a live-music lover and an old school R&B, hip hop, and Latin music devotee. I spend a lot of time going to shows. This year I’ve seen Dru Hill, Ginuwine, Shai, Bobby Valentino, Bad Bunny, Drake, Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake and most recently Bush.
Any weekend getaways?
I just returned from an epic stay at the Banyan Tree Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen. We shared a beautiful three-bedroom, oceanfront villa with two other couples and we had a private section of beach and a pool. It was a first-class experience. Orlando is another favorite weekend escape to get our theme park fix every year. I love staying at one of Loews Hotels & Co's eight hotels (soon to be 11) properties at Universal Orlando Resort.
What was your last great vacation?
We own a home down the Jersey Shore on Long Beach Island, where my husband grew up. I love rooftop drinks at Hotel LBI, jet skiing across the bay for lunch at The Boatyard, eating clam pizza at Bird & Betty’s, and sipping frozen espresso martinis with fresh local oysters at Triton. Chef Vola’s in Atlantic City (just 30 mins from LBI) is also a must. It’s an institution and very hard to get a reservation, since everything is still done via phone and call back (if you’re lucky). Once you’re there, though, you can expect a phenomenal Italian-American, comfort food experience.
What store or service do you always recommend?
The Fish Peddler East is the only place I buy fresh seafood.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Golden Era
Ill Points • Justice, Toro y Moi, George Clinton et al, Mana Wynwood (Wynwood) • Fri-Sat @ 3p-4a • VIP, $639 per
Taylor Swift • Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens) • Sat @ 7p, section 118, $3247 per
Sting • The Fillmore (Miami Beach) • Sun @ 8p • orchestra center, $306 per
GETAWAYS LINKS: What’s next for Nassau’s Baha Mar • Revamped Cane Garden Bay Beach Hotel opens on Tortola • Largest In-N-Out ever planned for Las Vegas • Inside the new luxe resort coming to Canada’s heli-skiing capital.
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:
Which new restaurants have wowed you 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.
GETAWAYS • The Nines
Fall getaway, The Keys
Nine hotels for a weekend away this season.
Bungalows Key Largo (Key Largo, mile marker 99), Florida Keys’ only all-inclusive resort, adults-only, $1369