River dance
River dance
Elia, Palm Beach listings, Tulum, Weezer tix, run time, Fontainebleau Las Vegas, best Wynwood restaurants, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Word
Upstream Italian
Situated on the Miami River in Allapattah — about a mile upstream from longtime seafood grill Garcia’s and the new upscale restaurants Seaspice and Kiki — Elia is the latest dining destination to bet on the rapidly developing waterway. With a lush, Birth of Venus aesthetic conceptualized by Miami-based Saladino Design Studios, it’s an elegant restaurant specializing in Southern Italian, seafood-forward cuisine in an indoor-outdoor setting with a lovely riverfront patio.
The main dining room is awash in pale pink with natural wood finishes, terrazzo floors, hand-painted wall coverings, and a show-stopping tiered chandelier above a marble-topped bar. The menu has some flash to match, like a whole lobster linguini, but also more demure options, like a delightful gnocchi with English pea veloute, green pea pesto, and shaved truffle. The burrata salad and charred octopus is a great way to start, while heartier dishes like the Tuscan ribeye and grilled lamb chop properly round out a meal. Don’t overlook the pizza selections, especially the “Truffle Royale” with caramelized pear, mozzarella, and fig jam.
On the cocktail front, the Tuscan Sun is made with tequila, Amaretto, and orange, while the Sette and Sette is a whiskey, black tea, and club soda concoction. And what could be more delightful than sipping a late summer limoncello spritz at sunset while languorously watching the boats cruise down the river? –Katelin Stecz
→ Elia (Allapattah) • 1440 NW N River Dr #195 • Sun-Thurs 1130-12a, Fri-Sat 1130a-230a • Reserve.
MIAMI RESTAURANT LINKS: Tiki bar Bamboo Room by Trader Vic’s opens at Esmé in South Beach • Departed Italian eatery Toscana Divino is back with a Key Biscayne pop-up • Following summer closure, Club Space reopens today.• Boca Raton’s Nino's Italian Restaurant closes after 42 years.
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
Three for-sale listings that came to market in Palm Beach in the last 30 days.
→ 2784 S Ocean Blvd 201E (Palm Beach) • 3BR/3BA, 2021 SF condo • Ask: $2.99M • renovated with Intracoastal views and 40’-wraparound terrace • Monthly maintenance: $7822 • Annual tax: $16,035 • Days on market: 30 • Agent: Samantha Curry, Douglas Elliman.
→ 3120 S Ocean Blvd 1501 (Palm Beach, above) • 3BR/3BA, 2570 SF condo • Ask: $3.495M • two stories, three balconies in The Oasis • Days on market: 12 • Monthly maintenance: NA • Annual tax: $10,805 • Agent: Kourtney Pulitzer, Sotheby’s.
→ 2100 S Ocean Blvd APT 407S (Palm Beach) • 2BR/2.1BA, 2385 SF condo • Ask: $4.225M • unobstructed oceans views in new 2100 Sloans Curve • Monthly maintenance: $10,067 • Annual tax: $44,473 • Days on market: 28 • Agent: Fern Fodiman, Sotheby’s.
WORK • Thursday Routine
Drift in
DANIELA VELASCO • creative director • Drift & Demasa
Neighborhood you live in: Edgewater
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
I work from home so whenever I can I head over to Magdalena for a coffee and work from there for a bit. We are so lucky to have them so close to our apartment. (My go-to order: cappuccino with a side of pan de yuca.) Currently, I’m working on a branding project, designing the layout of a book, finalizing the next volume of Drift (our coffee and travel magazine), designing the cover of a music album, and working on Demasa, our brand of high-end utility leather goods.
What’s on the agenda for today?
I have to drop my son off at school and get some work done while he isn't here. I’m working for one of my favorite artists on the cover for her live album, recorded at Carnegie Hall, so I’m listening to it on repeat, brainstorming, and creating some initial concepts.
Any bar or restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
We go to The Surf Club Restaurant for date nights pretty often — we love it there. This week we went to Maty’s, where the ceviches are my favorite. We really enjoy family nights at La Natural with their sourdough crust pizzas and natural wines. At Chateau ZZ's, you can't miss the steak al pastor.
How about a little leisure or culture?
We really enjoyed a conversation held at the Faena with Malcolm Gladwell a few months ago. For family Sundays, we usually try to sign up for Little Creative Souls or check out an exhibition at Frost Science.
Any weekend getaways?
We booked one of the first AA flights from Miami to Tulum and drove to Boca de Agua, a small, eco-friendly hotel in Bacalar. We woke up to morning kayaking at sunrise, sailed the lagoon, and swam for hours in the crystalline freshwater. It’s the perfect place to relax and disconnect.
What was your last great vacation?
We went to Colorado over the summer for the first time, and it was beautiful. We spent a few nights at Taylor River Lodge by Eleven Experience; highly recommended. (If you’re up for it, sign up for the cold river plunge and breath work.) The rest of our time we stayed at Bachelor Gulch and we loved how easy being in nature is over there. We hiked everyday with our two-year-old and we all had the best time. If you have young kids, the pony ride in Beaver Creek was also a highlight.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
We recently got the Leica Q3. I bring it with me everywhere, it’s so compact, and the blur on Leica lenses is so unique.
MIAMI WORK AND PLAY LINKS: South Florida real estate agents adjust to commission changes • Second Mercedes-Benz Places tower now under construction in Brickell • Counter-trend watch: Bosses are faxing and Gen Z workers are hyping their corporate desk jobs.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Say It Ain’t So
Weezer • Hard Rock Live (Davie) • Sat @ 7p • section 115, $176 per
Boy George & Squeeze • Pompano Beach Amphitheater (Pompano Beach) • Sat @ 730p, section B, $130 per
Ali Siddiq • James L. Knight Center (Miami Beach) • Sat @ 7p, section 002, $48 per
WORK • Routines
Running commentary
In Tuesday’s FOUND NY Routine, writer Mary Morris shares her workout regimen, which is also a work regimen: “In the afternoon, I’m headed to the pool. I try to go three or four times a week. When I swim, I’m working in my head. I’ve resolved a lot of plot points during a swim.”
It's a relatable sentiment, and a reminder that often, the best work products originate outside of the workplace. Since I started working primarily from my home office in 2017, I’ve regularly snuck a midday run into my workday. It’s a luxury, for sure. But it works!
Pre-pandemic, those runs were a bit of a stolen escape during free blocks on the calendar. But shifting attitudes toward workplace flexibility have made it easier to step away, and bringing a start-up to life cemented it as a Routine.
For best results: no headphones, no agenda. Freed from the tethers of laptops and desktops, the most pressing issues rise to the surface, like high-beat-per-minute dreams.
I’ve recently increased my mileage, which pushed some of my longer runs to the edges of the day. What I’ve gained in race-readiness, I’ve lost in subconscious strategy and grievance-burying sessions.
Also, Mondays are rest days, which means this morning I had to step out to walk the dog in order to extract this piece from stone. Time to start cross-training. –Josh Albertson
P.S. We’ve got a little survey withdrawal, so let’s keep it going.
GETAWAYS • Las Vegas
Miami mirage
Miami Beach’s iconic mid-century resort made its desert debut late last year when the Fontainebleau Las Vegas opened its doors. A 67-story glass tower in lapis lazuli blue rising at the northern edge of the Strip, it holds more than 3,600 guestrooms, dozens of restaurants and bars, and a 150,000 square-foot casino floor. As someone who moved to Miami Beach shortly after the Fontainebleau reopened in 2008 (and who proceeded to spend many a Saturday night at LIV), I was eager to see how the Vegas resort would interpret the brand’s legacy, from its 1950s Rat Pack heyday to its beautifully preserved Miami Modern architecture and glamor.
From the monumental crystal chandelier dripping above Bleau Bar to the bowtie motif throughout (an homage to the original’s iconic marble floors), I was impressed with how faithfully and intelligently the Las Vegas resort honors the brand’s heritage, design, and spirit, with a dash of Vegas opulence. There’s also the elegant Nowhere lounge — named for the Miami Beach resort’s famed “stairway to nowhere,” where women once made their grand entrances — for throwback jazz combos and lounge singers.
I sampled a handful of restaurants during my stay and Miami’s own Komodo came away as the clear highlight. (Other Miami exports include Papi Steak and KYU.) The clubby Asian fusion restaurant by David Grutman’s Groot Hospitality (the mastermind behind the aforementioned LIV, etc.) is exactly the kind of experience you want from a night out in Vegas: high-energy, sexy, fun. Our waitress designed the perfect menu for our party of six, including wagyu skirt steak tacos, truffle honey salmon sashimi, moneybag dumplings with pork, shrimp, and tobiko roe, and a decadent miso Chilean sea bass. The theatrical flourish of the banana pagoda cheesecake (you’re presented with a mallet to break through the red wafer “pagoda”) left a table full of Miamians speculating that the Las Vegas Komodo may be better than the original.
LIV also made the transfer west, along with day club LIV Beach, where Tiësto, John Summit, and David Guetta play on regular rotations. While nothing can quite capture the magic of LIV’s original domed ceiling lighting up to the beats of the DJ, the Vegas version is a respectable mimic, from the mezzanine level lined with VIP tables to the ground floor bars flanking either side of the dance floor. With Calvin Harris manning the decks the night I was there, the club’s energy and exuberance was also on par.
While standard “Bleau” rooms are appropriately modern, luxurious, and comfortable, with floor-to-ceiling windows, great rainfall showers, and plush robes and bowtie-branded slippers, they skew a little tight by Vegas standards. The massive poolscape, with a range of lounge chairs, daybeds, and cabanas, is a wonderful place to while away a sizzling Las Vegas afternoon. And if you happen to pull off a LIV Beach/LIV B2B in a single day, Lapis Spa & Wellness, with multiple pools, steam, sauna, and experience rooms, is a soothing place to revive before doing it all over again. –Shayne Benowitz
→ Fontainebleau Las Vegas (Las Vegas) • 2777 Las Vegas Blvd S.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Chef Michael White’s second Caribbean restaurant will be in Puerto Rico • Winair adding service to three more Carribean islands later this year • United plans to add free Starlink wifi across entire fleet • This year’s World’s 50 Best Hotels list.
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.
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Wynwood restaurants
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of Miami’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundmiami.com.
Uchi, Austin transplant serving inventive sushi, great happy hour