Recently renovated Pelican Hotel on Beach opens new restaurant
After a two-year renovation, the Pelican Hotel reopened in November with a new design highlighting its boutique chic.
Now, the property, owned by Diesel founder and fashion mogul Renzo Rosso, has opened the Pelican Café, a 30-seat beachfront restaurant that’s open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, happy hour and late-night cocktails.
Overseeing the kitchen is Italian chef Giancarlo “Wendy” Cacciatori, best known for serving fresh pasta and other Italian fare at the delightful Via Emilia 9 in Miami Beach, which opened in 2014. Cacciatori went on to open Nonna Beppa in New York’s TriBeCa in 2018 and Via Emilia Garden in Miami’s Midtown in 2019.
At Pelican Café, the day starts with classic breakfasts such as salmon Benedict and French toast. An all-day menu includes a series of small bites like eggplant polpette and caprese bruschetta as well as salads, burgers and sandwiches.
The 32 guest rooms at the hotel, originally built in 1948 and redesigned by the brand’s Creative
Team, were inspired by old movie sets, each room with its own theme, vintage artifacts and newly restored furniture (Penthouse One, with its James Bond-style setting and giant private terrace, is where Rosso stays when he’s in town).
The dinner menu takes its cue from the movie theme, broken down into “Scene & Sequences,” with such appetizers as tuna tartare with mango and seafood salad and a “supporting cast” (side dishes that include grilled vegetables and mashed potatoes).
Entrees include a variety of pasta and favorites like steak and chicken piccata.
Chef Cacciatori calls the restaurant “an authentic yet elevated dining experience.”
“I come from a long lineage of seasoned chefs,” he says. “Since I was a child the noises that kept me company every day were dishes and pots clashing in the kitchen. For the last nine years (since I moved to the United States), I have tried to convey my professional culinary experiences in this great country. It was a mission for me to discover some Italian excellence but above all, those of my homeland Emilia Romagna.
“I am so excited to bring that energy and expertise to the Pelican Café.”
PELICAN CAFÉ
Where: Pelican Hotel, 826 Ocean Dr., Miami Beach
Hours: 8:30 a.m.-1:30 a.m.; happy hour 4-6 p.m. daily
Reservations: 305-6733373 or OpenTable
Connie Ogle: 305-376-3649, @OgleConnie