Everything nice for Miami Spice: Picks for 2017 restaurant promotion

The slow season for tourism means quickening pulses for food lovers across South Florida. Miami Spice returns Aug. 1 to Sept. 30, with more than 250 restaurants across Miami-Dade County offering discounted multicourse meals.

The popular promotion gives restaurants a chance to boost sales during the region’s steamy and stormy months. It also allows diners to step out of their comfort zones and try restaurants that some people otherwise could not afford. The 16th edition is the biggest yet, with 252 participants listed on the Miami Spice website, including some of the region’s finest and trendiest restaurants. They will offer special $23 lunch and weekend brunch menus and $39 dinner menus, not including tax, tip or drinks.

Some restaurants do not offer the deals on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays. Some only take part for lunch or dinner. Some tack on surcharges for premium dishes and offer wine pairings for an additional fee. Others have limited Miami Spice seating, so call ahead for reservations.

The event is a movable feast and unconquerable beast. Because there are 61 days and 122 meals on the Spice calendar, a diner who tries a different restaurant for each slot still will not be able to taste half the options. But eaters certainly can have fun getting around. Here are my picks for Miami Spice 2017, with a mix of cuisines, styles and neighborhoods that give a true taste of the area’s dining diversity.

Los Fuegos by Francis Mallmann — Faena Hotel, 3201 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, 786-655-5600, Faena.com.

In a recent review, I called Los Fuegos the “South Florida restaurant I’d most want to marry” because it is drop-dead gorgeous, the food is mostly delicious and the service is impeccable. Housed in the stunning Faena Hotel in Miami Beach, it has an elegant dining room and a playful terrace, and features smoke and flame cooking from acclaimed Argentine grill master Francis Mallmann. Some premium items are not on the Spice menus, but you can’t go wrong with a high-end beef empanada and grilled red snapper at lunch, or a thin rope of salchicha sausage and slow-cooked cheeks at dinner. The Miami Spice menu is available for lunch daily except Sunday, and at dinner Sunday-Thursday. It is worth a visit for the atmosphere alone.

KYU — 251 NW 25th St., Miami, 786-577-0150, KYUMiami.com.

The simple yet delicious “Asian-inspired wood-fired” cuisine from chef Michael Lewis makes this Wynwood’s top restaurant, a James Beard Award semifinalist as one of the country’s best new restaurants in 2016. I awarded it