Feast among beasts

Zoo Miami opens its first indoor restaurant.

There’s something new, wild and cool at Zoo Miami.

Florida’s oldest zoological park has opened its first indoor restaurant. It’s called Nourish 305 and features a menu of customized salads, flatbreads, sandwiches and craft beers from local brewery MIA Beer Company.

Also on the menu: air conditioning, which will be welcomed by visitors especially during the sweltering summer months.

If the restaurant looks like something out of Wynwood, that’s because it was inspired by the artsy Miami district.

The wide-open space eatery has exposed air conditioner ducts, bar chairs lined up against windows and street art by artist David “Lebo” Le Batard.

(Look for the big blue and brown owl watching you as you eat or the colorful panels of birds and deer.) Le Batard’s art may be familiar to passengers of Norwegian Cruise Line ships, which carry his designs.

The restaurant includes views of the park’s “Florida: Mission Everglades” exhibit that includes species of Florida native wildlife such as panther, black bears and wading birds. That exhibit opened just a little over a year ago at the zoo, 12400 SW 152nd St.

After touring the eatery, Miami-Dade Commissioner Dennis C. Moss, who also serves as Chairman of the Zoo Oversight Board, said “this is a beautiful addition to the Zoo that will be very popular with guests, and with its close proximity to the Zoo’s front entrance, it may well become a new lunch spot for employees of local businesses near the Zoo.”

ZOO MIAMI/COURTESY Nourish 305 features customized salads, flatbreads, sandwiches and craft beers from local brewery MIA Beer Company.