An Argentine fusion restaurant inside shipping containers is opening near Aventura
When Argentine restaurateur Matias Pagano and The KAO Group decided to open a new restaurant in Hallandale Beach, they wanted something that would stand out — and show a sustainable mindset.
So they made their new restaurant out of shipping containers.
KAO Bar & Grill, which opens next month, is the third South Florida location for the KAO hospitality group, which also operates KAO Sushi & Grill in Coral Gables and J&J Fresh Kitchen in Boca Raton. KAO is also the force behind South America’s Sushi Club concepts.
Once something of a dining wasteland, this part of Hallandale Beach has started to come alive, particularly since the pandemic. Miami Beach’s Ice Box Café opened on Third Street in 2020, and small restaurants like Doggi’s Arepa Bar, Jaffa Israeli Kitchen & Wine Bar and Crudos Fusion Art have popped up along U.S. 1 north of Hallandale Beach Boulevard.
Pagano said that KAO had decided to open nearby even before 2020.
“There weren’t that many new restaurants in Hallandale before the pandemic, but we knew it was going to grow,” he said. “We know how many people are moving there, how many businesses are opening their doors. We want to join this growing community. It’s diverse in every sense of the word.”
The shipping containers, he said, are the brand’s way to “do our part.”
“They’re not recycled,” he said. “They’re made up of a lot of material — metal, plastic. That’s not a sustainable practice. We wanted to do something cool and good-looking, so we came up with this concept that has not been done in the area.”
The 5,000-square-foot restaurant is the neighborhood’s first container project. KAO hired Argentine
artist Falopapas to paint murals inside the dining room and outside on the containers. The works blend the street art culture of Buenos Aires and New York, much like the kitchen prides itself on creating Argentine-American fusion.
Diners can eat on the outdoor patio or sit at the 14-seat bar or sit in the dining room, which features floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the patio. The menu focuses on meat, most of it grilled.
Shareable grilled platters include the Tablita Parilla ($24) with Argentine chorizo, blood sausage, churrasco, grilled peppers and toasted bread with chimichurri and the Tablita de Picado ($28) with prosciutto, soppressata salami, coppa meat, roasted red peppers and olives with berry jelly. The Tablita de Empanadas ($16) features a choice of beef, ham and cheese or spinach empanadas.
“We wanted to take the best of each culture and create a mix that is unique,” Pagano said. “You’ll find tons of Argentine restaurants in South Florida. But that’s not what we’re doing here. We don’t want to be just another Argentine restaurant.”
KAO Bar & Grill also features Argentine-style pizzas, including the special ($15) with mozzarella, ham, olives, roasted red peppers and oregano and the prosciutto pizza ($19) with arugula, mozzarella, creamy Burrata and Parmesan.
Grilled meat is also a highlight, from meat to chicken to fish, including skirt steak ($33), rib-eye ($65), T-Bone ($69), lamb ribs ($42), Tomahawk ($160) as well as branzino ($42) and chicken ($17).
There are also Argentine-American sandwiches, including the Lomito ($22) with grilled beef, ham, cheese and fried eggs and choripan ($17), Argentine-style sausage and chimichurri on ciabatta.
KAO BAR & GRILL
Where: 11 NE First Ave., Hallandale Beach
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday; 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Happy hour 4-7 MondayFriday
Opening: April 2023
Information: www.kaobarandgrill.com
Connie Ogle: 305-376-3649, @OgleConnie