This luxurious Italian restaurant, a magnet for Boston foodies, just opened in Miami
time to flex your reservation-scoring muscles, Miami. The glamorous Contessa is open in the Design District.
The latest upscale restaurant from Major Food Group — the New Yorkbased hospitality group behind Carbone and HaSalon in Miami Beach, ZZ’s Club in the Design District, Dirty French Steakhouse in Brickell and Sadelle’s in Coconut
Grove — will serve upscale Northern Italian fare.
Major Food Group cofounder Mario Carbone calls the restaurant a “grand trattoria.”
“It’s a luxurious version of the best neighborhood restaurant serving really classic food,” he said. “We’re not trying to wow people with things they’ve never had before. We want to serve the best version of food they’re familiar with.”
The original Contessa location in Boston, which opened at The Newbury Boston in 2021, lures foodies who scramble for reservations, inspired by gushing reviews from such publications as Boston Magazine and Forbes.
Given Miami’s obsession with the latest thing and the fact that getting a reservation at Carbone is still tough, it’s a distinct possibility you’ll scramble for reservations on the weekends, too.
Here’s what you’ll be scrambling for, though: antipasti like carpaccio and octopus, plus signature pizzas like The Vongole, with littleneck clams and Calabrian cream. First courses include spicy lobster capellini, fusilli
Genovese and garganelli verdi Bolognese, and second courses encompass meat, poultry and fish, with classics like veal Milanese (one of Carbone’s favorites) and gamberoni (shrimp) al forno con fagioli.
For dessert, try the gelato. Carbone, a selfprofessed “gelato sucker,” says the restaurant will make fresh flavors every day.
The wine list focuses on central and northern Italian grapes (Major Food Group wine director John Slover has a special interest in Nebbiolo-based wines from Barolo, Barbaresco, Alte-Piedmont and Lombardy). The list also includes French and North American wines, and there’s a full craft cockIt’s
tails program.
The design of the twostory restaurant aims to conjure up images of Lake Como in the 1960s. Draperies, a marble floor and pink Venetian plaster set the tone on the first floor, along with Murano light fixtures and custom furniture. Follow the grand staircase upstairs past oil paintings, photographs and gilded mirrors, and you’ll find a dining room and intimate bar evoking images of a historic lakeside villa.
As for those potentially difficult reservations, Carbone has a suggestion: Try coming at lunchtime.
“It’s really one of those places where you can pop in earlier in the day,” he said. “That’s how it’s going to get used. My best
advice is to pop in if you’re shopping. Stop in for a pizza and an Aperol Spritz.”
CONTESSA
Where: 111 NE 40th St., Miami
Hours: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday
More information: contessatrattoria.com