Ariete

"Maybe your days of bottle service and partying till sunrise are behind you. But if you still want to engage in some classic Miami indulgence—all while feeling like a classy adult—then make a reservation at Ariete. If you're coming here to celebrate (or just want dinner to feel like a special occasion in and of itself) get the duck press. They wheel this medieval-looking machine to the table, compress various parts of the duck into a sauce, then use that sauce to smother the absolute best duck you’ll ever taste in your life. Their tasting menu is also one of Miami's best." - ryan pfeffer, virginia otazo, mariana trabanino

"This award-winning New American hotspot never disappoints. For Thanksgiving, diners can enjoy a special three-course menu crafted by chef Michael Beltran that promises an unforgettable experience. Price: $145 per person." - Alona Martinez

"Ariete in Coconut Grove, helmed by chef Michael Beltran, marries Beltran’s Cuban-American roots with American flavors and French techniques. The one-Michelin-starred restaurant combines modern elegance with rustic charm, featuring exposed brick, leather banquettes, and an open kitchen, offering guests both a la carte options and a popular tasting menu ($165). Standouts include the foie gras with plantain brioche and sour orange caramel, and the venison tartare with coffee and cocoa crumble. For a show-stopping experience, try the Canard à la Presse — a 14-day dry-aged duck breast meant for two and elaborately served tableside. End the meal on a high note with the flan infused with candy cap mushroom." - Olee Fowler

"Miamians do whatever the hell we want. And so does Ariete, a proud Cuban-American restaurant that cooks with French techniques, local ingredients, and operates with a distinctly Miami indifference to rules. In the process, they’ve formed an entirely new genre: Miami fine dining. You absolutely cannot find food like this anywhere else in the world. It is specific to this city and distinctly tied to Miami’s Cuban-American community. There are dishes here that somehow feel like both a history lesson of Cuban cuisine and a glimpse into its future—the result of an ongoing transformation: Cubans becoming Cuban-American. Seared foie gras with naranja agria caramel, flan with candy cap mushrooms, caviar with mamey mille-feuille. These dishes use ingredients our Cuban families wouldn’t have eaten in Camagüey, but Miamians have grown to love, like tartare and uni. photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC Many Miami Cubans see themselves represented in this food, but these are unprecedented flavors worth trying, whether you’re coming from Westchester or Winchester. The best option here is to order from one of their two tasting menus and trust Ariete to take the wheel. If you want more control over your order, you can build a tremendous meal from the a la carte options (which include some dishes from both tasting menus). But the duck press is the city’s best tableside show and something everyone should experience at least once. So take any special occasion as an excuse to make multiple trips here and try it all. photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC At first glance, it seems like the restaurant shirks many fine dining standards. But remember: this is Miami fine dining. Chancletas dangle from the toes of locals at the bar drinking mamey cocktails, Benny Moré and Mos Def pump through speakers, and the servers are the kind of easy going people you’d want to be stranded with at an airport. Ariete has meticulous attention to detail where it matters most: on the plate. Ariete was the name of a Cuban restaurant where the chef’s grandparents once worked. The word means ram, like a battering ram that breaks down barriers. It’s an appropriate name for a restaurant like this. There’s just one thing they maybe didn’t anticipate. In a hilarious coincidence that really showcases Miami’s stubborn propensity to dismiss rules, many locals confidently mispronounce the name: aa-ree-eh-tei (it’s air-ee-et, by the way). Not that it matters—because that’s what Miami does. This city will rename you. It’ll reclaim you. It will change you over time. And that’s just perfect, because it’s exactly what Ariete is doing with Cuban food and fine dining. Food Rundown The menu at Ariete changes frequently, but here are a few examples of dishes you might find. photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc Versos Clásicos This six-course tasting menu is one of two options at Ariete, and costs $165 per person. The menu unfolds like a story of Cuba’s past melded together with its present Miami diaspora as told through dishes like an unconventional arroz con pollo with mousse-stuffed chicken, or Parker House roll-style Cuban bread. photo credit: Antonella Re Versos Modernos What clásicos does to push open a world of food for the first generation of Cuban-Americans, modernos does for the next. The prix fixe tasting menu is like looking into the future of this hyper-regional food, with dishes like mango consommé and a foie torchon with guava and white chocolate. Like clásicos, modernos is also six courses, but it costs $205 per person because it includes some really luxurious things like caviar and king crab. video credit: The Infatuation Canard A La Presse For Two The $160 duck press is a full meal for two that includes dry aged roasted duck breast, calabaza duck tamal, duck pastelitos, and a simple but delicious salad. They roll out a little cart (affectionately named “El Carrito”) with an ancient-looking gold contraption. What comes out of it are delicious fats and juices, which get reduced into a rich gravy and served with the duck. Duck presses are rare these days. And this one stands out as one of the best in the country. photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC Crudo The crudo always represents what’s seasonally fresh in Florida. Whether that’s lychee, green papaya, or a thick Florida orange sauce so strong it could cure a pirate’s scurvy. photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC Foie Gras If this tastes vaguely like your Cuban neighbor's Christmas party, it’s thanks to the naranja agria and plantains. Except instead of a marinated pig in a Caja China, this is a big hunk of seared foie gras with cocoa nibs and a plantain pavè. Que fancy. photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC Chicken The crispy skin of this juicy breast is stuffed with a smooth herb mousse and tender as a little kiss on your forehead after getting tucked in at night. photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC Pork Chop Our taste buds didn’t know whether to mambo or line dance when we took our first bite of this juicy pork chop. Barbecue flavors and guava romesco aren’t common dancing partners, but Cuba meets country in this dish. Flan Mushrooms in flan. It sounds unhinged. But it gives the flan a rich, deep flavor. If you skip this dessert, you’re missing out on the best flan in Miami. photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC The Optimist This is Ariete’s very own house-selected red. If you’re a wine nerd who likes New World grenache, you’ll love this. It’s a youthful medium to full-bodied Rhône-style blend with California grenache, petite verdot, syrah, and roussanne with blackberry and pepper notes. The wine is really flexible and pairs perfectly with Ariete’s menu. Non-nerds: order it—it’s a really smooth and great wine for this kind of food." - Virginia Otazo

"The foie gras itself is very similar to Laurel’s—a fatty hunk of seared liver topped with cocoa nibs for a touch of crunch and bitterness. But the presentation and taste couldn’t be more different. It wades in a gooey caramel that’s sweet and tart from sour orange juice, which is used all over Cuban cooking, including the mojo criollo your neighbor uses to marinade the caja china pig every Christmas. You’d think that’d be enough Miami-fication for one dish. But Ariete takes the concept of a classic potato pavé and applies it to sweet plantains. The pavé is crispy on the outside, soft and sweet inside, and looks like one of those square wooden pegs you used to force into round holes when you were a kid." - virginia otazo, mariana trabanino, ryan pfeffer