ZZ's Club Miami

"If you’ve always wondered how the 1% lives—you know, those who can afford to join elite members clubs and have boats for their boats—go to lunch at ZZ’s Club. The Japanese restaurant will immediately make you feel better about your income bracket. A membership at ZZ’s comes with a $10,000 initiation and $3,500 annual fee (per person). But they’ve recently opened lunch service to all curious plebeians with a desire to spend $42 for an average poke bowl. This restaurant is proof that exclusivity and money don’t guarantee quality. Places like ZZ’s are usually known for their ambiance, service, and hospitality. But there’s nothing special about this dining room, which has more white lattice fencing than a Nantucket summer home. And servers here forget drink orders as easily as members’ names. We couldn’t access the adjoining cigar bar, sports bar, dining room, or speakeasy. But if they’re anything like lunch service, we’re not interested. Food Rundown photo credit: Virginia Otazo Trout Roe Toast The trout roe on toast is probably the tastiest thing on the menu. But that’s literally all it is: trout roe with honey butter on toast for $35. It’s hard to mess up something so simple, but it’s even harder to justify paying that much for it. photo credit: Virginia Otazo ZZ's Bowl This $42 chirashi bowl is mostly rice, and the thin tuna slices are deceptively folded to make it look bigger than it is. Illusions of abundance are a common theme with the food here, while illusions of grandeur are just present all around. photo credit: Virginia Otazo House Burger The burger arrives on crustless toasted white bread—the way we’d imagine a spoiled 10-year-old might order it. It’s also served on an elevated wooden box, an old trick to, once again, make it look like there’s more food than there actually is. There’s nothing special about it, other than the $26 price tag. photo credit: Virginia Otazo Salmon Teriyaki Bento Box This might just be the most reasonable deal at ZZ’s—as long as you share it. There are several options, but we like the salmon teriyaki that also comes with half a salmon roll. That’s the most exciting part of the meal, which also includes miso soup, spicy cucumbers, sesame spinach, and white rice, which are there to fill you up while still turning a profit. But at least you’ll leave full." - Virginia Otazo

"The Design District has really stepped up its game, between hot newcomers like Cote and ZZ’s." - Olee Fowler

"“It’s hard to describe it as a design direction, but I do think that part of the DNA of them is that they are these incredibly optimistic spaces,” says Fulk of Strawberry Moon and ZZ’s Sushi Bar. “They are hopeful fun spaces that are purposely designed to celebrate, come together, and to actually be near one another. Who would have ever thought that that felt like such a rarefied thing?”" - Laura Fenton

"In April, it opened ZZ’s Sushi Bar, a hybrid of New York’s ZZ’s Clam Bar and a sushi club with a members-only component in Miami Design District." - Monica Burton

"Major Food Group — the team behind Miami’s most buzzed about new restaurant, Carbone — is expanding their footprint in the Magic City with the debut of ZZ’s Sushi Bar (151 NE 41st Street) in the Miami Design District. The two-story restaurant is a hybrid version of the group’s popular ZZ’s Clam Bar and a sushi and private members club. The focal point of the first floor dining areas is a custom-marble sushi counter overseen by chefs Masa Ito and Kevin Kim, who earned a Michelin star at New York’s Sushi Zo. The adjacent dining room boasts a modern Japanese menu with a range of raw and cooked dishes, including the largest offering of wagyu beef in the United States served in a variety of ways from wagyu katsu sandwiches with truffles to steak cooked over custom-built charcoal grills. There are also a selection of ZZ’s favorites — from the toast topped with trout roe and honey to the carpaccio of tuna, foie, uni, and scallop — as well as dishes developed just for Miami like lobster dumplings, crispy snapper, and stone crab cucumber salad. The dessert menu, from pastry chef Stephanie Prida, offers dishes like Japanese ice cream sandwiches, chocolate matcha bombs, and key lime pie. The space, which previously was the home for Ember, was designed by Ken Fulk and showcases curving bentwood banquettes with a malachite finish, teal cheetah print rug, antique furnishings, brass palm pendant lights, and vintage clamshell dining chairs. For the ground floor patio, Fulk’s design inspo was “tiki bar on acid,” with wicker furnishings in a banana leaf print with modern shapes. Upstairs, the space channels “80s disco” with custom banquettes, fringed stools, and cocktails tables, in metallic leather, animal prints, rose gold shattered mirror, velvet, and neon. As for drinks, they are created by longtime bartender Thomas Waugh. Appearing on the menu upstairs is the popular Pistachio Cocktail with gin, honey, and lemon. In the dining rooms, guests can sip on Japanese-inspired takes of classics like the Dashi Martini, Hojicha Old Fashioned, and a Japanese Rum Highball. ZZ’s Sushi Bar is now open Tuesday to Sunday from 5 p.m. to midnight. This marks the 26th Major Food Group outpost in the world, and the second in Miami with additional restaurants forthcoming in Brickell and the Miami Design District." - Olee Fowler