Miami Beach's hotel boom is raising the level of the dining scene with its latest contender, Byblos at The Royal Palm South Beach Miami, a Tribute Portfolio Resort—which opened this week. A sister restaurant to the Toronto Byblos, the Miami Byblos is helmed by Stuart Cameron (Nao, Patria) and has been designed by the firm Munge Leung, responsible for the Thompson Hotel Seattle.
Byblos (pictured) takes its inspiration from the Eastern Mediterranean. Starters include Maltese spiced olives and house-made labneh; other features include Barberi—Turkish bread cooked in a stone oven—braised lamb leg, and hand-rolled cous cous.
A few blocks away, the brand-spanking-new DECK sixteen at the Hyatt Centric South Beach serves Spanish-Mediterranean fare. Set in an indoor/outdoor space with Mid-Century style furniture, the restaurant has a Mad Men-revisited vibe.
Related: T+L’s Guide to Restaurants in Miami
Executive chef William Milian, formerly with the forever-sophisticated Traymore restaurant at the Metropolitan by COMO hotel, serves tapas and such dishes as grilled head-on Florida shrimp and chorizon with potato and aji Amarillo aioli. A Latin-themed tres leches cake is a highlight of the dessert menu.
In downtown Miami, PB Station—put together by the famed Pubbelly Restaurant Group—adorns the new Langford Hotel, set to open in the early fall. Now downtown Miami, happily enough, is about to become a culinary destination in South Florida: the Pubbelly crew can't be beat.
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• Best Places to Travel in 2015
