That’s as a result of Platea Miami’s chef/co-owner Fernando Salazar and his enterprise associate, Andres Maremolejos, are pretty assured that their year-old idea is the one one which exists. Not simply right here in Miami, however within the United States and South America.
In reality, they visited 48 states (besides North and South Dakota) and varied South American nations to seek out out. “There were two things in my mind when we set out to do this,” Salazar says. “Either somebody did it, and it failed. Or this is a great opportunity, and no one has done it before.”
Regardless, the novelty of their thought didn’t garner them a fast lease in Wynwood or Brickell the best way they thought it could. Though Maremolejos is from Pinecrest, and Salazar grew up close by in West Kendall, the pair had initially envisioned a extra tourist-trod sector of the town for his or her enterprise. “We tried everywhere from the Brightline station to places in North Miami Beach,” Salazar says about their seek for a house. “But we were against all the odds. No one wanted to believe in us except ourselves, my grandma, my business partner’s wife, and our sommelier.”
Apparently, their ages plus the pandemic proved detrimental to potential stakeholders. They have been 28 (Salazar) and 29 (Maremolejos) after they began searching for a brick-and-mortar location in 2020 amongst employees and provide chain shortages. “They thought we were crazy to want to do a high-end concept at that moment and being as young as we are. They thought we wouldn’t be able to communicate with older clientele. And they said a Peruvian steakhouse doesn’t make any sense,” Salazar says. “It only made us more motivated. We thought, maybe we’re onto something that could change the steakhouse game.”
While looking for a everlasting restaurant spot, Salazar stored busy along with his Ceviche Bowl meals truck. As if by destiny, a buyer on the truck fell in love with the fare. He turned out to be a property proprietor and provided Salazar a lease on the house the place Platea would wind up.
Platea Miami gives “Vineyard Wednesdays,” when wines are 25-50% off and uncooked oysters are $3.
Platea Miami
It’s not a stretch to say that those that turned them away misplaced out on greater than tostones with Wagyu picanha saltado and creative pisco-based cocktails. Not solely is the menu at Platea Miami distinctive with its Peruvian articulations, but it surely’s additionally elegant and egalitarian, with dishes starting from foie gras dressed with orange ardour fruit aji amarillo and balsamic pearls to pan-seared sea bass plated with tomato ragu, brown butter, and lemon foam. This is the kind of completely ready, just-right riskiness that pulls Michelin consideration.
Salazar and Maremolejos, together with their multilingual, Romanian-born sommelier Chip Iacob (43), shortly realized that that they had lucked out. A few the locales they’d coveted have now fizzled out. Had they leased any of them, Salazar says frankly, “We would not have hit our numbers. We in all probability would have been useless within the water.”
Instead, opening of their acquainted group gave them extra leeway than they’d imagined. For one factor, neighbors have extra self-interest than vacationers; they really need a superb restaurant of their midst. And they root for the success of their very own. So whereas the companions had the identical sorts of rising pains as their counterparts — a extreme lack of employees and quickly rising meals prices, coupled with unpredictable shortages — the slower tempo of the suburbs allowed the gregarious Salazar to interact along with his clients, lots of whom he now calls his “regulars and locals.”
It actually helps that Maremolejos can be within the meat distribution/butcher enterprise. That provides Platea Miami an edge over different steakhouses from the get, permitting them to supply costs for his or her USDA Prime steaks — what Salazar calls “the right mixture of taste and tenderness” — at a way more affordable value than many others round city.
This is not only a guess, both. Salazar assesses his competitors by eating at different steakhouses on the town and checking in on meat costs with restaurant suppliers. “A porterhouse from Sysco can be $100, and I promote mine for $85,” he says. This means he is promoting his steak for lower than what his counterparts are shopping for wholesale. Theirs then sometimes run the shopper greater than $200, in response to the restaurateur.
Then there’s Platea Miami’s persistently sold-out “Tomahawk Tuesdays,” a terrifically tasty deal. For $150, two folks get pleasure from a three-course meal with a sliced 64-ounce USDA Prime tomahawk steak, signature salad, facet dish, and dessert. Salazar says he just lately ate a 52-ounce tomahawk at a brand-new competitor and paid $450 for simply the steak alone. “How many individuals pays that? How are you able to afford wine and extra persistently after that?” he asks.
This does not imply that Platea Miami’s tomahawk, sourced from packing homes within the Northwest and Midwest, is of lesser high quality. It does imply that Salazar and his companions are prepared to herald a diminished revenue however obtain higher loyalty from repeat clientele moderately than soak a one-time visitor with an exorbitantly priced meal. “We maintain this operation to the best commonplace. We’re not the most affordable, and we’re not the most costly. We’re truthful as a result of we maintain each single ingredient,” he says. “We put money into our staff. We do that with intention.”
Salazar enjoys entertaining a lot that he intentionally designed the restaurant after his lounge with velvet and leather-based textiles and a residing plant wall. He has an affinity for the 80s and performs a soundtrack that makes him really feel like he is “being paid to play,” however which additionally relates effectively to people of all ages.
And regardless of what landlords thought, Salazar actually does know chat with an older crowd. Or any crowd for that matter, even a gaggle of Texans who just lately stopped in on their vacation as a result of they’d heard about Platea Miami. “They have been actual cowboys with hats and boots. They did not know ceviche and lomo saltado and aji panca. But they knew their meat and have been like, ‘We’re right here to guage you for actual.’ I count on that type of check. And on the finish, they stated this was the most effective they ever had,” Salazar says.
Platea Miami gives different offers on totally different nights. Wine fans ought to take a look at “Vineyard Wednesdays,” when you possibly can drink choose wines for 25-50% off and slurp down $3 oysters. Live music followers will need to congregate on Thursdays for leisure, together with a curated collection of steaks.
But you do not have to attend for a particular to get pleasure from Salazar’s creativity and develop into one among Platea Miami’s believers. In a metropolis the place a meal for 2 can run you $1,000 and style like one thing you may make at residence, Platea Miami stands out as a steakhouse that has modified the stakes.
Platea Miami. 12175 S. Dixie Hwy.; 305-964-5108; plateamiami.com. 6 to 10 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday.