The Drexei in Miami Beach Restaurant Review

Local Miamians are recognized to keep away from South Beach many of the vacationer season. That means lacking out on some eating places, nevertheless wonderful they might be.

Unless they’re taking part in sure reveals and festivals, locals keep away from the seaside throughout the crowds of Art Basel, the Miami International Boat Show, the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, and Spring Break. And each weekend when the sky is that individual blue coloration and the solar burns shiny, effectively, these days do not bode effectively for crossing any of the causeways and parking when you get there.

Despite all of this, followers of the Drexel at Esmé Miami Beach Hotel are keen to threat crowds, misbehaving vacationers, and overwhelmed parking garages and valets. Why?

For starters, the restaurant is owned by Anastasia Koutsioukis and Ahmet Erkaya, proprietors of longtime Design District fave Mandolin Aegean Bistro, design retailer pop-up Mrs. Mandolin subsequent door, and the extra informal iteration Mr. Mandolin within the Upper Eastside.

For one other factor, the Drexel is situated on a quiet block of historic Española Way. It’s a area harking back to a time earlier than mass growth overtook the seaside.

The Nineteen Twenties Mediterranean revival buildings, which nonetheless aren’t all fully redone, completely go well with the Drexel’s dinner delicacies, which ranges from an ultra-fresh heirloom tomato salad with avocado, hearts of palm, and kalamata olives to heartier dishes reminiscent of a complete natural rooster merely roasted over wooden and charcoal to housemade pizzas and pasta. Brunch affords basic gadgets and progressive plates, together with spinach-aged feta with wood-oven baked eggs, bananas Foster French toast, and the inescapable cacio e pepe.

The restaurant is harking back to the ’90s when Miami Beach was simply starting to achieve a fame because the American Riviera. Those have been thrilling days after we knew that Miami can be on the culinary map someday. Okay, so it took 30 years. Bon Appétit might have lastly taken discover, granting Miami the title “2023 Food City of the Year.” The Michelin Guide got here round final 12 months, as produce other media shops just like the Robb Report and Bloomberg, who labeled the town “America’s Hottest Dining Scene” and “essentially the most thrilling meals metropolis within the nation” in 2021.

But for these of us who’ve been eating and writing about this place for many years, it is a pleasure not solely to listen to the accolades however to acknowledge those that have been striving for perfection all alongside. Restaurateurs like Koutsioukis and Erkaya are neither sitting on their laurels nor speed-giving us place after place with zillion-dollar pomp and circumstance. Instead, they’re slow-fooding it — and getting it good.

So when you cannot get into Mandolin with no reservation far upfront today, the Drexel remains to be one thing of a Mediterranean hidden gem the place the standard and site make you are feeling such as you’re on trip in Croatia or off the coast of Italy or within the Greek Islands — which was precisely the intention of the pair. “It simply felt proper to be on the nook of this stunning pedestrian avenue with its storied previous as an artist colony. The Spanish revival structure makes you are feeling such as you’ve escaped to the Mediterranean,” Koutsioukis says.

Indeed, whereas the Drexel technically is within the coronary heart of the Art Deco District, you’d by no means actually understand it. This block is particular, exuding the identical vibe that it did a long time in the past. Koutsioukis and Erkaya, who had lengthy been enthusiastic about increasing to South Beach, felt it as effectively. This west-end location, which bleeds into the residential space, and the location itself drew them to construct out the Drexel there.

“It was essential to discover a area with a way of historical past. We are nostalgic for the allure of ‘outdated Miami.’ Española Way had that inbuilt allure,” Koutsioukis notes. “The constructing was being restored by the Esme Hotel group, and we jumped on the chance to create an anchor restaurant within the neighborhood for native Miami Beach residents and vacationers alike.”

Of course, the fare differs from Mandolin a bit, with fewer Greek and Turkish influences and extra Italian mainstays to draw a unique, extra touristy crowd. But do not let the simplicity idiot you. From a flavorful gigante bean dip with crudites to an exceedingly tender grilled octopus with pungent olive tapenade to complete wild prawns with herbs and lemon, they stun with distinctive high quality.

I like to recommend sitting inside within the mild, welcoming inside, with doorways and home windows typically open to the outside (in cooler climate) or outdoors on the terrace. Either manner, you’ll be able to view the rowdier eating places from a distance, making you are feeling such as you’re on a Greek island the place you’ll be able to select to be on the get together or away from it whereas indulging in a lot better delicacies.

Speaking of Greece, in the event you do not see Koutsioukis and Erkaya at any of the Mandolins or the Drexel, that is as a result of they’re additionally constructing a six-room resort on the island of Paros, the place they’ve a summer season house. Paros impressed the Mandolins, in order they are saying, “It’s all come full circle.” As have we.

The Drexel. 1436 Drexel Ave., Miami Beach; 305-692-0992; drexelmiami.com. Dinner is served Monday by way of Friday 6 to 11 p.m., Saturday 5 to 11 p.m., and Sunday 5 to 10 p.m. Brunch is served Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundowner comfortable hour is obtainable day by day on the bar 5:30 to 7 p.m.