12 July 23-29, 2026 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Month XX–Month XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Decoupling Two acclaimed Wynwood restaurants close within days. BY OLEE FOWLER I t has been a difficult month for Wynwood’s dining scene. Within days, two of the neighbor- hood’s most talked-about restaurants, Shiso and Niño Gordo, announced they were closing, ending relatively short but memorable runs just steps from one another on NW 28th Street. Shiso was chef Raheem Sealey’s modern Asian smokehouse, centered on barbecue, rooftop cocktails, and an acclaimed chef’s counter. Niño Gordo was the flashy Argentine import that fused live-fire cooking with Japa- nese, Korean, and Southeast Asian flavors in- side one of the neighborhood’s most theatrical dining rooms. Together, the departures mark the end of two ambitious restaurants that helped define Wynwood’s dining scene over the past year. Not only did they both open in 2025, but they were located just steps away from one an- other. Now, both are gone. So what happened? Shiso served its final restaurant service on July 12. Rather than leaving the space vacant, ownership is transforming the restaurant into the Wynwood Event Center (WEC), a venue dedicated to weddings, corporate gatherings, private celebrations, and experiential events. The closure does not mean the end of Sealey’s food. Ownership says the Shiso culinary team and menu will continue as one of WEC’s in- house catering options for private events. However, the timing of Shiso’s closure sur- prised many because it comes just weeks af- ter New Times readers voted the restaurant Best New Restaurant and named Sealey Best Chef in the publication’s 2026 Best of Miami Readers’ Choice awards. “We’re incredibly proud of what Shiso ac- complished, including being named Best New Restaurant and Best Chef by the Miami New Times Readers’ Poll,” ownership said in a statement. “While the restaurant is closing, the Shiso culinary team and cuisine will con- tinue as one of the catering options available for private events at WEC.” When Shiso opened in March 2025, it quickly became one of Wynwood’s most eye- catching restaurants. The restaurant paired exposed concrete beams and graffiti art with an illuminated quartz stone bar, while its 6,500-square-foot rooftop featured a 35-seat racetrack-shaped bar, a retractable roof, semi-private dining ca- banas, and a 2,000-square-foot garden. Inside, a 15-seat Chef’s Counter of- fered an interactive omakase experience alongside a cocktail program created by mixologist James MacInnes. That same rooftop and Chef’s Counter will now be- come the backdrop for private events. Sealey’s roots in Wynwood go back nearly a decade. He joined the opening team at KYU in February 2016 as sous chef alongside Zuma alumni Michael Lewis and Steven Haigh be- fore quickly rising to executive chef. Under his leadership, KYU earned a James Beard Award nomination for Best New Restaurant in 2017 and landed on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2021. When KYU changed ownership in 2020 and Lewis and Haigh moved on, Sealey stayed to guide the kitchen through the transition before eventually stepping away himself. During that break, he launched Drinking Pig BBQ, the pandemic smokehouse pop-up that started in his North Miami cul- de-sac before growing into a daily sellout and eventually permanent locations. He later returned to oversee KYU globally before opening Shiso in Wynwood with For- ward Hospitality Group, the same partner behind Drinking Pig’s brick-and-mortar res- taurants. Just a block away, another acclaimed res- taurant has quietly disappeared. New Times has learned that Niño Gordo, the neon-colored Argentine-Asian grill at 112 NW 28th St., has closed just over a year after opening its first international location in Wynwood. Unlike Shiso, whose transition was an- nounced publicly, Niño Gordo’s closure ap- pears to have happened suddenly. As of publication, no announcement has appeared on its Instagram account. However, events scheduled later this month have been canceled on short notice, including a planned dinner series that was expected to run through the end of July. Niño Gordo was created by Germán Sitz and Pedro Peña, who opened the original res- taurant in Buenos Aires in 2017. The restaurant quickly became one of Argentina’s hardest res- ervations to get. It even landed at No. 21 on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list. When the pair chose Miami for the restau- rant’s first expansion outside Argentina, they brought a concept centered on Argentine live-fire cooking, layered with Japanese, Ko- rean, and Southeast Asian influences. The Miami kitchen leaned on South Flor- ida ingredients. It used ingredients like Key West shrimp and served dishes such as hama- chi with pecorino and truffle, cauliflower karaage, pork katsu-sando, spicy fried rice, and A5 Wagyu. Cocktails included a Yuzu Ko- sho Margarita and a Red Bean Old Fashioned. Sitz and Peña described the Wynwood opening as proof that Miami and Buenos Ai- res shared the same creative energy. Unfortu- nately, the Miami experiment lasted about 14 months. While the menu earned plenty of attention, the restaurant’s design often stole the spotlight. Argentine artist Ever Siempre created a towering mural that anchored the space, while maze-like dining rooms filled with deep red lighting, mirrors, and anime- and propaganda-inspired artwork made the res- taurant feel more like an immersive art instal- lation than a traditional dining room. Tucked behind a vintage cigarette ma- chine sat Dekotora, a hidden cocktail bar de- signed as its own late-night destination. It quickly became one of Wynwood’s most pho- tographed restaurant interiors. Although the reasons for the closures could not be more different, their departures have left two neighboring restaurant spaces suddenly dark in one of Miami’s busiest dining districts. Now, just over a year later, they have joined the growing list of notable Miami restaurant closures this summer. Despite these closures, Wynwood is cur- rently expanding and developing rapidly. It begs the question: If chef-driven restaurants can’t even survive, what can? Niño Gordo. 112 NW 28th St., Miami. Closed as of July 2026. Shiso. 239 NW 28th St., Miami. Restaurant service ended July 12 ahead of the space’s re- launch as the Wynwood Event Center. [email protected] ▼ Café Photo by Ruben Cabrera Acclaimed Wynwood restaurants Shiso and Niño Gordo suddenly closed, marking another difficult month for Miami’s dining scene. IF CHEF- DRIVEN RESTAURANTS CAN’T EVEN SURVIVE, WHAT CAN? Photo by Cristian Gonzalez / CG Media
