12 September 25 - OctOber 1, 2025 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 | Editor’s note: After last week’s “Required Eating” issue went to press, we learned that Top 100 Restaurants stalwart Doce Provisions closed with no public notice. We’ll miss Lisetty Llampalla and Justin Sherrer’s Little Havana gastropub. We immediately updated the Top 100 to reinstate another of our enduring favorites, the River Oyster Bar, which has been shucking it up in Brickell for more than two decades. ▼ SOUTH MIAMI THE SECRET IS OUT Miami’s culinary scene received national rec- ognition this month after Bon Appétit named a new and cozy South Miami restaurant one of the best new restaurants in America. The food magazine has just named Recov- eco, winner of New Times’ Best New Restau- rant in Miami-Dade 2025, as one of the 20 Best New Restaurants of 2025. It’s the only Florida restaurant to make the cut, joining highly acclaimed spots in New Orleans, San Francisco, and New York. The best part? Not only did the magazine mention Recoveco, but it also gave the restau- rant a full spread and the cover photo of the Oc- tober issue, praising chefs Maria Teresa Gallina and Nicolas Martinez for pulling off “re- strained plating” that highlights the “kaleido- scopic color and surprising flavor of each dish.” In other words, the editors were really im- pressed by not just what they cook but also how they present Miami’s best and most unique local products. Bon Appétit’s Kate Kassin zeroed in on a dish built around ballyhoo, a fish usually writ- ten off as bait in the Florida Keys. At Recov- eco, it’s bathed in white soy ponzu and arranged into twelve perfect pieces, the elon- gated nose left intact for dramatic effect. The dish was described as “a work of art” and even earned the coveted cover shot for the issue. The editors also pointed to desserts that turn overlooked ingredients into showpieces, like sapodilla adding butterscotch intensity to sticky toffee pudding or mamey pits trans- formed into an almondlike syrup drizzled over chocolate cake dotted with finger lime. They called every bite “a quiet moment of gratitude for this lush, miraculous habitat.” Gallina, already recognized as a StarChefs Rising Star, and Martinez both trained at Al- ter and Itamae before opening Recoveco in June 2024. They built out the 1,300-square- foot dining room themselves, keeping the menu lean at about ten dishes and focusing on whatever excites them most. That approach is evident in the current lineup, which includes lamb tartare with sun- gold tomatoes and pickled almonds and the popular beef tongue dish with chimichurri and whipped sesame. Larger plates include grouper with sherry sabayon and shiitake, Berkshire pork collar glazed in mamey sweet- and-sour, and golden chicken paired with pumpkin and potato. Even desserts stick with the element of sur- prise, like taleggio cheesecake with Kyoho grapes and peanuts. The payoff is clear. In its first year, Recoveco was listed in the Michelin Guide and featured in Bon Appétit’s list of the best new restaurants in the country. (Oh, and as aforementioned, New Times did in fact name it the best new restaurant in Miami in 2025 first.) For Miami, it proves that the city’s next wave of talent isn’t just competing nationally, it’s leading the conversation. Recoveco. 5850 SW 73rd St., South Miami; recovecomiami.com. OLEE FOWLER ▼ DOWNTOWN CAFFEINE FIXTURE Milan Blagojevic and Liudmyla Zaletska, na- tives of Serbia and Ukraine, respectively, had always dreamt of opening their own coffee shop after moving to New York in 2015, where they worked bartending at the award- winning speakeasy Employees Only. “I had a background in coffee since I was 18, but New York really opened our eyes to a specialty cof- fee industry,” Blagojevic tells New Times. In 2017, when Employees Only announced it was opening a Miami Beach outpost at the Washington Park Hotel, Blagojevic and Za- letska, who are both partners in business and in life, jumped at the opportunity to move to the Sunshine State to help with the expan- sion. The bar shuttered a year later, but Blagojevic and Zaletska stayed put, working hard for the next few years to save up to open their own business. “It just became a dream of ours to own the coffee shop one day,” Blagojevic adds. Since we’ve been in hospitality, it was kind of a nat- ural way of staying in hospitality, but doing something that we really were passionate about.” Naughty Coffee was born in 2019 as a coffee truck, first popping up at the First Presbyterian Church in Brickell in a custom Volkswagen Camper. Eventually, the pandemic slowed the momentum; how- ever, it also brought new opportunities. “Aventura Mall has this farmer’s market inside the mall on Saturdays and Sundays, and they invited us to come — it was in the middle of the pandemic,” Blagojevic says. “We did, like, four or five weeks at the mar- ket, and then Jackie Soffer, the owner of the mall, really liked our truck and asked, ‘Do you guys want to stay full-time at the mall?’” With a permanent space secured, Naughty Coffee quickly amassed a clientele of regulars who appreciated Blagojevic and Zaletska’s carefully crafted brews, whether it was lattes, cappuccinos, or cortados. In 2023, Naughty Coffee expanded with a second coffee truck at Dadeland Mall. However, Blagojevic and Zaletska’s ultimate goal was to open a brick- and-mortar location. “The truck was what we could do at that time; it was just our savings. The shop was always a dream, something we always wanted to have,” Blagojevic adds. Last month, that dream became a reality when Naughty Coffee expanded to downtown Miami. Beyond offering coffee- and matcha- based drinks, the added space allows the team to develop the café’s food offerings, which in- clude avocado toast, a couscous bowl, and a burrata salad. The team has also taken it upon themselves to roast coffee onsite. “We still have a full coffee menu at the cof- fee trucks. Our mission has always been to give you as much as we can and more from the truck, and we did maximize the very lim- ited space. But the brick-and-mortar location really offers a lot more,” Blagojevic explains. “We can do some things that we have al- ways wanted to do. Coming from the restau- rant industry, working behind the bar for a long time, we always wanted to have coffee drinks a little bit more elevated, in a sense, just to give you a little more for your money. We have our classic menu, but we also wanted to give a little more to people who want to try something exciting and different.” Ultimately, what Blagojevic hopes sets Naughty Coffee apart from the competition is the hospitality it offers. “It’s always hospital- ity first — being warm and welcoming, treat- ing people like they are coming to our house. On top of that, we try to deliver very good drinks. We also like having a fun approach — nothing too serious. It’s a place where people can just come daily and become part of it, in a sense, rather than just grab and go.” Naughty Coffee. 101 NE Second Ave., Mi- ami; 347-283-5609; naughtycoffeeshop.com. JOSE D. DURAN ▼ SOUTH MIAMI REPORTS OF DELI LANE’S DEMISE WERE PREMATURE When word got out that Deli Lane Café & Sun- set Tavern’s building was set for demolition, the rumor mill kicked into overdrive. Locals mourned the loss of a spot that has anchored South Miami for over 35 years — a place where generations have gathered for hearty break- fasts, post-work happy hours, and late-night burgers under twinkling patio lights. But owner Jahn Kirchoff wants the com- munity to know that while the building is be- ing razed, the beloved South Miami institution and neighborhood hangout itself isn’t going anywhere. The property at 7230 SW 59th Ave., which housed both Deli Lane and the attached Sun- set Tavern, was recently sold to AvalonBay Communities. Plans call for redevelopment, and demolition of the current structure is in- evitable. Yet instead of shutting down, Kir- choff and his team are charting a new path: moving across the driveway to the Dorn Building, a historic structure on the corner of Sunset Drive and U.S. 1. Built a century ago in the 1920s, the Dorn Buildings are a cluster of three designated historic structures on the corner of Sunset Drive and Dixie Highway (U.S. 1) in South Miami, built by brothers Harold and Robert Dorn. The buildings include the former Dorn-Martin drugstore, the former South Florida Bank building, and the former South Miami Post Office. The property was pur- chased by the current owner, Harvey Amster, in 1958 and is also known as Amster Proper- ties. In August 2005, the Dorn Brothers Buildings, located at 5900-5904 Sunset Drive, were designated a historic site in South Miami. Their adaptive reuse gives Deli Lane the chance to refresh while staying true to its identity. “We’re taking everything you know and love — our laid-back vibe, comforting eats, and neighborhood feel — and carrying it forward with fresh energy,” Kirchoff shared with New Times. The move is planned for summer 2026, and Kirchoff envisions a seamless transition: “We will literally be in our current location one day, and open in the new one the next.” The plan ensures diners won’t lose access to their morning omelets, lunchtime wraps, or the Tavern’s beer-and-wings nights. Until then, business continues as usual. The patio remains open, the same familiar staff is serving, and the restaurant’s role as a local gathering place continues uninter- rupted. While Deli Lane handles the daytime crowd, Sunset Tavern has long been South Miami’s low-key nightlife hub. With pool ta- bles, craft beer, and a reputation for live mu- sic, it complements the café’s more family-friendly vibe. Both concepts will make the move together, keeping the dual personal- ity — part breakfast institution, part neigh- borhood bar — intact. For Kirchoff, the move is about preserving a legacy rather than starting from scratch. “Deli Lane has always been more than a loca- tion,” he says. “It’s part of the community. A place to celebrate, to laugh, to connect. That spirit isn’t going away — it’s moving with us.” Deli Lane Café & Sunset Tavern. 7230 SW 59th Ave., South Miami; 305-665-0606; delil- ane.com. Staying put until its relocation down the road in 2026. MICHELLE MUSLERA | TASTE TEST | ▼ Café Recoveco photo Intimate South Miami restaurant Recoveco has been named one of the 20 Best New Restaurants in the U.S. by Bon Appétit for its seasonal seafood and dessert. THE ADDED SPACE ALLOWS THE TEAM TO DEVELOP THE CAFÉ’S FOOD OFFERINGS.
