Take a Look Inside the Design District’s Newest Italian Restaurant with a Pink Flair – Sofia
With the opening of Sofia in Miami’s Design District, the team behind Miami favorites Byblos and Amal has continued to grow throughout South Florida. The chic, predominantly pink restaurant is a Toronto import that offers fine Italian cuisine.
In close proximity to the recently Michelin-recognized Itamae, Sofia debuts a menu of both contemporary and classic Italian meals that are produced with a refined technique and seasonal ingredients to honor the true flavors of Italy. A variety of antipasti will be available, including Crudo, grilled octopus, citrus salads, and ricotta-stuffed zucchini.
For entrées, Sofia serves traditional handmade pasta dishes like rigatoni alla vodka and cacio e pepe al tartufo. Among the standouts from the carne mains are wagyu filets, breaded veal, and prime striploin, among others. The pesce area also includes branzino, aragosta (butter-poached crab), and gamberetti (wild king prawn).
Sofia’s Italy-inspired cocktails stress execution and graceful presentation, and its wine list includes a variety of vintages and difficult-to-find Italian wines, which are garnished with locally grown herbs. The restaurant’s flamingo-pink, Italian-glam indoor-outdoor settings was created by award-winning group Studio Munge, and they will be brought to life every night with DJs and live performances.
Sofia hopes to become Palm Court’s newest signature restaurant, according to INK founder and CEO Charles Khabouth, despite the fact that the Design District is already home to a number of upscale eateries, including well-known Italian restaurants like MC Kitchen and Palat and Pharrell’s ultra-trendy pastel wonderland Swan.
The Sofia restaurant will be open every day of the week starting at 5 p.m. breakfast and lunch service will start soon following the supper service, which will start now.
Major Food Group Officially Opens Italian Restaurant in Miami’s Design District-Contessa
The upscale, well-known Italian concept Contessa has officially debuted in the Miami Design District thanks to Major Food Group, the renowned hospitality company that is responsible for bringing Carbone, Rao’s, and Dirty French Steakhouse to Miami.
Contessa is a classic yet utterly modern Italian restaurant created by MFG Co-Founders and creative powers Jeff Zalaznick, Mario Carbone, and Rich Torrisi. It is inspired by the old-world refinement of Northern Italy’s famed villas and estates.
Visitors at Contessa Miami can begin their dinner with one of the several antipasti starters, which include Proscuitto, Chianina beef carpaccio, and squash carpaccio. Of course, the menu features a number of sumptuous pasta dishes, such as the fiery lobster cappelli, the tortellini in broth, the rigatoni carbonara, the fusilli Genovese, and the rigatoni carbonara. Entree choices include grilled branzino, the traditional veal Milanese, and a 40-ounce dry-aged Fiorentina steak. The meal is finished with a variety of sweets such as gelato and cakes with pistachio, amaretto, and gianduja chocolate.
Contessa’s original location made its debut on the rooftop of The Newbury Boston last year, and it rapidly established a reputation as one of the most opulent and outstanding Italian restaurants in America.
It was hailed as the city’s “crème de la crème” of restaurants by the opulent publication Boston Common. Boston Magazine has also raved about the restaurant stating that it is one of the best Italian restaurants in the city.
Contessa Miami promises exquisite Northern Italian cuisine in addition to MFG’s renowned warm, charismatic, and polished hospitality, which is specially tailored to the city the company has called home since 2021. At that time, the company began a historic run of restaurant openings in the area, including ZZ’s Club in the Miami Design District and Sadelle’s in Coconut Grove.
Over 40 restaurants, pubs, hotels, and private clubs are now managed by the organization across the world. The company has numerous new openings scheduled for South Florida over the next six months, in addition to Contessa Miami and a variety of upcoming projects in the United States and internationally.
The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner and is housed in a two-story building in the renowned neighborhood at 111 NE 41st Street.