RESTAURANTS • First Word
The Skinny: José Andrés’s Miami Beach rollout continues with Aguasal, an upscale coastal Mediterranean restaurant at the new Andaz, which opened this summer. As a prelude to the return of The Bazaar by José Andrés — which shuttered at the SLS South Beach in 2023, and is expected to open at the Andaz in the future — Aguasal is currently the hotel’s marquee restaurant, and the debut of a new brand in the celebrity chef’s ever-expanding universe.
The Vibe: The aesthetic is classic MiMo meets Art Deco. Set in a curvaceous space on the hotel’s ground floor with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a poolside patio, the new restaurant is decked out in rounded rose-colored banquettes, creamy plaster walls, tile floors, and lush green birds of paradise. The word isn’t out yet: On a midweek night in early September, my party was amongst the only diners there.
The Food: Aguasal takes a broad approach to Mediterranean cuisine for a true fine dining experience. Dishes are elegant, flavorful, and beautifully plated, and arrive tableside at the perfect temperature, whether it’s a refreshing chilled snapper crudo in preserved lemon dressing or sizzling fried calamari with garlic toum, harissa chili crisp, lemon, and dill. Hanger steak was beautifully prepared in a marash chili rub and served with a row of charred Cypriot potatoes and cherry tomatoes. My table also enjoyed Ora King salmon with garlic and potato skordalia and an herbaceous green chermoula sauce, and dorade with a pepper ezme and watercress salad. For dessert, molten chocolate cake with yogurt cream and candied orange is a perfect balance of bitter and sweet flavor profiles.
The Drink: We paired our dinner with a beautiful Greek sparkling rosé, while the cocktail menu plays up flavors and spirits of the Mediterranean, as in the Melissa, made with Greek gin, Calvados, honey, lemon, and orange blossom, or the Astoria Sour, made with rye, Oloroso sherry, and Greek wine.
FOUND Pro: It’d be a shame to visit Aguasal and not go upstairs to Bar Centro — the Andaz’s deceptively casual lobby bar and lounge just behind the check-in counter — which is also under Andrés’s purview. Here, some of Miami’s most sophisticated, playful, and inventive cocktails are being concocted using the chef’s signature molecular techniques to glorious effect. Take the Spamini, made with vodka, lemongrass shochu, and aloe poured into a wine glass then topped with a “cloud” of aromatic hinoki from a giant bubbling beaker — it’s a beautifully bracing, perfectly clear cocktail. Drinks are complemented by tapas-style bites featuring some of Andres’s greatest hits, like his croquetas de pollo and caviar cones, as well as oysters aguachile and a gooey grilled cheese bikini sandwich.
The Verdict: Unequivocally excellent. What remains to be seen is whether Aguasal’s got the juice to lure a local following to fill its pretty dining room night after night. –Shayne Benowitz
→ Aguasal (Mid Beach) • 4041 Collins Ave • Daily 7-11a, Sun-Thu 6-10p, Fri-Sat 6-11p • Reserve.