Miami's best hotels

Aventura for $2M, Jenny Starr Perez, Sardinia, Noma Kaffe, Fasano Rio de Janeiro, MORE

Jan 22, 2026

∙ Paid

REAL ESTATE • First Mover

Three for-sale properties in Aventura that came to market in the last 10 days.

→ 2000 Island Blvd #1107 (Aventura) • 2BR/2.1BA, 1890 SF condo • Ask: $2.0M • in full-service building on Williams Island • Days on market: 4 • Monthly HOA: $2550 • Annual tax: $4893 • Agent: Liliane Weinstein, Compass.

→ 20920 NE 32nd Ave (Aventura) • 3BR/4.1BA, 3176 SF house • Ask: $2.2M • main-level suite plus upstairs primary with lakefront views • Days on market: 3 • Annual tax: $17,440 • Agent: Ali Samek Seid, Compass.

→ 5500 Island Estates Dr #602 (Aventura, above) • 3BR/4.1BA, 2670 SF condo • Ask: $3.7M • upgraded with designer wallpaper at Prive Island Estates • Days on market: 8 • Annual tax: $43,479 • Agent: Mariana Niro, SERHANT.

MIAMI WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Residential sales picked up across South Florida to close out year • Will new water taxi from Miami Beach to Miami click this time? • Steve Ross dives into West Palm Beach’s private club scene • Job market tightens for blue chip MBA grads • Out: Corner offices • In: ‘choiceful’ consumers • The inevitability of a $1 million SUV.

WORK • Thursday Routine

Copy that

JENNY STARR PEREZ • publisher & editor • Courant Miami
Neighborhood you work in: Edgewater
Neighborhood you live in: Miami Beach

It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
Most days, I work from home. And for someone who publishes a magazine, it’s surprisingly organized. Courant Miami launched in 2024 and (while publishing can feel gloriously chaotic at times) I’m very much a systems-and-lists person. It’s a calm, creative space where a lot of planning happens before things get loud.

When I’m at our Edgewater office, it’s a completely different energy. That’s where the buzz really kicks in. I’m usually juggling meetings, layouts, calls with writers, and lots of quick check-ins with my business partner. I’m usually running from one meeting room to the next or heading out for a sales call. It’s fast-paced, collaborative, and exactly the kind of momentum you want when you’re building something.

What’s on the agenda for today?
I’m finalizing the outline for Courant Miami’s upcoming dining issue, out in February. I’m genuinely excited about it. The cover is so good, and Miami’s dining scene deserves its own love letter. I also contribute to publications like Business Traveler, which lets me flex my storytelling muscle. I’m currently working on a piece about how Miami just keeps expanding culturally, creatively, and globally.

Any bar or restaurant plans today, tonight, or this weekend?
Tonight, I’m heading to Las’ Lap for the second time. Kwame Onwuachi is one of my favorite chefs in the country and the food is incredible. But I also love that space; it’s so visually inspiring. This weekend, I’ll be in the Miami Design District for lunch and cocktails at Michael’s, a forever classic, followed by dinner at The Joyce, which also happens to double as an art experience. Food plus art is a sweet spot for me.

How about a little leisure or culture?
I absolutely loved El Monte by Elliot & Erick Jiménez at PAMM. It’s the duo’s first solo museum exhibition, inspired by Lucumí spiritual traditions and Lydia Cabrera’s seminal text El Monte. The work is powerful, layered, and incredibly thoughtful. I’m planning to go back; it’s on view through March 22.

I’m also a huge fan of public art, and with the madness of Basel, I somehow missed the new Lincoln Road installations by both local and international artists (I’m definitely fixing that soon!). Looking ahead, I’m already counting down to ICA Miami’s Dolce & Gabbana exhibition opening February 6.

Any weekend getaways?
Weekend getaways are even better when there’s an event involved. I love Palm Beach this time of year and recently attended the Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival. It was such a fun whirlwind, hopping from tasting to tasting, seeing familiar faces, and discovering new favorites.

What was your last great vacation?
In June, I did a weeklong tour of Corsica and Sardinia with Sea Cloud Cruises, and it was unreal. The cruise line partners up with some incredible chefs and culinary figures, so every stop involves tastings, dinners, and very serious eating.

Chef Mario Naar from Chèvre joined us on the trip, which meant a week of cheese, caviar, and absurdly beautiful Mediterranean views. One standout moment was visiting Locanda Minerva in Sardinia, where the owner — whose family has had the property for generations — made fresh sheep’s-milk cheese for us, right before a lavish lunch overlooking the countryside. Gorgeous food, gorgeous views, zero complaints.

What store or service do you always recommend?
Beach Boutique in Sunset Harbour, always. Patricia, the owner, has an incredible eye and curates the store beautifully. It’s fashion for people who really love fashion, but don’t need the attitude that sometimes comes with it. I’ve bought some of my favorite Forte Forte pieces there, and people always stop me when I wear them. That’s how you know it’s good.

MIAMI RESTAURANT LINKS: Persian-French restaurant Fooq’s reopening tomorrow in Little River following five-year hiatus • West Palm Beach’s Mary Lou’s opening South Beach outpost next week in former Wall at the W space • Italian butcher and steakhouse Il Mannarino coming to Standard Residences in Midtown this fall • Wild-caught Apalachicola Bay oysters are back after five-year fishing ban.

GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Larder

The wait is Noma

Noma Kaffe is the subscription coffee arm of René Redzepi’s famed Copenhagen restaurant. Subscribers receive monthly deliveries of two 250g bags for $70 (including shipping), designed for filter-style brewing.

Carolyne Lane, who ran the restaurant’s coffee and tea program for the past six years, heads up the Kaffe, which roasts its beans just a few minutes away from the restaurant under the supervision of head roaster Alistair Hesp. “We value clarity in flavor,” says Lane, explaining Noma’s mission to “taste a coffee’s origin in the cup.” This translates to light-roasted beans and coffees with a tea-like quality that offer nuanced, delicate cups with tastes of cherries and jasmine.

The project is sourcing beans from a number of locales, including Mexico, where they procured 20 distinct nano-lots from indigenous Tzeltal and Tzotzil communities. Drink up. –Kat Odell

→ Shop: Noma Kaffe • monthly subscriptions from $70 per.

CULTURE & LEISURE • Disco Time

Jerry Seinfeld • Hard Rock Live (Davie) • Fri @ 8p • sec 115, $317 per
Pegasus World Cup • Gulfstream Park (Hallandale) • Sat @ 10a • Carousel Club, $264 per
Magic v Heat • Kaseya Center (Downtown) • Wed @ 730p • sec 107, $170 per

GETAWAYS • Brazil

Like a samba

A modern counterpoint to Rio de Janeiro’s century-old Copacabana Palace (intel), Fasano Rio de Janeiro has all the makings of a classic. Built in 2007 with architecture and interiors by Philippe Starck, it cuts a modernist silhouette in dark wood and glass on a bend of famed Ipanema Beach — arguably the hotel’s greatest asset.

Compared to neighboring Copacabana Beach, I find Ipanema to have a more subdued locals’ vibe — yet with all the hallmarks that make Rio’s beaches vibrant and one-of-a-kind: beautiful people, in itty bitty bikinis, and vendors traipsing through the sand, selling everything from grilled queijo to canga beach blankets. Starck has taken maximum advantage of the views in his architectural lines. A sublime rooftop infinity pool puts you at eye level with the ocean and perfectly frames the iconic Dois Irmãos (Two Brothers) peaks. Here, passionfruit caipriñhas go down smooth and pair perfectly with a classic filet mignon sandwich at lunchtime.

For those familiar with Starck’s work at early aughts (now shuttered) hotspots, like the Hudson Hotel in New York City or the Delano (whose comeback is imminent) in Miami Beach, his playful, surreal touch is on full display, set against a minimalist, tropical modern backdrop. He favors dark, moody lighting, gleaming hardwood, amorphous mirrors, cushy jewel-toned sectional sofas, and abstract sculptures inspired by Dalí. At times, the design feels timeless; at others, it feels like time-traveling back to that era when Starck’s touch was ascendant. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially for someone like me, who has happy memories wrapped up in those times and places.

Rooms are transcendent. My deluxe oceanfront room was more long than wide, a linear design scheme that seamlessly flows out onto a spacious oceanfront balcony, decked out in dark hardwood with gorgeous, low-slung modernist wooden lounge chairs that evoked a sense of calm and relaxation. It was the perfect place to while away the morning with a coffee, gazing out at the ocean’s crashing waves and the Cagarras islands on the horizon.

The Fasano family’s hospitality legacy in Brazil spans more than a century, starting in São Paulo by way of Milan, with hotels and restaurants today across Brazil, Uruguay, and most recently, in New York City. At Fasano Rio, the restaurant Gero is named for Fasano’s fourth-generation hotelier and leans into Italian heritage with a menu designed to be eaten as a three-course prix-fixe with highlights like beef carpaccio, spaghetti puttanesca, a variety of risottos and roasted lamb. There’s also Fasano Caffe with indoor and outdoor seating for a gorgeous breakfast buffet.

I recently met Gero at the opening party for a new bar at the Fasano Restaurant New York in Midtown. He was dressed in his signature suit with a light sweater draped over his shoulders and dark-rimmed glasses for the look of a studious aesthete. I asked him, somewhat playfully, why someone should stay at Fasano Rio as opposed to, say, the more classic Copacabana Palace on their first trip to Rio. He mentioned his hotel’s rooftop pool for a full day of sun (as opposed to the courtyard setting at Copacabana), the ideal Ipanema location, and that, for some, luxury is found at a more intimate scale (89 rooms vs. Copacabana’s 240) with modern design.

Having checked into, and been thoroughly charmed, by both hotels, he articulated exactly what makes Fasano Rio unique in its way. –Shayne Benowitz

→ Fasano Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) • Avenida Vieira Souto, 80 • winter rates from $763/night.

GETAWAYS LINKS: New St. Regis Costa Mujeres Resort sets 07/20 opening • New food festival Taste of Exuma coming in May • Jamaica maps out major rebuild for historic town of Falmouth.

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