Ariete sits on Main Highway in Coconut Grove and it is the restaurant that most reliably answers the best restaurants near me question in that part of Miami. It holds a Michelin star, and it also serves a burger with a cult following, which tells you something useful about how the place thinks.
Karpo can tell you whether tonight at Ariete should be the tasting menu or the burger and a glass at the bar, and what else in the Grove is open late around it.
What the kitchen is actually doing
Michael Beltran's menu weaves new American cooking together with classic French technique, and runs it all through a Cuban-American sensibility that is specific to this city. That combination is the restaurant's whole identity and it is why the menu reads oddly if you are expecting one cuisine.
The dining room is lush with greenery and dimly lit, which sounds like a description of a hundred Miami restaurants and is not, because here it is the actual room rather than a design brief. Coconut Grove is the greenest neighbourhood in the city and the restaurant is built to sit inside that rather than to reference it.
The dishes to know
The frita cubana is the one to order first — a Cuban burger with its own history in this city, and Beltran's version is the reference point rather than a novelty. Maduro y provoleta, the local fish and the pastrami-style short rib are the other items that recur in every serious account of the menu.
And then there is the Chug Burger, which is the wildly popular item and the source of the question in the headline. It is a genuine dish rather than an off-menu joke, and a substantial number of people come to this Michelin-starred restaurant specifically to eat a burger.
Tasting menu or a la carte
There is a chef's tasting menu with a wine pairing available, and there is the regular menu. Deciding between them before you arrive changes the evening more than any other choice, because they are effectively two different restaurants sharing a kitchen.
The tasting menu is the case for the star. The a la carte route, ordering the frita and the short rib and something green, is the way most locals actually eat here and it is not the lesser version. If it is a first visit and you want to understand the place, that is the order.
The dessert worth staying for
The flan is infused with candy cap mushrooms and finished with sambuca crema and coffee crumble, which reads as a stunt and is not one. Candy cap mushrooms taste of maple and burnt sugar, which is why they turn up in desserts rather than as a savoury item.
It is the dish that most clearly explains the kitchen's instincts — a Cuban-American staple, a technically odd ingredient, and a result that tastes coherent rather than clever. If you order one dessert, that is it.
Hours, and what they mean for planning
Service runs from half past five, closing at ten Monday through Thursday and on Sunday, and at eleven on Friday and Saturday. That is a relatively early close by Miami standards and it catches people out — a nine o'clock booking on a Tuesday is close to the end of service rather than the middle of it.
The upside is a genuinely available early seating. A half past five or six o'clock table is easier to get, and it also gives you the room in daylight, which given the setting is a different and arguably better experience.
Coconut Grove around it
The Grove is the oldest continuously inhabited neighbourhood in Miami and it does not behave like the rest of the city. The streets are shaded, the scale is low, and the waterfront is a working marina rather than a beach, which changes the entire feel of an evening there.
That makes it a good neighbourhood to arrive early in. A walk before dinner along Main Highway and down toward the bay is a genuine part of the evening rather than a way to kill twenty minutes, and it is one of the few parts of Miami where that is true.
Booking
Reservations are strongly advised and the restaurant is on the standard platforms. Weekend evenings at the fashionable hours go first, as everywhere, and the eleven o'clock close on Friday and Saturday means there are more late slots then than during the week.
For a table this week rather than next month, take a Monday to Thursday and take the early end. That is the same advice as everywhere at this level, and it works here for the same reason: demand is concentrated into about six hours of the week.
Practical notes
Decide on tasting menu versus a la carte before you book, because it shapes how long you need and what the bill will be. Walking in undecided at a restaurant that offers both usually results in ordering too much of the wrong half.
Parking in the Grove is easier than on the beach but not free, and the streets around Main Highway fill up on weekend evenings. Budget for the garage rather than circling, particularly if you have an early table you would rather not be late for.
- Ariete, 3540 Main Highway, Coconut Grove, Miami — one Michelin star
- Hours: 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM Monday to Thursday and Sunday; to 11:00 PM Friday and Saturday
- Chef: Michael Beltran; new American and classic French through a Cuban-American lens
- Order: frita cubana, maduro y provoleta, local fish, pastrami-style short rib, the Chug Burger
- Dessert: flan with candy cap mushrooms, sambuca crema and coffee crumble
- A chef's tasting menu with wine pairing is available — decide which route before booking
- Reservations strongly advised; early seatings are the most available
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Ask Karpo first
Ask Karpo what time Ariete stops serving tonight, whether the burger is on, and what else in Coconut Grove is worth a drink before or after.
