Nothing brings out your inner yachtie like a long lunch at Mandolin. Photos courtesy of Mandolin Agean Bistro

How to Spend a Perfect 72 Hours Eating Your Way Through Miami

By Evan S. Benn Updated: August 22, 2024

It’s safe to say there’s never been a better time to eat in Miami. Between Michelin-approved restaurants, tried-and-true favorites and rising-star culinary talents, the city is riding a 10-year peak — and only climbing up, up, up.

And, Miami being Miami, there’s never a bad time to visit for a weekend, although I have a slight preference for the drier, cooler, local-tomatoes-are-in-season months, November through April.

So where to eat and drink when you land at MIA after work on Thursday, and are wheels up again by midday Sunday? Here’s a 72-hour roadmap, completely updated from our 2022 road map, and with plenty of time to plan before Art Week returns later this year.

Evan S. Benn is senior director of special projects and communications at The Philadelphia Inquirer and former food editor and restaurant critic of The Miami Herald. He recently wrote about the 10 moments that defined Miami dining in the past decade. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter. Follow Resy, too.

Resy Presents
Tables Worth a Trip

Thursday Drinks to Friday Breakfast

Photo courtesy of Tâm Tâm

Tâm Tâm Downtown Miami

Ease In With Snacks & Small Plates

The drinks — from natty wines to lagers to frozen soursop daiquiris — at this 2024 Bib Gourmand winner all play nicely with the menu’s small-plate snacks, like sticky-crispy wings tossed in fish-sauce caramel and Key West pink shrimp crudo with lemongrass, ginger and shrimp oil. Don’t fill up too much before your next stop for dinner, but you’d be foolish not to order something with your skin-contact 2022 Pálffy Héja tramini from Hungary.

Maty's

4.6 · Peruvian · $$

Midtown

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Itamae AO Midtown

Swordfish at Itamae AO — Swordfish with tomato and heirloom beans.
Photo by Michael Pisarri, courtesy of Itamae AO

The Spot of Spots

Chef Nando Chang’s 10-seat counter is among Miami’s toughest reservations — grab one on Resy when Itamae AO’s books open at 8 a.m a month in advance of your desired date — and for good reason. His Peruvian-Japanese omakase includes courses of fresh sashimi (on a recent night, Florida grouper with gooseneck barnacles and ají limo), ceviche, and other innovative dishes from Chang’s next-level dry-aged fish program. Itamae AO is next door to its sibling restaurant, Maty’s, run by Chang’s sister Valerie, 2024 James Beard winner for Best Chef: South.

Maty's

4.6 · Peruvian · $$

Midtown

Book Now

Zak the Baker Wynwood

Break Friday Bread with Zak

It’s worth being up early to make it to artsy Wynwood and the high-fashion Design District before settling in as a local would at a downtown favorite for dinner. You’ll need energy to start your day, so fuel up at Miami’s OG bakery-cafe. Whether you go sweet (double-chocolate babka, challah French toast, vegan banana bread) or savory (labneh with eggs, purple kale Caesar, salmon-bacon croissant), you’ll leave sated and ready to go gallery hopping or window shopping for the rest of the morning. Pro move: Get a half-dozen bagels or a loaf of rye sourdough to-go; they’ll make good nibbles throughout your trip, and you can bring home whatever you don’t finish.