Fi’lia: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 (Excellent)
If you think farm-to-table restaurant cooking is a relatively new concept, think again.
Michael Schwartz, who helped bring to Miami an emphasis on seasonal local ingredients 10 years ago with the opening of Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink, knows this from his days as a young cook watching the nonnas make pasta and other traditional Italian fare at his first outpost in Philadelphia.
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Fi’lia tricked out a pair of tableside carts, which are wheeled around the restaurant so friendly fellows can put on a tightly choreographed show of making your Cesar salad to order. Handout
You don’t have to be a fan of “Tuscan Kitchen” to know that Italian fare is by its very nature farm-to-table, and that synchronicity is on display at Fi’lia, the newest gem in Schwartz’s jewel box.
The handsome space in the tutti-frutti confection that is Brickell’s new SLS Hotel is a showcase for Schwartz’s original passion, simple Italian cooking. It’s a place for palates both adventurous and risk-averse: You can build a meal of Caesar salad, margarita pizza and chicken Parmesan, or opt for lobster and corn agnolotti, fish paired with charred-bread salsa verde or olive oil cake. Both styles bear the quality you expect from Schwartz, from spaghetti cooked just right to perfect meatballs to gorgeous olive oil.
Fi’lia is a place for palates both adventurous and risk-averse: You can build a meal of Caesar salad, margarita pizza and chicken Parmesan, pictured here. Handout
For the latest restaurant inspection reports, visit dine.miami.com
Read more: He watched the ‘nonnas’ cook, and that inspired this culinary salute to Italy
Fi’lia
1300 S. Miami Ave., in the SLS Hotel.
305-912-1729; sbe.com
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