Of course, developers evicted Miami’s second-oldest restaurant. But it’s back

The last time Miami’s S&S Diner moved to a new location — 79 years ago — it took out an ad in the Miami Herald with a simple promise.

“All the old employees you know and like will be there to greet you with the same spirit of friendly willingness …” the July 6, 1938 ad reads, beneath a black-and-white photo of what was then a brand-new facade of stainless steel and cream-and-red Art Deco glass tile that decades later would earn it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.

Monica Linares rushes past this ad, framed at the diner’s new location for the last three weeks on Biscayne Boulevard, with her hands full of plates, as a lunchtime crowd fills each of the 28 seats inside.

All around is the memorabilia from the old S&S, from the “Goodfellas” and “Godfather” movie posters to the large-scale oil painting of the original diner by Overtown artist Earnest King. There are Zagat dining awards and a decades-old Miami Herald review that reads, “Bustling and friendly, the S&S is a tasty tradition.”

A sign rescued from the old restaurant reads, “The best thing to hold on to in life each other.” 

“Hi, guys, how’s everyone doing over here?” Linares says, smiling as she takes an order at a table of four. “Have you tried our lamb shank? Oh, it just falls off the bone.”

The S&S Diner has stayed in business longer than any other restaurant, second only to Joe’s Stone Crab, for what it brought to its neighborhood: simple diner food aimed at working men and women.

This story was originally published June 1, 2017 at 9:06 PM.