Chef Adrianne is opening a second South Florida restaurant — and it’s not in Kendall

Kendall, it’s time to share Chef Adrianne.

Adrianne Calvo, who established a following in a quiet strip mall restaurant in the western suburb with her “maximum flavor” cuisine, will open a second restaurant in South Miami this month.

Cracked, the quick-service concept featuring elevated sandwiches and comfort food that she debut at The Wharf and later in the Yumbrella food hall, will open Aug. 20 in the space left vacant when No Name Chinese closed in May. Calvo will close her three spots in Yumbrella — Noods, Cracked and dessert maker The Beverly — and bring the best dishes from each into the new Cracked.

“That was a test run for us to see how well we were received. And it was more than I could wish for,” Calvo said. “We could barely keep up.”

A crispy, free-range fried chicken sandwich with housemade slaw and the filet mignon steak sandwich have been the biggest hits at both Cracked locations, Cavlo said. Both will be featured at the new restaurant, along with her truffled pepperoni pizza fries, several noodle dishes from Noods and a tres leches croissant bread pudding that she could barely keep in stock at Yumbrella.

Baking the bread pudding at Chef Adrianne’s Vineyard Restaurant and Wine Bar, her Kendall restaurant of 12 years, and driving it to South Miami became a twice-a-day job.

“Now we have the facility to bake the bread pudding around the clock,” she said, laughing. “I think Cracked is going to turn into a bread pudding factory.”

Chef Adrianne’s was the first restaurant to use advanced cooking techniques beyond simple mom-and-pop restaurants to build a longtime cult following in Kendall. It primed the area for other successes, such as Finka, Empanada Harry’s, Amelia’s 1931.

Cracked will differ from Chef Adrianne’s in that the food will be more accessible, affordable and able to be replicated at future Cracked restaurants, which Calvo hopes to open.

“I can still pull in the flavors that made Chef Adrianne’s a success but for everyone, not just special occasions,” Calvo said.

Cracked joins a quickly growing field of new South Miami restaurants. Root & Bone chefs Janine Booth and Jeff McInnis are opening a second restaurant, Mi’talia, there in September. The owners of a Washington D.C. Michelin star restaurant opened Fiola last year. And the Salty Donut opened their first location outside of Wynwood in the city.

Cracked by Chef Adrianne

7400 SW 57th Ct., South Miami

More info: iGotCracked.com

This story was originally published August 7, 2019 at 2:27 PM.