Forget fast food: This special drive-through offers fine dining from top Miami chefs

Update: Now with a new event location.

Miami is a food town, but the COVID pandemic put a stop to our favorite dining events.

Now a new drive-through experience wants to remind us just how rich our culinary landscape is.

A two-night culinary event from Resy, an online reservations platform, is offering guests a 10-course tasting menu in a socially distant setting from some of the most beloved chefs in Miami.

The American Express Gold Card presents The Resy Drive-Thru Miami comes to town March 18-19 at 1 Herald Plaza on the bay. Here’s how it works: Guests will arrive by car and wind through a colorful labyrinth of Miami-centric iconography. They will remain in their cars as dishes are delivered on trays through the car windows at each station.

There’s no meet-and-great with the chefs, who will be in socially distanced tents working on their creations. But they’ll explain each dish through an audio guide that pipes through each car’s speakers, along with music tracks to match each dish.

The chefs in question include Timon Balloo (Balloo); Michelle Bernstein (Cafe La Trova); José Mendín (Pubbelly Sushi); Michael Schwartz (Harry’s Pizzeria) and David Lee (Planta). Other participating restaurants include Carbone Miami; L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon; Mr. Mandolin; Niu Kitchen; and Osaka Nikkei Miami.

The chefs, you will not be surprised to learn, are eager for the event.

“The old adage that ‘food brings people together’ is really true, and it’s on full display with this event,” Schwartz said. “Even though the format is very different from food festivals of the past, and we can’t wait until we can all be in the same kitchen again, just being in the presence of our chef friends is exciting. This will be a culinary collaboration for the books.”

“If I wasn’t cooking, I would be driving through myself,” Bernstein said. “After a year like this one, so distant, desperate and intensely fearsome, I can’t think of a more perfect event; one that will bring our comrades together and safely bring clients, new customers and neighbors a creative and delicious nibble of food made with so much love with just the right amount of distance necessary. I am so thrilled, honored and excited to get cooking! I’ve been writing my recipe for this event since I first heard of its existence.”

Tickets are on sale now.

“The response to the first Resy Drive-Thru in L.A. was tremendous, from chefs and attendees alike, as everyone is looking for a safe way to enjoy the restaurants they love,” says Victoria Vaynberg, Resy Chief Marketing Officer. “This event delivers a taste of not one, but ten restaurants over the course of an evening with music, visuals, and live entertainment elements to match. It’s the kind of culinary magic we’ve all been missing,”

The Resy Drive-Thru Miami

When: March 18-19

Where: 1 Herald Plaza, Miami

Tickets: $110 per person at Resy.com/DriveThru and in the Resy app. Tickets can be purchased in groups of two, three or four, but guests using a group ticket must arrive in the same vehicle (four people per vehicle max)

This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 9:00 AM.