This outdoor Miami pop-up steakhouse was a pandemic hit. Here’s why it’s closing soon
A most-unlikely outdoor steakhouse that popped up during the pandemic is shutting its doors.
String lights will hang for just two more weekends over Little River’s Lot 6, which the owners of Jaguar Sun, a popular downtown Miami restaurant and cocktail bar, turned into an outdoor fine-dining steakhouse to endure the pandemic.
That pop-up, Sunny’s Someday Steakhouse, quickly became a neighborhood favorite for diners who wanted a big night out but weren’t ready to go back inside a restaurant at a time when the coronavirus vaccine was still an aspiration.
Now, as restaurants return to normal and the South Florida heat builds, its owners announced they will host two more weekends before reopening Jaguar Sun at the end of the month.
“It let us keep the restaurant going with the staff we had,” co-owner Will Thompson said. “We either took a big swing to keep going or laid down. And that never felt like an option.”
Thompson and co-owner Carey Hynes, who opened Jaguar Sun in 2018, pivoted unlike any other restaurant in June 2020 when they quickly decided it would be a long time before diners felt comfortable going back into dining rooms.
So they struck a deal to turn a secluded Little River lot into essentially a restaurant without a roof. Beneath a starry sky and massive banyan tree adorned with string lights, they attempted to recreate a restaurant in the spirit of the fine-dining restaurants Per Se and Momofuku where Hynes had worked in years past.
Their old downtown restaurant became a “very expensive office,” Thompson joked.
They first tried turning Lot 6 into an informal space, making tacos and cocktails. They soon realized diners wanted more.
“People going out wanted to have a big night,” Hynes said. “We leaned into the steakhouse feel.”
They brought back their staff of 20-25 to treat the spot like a high-end restaurant, down to the heavy card stock on which the menus were printed. Thompson and Hynes built an impromptu kitchen around a wood-burning grill and word spread that even on balmy nights, a breeze and an air of upscale whimsy ran throughout Sunny’s.
Oysters were served on vintage silver plates, steaks were finished with care and Thompson crafted 20 different kinds of Manhattans and martinis to pair with carefully thought out dishes.
“We tried to make it feel like a steakhouse as much as was possible, despite being outdoors and with picnic tables,” Thompson said.
The pair have not ruled out reopening Sunny’s as a seasonal location when the weather eases. For now, they are taking reservations for the last two weekends before Sunny’s closes on June 11.
Sunny’s Someday Steakhouse
Address: Lot 6, 7357 NW Miami Ct., Little River
Hours: 5-11 p.m., Thursday-Sunday.
More info: info@jaguarsunmia.com. Reservations available through Resy.com or at jaguarsun.com.
