This new backroom bar in a Miami Beach Indian spot wants to be the next Purdy Lounge

When Purdy Lounge closed in 2019, it left behind a lot of memories — and a bit of a nightlife hole in Miami Beach’s Sunset Harbour neighborhood.

Now, a vegetarian Indian restaurant just around the corner from that hallowed spot has made a few moves that could help it take Purdy’s place.

Diya, a family-owned restaurant at 18th Street and Bay Road, opened early in 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down restaurants in Miami-Dade County. It reopened in June with eat-in and take-out service.

“To be honest, if not for locals and great support from Miami, we would not have survived,” says Chef Vidya Maharaj.

Now, Diya has shifted away from its Indian roots, embracing a tapas-style menu and adding bar favorites like burnt ends (vegetarian, of course). You will still find some customer favorites on the menu like the fried eggplant sandwich, palak paneer and Diya’s incredible dosas (savory rice crepes). But fusion has found its way here in menu items like dumplings, crispy kale, chana tacos and Kofta pasta made with a creamy cashew sauce.

Maharaj, a vegetarian, will continue to add menu items with an eye toward fresh, local ingredients.

“I want to show that you can be creative with Indian food,” says Maharaj, who confesses one of her favorite seasonings is a Miami staple: sazon. “But we’ve ventured out into more Asian-inspired cuisine. Soon we’ll expand that to include Latin cuisine, too. . . . Our food will be more shareable. We don’t want you to leave stuffed with that comatose feeling.”

Diya, which also expanded its outdoor seating, has also opened a brand new bar, too, called BackRoom, with a stage, TVs and a pool table. There will be live music every week with karaoke on Thursdays. A new cocktail program will feature drinks such as The Vaccine (single malt, fresh turmeric and kashmiri chili) and the Oaxaca Sunset (400 Conejos Mezcal, fresh beets, ginger, lime, crushed black pepper and kashmiri chili).

Maharaj, who’s also an epidemiologist, recommends trying the bar’s gin and tonic: “You’ve got to taste that freshness. I challenge everyone to try it.”

The restaurant made the changes because of customer demands, she says. Diners don’t want to eat and leave after stuffing themselves on naan and a heavy meal. They want to linger, have a drink, relax. In other words, they want it all.

“We want to give people the experience they want,” Maharaj says. “They’ve been asking for this. They want to go to a posh place, eat great food, sit outside. . . . We’ve had a lot of transplants come here from New York in the past few months, and we want to capture that crowd, too. We want them to say, ‘Oh my goodness, there’s this Indian concept in Miami Beach that’s amazing.’ ”

Diya and BackRoom

Where: 1766 Bay Rd., Miami Beach

Hours: Diya is open 4-11 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; noon-11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; BackRoom is open from 5 p.m.-2 a.m. Tuesday-Sunday