This foodie favorite just reopened in the Gables with more space and a brand-new menu

In 2012, when he opened his Eating House restaurant in Coral Gables, Chef Giorgio Rapicavoli was 26. Using the money he had just earned as Miami’s first winner of the Food Network’s “Chopped,” he poured his imagination into a menu that was equal parts fun and creativity, striking a nerve with diners eager to try something new.

But everybody has to grow up at some point — even chefs and their restaurants. And so, 10 years later, Eating House 2.0, finally open in a new location after more than a year’s absence, is a more adult version of the original.

Located on Giralda Plaza in the Gables, the sleek new restaurant is just steps from Rapicavoli’s Italian restaurant Luca Osteria, which he opened in early 2021 (at the time, he told the Miami Herald that the menu contained “some of the best food I’ve ever made”). The original Eating House closed later that summer.

The new space is a whopping 3,300 square feet, with high ceilings, an L shaped bar and seating for 164. It’s almost twice the size of the cramped original restaurant, which occupied a corner on Ponce de Leon and often required a wait.

“It’s this really gorgeous open space,” says Rapicavoli, a Miami native. “Our customers went through so much to eat at the original restaurant, with the tiny tables and long wait times. The opportunity to give people a nice spacious restaurant to go to is a dream.”

Like the restaurant itself, the menu has grown up, too. Gone are the beloved chicken and waffles, the Cap’n Crunch pancakes. The menu is more sophisticated, while still displaying Rapicavoli’s sense of fun. The dishes include appetizers liked yellowfin tuna crudo with black truffle leche de tigre and chilled sweet potatoes with cilantro aguachile, jalapeños and spiced cashews.

Entrees include cavatelli carbonara with black truffle, sea scallops with coconut creamed corn, banana curry and black lime and chilled and a Wagyu Denver steak with onion soubise, confit onion and burnt onion caramel.

Some Eating House favorites have gotten a glow-up (the only dish left 100 percent intact is the heirloom tomato special with frozen coconut milk, Rapicavoli says). The Brussels sprouts dish cooked Korean barbecue-style is gone, but its replacement features the sprouts shaved in a miso Caesar-style salad with Parmigiano Reggiano. Raw Brussels sprouts take the place of the croutons, a nod to the chef’s brief fling with a keto diet.

Even the popular Dirt Cup dessert has gotten a makeover, its cheaper ingredients making way for dark chocolate and true hazelnut flavors.

Rapicavoli, said that the beloved dessert is now more reflective of the flavors he was going for but couldn’t always conjure up with a tiny kitchen and big volume demands (“we didn’t have the best oven,” he admits). He knows that some customers will clamor for old favorites, but overall he believes that 10 years has made a difference to the diners, too.

“I think all the guests grew up with us,” he says. “Their palates have changed, too.”

Besides, the changes reflect Eating House’s mantra, he says.

“The beauty of the restaurant was that it evolved from a pop-up to a brick and mortar, and the food changed, too,” he says. “When the pandemic hit, we had online burger concepts. We did whatever we had to do. The ethos was always evolution.”

Eating House

Where: 128 Giralda Ave., Coral Gables

Hours: 5:30-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 5:30-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Reservations: www.eatinghousemiami.com or 786-580-3745

This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 4:30 AM.