Michelin-recognized restaurant Jaguar Sun is closing in Miami. Here’s what we know
The Green Ghouls are getting ready to leave the building: Jaguar Sun, the Michelin-recognized restaurant and bar famous for its pasta, small seafood plates and creative cocktails, is closing permanently.
Owned by Will Thompson and Chef Carey Hynes, the restaurant opened at the Alea building at 230 NE Fourth St. in downtown Miami in 2018. For six years, Jaguar Sun lured diners with its beloved Parker Rolls and corn aglonotti (served with blue crab, saffron and marcona almonds) and drinkers with cocktails like the Green Ghoul (with tequila, mezcal, poblano, cucumber and lime).
Thompson and Hynes have a good reason for closing the intimate spot, though: In the fall, they’ll open a permanent version of their pandemic pop-up Sunny’s Steakhouse in Miami’s Little River neighborhood.
The decision wasn’t easy, Thompson and Hynes agree, closing the restaurant they started with almost no staff, just a cook and a dishwasher who came in two days a week. Now, the staff has grown into a 35-member team that has worked hard to draw passionate local fans as well as the attention of the Michelin Guide. They’ll all be moving to the new Sunny’s when it opens.
“The best word for it is bittersweet,” Thompson said. “We put so much effort into this place, and what it has turned into is really important to both of us. It’s not a decision we’re taking lightly.”
Having watched other Miami restaurant owners spread themselves too thin across too many locations, they decided that trying to run two restaurants at the same time would be a mistake, Thompson said.
“It’s tough, but I also think we could do a real disservice to both restaurants,” he said.
For Hynes, who says the new Sunny’s will be offering pasta for the first time, the most important thing about the move to a bigger space is how it will affect the entire team.
“For me, the biggest thing is having space our team can work in in a sustainable way,” he said. “Will and I have made peace with that. What made Jaguar Sun a special place was the amount of work that had to go into a busy day. There was quite a lot that people had to buy into that to make it work.”
Sunny’s was born in the event space Lot 6 at 7357 NW Ct., in the summer of 2020 when COVID closures forced the temporary shutdown of Miami restaurants. Thompson and Hynes opened an outdoor oasis that offered perfectly cooked steaks but also featured a variety of skillfully created dishes, including Rohan duck, wahoo crudo and — of course — those famous Parker Rolls, with the poppy-covered caramel crust.
In 2022, Bon Appetit named Sunny’s one of the 50 best new restaurants in the country, along with the now-closed Paradis Books & Bread and the Michelin-starred Los Felix in Coconut Grove. Sunny’s shut down that same year but plans of a permanent spot with indoor dining capability were dancing in Thompson’s head.
Jaguar Sun reopened in 2021 and two years later, along with Rosie’s in Little River, the restaurant was named a Bib Gourmand by the Michelin Guide, a designation that indicates good food offered at reasonable prices. Rosie’s, which served Southern cuisine, is also closed but only temporarily, with owners Akino and Jamila West aiming to build a permanent indoor restaurant, too.
Even then, Thompson said he was “thrilled to be on a list with so many of our peers” but added he and Hynes still had bigger plans.
“I don’t know that it’s the end of the path for us,” he told the Miami Herald. “We’re going to try and push ourselves to the highest levels. . . . Every day, we try to throw the best dinner party and the best cocktail party. We did that yesterday, and that’s what we’ll do tomorrow.”
Now, the last dinner and cocktail party for Jaguar Sun will be Aug. 25. The permanent Sunny’s Steakhouse is expected to open this fall.
This story was originally published August 15, 2024 at 10:34 AM.