Kendall just got a hot new Latin-inspired restaurant from one of Miami’s favorite chefs

Last December, the husband-and-wife team of chef Michelle Bernstein and restaurateur David Martinez resurrected their Design District gem Sra Martinez, which closed in 2012, in downtown Coral Gables.

Now, they have set their sights on a new culinary horizon: Kendall, where they have just opened a second — and far more elaborate — location of their restaurant La Cañita.

The first La Cañita, which opened at Bayside Marketplace in downtown Miami in the fall of 2021, was something of a test, a way to see if the concept worked. The new restaurant, now open at Palms at Town & Country is a grown-up, evolving version, with more space, a touch more formality and a bigger and more wide-reaching menu.

Martinez calls the new spot “a little bit more classic and classy.”

“It’s a dressed-down version of an upscale restaurant bar,” he says. “But very approachable, very warm.”

Opening a restaurant in Miami’s suburbs may seem contradictory for Bernstein and Martinez, who are also the proprietors of the popular Cuban-inspired bar and restaurant Café La Trova in Little Havana, a seemingly permanent fixture on the North America’s 50 Best Bars list every year. But Martinez said that Kendall’s population density was a factor in the decision to open a restaurant there.

“It’s no secret that traffic is continuing to be more complicated, and people want to stay in their neighborhoods,” he says. “Another complaint in the suburbs is that it has too many chains and not enough independent restaurants, and people want something more unique. That was certainly part of our thinking.”

Kendall also has something else lacking in other parts of the county: “Plenty of parking,” Martinez says, laughing.

The 5,434-square-foot restaurant includes a main dining room with a stage, an outdoor patio, a huge bar and a private dining area that can be shut off from the main dining room. The restaurant, which seats around 180 guests, is colorful, with the bar as the centerpiece and live music nightly.

The menu at La Cañita, which means “little sugarcane,” will feature Latin and Caribbean influences, with starters like croquetas and empanadas as well as conch fritters and mixed seafood ceviche. Main courses include potato gnocchi carbonara with prosciutto and roast tomatoes; Caribbean bouillabaisse with sofrito, shrimp, fish, calamari and shellfish with lime and chiles; lechon asado with steamed yuca, chicharrones and mojo de ajo and churrasco ropa vieja with rice, beans and plantains.

There will also be a special section of the menu devoted to steak, as well as Caribbean specialties like trifongo, a cousin of the Puerto Rican dish mofongo, with smashed fried green plantains, fried sweet plantains and yuca.

The cocktails will highlight rum culture, especially at the eye-catching bar, the centerpiece of the main dining room. Expect the typical mojitos and margaritas but also special cocktails like the Cacao Negroni, with Mijenta Reposado, Cascara vermouth, Campari and Creme de Cacao.

Martinez sees La Cañita as a place that works for after-work drinks and croquetas at the bar or a night out of dinner and entertainment. It’s a concept, he believes, that could work in other cities beyond Miami.

“We don’t want to move too fast or be unrealistic,” he says. “There’s a fine line between a good restaurant and a great restaurant. To make it great, it needs a personal touch, and that comes from us. But eventually we could bring this energy to different cities, that feeling of ‘I don’t know why I feel so good, but I do.’ Life is hard enough with everything happening in the world these days, and everybody wants to get away, even if only for a couple of hours. We hope we can make those hours special.”

La Cañita

Where: 8405 Mills Drive, Suite 203, Miami

Hours: 5-10 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday and Sunday; 5 p.m.-midnight; music hours 6:30-9:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday and Sunday; 7-11 p.m. Saturday-Sunday

More information: www.lacanitamiami.com or 305-456-4941

This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 4:30 AM.