This Michelin-recognized Miami pizzamaker was just named one of the best in the world
There are many talented pizza makers in Miami. But only one was just internationally recognized as one of the best 100 in the world.
At the 2025 The Best Pizza Awards in Milan on June 25, Javier Ramirez, owner and chef at La Natural in Little River, was named one of the World’s Top Pizzaioli (pizza chefs), ranked 35 on a list of the top 100. He was the only chef from Florida on the list.
La Natural pizza is no stranger to awards: The restaurant has been named a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand for four straight years (the designation pays tribute to restaurants that serve quality food at a good price).
But Ramirez, who co-founded the restaurant with his wife Andreina Matos in December 2020, said the international award has paid off in more immediate ways during a summer when reservations are down and dining rooms were looking a little too empty.
“We do see a trickle of customers who saw us in the Michelin Guide, but we haven’t seen an uptick like this award,” he says. “This is a blessing in disguise. We’re doing double what we were doing last summer at this time. It’s pretty special timing because the first weeks of June were horrible. This has been one of the worst summers in Miami.”
The award also means a lot to Ramirez personally. Though he was one of the forces behind the groundbreaking Wynwood restaurants Alter and Palmar and partnered with Puerto Rican pastry chef Antonio Bachour to open Bachour in Coral Gables, Ramirez had never been the guy running the kitchen, preferring to stay on the financial and operational side of the business.
But he wanted to learn to make something, and that thing turned out to be pizza.
“I read every book,” says the self-trained pizzamaker. “I tried every flour. I saw every video on YouTube.”
Conveniently, he lived in a house with a wood-burning oven. And so he experimented. He and Matos, who are now divorced, would invite friends over to eat his pizza in their back yard to test out his creations. And when they felt the pizza was restaurant-worthy, they opened La Natural in the unassuming Little River neighborhood. It was an immediate hit.
One of the things that had long bothered Ramirez was the fact that so many people eat the pizza but leave the crust on the plate. His solution? Creating an irresistible, 48-hour cold-fermented sourdough crust that’s so popular it’s on the menu as a small plate (La Natural also offers a small, vegetable-based plate menu).
“People always comment on it,” he says. “Our dough does taste different. It helps us stand out.”
Ramirez’s favorite pizza on the menu involves Calabrian chili, provolone and oregano, no surprise when you learn he’s got Calabrian chilis tattooed on his arm.
“It’s got salt, fat, acid and heat,” he says, referencing the famous cookbook by chef Samin Nosrat. “I always try for my food to dip into those four realms as much as possible.”
Ramirez is also grateful the decision to open in a then-quiet neighborhood worked out. In 2020, La Natural was basically alone in Little River. Now, the community is home to the Michelin starred Boia De, its sister restaurant Walrus Rodeo, the insanely popular Sunny’s Steakhouse and the Macchialina team’s Bar Bucce, among other restaurants.
“It was a risk,” Ramirez says. “There was no foot traffic, not even a coffee shop. Now I have Imperial Mojo up the street. For two years, we carried the neighborhood. Now, we have Sunny’s, which is incredible, and Bar Bucce is amazing. Fouk’s is reopening here, too. This neighborhood is really where you want to be.”
La Natural
Where: 7289 NW Second Ave., Miami
Hours: 5-10 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday; 5-11 p.m. Friday; noon-3:30 p.m., 5-11 p.m. Saturday; noon-3:30 p.m., 5-10 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday
Reservations: Resy
More information: lanaturalmiami.com or 305-419-0377