Like a moth to a flame it’s hard not to be drawn to Barceloneta in Miami, Florida. Located on the bustling corner of Bay Road and 20th Street in Miami’s trendy Sunset Harbour neighborhood, this bistro and market looks like something you’d easily find in Catalonia. On warm evenings, the chatter and fun spills from the indoors out onto the lovely outdoor patio. Whether you choose to have a pepito sandwich with hanger steak or a lychee martini made with rose water in hand, you’re sure to be immersed by a beautiful boozy ambiance at Barceloneta. Miami is full of yummy spots to eat (we adore The Salty Donut for breakfast) and fantastic places to shop ’till you drop (we’d own an insane number of APcollection’s stuffed animal chairs if we lived anywhere near Lulu Laboratorium), but Barceloneta is one of our go to night time haunts in the magic city.
While the food and flavors focus on mediterranean and Spanish cuisine, the name of the restaurant comes from Puerto Rico. Barceloneta is named after what is now a large town with a population of 25,000 people in Puerto Rico. Barceloneta was opened by Miami’s infamous Pubbelly Group which owns Barceloneta’s super tasty next door neighbor, Pubbelly Sushi, as well as Pubbelly Noodle Bar and a slew of other popular places in Miami. Legend has it that founding Pubbelly Group partner José Mendín‘s great grandfather founded Barceloneta which had blossomed into a trendy destination pre-Hurricane Maria.
Run today by a trio of rockstars (executive chef Juliana Gonzalez has worked at David Bouley’s Evolution and La Broche, owner Manuel Suarez-Inclan owns another hot spot Negro de Anglona in Madrid and Daniella Rezai who has experience working The Leonard Hotel in London and the Four Seasons in Miami), Barceloneta oozes hip happy hours and decadent dinners.
We delved into our family style dinner with a delicious pile of croquetas de Ibérico that we could not stop popping in our mouth. The little buggers are scrumptious. One of our favorite dishes of the evening was pimentos de Padrón. The jade green shishito peppers were blistered to perfection and served with Valdeón cheese and, something we never would have thought to have added, walnuts.
The best part about tapas is sharing and having an opportunity to try a bunch of different dishes instead of having to commit only to one plate. We even had fun with our “homework” for the evening which was mixing up our batch of patatas bravas.
The most impressive dish was the arroz negro con calamar. The plate of calasparra rice topped with a squid ink sauce arrived crowned with cuttlefish, langoustines and larda Ibérico. After four dishes split between the two of us, we were stuffed to the brim. Next time we’re saving room for dessert which will likely be Barceloneta’s crema Catalana (a burnt Spanish custard with passion fruit and pineapple compote).
Barceloneta
Address: 1400 20th Street
Miami Beach, Florida
Hours: Monday Through Thursday 5:00pm to 11:00pm, Friday and Saturday Noon to 12:00am, Sunday 12:00pm to 11:00pm
Phone: (305) 538-9299
Email: manuel@barcelonetamiami.com
Pricing (All in USD): Salads $11.00 to $17.00, Tapas $5.00 to $26.00, Rice Dishes $26.00 to $35.00, Grill $3.50 to $29.00, Bistro Plates $15.00 to $23.00, Desserts $8.00 to $10.00
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