"More Italian food is heading to Miami — this time courtesy of the New York-based Altamarea Group, the team behind Michelin-stared Marea and Ai Fiori, who has opened a Miami Beach outpost of their eatery Osteria Morini (1750 Alton Road) this week inside Kimpton Palomar South Beach. It marks the fifth location for the restaurant. Led by corporate executive chef Bill Dorrler and former Altamarea chef de cuisine Julio Cesar Ramos, the menu highlights food from Northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. On the menu guests can find dishes like seafood salad, prosciutto and mortadella meatballs, ricotta gnocchi in a black kale pesto, squid ink pasta, pistachio-crusted duck breast, and more. A beverage menu filled with classic cocktails, sustainable wines, and local brews rounds out the offerings. Designed by New York City-based nusla design, the space combines the design of an Italian farmhouse with contemporary updates like floor-to-ceiling windows through the yacht-shaped building. Throughout the dining room the restaurant’s signature floating Italian Murano glass-domed lights can be found, along with green velvet banquettes, marble and bronze mirrors on the walls, wooden tables, and antique artifacts decorating the space. Outdoors, the 1,000 square-foot Collins Canal front patio is covered with string lighting and colorful umbrellas. Osteria Morini Miami Beach is now open for dinner service Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m to 11 p.m., with plans to expand to daily breakfast, lunch, brunch and full week dinner service this spring." - Olee Fowler
