Itamae AO
Japanese restaurant · Miami
3225 NE 1st Ave, Miami, FL 33137
"Itamae AO is technically an omakase. But don’t come here expecting a traditional sushi omakase. The Nikkei dishes on Itamae AO’s eight-course tasting menu are entirely unique (and not sushi). They pull at your cheeks and amygdala with tangy leche de tigres made with things like habanero, jackfruit, or ash. Slivers of squid are coiled into springs, spiny lobster is minced into tartare, and octopus terrine envelopes an olive and anchovy tapenade. If you remember the previous iteration of Itamae in the Design District, consider this an evolution. The terrazzo counter is still present, but it’s now the stage for the most unique tasting menu in Miami right now." - ryan pfeffer, virginia otazo, mariana trabanino
"Itamae AO, the latest evolution of chef Nando Chang’s acclaimed Nikkei restaurant, has found a new home in the Midtown neighborhood. Housed next door to its sister establishment, Maty’s, this 10-seat counter restaurant is a tribute to the ocean and Chang’s Peruvian-Japanese heritage. The eight-course menu features a rotating selection of dry-aged fish, sashimi, nigiri, and more, with standout dishes like local grouper sashimi with aji limo leche de tigre. The space, designed with natural wood textures and a blue terrazzo countertop, creates a cozy dining atmosphere." - Olee Fowler, Eater Staff
"Miami has plenty of tasting menus and omakase options, but Itamae AO (which shares a space with its sister restaurant Maty’s) is unlike any of them. Most of the eight courses look something like this: a delicate piece of seafood is accentuated by a sauce or leche de tigre that consists of several words you didn’t see coming. The highlights of the meal are usually some sort of riff on a tiradito that might be spicy, tart, and sweet all at once. We’ve only come close to experiencing food like this at the previous version of Itamae, a Design District restaurant that set Miami’s standard of ceviche unrealistically high. The reasons to visit this version of Itamae are mostly the same: because no one else makes food like this. " - mariana trabanino, ryan pfeffer, virginia otazo
"If you go to a lot of sushi omakases, you may start to notice patterns. Here comes the otoro, the uni, the scallop, the uni and scallop. After all, only so many nigiri combinations exist in this world. But the tasting menu at Itamae AO is different. While this Midtown restaurant does not serve a sushi omakase (only one nigiri makes an appearance), their Nikkei meal is fish-heavy and feels like an experiment aimed at discovering entirely new taste receptors in the human body. Most of the eight courses consist of delicate seafood accentuated by a sauce or leche de tigre that makes you pucker and sweat, and might inspire momentary confusion followed by an intense rush of joy. For instance, a Japanese sea bass topped with a fried caper leaf in a smoked Jimmy Nardello leche de tigre. If that sounds exciting to you, come here and embrace uncharted territory. Cost: $160 per person." - ryan pfeffer
"Miami has plenty of tasting menus and omakase options, or whatever it is you want to call a dozen-ish seasonal courses hand-delivered by a chef standing behind a smooth counter. But Itamae AO is unlike any of them. When a chef at this Nikkei restaurant in Midtown slides a bowl towards you and describes what’s in it, your brain won’t know what to do with the words. “Hokkaido scallops cured in kombu, fried apple banana, ají charapita salt, and osetra caviar,” they calmly state, as if that's not the first time these sounds have been uttered in human history. Just as you're processing all these new, excellent sensations, they'll introduce a smoked Jimmy Nardello leche de tigre with Japanese sea bass and a fried caper leaf. Just give up on trying to follow along, and embrace the joy of uncharted territory. photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc The sea creatures that make up most of dinner—kanpachi, swordfish, razor clams—are served raw, fried, dry-aged, or maybe minced and steamed into a delicate frisbee. They lounge in leche de tigre you’ll want to bring home and use as paint swatches. These are not agreeable, patient flavors that sit on your tongue and wait for you to notice them. They instantly make you pucker and sweat, and might inspire momentary confusion followed by intense delight. $165 gets you eight courses of that feeling, plus dessert. Itamae AO’s eight-seat counter is connected to its sister restaurant, Maty’s, another Peruvian spot making food that defies categorization. The two concepts are run by siblings, and though they share an air conditioning unit, they have personalities as distinct as the childhood rooms of an actual brother and sister. Maty’s is all clanking silverware, splattered sauce, and loud conversations. Itamae AO is meticulously clean and sparsely decorated. The two main visuals in the room are dry-aging lockers where humongous fish stare back at you, and the covers of hip-hop albums that play throughout the two-hour meal. photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc video credit: Ryan Pfeffer photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc video credit: Ryan Pfeffer We’ve only come close to experiencing food like this at the previous version of Itamae, a Design District restaurant that set Miami’s standard of ceviche unrealistically high. And the reasons to visit this version of Itamae are mostly the same: because there are no alternatives. No one else makes food like this. Not even close. Food Rundown photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc Tasting Menu Most of the eight courses look something like this: a delicate piece of seafood is accentuated by a sauce or leche de tigre that consists of several words you didn’t see coming. The highlights of the meal remind us of the kind of tiraditos we used to find at the old Itamae, which can be spicy, tart, and sweet all at once. But we’ve also had fried slabs of hamachi, soba noodles with spiny lobster tartare and uni, and a bowl of warm, soupy short grain rice mixed up with chunks of cold ceviche. The menu changes a lot—our two meals here were completely different—but both occasions lasted about two hours and left us pleasantly full. photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc Sashimi Course Normally course two or three, this is when the meal really hits its stride and delivers the kind of flavors we come to Itamae—and only Itamae—for. You get three separate bowls of beautiful fish, but the leche de tigre outshines everything. We’ve had bigfin reef squid in a fermented yuzu leche de tigre, kanpachi in a local jackfruit leche de tigre, and Japanese sea bass in a midnight black puddle of habanero ash leche de tigre. You’re provided a little block of yuca pavé to wipe it all up with. photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc Hotate The only dish that’s been perfectly preserved from the old Itamae is this nigiri, which consists of scallops cured in kombu, a squiggle of fried apple banana, ají charapita salt, and a camel’s hump of osetra caviar. It’s the sole nigiri to make an appearance throughout dinner, and that’s understandable. No poor piece of sushi should be forced to follow this. photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc Dessert After all those punchy, acidic flavors, dessert starts with a refreshing bowl of seasonal kakigōri. On our visits, that’s been followed by a block of lúcuma custard topped with miso caramel and candied shiitake mushroom, which tastes slightly autumnal, like a pumpkin pie from another dimension." - Ryan Pfeffer
