Leku
Permanently Closed
Basque Asador restaurant within Rubell Museum, garden seating
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Basque Asador restaurant within Rubell Museum, garden seating
"Located inside the Rubell Museum, this Basque restaurant, under the helm of the chef Carlos Garcia, offers an upscale dining experience, complete with a lush outdoor seating area ideal for enjoying one of the many excellent Spanish wines. Highlights from the menu include foie gras and cocoa tart, braised Wagyu cheeks, slow-cooked rack of lamb, and crisp confit suckling pig with smoked piperade, all of which evoke the flavors and spirit of the Iberian peninsula." - Alona Martinez
"Leku, a renowned restaurant in Allapattah, Miami, is closing its doors on June 30. Known for its Basque cuisine, Leku debuted in 2020 and rebranded earlier this year to focus on seafood and vegetables. Despite its success and positive community impact, the anticipated development in its industrial area did not occur as expected, prompting the search for a new location." - Olee Fowler
"Leku, a Basque restaurant inside Allapattah’s Rubell Museum, used to be a reliable place to eat fussy, tasty dishes after ingesting the art collection next door. But the restaurant’s pivot to seafood (it now calls itself Leku Fish & Garden) has made this a place you can walk right by on your way out of Rubell. The new menu tries too hard to be cutting edge, with dishes like “sea-cuterie” featuring tuna, salmon, and shrimp all doing bad impressions of sausages. Fish entrees are somehow both dull and chaotic, especially a forgettable tuna loin made memorable thanks to an unpleasant, over-funked coffee and cabrales sauce. And for a restaurant attached to one of Miami’s best museums, Leku just lacks style. The massive painting above the bar, a pop-surrealist recreation of Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam,” is at odds with the bare dining room, which looks like a construction crew gave up halfway through building a fancy restaurant. This place doesn’t stand up to the great works of art it inevitably has to follow. " - Ryan Pfeffer
"Never judge a book by its cover, as this Spanish looker lies on a rather industrial stretch of Allapattah and inside the contemporary digs of the Rubell Museum. With tall, handsome garage doors that open out onto the lush, forest-like patio, the airy restaurant is a celebration of Basque cooking. Familiar dishes arrive with unexpected refinement, like crispy croquetas filled with an explosive amount of cheese and Ibérico ham; or gambas al ajillo, featuring Key West pink shrimp swimming in a thick garlic sauce. Big proteins form the heart of the carte, but one could easily cobble together a satisfying meal from the starters alone.There must be dessert, and the Basque cheesecake is as indulgent as ever with a creamy, oozing center." - Michelin Inspector
"Get a taste of Spain’s Basque country at Leku, the chic restaurant at the Rubbell Museum. The Allapattah spot offers a wide-ranging menu of dishes that are as eye-pleasing as the art inside the museum, like creamy croquetas, whole branzino, beet tartare with olive oil caviar, and the must-order Iberico ham that sits on a puffed cracker. Pair the meal with one of the many gin and tonics in the restaurant’s always perfectly breezy garden to round out the meal." - Olee Fowler