It is a imaginative and prescient created by Miami chef Raheem Sealey and hospitality skilled David Fuentes, who, alongside Ahead Hospitality Group (FHG), will debut their ardour challenge dubbed Shiso later this 12 months.

Characterised as an elevated Asian smokehouse, the 11,000-square-foot venue will characteristic family-style dishes, a bespoke omakase expertise, two cocktail packages through indoor and out of doors bars, and a rooftop nightlife leisure part.

Sealey, identified for helming the kitchen at Kyu Miami and his everlasting pop-up restaurant Ingesting Pig BBQ, partnered with FHG and the previous Kyu common supervisor to current the Cleveland-based group’s first foray into South Florida.

Sealey and Fuentes inform New Occasions they by no means would have envisioned opening a restaurant collectively once they met at Kyu in 2017. The duo admits it took years working collectively, a whole lot of hectic dinner companies, loopy Artwork Basel nights, and a pandemic to kind a friendship and bond.

Now each males say their mixed imaginative and prescient is bringing one thing distinctive to Miami.

“I have been engaged on this idea, albeit unknowingly, my whole culinary profession,” says Sealey, who moved to Alabama from St. Croix in 2007. “Faraway from the culinary world, I keep in mind this small restaurant near my job website. I do not assume it even had a reputation. All I keep in mind was the smoked meats, and that was my introduction to American barbecue. It is what helped re-spark my curiosity in cooking.”

Years later, Sealey was launched to Asian cooking methods whereas working at Zuma. When he started cooking at Kyu, it was all about barbecue. And when he opened Ingesting Pig BBQ in 2021, he labored at mastering the artwork of smoking, every expertise sharpening his focus for a brand new idea.

When Shiso opens, a wood-fired grill within the open kitchen will spotlight Caribbean components and dishes paying homage to Sealey’s birthplace, St. Croix. Right here, family-style dishes shall be ready utilizing an array of cooking methods, together with dry-aging, smoking, and American barbecue mixed with Asian components and approaches.

Though the menu continues to be being conceptualized, Sealey shares one merchandise he is positive to include: bite-sized slivers of uni-topped miso cornbread.

“One merchandise I by no means have sufficient of at Ingesting Pig was the cornbread,” he shares. “My spouse got here up with an incredible recipe that had burnt honey, brown butter, and recent corn. I needed to honor and elevate that dish.”

Shifting ahead, Sealey hopes to construct a group of cooks to help his imaginative and prescient whereas contributing to the menu, providing younger toques a chance to impart their persona, flavors, and essences into the restaurant.

It is a mission that shall be paramount for Shiso’s in-house omakase expertise, provides Fuentes, an intimate 12-seat chef’s counter that may supply a one-of-a-kind omakase aimed toward placing the restaurant’s chef group entrance and middle.

Do not consider it as a standard omakase — and positively not a sushi expertise. As an alternative, the counter will characteristic an array of cooking methods from chilly, sizzling, and uncooked to steamed, cured, fried, and smoked for six to eight dishes: an amuse bouche, small bites, composed dishes, and dessert. A beverage pairing shall be out there.

“I have a look at Shiso as the chance of a lifetime to specific myself and create an area and environment that exemplifies every of our distinctive approaches to hospitality, meals, and repair,” sums up Fuentes. “We need to be the spot the place you’ll be able to are available in for an informal beer on the bar and elevated bar bites or the place you’ll be able to take co-workers for a lightweight lunch or a one-of-a-kind dinner at our chef’s counter curated by our culinary group, then end off the night at our rooftop terrace having fun with stay music and getting the total Miami nightlife expertise.”

Shiso. 239 NW twenty eighth St., Miami; shisomiami.com. Opening winter 2023.