"As Miami's oldest neighborhood, the Grove is deeply loved not only by its residents but by the city as a whole, serving as a bastion of the local Miami community," Stefano Cremasco, the operating partner behind 1986 Steakhouse, said in AOL's report. The Argentine steakhouse opened this year at the Mayfair. It's the kind of line every new restaurant says about wherever it happens to land. The difference this time is that Cremasco's team had already cooked in Coconut Grove before they said it.
That distinction matters more than it sounds like it should. Two of the most talked-about restaurant arrivals in the Grove this year, Grand Public Kitchen + Bar at CocoWalk and 1986 Steakhouse at the Mayfair, bring different connections to the neighborhood. Grand Public opened in the former Planta space, while the team behind 1986 Steakhouse had worked in Miami before this opening. For residents deciding where to spend a Friday night, that background offers useful context about the two rooms and what each brings to the Grove.
The upstairs space after Planta's 2025 closure
If you've walked through CocoWalk in the past year, you've probably noticed the second-floor space above Chop steakhouse sitting quiet. That was Planta, the vegetarian-focused restaurant that closed out its run there in 2025. In its place, Grand Public Kitchen + Bar opened in May, and it's worth knowing what it actually is before you decide when to go.
Grand Public was founded by Matthew Tsoumaris and Ryan Bassels, with a kitchen led by chef Leo Pablo, whose background includes stints working alongside Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Michael Mina, and Joël Robuchon. The 7,400-square-foot space keeps the floor-to-ceiling windows that let in daylight for lunch, then dims for a room built around a sculptural wraparound bar at night. The menu leans modern American with a Mediterranean thread, a nod to Tsoumaris's Greek heritage, and the branding even works in a peacock, a wink to the wild peacocks that wander the Grove's streets.
The part that matters for planning your week is the schedule. Grand Public runs a daily happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m., then flips into a reverse happy hour after 10 p.m., which makes it one of the few spots in the neighborhood built for both an early drink after work and a late one after everything else has closed. When the restaurant opened, Tsoumaris said in FSR Magazine's report, "Grand Public is about creating a place people want to return to." Whether that holds is still an open question, but the intent behind the hours suggests they're thinking about repeat weeknight visits, not a single splashy opening month.
A steakhouse built by people who already cooked here
A few blocks over at the Mayfair, 1986 Steakhouse tells a different kind of story. It's the first new concept from Grupo Orfano in twenty years, and the team running it isn't new to Miami. Cremasco and chef Marcel Daguerre worked together previously at PM Fish & Steak House, another Argentine steakhouse concept in the city that closed before this one opened. That means the asado technique, the relationships with beef suppliers sourcing from Argentina, the U.S., and Japan, and the operational instincts for running a live-fire kitchen didn't arrive in the Grove untested. They arrived already worked out somewhere else in this city.
The cocktail program adds an outside credential without changing that story. It comes from Tres Monos, a Buenos Aires bar ranked among the world's best by the World's 50 Best Bars list, marking its first partnership with a U.S. restaurant. Bar manager Agostina Gerling relocated to Miami to train the team on-site.
1986 Steakhouse is open for dinner only, 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, at 2911 Grand Avenue. It's not a weeknight-casual spot the way Grand Public is built to be. It's a reservation you make when you want the room to match the occasion.
What hasn't moved
Not everything in the Grove's dining scene is being rearranged this year, and knowing what's staying put is just as useful as knowing what's new. Ariete and Los Felix remain the neighborhood's benchmark rooms for a higher-end dinner, and neither has lost that standing to the new arrivals. For a waterfront night without chasing a reservation at either of those two, Bayshore Club on Dinner Key and Bellini on the rooftop of Mr. C Miami Coconut Grove are still the two rooms most residents default to when someone from out of town is in town. If you want something quieter, Peacock Garden Bistro under the canopy is still the move.
None of that is changing because two new restaurants opened. It's a useful reminder that the Grove's dining scene isn't being rebuilt from scratch. It's being added to.
Why this round looks different
Coconut Grove has seen restaurant turnover before, including Planta's 2025 closure at CocoWalk. The new arrivals bring different kinds of continuity to the neighborhood.
Start with CocoWalk itself. Grand Public didn't open into a vacuum. It sits directly above Chop, an already-established steakhouse in the same building, and around the corner from Al Bàcaro, a Venetian-style wine bar serving alfresco Italian small plates. Together, they give diners three nearby restaurant options.
Then there's 1986 Steakhouse, which represents the opposite kind of continuity. Instead of a shared building tying restaurants together, it's a shared team. Cremasco and Daguerre already ran an Argentine steakhouse in this city before this one. When PM Fish & Steak House closed, the knowledge didn't leave Miami. It moved three miles south and reopened under a new name with a world-ranked cocktail program attached.
For a neighborhood that has watched restaurants come and go, these arrivals offer different kinds of continuity: 1986 Steakhouse builds on its team's prior work in Miami, while Grand Public joins several dining options at CocoWalk.
Planning around it
If you're deciding where to eat in the Grove this fall, here's the practical version of everything above:
- Weeknight, casual, flexible timing: Grand Public Kitchen + Bar at CocoWalk, especially the 3-6 p.m. or post-10 p.m. windows
- Special occasion, reservation-worthy: 1986 Steakhouse at the Mayfair, dinner only, book ahead for Friday or Saturday
- Out-of-town guests, waterfront setting: Bayshore Club on Dinner Key or Bellini at Mr. C Miami Coconut Grove
- Quiet dinner, no fuss: Peacock Garden Bistro
- The two rooms that haven't lost a step: Ariete and Los Felix
None of these openings changes what makes the Grove feel like the Grove. It just gives residents a wider range of nights to plan around, and in the case of 1986 Steakhouse and Grand Public, a reasonable bet that they'll still be worth planning around next year too.
If you're a Coconut Grove homeowner curious about how this kind of neighborhood momentum is showing up in property values, or you're weighing a move within the area, Stefanie Bauer is happy to talk through what's actually happening on the ground. Schedule a Consultation whenever it's useful.
