Contessa, Major Food Group’s “crown jewel of dining atop one of Boston’s most glamorous hotels, the Newbury Boston,” looks to be planning an outpost in Miami’s Design District. A recent plan review names a spot on the corner of NE First Ave. and NE 41st St. for the planned location. The plan review was filed by Paradise Plaza Restaurant LLC, behind which is Major Food Group, a New York-based restaurant group founded by Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi, and Jeff Zalaznick.
Contessa, described on its website as “reigning over Back Bay and The Boston Public Garden,” offers breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner menus, plus cocktails, in a retractable glass-roofed conservatory-like space.
What Now was unable to reach a representative of Contessa on Tuesday, and so it is unknown to what extent Miami’s Contessa would mirror Boston’s in its menu and décor. But if Boston’s Contessa is any example, expect a striking space with a broad menu of Italian dishes, including pizza pies like Vongole with Calabrian cream, littleneck clams, and oreganata, and cocktails like the Boulevardier with bourbon, Italian Vermouth, and Campari.
The location at 111 NE 41st St. is situated near Rosenfeld Gallery and NE First Ave.’s Tesla dealership. No word is out yet on when a Miami Contessa location might begin construction and look towards an opening.
