What if we all measured our weeks by starting, instead of ending, on Sunday? Wandering into our week at a pace in line with our pulse, beholden to no job or timetable. Is there anything more luxurious than rubbing the sleep from your eyes whenever you want? We think not. Then from bed to brunch: hand-crafted heirloom tomato, salty-rimmed bloody mary’s with extra olives, leisurely paced conversation and cute outfits with no dress code. It would make Mondays feel like second-class citizens… which is where they belong with all their self-importance.
So if we’re talking about starting our week off on a wondrous note, our #SundayBrunchBucketList of the week goes to the most beautifully restored beach house, 27 Restaurant + Bar, adjacent to purveyor of ‘posh’tel cool, the Freehand Miami. So round up your mains and head here, located in the courtyard of one of the most fabulously designed hostels in the country and have an “easy like Sunday morning” brunch in this beautiful gathering space that blurs the lines between ‘posh’ hostel and hotel that feels like home.
Sun-Kissed Sand & Pink Flamingo Feels
Miami mostly evokes a certain kind of je nais sais quoi - If everything in the universe has a rhythm and dances to it’s own singular beat of some kind, we’ve concluded it may all very well emanate from here, where the streets themselves seem to teem & vibrate with perfect gathering vibrations. It’s an exciting city of sun-kissed sand, long-legged pink flamingos (both real and fake), grandiose art deco hotel behemoths, vintage convertibles and cool corners where local flavor, fashion, art and culture meet on an equal playing field.
Maybe Miami makes you think of swan pool floats, red-lipsticked synchronized swimmers, Versace’s practically perfect prints, sherbet swirls in pink, yellow & blue… and you’ll unearth all of this at 27. It’s sense of history runs deeply, the entirety of the downstairs is evocative of Miami in its heady mid-century heyday. But it unspools softly, clearly inspired by all of the local color yet glossed with a sweet sheen of sophistication, courtesy of design gods, Roman & Williams.
Not All Wanderers Are Lost
27 doesn’t feel like a restaurant you can quantify, but like one of those oft-sought after gems you stumble into while walking down an alley you found yourself in after a wrong turn. Or you’ve gotten caught in a storm and seeking shelter, you wipe the rain from your eyes and look around bewildered as to how you stepped into this spectacularly curated eatery filled with teeming with beautiful treasures. Open as of December of 2014, it inhabits a 1930’s beach house that shares property with the Freehand Miami beach. It underwent extensive renovations by Roman & Williams, the design duo behind Freehand Miami and it's subsequent bar, Broken Shaker. The results are a chic communal atmosphere mimicking a modern-day salon.
Mid-Century Modern TV Dinner Chic
The dining space is downstairs and spectacularly intimate, while still being utterly arresting to the senses and communal. Each room has been turned into a different dining area that flows into another, mid-century modern feasting tables paired with mismatched chairs.
A distinct detail you don’t immediately notice but feel, is the noticeable placement of chairs at the heads of each table. A nod to a very 50’s type of dining experience many of us may or may not have had as a child, but certainly recognize from TV. Dad at one end of the table, Mom at the other, your actions inescapable under watchful eyes if you happened to slip something to your furry companion waiting with wet, hopeful eyes under the table. The whole vibe is one of a simpler time in the 50's and emits a 'TV Dinner Chic' nostalgia.
This dining space opens to yet another with beautifully polished wood picnic tables, which feel like the most sophisticated “kids” tables of all time. Rounding out this communal seating scenario is the gorgeous gallery of framed images above the mantle on the fireplace. With one glance you half expect to see your nerdy high school photo and that one time your family took embarrassing, matching sweater Christmas card photos.
Two Scoops of Sherbet Shelving
It’s an almost out-of-body experience as you sit in the dining room, beside a fireplace or around indoor picnic tables, surrounded by pattered wallpaper and #tileinspo floors, just waiting for your mom to tell you to sit up straight and finish your dinner. Sherbet colored china cabinets and and shelves serve to further the family feel but the colors contrast so beautifully and the pieces chosen to texturize the space are so perfect, you realize this space is not courtesy of mom at all – but a design maestro.
Patterned Placements & Polished Wood
Upstairs, beautiful swaths of blue paint frame plantation windows, mid-century modern couches get a cool makeover with perfectly patterned bespoke re-upholstery. Palm fronds overflow in corners, while lush hanging greenery and pops of flea-market finds (pineapple lamps anyone?) encompass an elegantly mismatched yet arranged ensemble of a lounge area, perfect for enjoying hand-crafted cocktails, accented with herbs grown in the rooftop garden, courtesy of Bar Lab.
Maybe you and your ride or dies pick one of the picnic tables to saddle up to. You sink in slowly and absorb how perfectly the vintage patterned placements contrast with the linen napkins and polished wood. The length of the table is at once high school cafeteria, mom’s house and dazzlingly designed denizen of cool. Everything you and your mains gab about seems like a sweet secret but your voices escalate as others join in on your jubilee and you walk away with new connections and swapped stories over a menu curated with the depth and breadth of Miami itself.
Currently Craving Shakshuka… Hubba Hubba
While we’ve waxed poetic about the design, the food… oh the fare is just as fine! Chef James Seyba, in collaboration with Bar Lab's Elad Zvi and Gabriel Orta and Sydell Group's Roy Alpert, have created a personal menu that incorporates so many of the cultures that make up Miami Beach. We’re currently craving Elad's shakshuka made with homestead eggs, Yousef spices, and Zak the Baker bread; and if you’re in a giving mood, Gabe created a meal for four that includes house-made arepas, ropa vieja, queso de mano, and hogado. HELLO. If you’re feeling less egg-cited, share a vegetarian cast-iron lasagna for four. Certain dishes are served in mini cast-iron skillets on wood cutting boards, a both polished and charming presentation.
Rooftop Garden Garnishes
Anyplace with a rooftop garden and drinks that include fruits, vegetables and home-grown garnishes… well, don’t mind if we do. What is brunch if not accompanied by bubbles of some kind? Trust the Bar Lab guys to do right by hand-crafted spirits. After sipping their cocktails, you’ll probably trust them with just about anything. Savor spectacular cocktails like the “Born to Ride,” with zucchini, fennel, St. Germain, and Absolut vodka; and or the “Up in Smoke” made with smoked strawberries, Ramazzotti amaro, and Wild Turkey rye.
Fear not, sober Sallys, there’s an entire selection of refreshers for you, including a hibiscus swizzle, a green detox Collins, and a cold-brewed ice colada made with Panther cold-brew, miso honey, and Florida coconuts. Made with real panther, so you know it’s good.
So #SundayBrunchBucketList enthusiasts, head to 27 Restaurant + Bar, a gorgeous gathering space integrating the depth and breadth of Miami itself in it’s décor, food and cocktails under one spectaclarly communal and cool roof – a beautiful way to “start” your week with your b's.
Interior Photos: Justin Namon/ra-Haus fotografie | Group Brunch Photos: 27 Restaurant at The Freehand Miami - Book Here.
