“Boia De is a slang term from Tuscany that means ‘oh my god,’” says co-chef and owner Alex Meyer. “We want people to feel that level of surprise.” Anyone familiar with the intimate 27-seat restaurant tucked inside an unassuming strip mall in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood will attest to the name’s legitimacy. In tandem with co-chef and owner Luciana Giangrandi, the duo subverted the hoity-toity world of fine dining, fashioning one of the Magic City’s most original culinary concepts by pairing luxurious ingredients and haute techniques with Memphis Milano design accents and low-key vibes.
The eclectic menu marries American and Italian influences. For instance, the hand-cut steak tartare, a play on the veal dish Vitello Tonnato, is served with a crunchy beef tendon chip that takes a day and a half to prepare. In Meyer and Giangrandi’s hands, a rendition of the humble bar snack, crispy potato skins, opens up a new realm of possibilities for the starchy vegetable thanks to toppings such as stracciatella cheese, hard egg yolk, and a generous portion of sturgeon caviar. The wines are natural and low intervention, with some esoteric varietals imported from unexpected regions in places like Georgia and Lebanon. On the soundtrack: Everything from Madonna to jazz to LCD Soundsystem.
