Smoke & Dough (Miami)

I try to visit Miami at least once a year.  I always enjoy it a lot more as a visitor than I did growing up down there.  On my last trip down in late July, my BFF (best foodie friend) and I went out to two different restaurants, which were both great.  But I could not wait any longer to rave about Smoke & Dough (https://smokeanddough.com/), which just this week made the New York Times’ 2023 Restaurant List, “the 50 places in the United States that [its reporters, editors, and critics are] most excited about right now.”  It was one of only three Florida restaurants to make the prestigious list, so it is in rarified company.

Smoke & Dough (not to be confused with Smoke & Doughnuts, a new Orlando restaurant I have not yet tried) is located in West Kendall — hardly the “cool, fun, sexy” Miami you are envisioning, but a pretty typical suburban area.  However, it is totally worth the drive from wherever you may be staying (or partying) in South Florida.  It is a barbecue restaurant first and foremost, but like so many things in Miami, it blends Latin and Caribbean flavors together to set it apart.  Owners Harry and Michelle Coleman opened its doors in January 2022, next door to their previous venture, the acclaimed Empanada Harry’s Bakery and Cafe, serving savory empanadas from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, and Peru, as well as gourmet signature empanadas, vegan versions, and sweet ones too.  Unfortunately, Empanada Harry’s was closed when we went to Smoke & Dough for dinner, or we would have tried it as well.

But Smoke & Dough was a marvel, a singular restaurant that amazed and astonished in every way, and not just because I had just driven down from Orlando and was starving.  We started out with ultimate loaded nachos, topped with smoked pulled pork, avocado-cilantro sauce, pickled red onions, pickled jalapenos, tomatoes, cilantro, salty cotija cheese, and nata, a Brazilian dairy product that is similar to sour cream, but is a little sweeter on top of being creamy and rich.  The tortilla chips were freshly fried, and all the ingredients sang in hot harmony, backed up by spicy Latin rhythm.  These were easily some of the best nachos I’ve ever eaten in my life.

Next up we shared some cafecito-rubbed brisket.  We got three huge, thick slices of USDA Prime Angus brisket, smoked for 15 hours and rubbed with spices blended with Cuban espresso (maybe Cafe Pilon or Cafe Bustelo, the Marvel and DC of Cuban coffee).  It was so tender and juicy, with great fat marbling — not too lean or too fatty — and practically melted in my mouth.  The Cuban coffee flavor really came through and blended with the rich, smoky meat.  If you ever have a chance to try this, or anything like this, like a coffee-rubbed steak, I definitely recommend it.  The brisket came with piquant, vinegary chimichurri sauce that it didn’t even need, but it was delicious anyway, as well as more of those pickled red onions and house-made dill pickle slices that were also top-notch.

I ordered a side of platanitos to share, sweet plantains (one of my favorite foods in the world) topped with more cotija cheese and a drizzle of nata.  These were even better than they look.

Smoke & Dough only serves its smoked burgers as specials on Friday, and we were lucky enough to go there on a Friday.  These are half-pound patties made out of smoked brisket, ground in-house and served on beef tallow-toasted potato buns, accompanied by a choice of fries or cole slaw.  We could not refuse!  The only question was which burgers should we get?

Well, there were so many things on the menu we wanted to sample, including pork belly and pastrami.  Luckily for us, one of the burger specials was an al pastor burger, topped with smoked pork belly, smoked pineapple, smoked gouda cheese, pickled red onion, and chipotle mayo.  Those are all things I love on their own, so how could they go wrong combined on top of a smoked burger? 

We cut it in half to share, and it was a truly inspired burger.  The al pastor pork belly was so rich and luxurious, and the sweet, crunchy pickled onions, sweet and smoky pineapple, and tangy chipotle mayo added so much depth of flavor.  Here’s a cross-section:

And here are the fries, which were fine, but better when dipped in the house ancho chile-guava barbecue sauce (which we had to ask for, but you can also buy it by the bottle).

I was thrilled to see a Reuben burger was another option, this one topped with pastrami made from smoked, house-cured brisket, Swiss cheese, thousand island sauce, and sauerkraut.  I asked for slaw with mine, to get two kinds of cabbage on one plate (practically a salad at this point!), and to try as many things as possible.  

This was another winner — a beautiful burger with all those great Reuben ingredients.  Even though corned beef is much more common on a Reuben, I will take pastrami over corned beef pretty much any chance I get when it is an option, and this was top-notch pastrami.  It was sliced thin and had plenty of peppery bark and marbled fat.  The sourness of the sauerkraut helped break up all the salty richness, and the slaw had a nice vinegary crunch to it.

I wasn’t going to bother with dessert after a meal like that, but my buddy ordered smoked flan (something that would never even occur to me to make, much less order), and it was killer.  I usually don’t even care for flan, but this was the best flan I’ve ever eaten, and it did have a light smoky flavor.  I ended up a big flan! 

If Smoke & Dough was in some trendy part of Miami, like Wynwood or (God help us all) South Beach, it would probably have lines out the door all the time.  Instead, on a Friday night in the humble ‘burbs of West Kendall, we only waited 15 minutes for a table.  But the legend is growing, even beyond Miami, thanks to making the New York Times’ 2023 Restaurant List, and here’s your friendly neighborhood Saboscrivner, boosting that signal even further (although let’s face it, probably not that much further).

This was one of the best meals I’ve eaten in 2023, and one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten in Miami.  That’s high praise either way.  Next time you’re hitting the beach or da clubs, take a detour to 4013 SW 152nd Ave (right off Bird Road), a part of Miami you never would have ventured into otherwise.  Consider making a reservation first!  By the time you finally make it down to Smoke & Dough, you might need it.