At the end of 2015, a new little eatery opened in South Beach called DIRT. The concept was simple: serving up clean, nourishing food designed by a serious chef in a fast, casual environment. A bastion of healthy food amongst many delicious, but not conscientious options in Miami Beach, DIRT offers meals free of pesticides, hormones, and unnecessary grease. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and cater to the discriminating omnivore as much as vegetarians.
Ordering in the small but chic resto starts casually at the marble slab counter. Select a beverage, which can range from a hand-crafted espresso-based drink made with DIRT’s private-label coffee, cold-pressed juice, homemade kombucha, hibiscus and raspberry tea to one of four local, craft beers on tap. See… something for everybody.
Depending on what time of day it is, depends on what happens next. Breakfast will look something like this: local eggs from Sun Fresh Farm and Ranch on crunchy Zak the Baker multigrain toast or herb farro drizzled with olive oil with avocado, kale, caramelized onions, or roasted fennel. Topped off with organic pepperjack cheese or house-made chicken apple sausage, you can see why weekends have breakfast lines going down the block.
If it all sounds amazing. It is—thanks to real chefs in the kitchen. The Executive Chef is Jonathan Seningen and Chef de Cuisine is Nicole Votano who both work on making the food as good as it sounds, and sometimes better. Lunch includes veggie-centric potions like bowls.
“I am really loving our seasonal bowl right now,” says Chef Nicole. “It starts with a butternut squash cashew ‘cream’ which is topped with roasted vadouvan curry cauliflower, quinoa, and arugula. It’s then finished off with pomegranate and spiced pumpkin seeds for some crunchy texture. It’s the kind of dish that even a carnivore can eat without missing the meat.”
Of course, proteins are on the menu and are of the highest quality available, and can be added on to most dishes (instead of subtracted), which makes both vegetarians and meat-eaters happy.
