January Love Letter

This New Year, what’s old is new. After a billion-dollar facelift and expansion, the iconic Fontainebleau has reinvented the sprawling Morris Lapidus-designed resort as a luxurious brand combining new-school celebrity glamour (bye-bye, Sinatra and the Rat Pack, hello, Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show) and pop-tech features (an iMac in every guestroom). Among the resort’s 11 restaurants and lounges are Gotham Steak, Hakkasan by Alan Yau, Scarpetta, and Blade Sushi Bar; LIV is the high-energy nightclub; and the two-level Lapis Spa incorporates mist, rain, and steam in its thermal therapies (fontainebleau.com). Nearby on Collins, the former Carillon is now Canyon Ranch Miami Beach (canyonranch.com) with a 70,000-square-foot spa.

But where’s the beef? Everywhere in Miami, as it happens. New steakhouses include Meat Market (meatmarketmiami.com) on Lincoln Road, Red the Steakhouse (redthesteakhouse.com) near Joe’s Stone Crab, BLT Steak (bltsteak.com) at The Betsy Hotel on Ocean Drive, Fogo de Chao (fogodechao.com) on First St., and Angelo and Maxie’s Steakhouse (mayfairhotelandspa.com) in Coconut Grove. In the Design District, the old post office building that housed the former Domo Japones is now home to Sra. Martinez, Michelle Bernstein’s tapas bistro. Bienvenidos, 2009!

Gretchen Schmidt