Miami Spice Is Still Worth It. Just Ask Michael Schwartz
Get creative or get packing
Well, Miami Spice is upon us again. Those precious couple of months when people go out to dinner in Miami and don’t immediately look at their check and say, “Hey, you misplaced a decimal point!” The time of year when restaurants craft special three-course menus called “prix-fixe,” which, according to Google translate, means “free scoop of gelato.”
It’s a special couple of months where restaurants who advertise fine imported seafood create a dish for their Spice menu called “jellyfish innards,” which sounds like a delicacy until you realize that jellyfish don’t even have outtards. It’s a time you can get a $35 plate of spaghetti for $50, with an optional $15 meatball supplement.
Spice was first created 24 years ago, when restaurants realized August and September were months most Floridians only left their houses to panic buy Fiji water. In order to lure locals out, restaurants began offering three-course dinner menus for $29.99, giving access to eateries usually only frequented by cocaine kingpins or, worse, visiting New Yorkers.
In the 25 seasons since, it’s become a hit, a time locals circle in their calendars to go places that now can only be frequented by Crypto billionaires or, worse, visiting New Yorkers. But somewhere along the way, Miami Spice went from a fun way to speed up the slow season to a chore many restaurants dread as much as refilling Diet Cokes.
“But if you can’t offer a good three-course menu for $55, then what are you even doing?”
But Miami restaurant OG Michael Schwartz – proprietor of Michael’s Genuine and Amara at Paraiso – says the naysayers are wrong, and still believes Miami Spice is a boon both for local diners and for restaurants.
“I think a lot of places just sort of begrudge it and they do it anyway because they have to,” he says. “And then they wind up polluting the staff. The staff hates it because it’s the ‘Spicers,’ they don’t tip and they don’t spend a lot of money. But if you can’t offer a good three-course menu for $55, then what are you even doing?”
Miami Spice is Good for Miami
Schwartz maintains Miami Spice is a win for everybody, a fact that’s gotten lost in the sea of “it ain’t what it used to be’s.”
“It’s been good for Miami,” he says. “It’s a chance for fancy restaurants to be exposed to people that might ordinarily not do so. It fills your tables in the summer, and you’re getting a check average that’s the same or a little bit higher than what you might normally get.”
Schwartz added that Spice gives him and his staff a chance to be creative, and perfect dishes ahead of season.
“It’s a new challenge, depending on the price point, of how to be creative and to offer value and creativity,” he says. “It gives us the opportunity to test stuff, to change the menu frequently, and then to refine it. Once we lock in a dish, it could become a staple menu item.”
Is a $95 Menu Losing the Plot?
Of course, this year, Miami Spice added a new $95 tier, which to the average person is like walking into the Balenciaga outlet and seeing a pair of shoes marked down to $900 from 1.2 gazillion. Schwartz has mixed feelings.
“It’s a chance for fancy restaurants to be exposed to people that might ordinarily not do so. It fills your tables in the summer, and you’re getting a check average that’s the same or a little bit higher than what you might normally get.”
“I don’t know, I guess with some of those omakase sushi places where you’d be dropping $200 a person that makes sense to me,” he says. “But what is (a steakhouse) gonna serve you for $95 a person that’s gonna be compelling? I’m not mad at $95, but you better be in a whole different category.”
For his part, Schwartz is keeping his Spice offerings reasonable. The $50 menu at Michael’s Genuine is ever-changing, as has become its hallmark over the years. Over at Amara, the price is $65, but that comes with a waterfront view and portions so big lineman leave with leftovers.
So poo poo Miami Spice all you like, those who know how it works still believe it’s great. And some spots still give good deals – we even rounded up the best ones so you don’t have to do math. We just can’t be held responsible if you misplace a decimal point.