La Centrale Miami Italian Food Hall

Miami's La Centrale has finally opened at Brickell City Centre in the city's downtown after a year's anticipation. The 40,000-square-foot dining and marketplace concept brings together 14 food stations, five bars and a wine shop stocked with more than 4,000 bottles.

Managing partners Jacopo Giustiniani and Matthias Kiehm, as well as Tuscan-born executive chef Vincenzo Scarmiglia, are behind the multi-restaurant operation, which includes food and drink unique to 20 Italian regions.

"Miami is in its golden age with new museums, a high-speed rail system coming soon and institutions it's never had before," Kiehm says. "It is one of the most dramatic urban success stories in the U.S. The city has long been ready for a level of culinary experience to match." 

That's where La Centrale comes in. The first floor is the most casual of the three. There are six grab-and-go counters overflowing with espressos, salads, cheeses, meats and breads, along with an all-day breakfast and lunch café, and a rustic pizza and pasta family style restaurant. 

The second floor features three traditional sit-down restaurants, each focused on meat, fish or plant-based items. Carne, La Centrale's steakhouse, cooks 48-day dry-aged steaks over a wood-fire grill, while Pesce, the hall's seafood restaurant inspired by the Italian Riviera, flies in fresh branzino from Italy every morning. There's also a lively cocktail bar with a large performance stage, and a chocolate shop filled with two chocolate fountains, 16 rotating gelato flavors and 80 types of imported chocolates.

The top floor is all about wine. The star is Enoteca, a robust wine bar, complete with wine flights, a small bites menu and free weekly tastings. There is also a private dining room hidden inside an adjacent wine cellar, and a cooking and event studio. 

"South Florida has a great appreciation for authentic food tied to its diverse and deep cultural roots," Kiehm says. "Choosing Miami as our first outpost for La Centrale was a natural choice." 

Miami's largest food hall, La Centrale joins the 10,000-square-foot Asian marketplace, 1-800-Lucky, in Wynwood; and the 18,000-square-foot Casa Tua Cucina, which offers a similar lineup of Italian cuisine, located inside Saks Fifth Avenue at Brickell City Centre. New Orleans-based St. Roch Market is expected to open in the Design District soon, followed by the Citadel in Little River and Time Out Market in South Beach.

Clarissa Buch is a writer and editor who has covered Miami for more than half a decade. She focuses on food and culture (and food culture).