MIAMI — If the action is on the sidewalks across town in South Beach, it is more often tucked behind the gates of private banks and secluded apartment towers on broad-leafed Brickell Avenue. Not so at Novecento, a Latin American bistro that has found fame in Buenos Aires, New York and Miami.
Pull into the car park behind the low shopping plaza at 1414 Brickell and be greeted in Spanish by valet attendants more used to customers hailing from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and other points south. Step into the tile-floored bar and the wood-boothed restaurant and sounds of Spanish from the stylish society and business crowd — much of Latin America's money is managed in the banks along Brickell — complete the journey to a place that could exist in Las Canitas, San Telmo or another of Buenos Aires' full-flavored neighborhoods.
Turn to the menu and the tastes come quickly, too: vacio a la parrilla (grilled flap steak), empanadas con chimichurri (empanadas with an herb and olive oil marinade), ceviche de chernia (grouper ceviche), and the Lomito, a sandwich of beef tenderloin and mozzarella. Dinner, with appetizer, entree and a couple of drinks comes to about $50 per person; about $1,000 cheaper than a round-trip ticket to Argentina.
Novecento, 1414 Brickell Ave., Miami, 305-403-0900, bistronovecento.com.