MIAReview
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
Zitz Sum
Included In
On multiple occasions, we have left Zitz Sum convinced we’d just eaten the best dish Miami has ever produced. And then we’ve never seen it on the menu again.
This is both the thrill and tiny frustration of this restless restaurant buried inside the lobby of a Coral Gables office building. The frequency of edits on its menus requires a printer with a Ferrari engine. But they get away with it by making miracles far more often than mistakes.
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
Since January 2021, this has been one of our favorite restaurants in Miami. With each passing month, it gets harder to explain why, because Zitz Sum gets harder to define. To use their own language, they are an “Asian-inspired” restaurant with a menu that blends “love for Japanese food looked through the lens of Italian ingredients and technique.” Usually, we hate when restaurants claim entire continents, and we hate the vague use of “inspired” even more. But here’s the incredible thing about Zitz Sum: they really do deliver on the promise to put half a world’s worth of flavors on a plate.
Crab gnudi in a sake beurre blanc. A potato aligot and hokkaido uni mochi donut. Crudos with wasabi, kumquat kosho, hibiscus, ajo blanco, aguachile, nori cured kampachi, and tonnato (not all at once, although that feels like something they’d try).
We have loved these things with the intensity of a hormonal 15-year-old. Then we’ve never seen them again. This is not as sad as it sounds. There are no highs and lows at Zitz Sum. There are highs, and then there are moments when a crudo lifts you up to kiss Neptune on the cheek.
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
Learning to love this restaurant like we do means accepting change. Zitz Sum requires a patient diner fascinated by food and willing to make multiple trips. You’ve got to do the $125 10-course tasting menu at least twice, and always order the bao, even though nothing will ever top the crispy version stuffed with oxtail we had that one time (and never again). We don’t usually send tourists here because this restaurant reveals its full glory to regulars, which we understand is a lot to ask of a paying customer. But what it gives in return is true, wild, unpredictable excitement within a Miami dining landscape that can feel allergic to risk and aggressively predictable.
Take our word for it, as people who have climbed to the golden peak of Zitz Sum and felt the full force of its sun. When it's at its best, there’s no one better. And it’s worth the persistence to witness that.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
Bing
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings
Bao
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
Crudo
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
Tartare
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
Wonton In Brodo
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
Crab Gnudi
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc