Los Fuegos by Francis Mallmann

Fire as Method: The Asado Tradition Lands on Collins Avenue

Open-fire cooking has a long documentary record in South American culinary culture, but it arrives on Miami Beach with a particular set of credentials. Los Fuegos by Francis Mallmann occupies the courtyard of the Faena Miami Beach Hotel at 3201 Collins Ave — a deliberately theatrical setting where the kitchen is not hidden away but placed at the center of the dining experience. What greets guests is not a conventional restaurant pass but a custom-built fire apparatus: a wood-burning oven, a full-scale parrilla known as the "piano," flat iron planchas, and a dedicated ash-cooking station. The architecture of the setup signals the cooking philosophy before a single dish arrives.

Mallmann, who holds a James Beard Award and whose name is attached to restaurants across South America, Europe, and the United States, operates in a tradition that predates professional kitchens entirely. The asado is a social institution in Argentina — less a meal than a ritual, typically organized around fire, time, and gathering. Translating that into a Miami Beach hotel courtyard requires both conviction and engineering, and the custom-built kitchen here is the physical evidence of that translation. For broader context on how Argentine fire cooking is being interpreted in other cities, Beba in Montreal and Biondi in Paris represent the format's international reach.

The Menu: Technique Over Trend

Argentine cooking at its foundational level is not a cuisine of complexity in the mole sense , it does not layer dozens of dried chiles, spices, and slow-reduced sauces. Its complexity is thermal and textural: the same cut of meat behaves differently depending on whether it meets direct flame, indirect heat, a plancha, or a bed of embers. Los Fuegos applies this logic systematically. The parrilla handles skirt steak and prime rib-eye, both served with chimichurri. The wood oven produces empanadas. The ash station, a technique Mallmann has documented extensively in his cookbooks, is reserved for ingredients that benefit from slow, enveloping heat rather than direct contact with flame.

The menu extends beyond red meat, which is worth noting for those who assume an Argentine steakhouse defaults to a single protein focus. Whole Mediterranean branzino with fennel, lemon, and herb-lemon dressing sits alongside a hanging chicken with grape and vinegar sauce. A 48-ounce tomahawk steak, hung rather than grilled flat, is positioned as a shareable centerpiece. Handmade potato gnocchi represents the Italian immigration thread that runs through Argentine culinary history , a reminder that Buenos Aires cooking draws from European traditions as much as from the pampas. The vegetable and seafood components are not afterthoughts; they pass through the same fire infrastructure as the proteins, which changes their character entirely.

The weekly outdoor asado , a whole-animal format featuring both meat and seafood , is the format in its most literal expression. This is not a fixed tasting menu with wine pairings and printed cards; it is an outdoor party organized around fire and abundance, closer to the original Argentine social ritual than the à la carte service that surrounds it the rest of the week.

Where It Sits in Miami's Dining Tier

Miami Beach's premium restaurant tier has expanded significantly over the past decade, and Los Fuegos occupies a specific position within it. A Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025, ranked at position 559 in the Opinionated About Dining North America list in 2024 and carrying a Recommended designation in 2023, it operates at the credentialed end of the market without carrying a full Michelin star designation. The price structure reflects this: cuisine pricing falls in the $40–$65 range for a two-course meal, while the wine list is priced at the $$$ tier, with many bottles above $100.

Within Miami's broader scene, the peer set is not the Korean steakhouse format represented by Cote Miami, nor the Italian-contemporary approach at Boia De. The closer comparison is with restaurants that use a specific culinary tradition as their anchor and build a premium experience around its authentic execution. ITAMAE, which applies Peruvian technique with similar precision, operates in a parallel register. Ariete and the contemporary American end of Miami's market represent a different approach , one where technique and identity are more fluid. For those calibrating against the broader national conversation, comparison points like Le Bernardin in New York City, Alinea in Chicago, and The French Laundry in Napa sit in a different category entirely , full Michelin-starred tasting menu formats , but they illustrate where Los Fuegos positions itself relative to the top tier of American fine dining.

For those exploring Miami's wider dining scene, L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon Miami represents the European fine dining anchor on the other end of the spectrum. The full context of what Miami offers is available in our full Miami restaurants guide.

The Wine Program and Beverage Direction

Argentina's wine industry has developed a credible premium tier over the past two decades, and Los Fuegos's list reflects that directly. Wine Director Mariana Onofri and Sommelier Maira Varas oversee a list of approximately 400 selections across 4,500 bottles of inventory, with particular depth in Argentine labels. The list includes Faena Wines, produced in collaboration with Marcelo Pelleriti , the first Argentine winemaker to receive a 100-point score from Robert Parker , which gives the program a proprietary dimension unusual even at this price level. Corkage is set at $25 for those bringing their own bottles.

The cocktail program, developed by beverage director Zarko Stankovik with Mayur Subbarao and Mark Kinzer, operates as a separate program rather than an afterthought to the wine list. The breadth of the beverage offering is more consistent with a hotel dining destination than a standalone restaurant, which reflects the Faena context: guests arrive from the hotel as well as from reservations, and the bar plays a functional as well as a culinary role. For a broader view of Miami's bar scene, see our full Miami bars guide.

Practical Details for Planning a Visit

Los Fuegos serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily. Breakfast and lunch run 7–11am and 12–4pm respectively across the full week; dinner service runs 6:30–10:30pm Sunday through Thursday, extending to 11pm on Friday and Saturday. The dress code is business casual, which in the context of the Faena's aesthetic means the room has a degree of formality , this is not a beachside grill despite its proximity to the Atlantic. Reservations are strongly advisable; the combination of hotel guests and walk-in demand from Miami Beach means tables fill consistently.

Timing matters in Miami Beach. The May through September window, when tourist volume drops, offers meaningfully easier access to reservations and a more manageable room dynamic. The peak winter and spring season brings greater competition for tables and a louder, denser dining environment. For hotel context on where to stay when visiting, our full Miami hotels guide covers the range of options across the city. Those interested in the broader Miami food and culture picture can also consult our full Miami experiences guide and our full Miami wineries guide. For other fire-forward or farm-driven cooking programs across the United States, Lazy Bear in San Francisco, Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg, and Emeril's in New Orleans each represent distinct approaches to the producer-chef relationship in American dining.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do people recommend at Los Fuegos by Francis Mallmann?

The most-cited dishes align closely with the fire kitchen's capabilities. The skirt steak and prime rib-eye a la Parrilla, served with chimichurri, represent the core of what the wood-burning parrilla does at scale. Wood-oven empanadas are consistently noted as a starting point. For larger groups or those booking around the weekly asado, the 48-ounce hanging tomahawk with chimichurri and criolla sauce is the shareable format the kitchen is designed around. Handmade potato gnocchi draws attention as a counterpoint to the meat program , a dish rooted in the Italian immigration history of Argentine cooking. The whole Mediterranean branzino, prepared with fennel and herb-lemon dressing, is the recommended direction for those focused on seafood. The restaurant holds a Michelin Plate (2025) and a James Beard-affiliated chef at the helm, which gives the overall program a documented level of consistency across these signature preparations. Wine pairings from the Argentine-focused list, which runs to 400 selections, add a further dimension to the meal.