MIAReview

photo credit: Emily Schindler

Boia De   image
9.3

Boia De

Italian

Buena Vista

$$$$Perfect For:Date NightDrinking Good WineEating At The BarLiterally Everyone
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The red neon exclamation point that hangs above Boia De’s door really says it all. There’s just so much to be excited about here—from the painfully adorable interior design to the consistently excellent Italian food—and it can be hard to sum it up better than an ionized jolt of neon in the form of a bright, red exclamation point.

But, we’ll do our best.

Boia De is an Italian restaurant barely wider than a bowling lane located in a strip mall on the edge of Little Haiti and Buena Vista. The one-page menu usually has somewhere between 15 to 20 outstanding dishes, along with wine and aperitivo cocktails. There are staples that have been on the menu since day one—like the world’s greatest chopped salad and a miraculous beef tartare—but options change often enough to make each visit feel fresh. Whenever you come, you can bet on encountering the best pasta in Miami.

Boia De   image

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc

Boia De   image

photo credit: Emily Schindler

Boia De   image

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc

Boia De   image

photo credit: Emily Schindler

Boia De   image
Boia De   image
Boia De   image
Boia De   image

You’d be completely justified coming here only for the food, but we’d also make a reservation just to sit at the bar for ten minutes and stare at the restaurant. Boia De is cute—but not in a generic way, with various internet trends cobbled together into an algorithmic aesthetic designed to boost social media engagement. No, Boia De feels more personal than that, like a thoughtful present from a best friend versus a $10 gift certificate from a boss who spelled your name wrong on the card.

There are some details of Boia De that you can’t help but notice (and love), like the cigar-smoking monkeys on the bathroom wallpaper. But other details are nearly imperceptible, especially while distracted by the inevitably delicious things that’ll end up in front of you. The lighting hits your plate perfectly, the distance between tables feels optimally calibrated, and the exclamation point motif follows you through the restaurant subtly, from the wallpaper to the front cover of the fantastic wine menu. It’s a gentle reminder that you are currently experiencing one of the most exciting dinners in Miami.

Where To Go When You Can't Get Into Boia De image

MIA Guide

Where To Go When You Can't Get Into Boia De

Because Boia De is both so tiny and so great, it's consistently the toughest reservation in Miami—even in the traditionally slow summer months. They always reserve a chunk of bar seating and outdoor tables for walk-ins. It's not impossible to get one of those if you come very early on a weekday. But reservations go live on Resy at noon, 30 days in advance. At one nanosecond past noon, you need to be at your computer, refreshing the page like your life depends on it. Then, if you're lucky, you get to spend a few weeks living with the kind of anticipation that usually precedes birthdays or holidays you actually enjoy celebrating.

That’s one of the best parts of Boia De—the way that exclamation point feeling glows brighter and brighter from the moment you book a table until you’re finally sitting in the restaurant, sipping wine and twirling unbelievably good king crab tagliolini nero onto your fork. And afterward, it might be tough to describe the experience to friends without using a six-foot-tall neon exclamation point.

Food Rundown

The menu at Boia De changes frequently, but here are a few examples of the kind of dishes you might find here.

Boia De   image

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc

Luci’s Chopped Salad

If ever there were a salad worth preserving in the Smithsonian, it’s this vinegary masterpiece. It comes with perfectly dressed radicchio, lettuce, cannellini beans, tomatoes, peperoncini, and provolone cheese. When it hits the table, we tear into it like it’s a 32-ounce ribeye.

Boia De   image

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc

Chicken Liver & Foie Gras Pate

On one side of the bowl is a smear of silky chicken liver and foie pate. On the other, a sweet strawberry substance (it could also be mango or some other tropical fruit, depending on what’s in season). And in the middle is a pool of chicken jus. Your task is to try and get a little bit of everything on the toasted bread it comes with. Take that job seriously, because it has the potential to be one of the greatest bites of your life.

Boia De   image

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc

Beef Tartare

The tiny cubes of diced beef are so symmetrical you'll take a moment to inspect each like a diamond. It's all covered in a rich tonnato sauce and served alongside a big "beef tendon chip" that's made by slowly cooking a beef tendon, dehydating a slice, and then frying it into a scoopable utensil.

Boia De   image

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc

Tagliolini Nero

If you came to Boia De and didn’t get at least one pasta, you did it wrong. And the tagliolini nero is our favorite version they serve. The magnificent squid ink pasta is served cold with fat lumps of king crab meat, herbs, and an incredible white wine truffle sauce that clings to all of the above.

Boia De   image

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc

Bufala Ricotta Gnocchi Al Pomodoro

The ricotta gnocchi has been on Boia De’s menu from the start—although the preparation has changed a lot. We’ve had it with sausage and black truffle, with porcini, and there’ve been more iterations over the years. But you know what’s always true about this dish? The absolute joy that comes with popping each impossibly fluffy gnocchi into our mouths.

Boia De   image

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc

Crispy Tiramisu

What makes the tiramisu “crispy” are the layers of Pavesini biscuits instead of soaked ladyfingers. What makes it delicious is, well, everything.

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FOOD RUNDOWN

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