Best Women-Led Restaurants in Miami
- February 27, 2026
March is Women's History Month, but in the world of Miami restaurants, women lead the charge all year long. These 8 chefs, sommeliers and owners are behind some of the best restaurants and wine lists in Miami, from MICHELIN-starred dining rooms in Little Haiti to neighborhood wine bars in Miami Beach.
Through the incredible efforts and creativity of these women, Greater Miami & Miami Beach has evolved into a thrilling culinary destination where some of the most exciting food spots can be found not just inside glitzy beach hotels but also in strip malls, up hidden staircases and everywhere in between.
Michelle Bernstein
Cafe La Trova & Sra. Martinez
Michelle Bernstein is often credited as one of the chefs who put Miami’s dining scene on the global stage in the early 2000s. Since winning her James Beard Award for Best Chef: South nearly 20 years ago, she's become a stalwart of the city's culinary community.
At Cafe La Trova in Little Havana, Bernstein teamed up with legendary bartender Julio Cabrera to create a restaurant where live music and world-renowned cocktails meet modern Cuban cuisine. The space is constantly buzzing with people, probably because of its live music nightly and a bar program that recently secured the No. 13 spot on the North America’s 50 Best Bars list.
In late 2024, Bernstein and her husband, David Martinez, revived their beloved Sra. Martinez in Coral Gables, a decade after the Miami Design District original shuttered. This new iteration brings back fan favorites while introducing decadent updates like oxtail paella with melting bone marrow and carbonara croquetas topped in a flurry of grated cured egg yolk.
Whether she is catering events or appearing on TV screens, Bernstein remains an unstoppable force in Miami’s food scene.
Luciana Giangrandi
Boia De & Walrus Rodeo
Luciana Giangrandi and her partner Alex Meyer have turned a quiet corner of an unassuming Little Haiti strip mall into a culinary destination. Born in Italy, Giangrandi trained alongside Meyer in storied New York City kitchens like Scarpetta and The Nomad before launching MICHELIN-starred Boia De in 2019. Even years later, the tiny, 27-seat spot remains a famously difficult reservation to snag.
Hand-cut beef tartare arrives on crispy beef tallow chips, while baked clams get a spicy kick from 'nduja. The corn fagottini balances sweet corn with savory speck. For dessert, chocolate budino layers hazelnut, salted caramel and crème fraîche.
A few doors down at Walrus Rodeo, everything touches the wood-fired oven before it leaves the kitchen. The mustard green lasagna with lamb ragu is a must-order, as is the bone-in pork chop that eats like a giant slab of bacon.
Jacqueline Pirolo
Macchialina & Bar Bucce
Jacqueline Pirolo has been a quiet force behind one of Miami's most beloved Italian restaurants for more than 13 years. But all that changed last year when she won the MICHELIN Guide Miami 2025 Sommelier Award for the wine program she built at Macchialina in Miami Beach.
Born in Italy and raised in Pennsylvania, Pirolo co-founded The Saint Austere in Brooklyn before moving to South Florida to partner with her brother, chef Michael Pirolo, and his partner, Jennifer Chaefsky, to help run Macchialina. As beverage director, she sources bottles from small farmers who focus on sustainable agriculture and low-intervention methods, creating a list filled with rare vintages and grapes that most diners are discovering for the first time – all kept at accessible price points.
Pirolo’s selections are designed to pair with the restaurant's rustic cooking, particularly the popular 4-course chef's menu filled with all of the restaurant’s most popular dishes. Recently, the team expanded into Little River with Bar Bucce, a casual pizza spot and bottle shop that doubles as a market, perfect for a quick meal with friends or family.
Maria Teresa Gallina
Recoveco
The menu at Recoveco in South Miami changes almost daily – meaning its chef, Maria Teresa Gallina, is constantly creating. The Venezuelan chef trained at lauded Miami restaurants Alter and Itamae before earning a James Beard 2026 semifinalist nod for Best Chef: South alongside her partner, Chef Nicolas Martinez. Their intimate restaurant features an open kitchen, with a hyper-seasonal menu that is concise and focused, offering only about 10 dishes at any given time.
The golden chicken is the dish everyone talks about – it’s served with the foot still attached alongside a rich pomme purée and shiitake mushrooms. Other standouts include beef tongue paired with whipped sesame and a sapodilla sticky toffee pudding that uses lime leaf to cut through the sweetness. In 2025, Recoveco earned a spot in the MICHELIN Guide Miami, securing Gallina's reputation as one of the top rising culinary talents in Miami food.
Eileen Andrade
Finka Table & Tap & Amelia’s 1931
Eileen Andrade grew up in the kitchens of Islas Canarias in Kendall, the legendary Cuban restaurant her grandparents started in 1977. That foundation in restaurant hospitality, combined with a 2013 trip to South Korea, shaped the Cuban-Asian fusion cooking she’s now best known for at her own restaurants across the city. She opened Finka Table & Tap in West Kendall in 2014, bringing globally influenced cuisine deep into the suburbs.
Named after her grandmother, Amelia's 1931 in Kendall came next, tucked behind a faux dry cleaner entrance as a nod to Amelia’s past as a seamstress. Inside, the menu leans into unexpected dish combinations like kimchi clam chowder and gochujang paella. Diners will also find items such as umami butter escargot and boniato gnocchi with pork belly, dishes that honor her family roots while feeling entirely new.
Adrianne Calvo
Chef Adrianne's Vineyard Restaurant & Bar
Adrianne Calvo's career began with a high school scheduling mistake that landed her in a cooking class, a fluke that eventually led her to study under Napa Valley legendary chefs like Thomas Keller. At just 22, she opened Chef Adrianne's Vineyard Restaurant & Bar in West Kendall in 2007, bringing Napa wines and her "Maximum Flavor" cooking to the Miami suburbs.
The 24-hour braised prime beef short rib perfectly demonstrates Calvo’s cooking ethos, while the neighborhood-favorite French onion soup appears on the menu every Tuesday. She's since authored multiple cookbooks and appeared on shows like Beat Bobby Flay.
Alexandra Milton
Rose Cafe & Restaurant
At Rose Cafe & Restaurant in Sunny Isles Beach, everything on the plate – from the peppers in the entree and mint in the cocktails – comes with a story. Founder Alexandra Milton partners with the Agape Network, sourcing produce for the restaurant from a Homestead farm that supports women who are survivors of abuse.
The menu avoids refined oils and processed sugars, favoring fresh ingredients in their dishes. While the restaurant was already a favorite for its breakfast and lunch offerings, Milton expanded the menu to include dinner service in late 2025. New additions feature slow-steamed octopus with golden hummus, tagliatelle Bolognese with a Barolo reduction and whole Dover sole prepared alla mugnaia with lemon and capers. It is a standout choice for those seeking the best Miami restaurants with a focus on fresh, local sourcing.
Alexandra Oliveros Febres-Cordero
Babette & Romeo Room
Alexandra Oliveros Febres-Cordero and her husband, Chef Daniel Chávez-Bello, met as children in Venezuela and then reconnected decades later in New York City, opening Babette in Coral Gables in 2024. Chávez-Bello trained at El Bulli, and that background shows in Babette’s Mediterranean-French menu with dishes like beet tartare with strawberry gazpacho – though the crab truffle flan and Colorado lamb showcase the kitchen's range.
In December 2025, they opened Romeo Room upstairs, a whiskey-focused lounge accessible only by a spiral staircase tucked inside the restaurant. The intimate space seats around 40 and focuses on jazz, serving drinks and small plates like hand-carved Ibérico ham and croquetas topped with Osetra caviar. The upstairs-downstairs combo gives guests 2 ways to experience their laidback-chic Euro style.
