Order 04! We High Key Love Low Key Miami
A dog-friendly place for seafood lovers, natty wine sippers, and indie sleaze.
It’ll take you three and a half hours to get to Key West, but it’ll only take you 30 minutes or less to get to Low Key Miami.
This is a place we’ve needed for a while. A “come as you are” bar beneath a Banyan tree where you can get funky in your flip flops, slurping frozies and scooping fish dip. We’re not insinuating that Low Key is low brow, but we are saying that you can come here to get loose and get weird. And the food is AMA-SING.
“It’s that kind of eclectic, laid back, open space where people can just come and hang out, dogs and little kids. It’s not a dress-up spot. It just felt very Florida Keys-y,” says owner Brian Griffiths, who fittingly greets us on an August afternoon in a vintage Key West tee. “It was my dads from, like, 1991,” he tells us.
Brian knows how to fill a gap. When Over Under opened in Downtown Miami, he brought to us the kind of place that has the wayward spirit of a dive with all the fixings of a modern day bar – top shelf spirits, cute and delicious drinks and events to satisfy the indie sleaze.
Low Key is cut from the same cloth – albeit with a few key differences. For starters, it’s entirely outside with loads of space for activities like esoteric movie nights (coming soon), pop-up markets and even speed dating (details below).
Best of all, there’s live music ALL THE DAMN TIME. Low Key is a welcome stage for local bands and DJs, whether you’re looking for head bangers, hip swayers, or a soulful vinyl set. Past bands have included Diego Unchained, The Karmic Wheels, Acid Burn Ale and Yung Americans. But this isn’t the kind of place where you’ll dance until sunrise. Little Haiti is a living, breathing community and the team wants to be respectful of this. “We want to throw parties and have fun, but it has to be a little low key because we don’t want to have blaring DJs at 1am and destroy the neighborhood,” says Brian.
Miami born and West Palm bred, Low Key Chef James McNeal is no stranger to frying up fresh catches. “A lot of this is inspired from Miami and its Caribbean flavors, and a lot of the Mexican flavors I was used to and loved in San Francisco,” says James. “Now that I’m back home, my whole approach to food is cooking what’s around you and what makes sense. With this space and vibe, it made sense.”
Chef keeps it light and local, focusing on seafood with some vegetarian and vegan options, but “for that friend that grew up in Ohio or somewhere like that we, also do a delicious cheeseburger,” an Instagram post states. He prides himself on sourcing everything locally, like oysters from a small farm on Florida’s Treasure Coast, grouper caught just off Key West, or produce grown in Homestead. For this reason, the menu will always be changing.
We started off with the fish dip. Amber or mahi is cured overnight and smoked the next day, and then folded into a mixture of whipped cream cheese, mayo, fish sauce and lots of black pepper. A sprinkle of jalapeño and fresno chili pickle adds a nice kick. Then, we slurped in some small, delicate and surprisingly briny Sebastian Silvers “For me, I just like lime and hot sauce, but we also have mignonette and fresh grated horseradish if people want to add on to it,” says Chef of the oysters.
We continued with a sweet, spicy and citrusy crudo, a true standout dish with Thai, Mexican and Chinese influences. The fish changes every week, so on this particular Saturday we enjoyed a cardstock-thin red grouper swimming in an opaline sea of passionfruit, coconut milk, lime juice and fish sauce. It was garnished with a spicy crisp made with Mexican chilies, Szechuan peppercorn and lots of fried garlic and shallots.
For the mains, we devoured a fried fish sandwich. The red groupers must have been hungry this week because another one appeared on our plate, this time battered in beer and a bit of vadouvan, a spicy French curry. It was garnished with Low Key’s take on pickliz, a pickled vinegary condiment from Haiti made from shredded cabbage, ginger, garlic, lots of carrots and the most essential Caribbean spice bringer: the Scotch bonnet pepper. It’s an ode to the neighborhood, but don’t get all hot and bothered about the spice. Miami might be able to bring the heat, but we can’t really handle it on our tongues.
We paired it with tamarind barbecue Japanese sweet potatoes drizzled with a beautiful cashew sour cream and sprinkled with lots of chives and peanuts. This entirely vegan dish admittedly stole the show for a few minutes, and we’ll feel real heartbreak when they’ve all uprooted for the winter. Chef guarantees us that though the veggies will change, say to Seminole pumpkins in the fall or broccoli in the winter, the smoky umami-ness of the dish will remain.
We capped off the meal with a key lime pie that did, in fact, transport us to the Southernmost Point, softened by sunshine and zhuzhed up with a sprinkle of crispy crust. Chef James says he’s working on a whole snapper right now, and might be bringing in a proper smoker for the winter for family-style dishes like half chickens. Luckily for us, he gets bored easily, which means that like Low Key’s music, the food will always keep us on our toes.
One thing that will be consistent here are the bevies. Nothing cools off a balmy Miami evening quite like picnic coolers of natural wine, buckets of beer and frozen margaritas. One August afternoon, we sat down with Brian to chat while sipping an organic dry rosé called Mrs. Poulia, and she was very bright, refreshing and crushable. If we didn’t have to skiddadle for previous engagements, we probably would have downed another. Brian tells us that they may be introducing a frozen watermelon Negroni soon, and we get a happy brain freeze just thinking about it.
There’s a masterplan to turn the space into a complex, with food, drink, retail and all the makings of a perfect weekend, but don’t worry. Low Key, or at least the spirit of it is, is here to stay. What we love most about all of Brian’s concepts, from Low Key to Over Under, is that they don’t take themselves too seriously, though they do a damn good job of tasting like they do.
Ever wondered about the secret lives of chefs? We do. So when we discovered that Chef James McNeal is in a band, we had to share it. Jam out with your clam out (or, you know, do it respectfully. Whatever you want) and listen below.
Go on, get into to some trouble. Here are some upcoming events, openings and things Nat & Ash are excited about in the upcoming weeks.
Low Key is doing speed dating! Sign up – unless you’re a creep. Or taken. Or a taken creep. Go away.
Hop on the Ta’Miami Tipsy Tour on September 18th! Enjoy Islas Canarias croquetas and cocktails aboard a bus all around Croqueta County.
Do you like salads and art? Salad Days, a Homework Gallery exhibition from September 9th to the 23rd, may not be exploring your favorite bowl of greens, but it will be covering the topic of optimisim, which is inextricably tied. Four Miami-based artists will be showcasing work that closely ties the whole theme together, and we’re particularly intrigued by Muu Blanco’s project, Uber Eats Me.
It’s Labor Day Weekend y el cuerpo lo sabe. Live music is vibrating throughout the city. Sweat it out at The Gibson Room, Dante’s Hi-Fi, and Eagle Room.
Speaking of music, our favorite DJ KA5 takes over the Esme Hotel on Friday Nights. Needless to say, we’ll see you there 😉. RSVP for September 9th, or come through tonight.
Did you guys know a Cuban-Italian restaurant opened up in Hialeah? Wednesdays they’ve got free margs for ladies from 10pm to close.
Chugs, one of our favorite weekend spots, celebrates its first bday this month! Stay tuned for events.