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▼ Café Food Fight
Miami restaurants battled Hurricane Irma — and mostly won. BY LAINE DOSS
The day after Hurricane Irma roared into town, Richard Hales felt lucky. His two midtown Miami restaurants, Blackbrick and Sakaya Kitchen, were unharmed. Both places had power, and residents of the high-rises that surround the neighborhood were growing antsy.
So he decided to open for dinner with a limited menu. After appraising the situation, he left Blackbrick to take care of his family in Coral Gables while his chef Joseph Camareses, nicknamed “Not Your Average Joe,” began prepping for the evening meal. As Camareses put on pots of stock to simmer, he looked up to find a caravan of nearly two dozen marked and unmarked police vehicles lined up in front of the restaurant. A short while later, police officers entered and strongly suggested the restaurant not open.
“My manager spoke to them. They said that anyone out after 7 p.m. would be fined $500 or arrested, including my diners. I couldn’t have that happen.”
Hurricane Irma might not have hit Miami as a Category 5 monster, but her effects were felt by many businesses, es- pecially in the restaurant industry, where supplies are perishable and profit margins are low. Still, the storm brought out the good in many, including restaurateurs who left their own damaged homes and families to help people hit harder.
Among the first Miami restaurant
Photo courtesy of Dewey LoSasso
Chef Dewey LoSasso (center) is working with a crew of ten to provide meals to Keys residents displaced by the storm.
owners to feel the storm’s wrath was the Pubbelly Group, which has eateries in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Repub- lic. But soon after the storm passed to the north of those islands, the group’s own- ers — whom colleagues affectionately call the Pubbelly Boys — learned those properties had fared well in Irma.
Very soon, restaurant partner Juan F. Ayora, who lives
“YOU DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO WHEN SOMEONE HASN’T EATEN
IN FOUR DAYS,” LOSASSO SAYS.
in the MiMo District, became eager to get to his eateries in Sunset Harbour to at least begin cleanup in preparation for reopening. But he wasn’t allowed across the cause-
way due to regulations that banned residents and business owners from returning until Tuesday morning.
The only way he learned that the res- taurants hadn’t suffered major damage was through his director of operations, who had ridden out the storm in Miami Beach despite a mandatory evacuation order. Ayora says he was hoping to reopen with a discounted menu to service locals who needed a meal and a respite from the storm’s aftermath. He also wanted >> p25
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