Stefano Campanini might best be known for running the high-end Wine by the Bay boutique, but there was something more he wanted to do. That explains Wyn Wood Oven, the relatively new restaurant in Miami’s Arts District, where Campanini offers a sizable menu of European foods paired with more than 300 wine varietals.
“We were doing a lot of wine tastings at Wine by the Bay,” he says. “But we wanted to grow in a bigger direction. At [Wyn Wood], we can pair wine and food and offer a more complete experience.”
Campanini describes the restaurant, which opened in November 2017, as a place to “wyn” and dine. Inside the space, there are bright-red table tops, wood furnishings, and an open kitchen and bar area anchored by a large pizza oven. The interior is large enough to move around, but just the right size to be warm and cozy.
The menu offers plenty of choices—there are nearly 40 selections of salads, pizza, pasta, meats and desserts. The range of plates allows Campanini to create wine pairings.
“Being at a table and pairing wine with food is really beautiful,” he says. “Seeing our guests react is so different than selling a bottle of wine to someone without seeing their face.”
Each dish—from the pizza dough to the gnocchi and penne—is made in-house. The lasagne al radicchio layers pasta with béchamel, Parmesan cheese and radicchio sautéed in a white wine sauce. Penne in Green is tossed in a spiced puree of sweet peas and caramelized onions. There’s also a cheese board with prosciutto de Parma, speck, salami, gorgonzola, fontina, and 60-month-aged Parmesan.
The menu also includes nearly 20 pizzas, from a simple Margherita (tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil) to a fancy black truffle (carpaccio, ricotta with black pepper, buffalo mozzarella and mortadella).
“The presentations of our food are also outstanding,” he says. “We’ve been very well received by the community.”
The wine menu includes about 330 varietals, with a sommelier to guide diners. The restaurant also hosts wine tastings, spotlighting different regions of the world.
Dessert, naturally, includes a classic tiramisu topped with mascarpone, coffee and Dutch cocoa, but there’s also a sweet zabaglione affogato (custard) and the “50 Shades of Cheese” plate, a curated platter of soft and aged cheeses.
“Opening a restaurant has been more time-consuming than I imagined,” Campanini says. “I feel like the conductor of an orchestra. I have to make sure everything is going well, and that’s pretty intense. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Wyn Wood Oven
Location: 2085 NW Second Ave., Miami
Contact: 305.573.5155; wynwood-oven.com
