Celebrity restaurateur Michelle Bernstein and her business partner/husband David Martinez have opened a lot of ventures during their two decades together. They usually don’t look back when one closes. That’s about to change with the reopening of Sra. Martinez in Coral Gables, which had a bit of magic to it during its earlier stint in the Miami Design District, Bernstein says.
“It’s funny. We never have ever in our careers — David and I have been together working for about 25 years — brought anything back. We’ve closed a couple and we vowed almost never, ever to go backwards. And that’s kind of how I have lived my whole life is I never go back,” she says. “But, there’s just something that has always itched us about Sra. Martinez and wanting one more shot at it because it died a little young and it was really not because the restaurant did poorly.”
Real estate was the problem with the former post office building not exactly ideal for a restaurant. Now, 12 years later, Chef Michy’s Sra. Martinez will return at the former site of The Open Stage, 2325 Galiano St., Coral Gables.
Bernstein says she and Martinez have learned a lot since the first version of Sra. Martinez closed.
Dining trends change
“Everything’s changed in dining so much in the last 10 years. First it changed just as things naturally do, but then after Covid, it changed again,” she says. “Dining became much less intimate and a lot more informal and food started coming onto the table whenever it was ready. This is what became the new norm. And then after Covid, I think things almost went back a little bit to the intimate. … It’s very interesting how we’ve gone through this whole crazy cycle.”
Her experiences in recent years with Café La Trova and Sweet Liberty show that people want experiential dining.
“It’s more than just going to eat a meal,” she says. “It is, ‘I want everything. I want it all in one place and I want a whole evening.’ And I get that, because who doesn’t want that? But the thing is, it’s really hard to give great quality food, a great quality experience, amazing cocktails, and then service to boot. It’s really hard.”
But Senora Martinez — that’s where the Sra. abbreviation comes from — gives credit to her husband for honing right in on great service. Besides co-owning restaurants with his wife, Senor Martinez has partnered at other highly respected bars, such as Medium Cool on Miami Beach, which has nightly live jazz and DJs, and the upcoming Zebra Club at the Townhouse Hotel in Miami Beach.
“He has more bars that I don’t even know if people know that he’s a partner of, but he spends a couple nights a week making sure that everyone is getting a great experience, even if they’re just going to a cocktail bar, the kind of service that you would get at a five-star restaurant,” Bernstein says.
Amidst juggling all their business interests (Bernstein admits to liking a bit of chaos), the couple have a 12-year-old son, Zachary.
“He’s been offering an opinion of my food since he was about five. And I hate to say it, I don’t want him to hear me, but he is usually right. ‘It’s terrible, mom. I don’t think this is quite how it used to be.’ And I’ll feel very offended at first and kind of hurt. And then as he walks away, I’ll taste it and I’ll think, ‘he’s right.’”
She doesn’t expect their son to follow them into the restaurant business, saying he is a whiz at math and science.
Zachary’s parents met when Bernstein was the chef at the Mandarin Oriental’s Azul. David started as a waiter and became a manager. They were great friends first and then Bernstein says her crush turned into marriage.
Their first venture was MB from Michelle Bernstein at a hotel in Cancun. “They really wooed us into opening a restaurant there,” she says, noting that they didn’t actually own it. MB is still there but now it stands for Muy Bueno.
In 2005, they got married, bought a house and prepared to open Michy’s (based on her nickname) and helped start the gentrification of Miami’s Upper East Side.
“We realized how well we worked together, and I was the back of his front and he was the front to my back. I never venture into the dining room. I am actually quite shy, and so it’s not something I ever feel comfortable with,” she says. “David’s just so wonderful with hospitality, so good at making people feel good. He just injects this great happiness and service and so good at what he does.”
The transition to their own business wasn’t easy.
“We were in a very cushy hotel, Azul, and I had always worked for other people, and you learn about the good and the bad part of opening your own business,” she says. “You have to fix your own oven. You have to make sure that all the paychecks go through. You pay everybody before you ever get anything yourself.”
She gives a lot of credit to having one of Miami’s most famed restaurateurs as a partner at Michy’s.
“We were really lucky because we chose Steve Perricone as a partner. who has been in the industry for twice the amount of time that we have. He is such an important person in the restaurant/bar business in South Florida and beyond. So, he taught us a lot. We were learning as we went.”
Bernstein says she still gets stopped by people who beg her to open Michy’s again, 10 years after it closed.
Preparing for an opening
Now, the reopening of Sra. Martinez, expected in late September, sounds like the culmination of the couple’s talents.
They picked a top restaurant designer, whom they have long admired: Thomas Schlesser, the founding principal of New York’s Design Bureaux. His company is a three-time James Beard Award winner for outstanding restaurant design with Chicago’s The Publican in Chicago and New York City’s DBGB and Bar Boulud.
Bernstein says The Publican is one of her favorite designs. In the past, her sister has always designed the restaurants — “my sister almost knows me better than I know myself and she has better taste.”
The sister duo started talking about a European/Spanish flavored design. Sra. Martinez is going to have freshly poured green and pink terrazzo floors. There will be black and white tiles, plenty of plants, some wrought iron and a bar the whole length of the restaurant. The windows can all be pushed open during cooler weather and there will be a stage for entertainment.
Diners will be able to peek into the kitchen, but Bernstein avoided a design that makes the kitchen crew feel like they are in a fishbowl. Patrons will be able to see some of the meat hanging. She’s very excited about a large wood-burning oven where she can prepare whole chickens, fish over vegetables and finish off tortilla Española and a new oxtail paella topped by bone marrow.
At the time of the interview near the end of July, the menu was 70 percent done. She is bringing back British chef Andrew Gilbert, who was at the first Sra. Martinez. He’s also known for the since closed Seven Dials in Coral Gables.
“He and I have been really creating this menu together, and he’s very strong. He is strict and kind and very smart, and he’s really good with numbers. I think he’s going to make a fabulous chef at Sra. Martinez,” Bernstein says.
The menu will definitely have her ode to Spain, Bernstein says. “It will be old world meets very new world using new techniques and new styles and, for me, new recipes.”
She’s been experimenting a lot with croquettes, including one that has carbonara inside and an egg yolk aged for 12 days grated over the top. Shes also come up with a fake mozzarella made out of tofu and plans to serve it with tomatoes or plums if they are in season.
Bernstein is partnering with a few local farmers and shes planning a more seasonal menu than she usually does. Of course, the caveat is the growing season in our semitropical paradise is a lot different than up north.
She’s excited about the different options for patrons: You can have a drink and a bite at the bar and experience the music, or you can come and have a family meal in the dining room and listen to music. She’s promising amazing cocktail service and is excited about the Coral Gables dining scene and the location next to Graziano’s Mercado.
There will be some Latin music, but the couple also want to push the envelope a bit. Expect a vibe that varies from weekdays to weekends.
Does she expect people to get out of their chairs and dance? “God, I hope so. I hope so. I would love them to. I always told David, ‘I want a place that I can hang up my apron and go dance,’ so why not?”
