Long anticipated Spillover opens on Monday

There's exciting news regarding Coconut Grove dining - again. We have another great place opening up on Monday, May 16. It's called The Spillover by Lokal and I know it's great because it's a new restaurant by Grove veteran Matt Kuscher (shown here, looks like he's a 90210 fan) of the LoKal burger place, on Commodore Plaza and Kush in Wynwood. This is Matt's third Miami restaurant, second in the Grove. On December 23, 2011, I sat for three hours at LoKal, the night before they opened, to get photos of the perfect burger coming out of the kitchen. I didn't do this with Spillover, but I did get some photos of the interior of the restaurant.

The Spillover is at the Mayfair Promenade, across from the former Improv location,which is in the works to become The Typsy Mermaid, another Grove restaurant. All week the staff at The Sillover has been training all day and night - they've been preparing food, learning the ordering system, learning the beer list and learning how to treat the customers. The space is large and new, yet it looks old. It's made out to be an old warehouse or something you might find on the waterfront. Above Colin Speer, General Manager, trains some of the staff, some dressed as old fashioned newsboys and it looks as if all the guys wear the old fashioned news boy caps as part of their uniforms.

Matt tells me their is seating for 75; 20 outside on the Promenade and 55 inside. They open Monday at 11:30 am and go right through the evening, serving lunch and dinner.

As you can see, the bar looks old even though it's brand new. The old worn wood and decor makes it feel like a speakeasy in the 1920s.

I asked Matt where the name Spillover came from. "We originally had considered opening the place on Commodore Plaza near LoKal, at the Strada location," says Matt. "And that would have been our spillover from LoKal. But we never ended up taking that space, yet we loved the name 'Spillover' and we loved the logo, so we just kept the name." And they moved it a few blocks down to it's current location.

Some tables look like you're in someone's 1920s kitchen. The subway tiled walls are clean and neat. There is a lot to see there. It's as if you're on a vintage movie set. The beer taps are old kitchen utensils, actually used as the pulls.

Spillover is a seafood, cider and mead bar, "featuring a constant rotation of one of each on tap as well as a collection of Belgian style bottles and a reserve list of ciders, sours, and meads."

“The goal is to educate Miami on a category of an amazing drink that hasn’t been represented properly,” says Matt. “When you go to a Japanese or Mexican restaurant you order sake or a margarita and it automatically feels right. We want to make it so that when you come to Spillover you order a cider or mead because you’re at Spillover, and it will taste amazing.”

Take in the space, notice how the back wall looks like you're in a warehouse somewhere. They really made over ever inch of the location. The food menu puts emphasis on locally sourced ingredients and sustainability. Whenever possible all items will come from local sources, including fresh fish daily. The menu may be seen here.

Spillover is at 2911 Grand Avenue, suite 400D. You can reach them at 305-456-5723 or info@lokalmiami.com