Caffe Vialetto closed last summer — but a new version is opening in Coral Gables.
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Like just about every other diner in Miami, owner Marcelo Chopa was sad last summer when he and business partner Ernie Fernandez decided to close their Italian restaurant Caffe Vialetto after 26 years.
It was a bittersweet turn of events. They had sold the property at 4019 S. Le Jeune Road in Coral Gables and served the final dinner on Aug. 16. The news broke the hearts of passionate regulars, who had flocked to the restaurant for family milestones, business dinners, romantic evenings and girls’ nights out since 1999.
Now, Chopa has reason to be happy again — and so do Caffe Vialetto’s fans. Chopa is resurrecting Caffe Vialetto with a new name — Casa Vialetto — and a similar menu, in a new location at 267 Alhambra Circle in the Gables.
The name change is to signal one big difference between the two restaurants, Chopa said.
“There used to be two of us, but now he [Fernandez] is retired, so I decided to move forward with a little difference,” he explained.
The new restaurant, he said, will be “a little more modern,” and smaller as well, 45 seats to Caffe Vialetto’s 80. The menu will be primarily Italian but “more European,” with the same emphasis on fresh seafood.
Expect a full-service bar, too, and a slew of local products on the menu.
“We always work with local products that can put a twist of the Caribbean on the plate,” Chopa said. “We’re in the Caribbean, after all. So sometimes we put fresh fish with fruit or something tropical.”
This means you can expect to see the classic Caffe Vialetto hog snapper, pan sauteed in a mango mojito sauce, on the menu when the hog fish is available.
Chopa, who worked in such restaurants as Cafe Abbracci and Grazianos before opening Caffe Vialetto, admits opening this restaurant on his own instead of with a partner has been difficult. He had hoped to find a space sooner but was foiled — as so many restaurateurs are in Miami — by grease trap problems.
“It’s hard,” he admits. “We used to split the work half and half. Now it’s 100 percent me. My future wife is helping me a lot with the paper work, thank God. I pray every day it doesn’t get more complicated.”
Chopa has no firm opening date yet, but hopes Casa Vialetto will be ready for diners by the end of the month.
“I’m very happy and so ready after such a long wait,” he said.
Connie Ogle loves wine, books and the Miami Heat. Please don’t make her eat a mango.
Dining and Cooking