Eyal’s Shani’s restaurant portfolio includes dozens of locations across multiple concepts, from the fast-casual Miznon to the Michelin-starred Shmoné. His latest project is Bella, an Italian restaurant that channels Shani’s Mediterranean lens and is inspired by his time spent along the coast of southern Italy. It opens January 29.
The restaurant is situated within the Liberty Park Hotel (formerly South Beach Hotel) and was created in partnership with Think Hospitality.
Bella has 110 seats and spans 5,500 square feet of indoor and outdoor dining space. It was designed by Veronica Mishaan and is meant to capture the warm essence of the Mediterranean and Italian coast, all within the walls of a traditional Art Deco building.
The dining room is outfitted in neutral fabrics and subtle striped upholstery, and has custom furniture and handblown glass lamps. It’s anchored by a green onyx bar.
Outside, the sunny courtyard has ivy and flowers, and the space — centered around a vintage fountain — evokes the spirit of an Italian palazzo.
The restaurant’s courtyard is modeled after an Italian palazzo. | Isa Campomar
Bella’s menu was created in collaboration with Victor Gothelf, the executive chef of another Shani concept, Port Sa’id, which has locations in New York City and Tel Aviv, Israel.
It begins with a selection of antipasti and then moves into pasta and secondi. There are salads, vegetable mezze, and seafood, six variations of handmade pasta (little neck clams risotto, lamb ragù). Secondi include branzino, schnitzel, and steak.
The antipasti are served from a table in the dining room that doubles as a design centerpiece.
Many of the dishes include whimsical descriptions, like “the marrow of a dinosaur bone,” “a truly giant schnitzel (trust me),” and “homemade tagliatelle with a painful Madagascan black pepper that burns your mouth.”
But at its heart, the concept is more straightforward than that.
“The menu is centered a lot around dishes like polenta, risotto, and pasta,” Shani said. “From that, we shall find our own way and bring our own knowledge and belief to create it.”
The menu features mezze, pastas, and seafood, as well as schnitzel and steak. | Max Flatow
Shani was inspired to open Bella after a trip to Rome, where he shot the first image with his new film-loaded Leica camera, capturing the essence of a woman that set his imagination running.
“I had one second before she would notice me to raise the camera, to aim for light and distance,” explained Shani. “I did none of those things. I shot from the hip. When I received the developed photograph, there was in it only the rustle of her hair covering a man lifting a fish with both hands. That was enough for me to imagine her forever: a 60-year-old woman, beautiful, who had lived in the dreams of thousands of people. And she, from the pleasure of the dishes simmering in the small heat of her kitchen, ruled them without a single word being spoken.”
He imagined her using only the freshest ingredients, drinking wine, and creating in the moment.
“She was endless,” Shani said. “She never remembered what she cooked yesterday, because the moment she cooked was always the moment she was born again, anew.”
That’s Bella. And that spirit is what Shani is hoping to harness in the new restaurant.
Shani and his team have more openings planned, including a second Miami concept slated for the first half of 2026. There’s also a new project coming to New York City’s Williamsburg Wharf, Malka is expanding to Southern California, and multiple Miznon locations are also in the works.
Dining and Cooking