Miami chef Giorgio Rapicavoli is bringing his popular Coral Gables restaurant, Luca Osteria, to North Miami Beach this fall.
Miami chef Giorgio Rapicavoli will bring his popular Coral Gables restaurant, Luca Osteria, to North Beach this fall with a more casual vibe.
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For Giorgio Rapicavoli, opening a restaurant in North Beach feels a little like coming home.
This fall, the Miami chef behind Eating House and Luca Osteria will expand his Italian restaurant beyond Coral Gables with Luca Trattoria opening in Normandy Isle. But the location isn’t simply another pin on the map for Rapicavoli and his longtime business partner, Alex Casanova. Years before Luca Osteria became a Coral Gables favorite, the two called North Beach home.
“Alex and I lived in North Beach for many years as we started our careers together and opened Eating House in 2012, so this area is very special to us,” Rapicavoli tells New Times.
More than a decade later, they’re returning to the neighborhood with a restaurant that Rapicavoli describes not as a copy of Luca Osteria, but as its slightly more relaxed sister.
“Luca Trattoria will have a slightly more laid-back feel due to its proximity to the beach and neighborhood atmosphere,” he says. “But overall, the restaurant will have the same level of cuisine and service we have become known for.”
The menu at Luca Trattoria will remain largely familiar to Luca Osteria regulars, with a handful of new additions
Photo by Deyson Rodriguez
Luca Osteria, with a more laid-back feel
Luca Trattoria isn’t intended to reinvent the award-winning restaurant that inspired it. (Luca Osteria won New Times’ Readers’ Choice Best Italian in 2024.) In fact, Rapicavoli is refreshingly straightforward about the plan: Take what people already love about Luca and bring it somewhere new.
The menu will remain largely familiar to Luca Osteria regulars, with a handful of additions giving Trattoria its own personality. Rapicavoli says diners can expect a stuffed pasta or two, additional cuts of steak, and a delicate fish preparation alongside many of the dishes associated with the original restaurant.
Drinks begin with several cocktails familiar to Luca regulars, then continue to evolve under bar manager and mixologist Eddie Fuentes.
The restaurant will also offer new cocktails, while the wine program will feature a focused mix of European, Argentine, and classic Italian producers. It also includes at least one small nod to the new neighborhood. “You’ll probably find a few more Malbecs on the wine list,” Rapicavoli teases.
Luca Osteria is one of the most beloved restaurants in Coral Gables
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Bringing what works in Coral Gables to North Beach
Rapicavoli isn’t forcing a North Beach identity onto a restaurant that already knows what it wants to be. “We really want to capture what’s special about Luca and bring it to a new neighborhood,” he explains.
Instead, the evolution will be subtle. It’ll be a little more casual and a little more neighborhood-driven. Plus, he hopes it will be the restaurant people return to without needing an occasion. The restaurant will also echo Luca Osteria’s midcentury aesthetic, with warm wood furnishings and gold detailing.
But for Rapicavoli, the most meaningful part of expanding Luca is the new clientele that will fill the dining room. “We are really just so excited to bring this concept that’s so unique to Miami to a new neighborhood,” he says. “Getting to create new experiences with new people, making new regulars. It’s why we do what we do.”
People love Luca Osteria in Coral Gables for its fun atmosphere and Italian cuisine
For Rapicavoli, success means making regulars
That idea of regulars comes up again when Rapicavoli talks about what success will look like once Luca Trattoria finally opens its doors. He isn’t chasing the reaction that the new restaurant is bigger, flashier, or even better than the original. He wants people to trust it.
“I hope it is just as delicious as Osteria, that the service is just as good, and that it’s a place they’ll always want to come back to,” he says of what he hopes guests will think after their first visit. “Consistency is key, and with a new location that’s more important than ever.”
Rapicavoli and Casanova left their mark on Miami dining after beginning their careers while living in North Beach. Now, more than a decade after opening Eating House, they’re heading back to the neighborhood where that chapter began, this time hoping to build the kind of place where a new group of Miamians will want to keep coming back, too.
Luca Trattoria. 933 Normandy Dr., Miami Beach. Opening this fall.
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Victoria Stanzione is a Miami native and a natural storyteller with a lifelong passion for food, culture, and connection. A former editor-in-chief of Gulliver Prep’s Rider Voice and a Pepperdine University graduate with a degree in political science and intercultural communications, she blends her journalistic instincts with experience in media, hospitality, and the podcast industry, where she manages talent, brand messaging, and creative development. Rooted in Miami but shaped by global travel and a passion for wine and the narratives that define people and place, she brings an inquisitive, culturally fluent lens to every story she tells.
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