WGM Weekender: Interview with James Taylor of the Joyce (And Special Guest Andre Sakhai)
The new Miami hospitality, spiritually generous, super talented, and genuinely obsessed
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Miami Minds: James Taylor + André Sakhai (The Joyce + Spicy Hospitality Group)
This week’s Miami Minds interview is with James Taylor, Executive Chef of The Joyce and André Sakhai of Spicy Hospitality Group, the creator of The Joyce, plus Le Specialità, Oniku Karyu, and Yasu Omakase.
James come to us from Chicago where he was an Alinea alum who moved to Miami during Covid, originally to become André’s personal chef. André is a legendary traveler, eater, entrepreneur, and art collector, one of those rare people who can connect effortlessly across backgrounds, cultures, and generations. Half Persian (dad), half Japanese (mom), he’s been a social and business fixture across New York, Miami, Ibiza, and Tokyo for years. We went to high school together, and over the past decade he’s relocated to Miami with his wife Tal and their beautiful children, now fully committed to building community here, and making his mark on the city through restaurants that actually feel like his taste.
And André found James.
James is the kind of chef who makes you remember what hospitality is supposed to feel like: kind, spiritually generous, super talented, and genuinely obsessed with making people happy. He sources the best ingredients, then prepares them simply and creatively, so dining at The Joyce feels less like “service” and more like: your friend happens to be a top-tier chef and you’re eating at his place.
Being André’s personal chef is its own journey. One day it’s hot wings in the afternoon. The next it’s cooking alongside some of the best sushi chefs in the world. And then suddenly it becomes something bigger: you become a community chef, doing Shabbat dinners or Kebab Sundays for some of the most interesting people in Miami and New York, your food becomes the connector.
And yes, André’s also sitting on one of the most diverse and impressive art collections in the city. I mean, The Joyce has Picasso and the wall at Specialita is a contemporary dream.
All of these factors collide into what makes The Joyce feel different in Miami right now. In a city packed with Asian-fusion palaces, The Joyce is the Miami Beach clubhouse, more Corner Store / Polo Bar / 4 Charles energy than Papi Steak (no hate—just a different frequency). It’s upscale fun for people with taste.
A great burger. A beautiful steak. Latkes with caviar. An off-menu Crunchwrap Supreme that somehow makes perfect sense. And on Sundays: Chinese.
Does it make sense? Only if you know what’s good.
Take the time to listen to the interview. It’s a great one.
AND NOW AN INTERVIEW WITH JAMES TAYLOR OF THE JOYCE (WITH SPECIAL GUEST ANDRE SAKHAI)
What is your name and what do you do?
My name is James Taylor I am the executive chef of the Joyce.
How long have you lived in Miami?
Andre Sakhai: Since Covid.
Where do you live?
James Taylor: I live on the beach, 10th and West.
What’s your morning routine?
James Taylor: I get up and get right to work. Turn on classical music and get going.
How do you take your coffee?
James Taylor: The Miami Iced at Sunshine Coffee or an iced latte regular milk.
What’s a hidden gem in Miami that more people should know about?
James Taylor: Long Gong Chinese is the best chinese in Miami by a landslide. If you like spicy the Shang style chicken, or the beef with cilantro and peanuts.
Andre Sakhai: I like The Taco Stand, there is one in Wynwood and on the beach. There is a Thai place called Lung Yai Thai.
What do you love most about Miami?
James Taylor: The energy for me.
How do you share your creativity?
James Taylor: What I like to do I think a lot of chefs don’t and thats just to just listen to what people tell me to cook.
How do you define your success?
James Taylor: Are you happy, happy with what you’ve done and accomplished. Are the people around you happy.
Andre Sakhai: I think Family and Kids.
What do you believe?
Andre Sakhai: If you're good and respectful to people hopefully the world throws it back at you.
What’s your happy place?
James Taylor: The Joyce for sure.
Andre Sakhai: Tokyo Japan is my happy place I would definitely live there if my wife would let me.
Closing Thoughts
What makes Miami special right now is the size of it, small enough that people actually run into each other, and new enough that you can still feel the city being built in real time. You’ve got builders, creatives, chefs, collectors, founders, all colliding in the same rooms, shaping what Miami becomes next through the relationships they choose to invest in.
And if there’s a simple thesis underneath André and James’ story, it’s this: show up with taste, show up with intention, and treat people right. As André puts it, “If you’re good and respectful to people, hopefully the world throws it back at you.”
See you at the beach,
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