WGM Weekly: Slim's Steakhouse Review, Moron Mamdani, F1 Cheat Sheet, & the Scarface House
+ Eyal Shani opens another restaurant, a Brickell Key Buyout, & Apa Aesthetic Dentistry
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WHAT’S GOOD MIAMI: 4.21.26
On My Mind: Miami Wins, Wins, Wins, No Matter What.
Moron Mamdani attacks Ken Griffin. Gary V concedes Miami is #1.
Hospitality Local Insider
Restaurant Review: Slim’s Steakhouse, Starr Does it Again
At Slim’s, the elder statesman energy is in full effect.
Beach Business
The F1 Cheat Sheet for Normal People
F1 was the unofficial end of season. Not this year.
Where’s David Martin & Jorge Perez? Brickell Key Buyout.
The 134-unit St. Louis condo on Brickell Key is close to selling.
Eyal Shani has 50 Restaurants. He’s Opening Another.
Eyal Shani is a genuinely talented chef. He’s not in the room.
Real Estate
Luxe Listings We Love: The Scarface House Hits the Market For 237m
The compound that served as Frank Lopez’s home in the 1983 film is for sale.
The Local Advantage
Apa Aesthetic Dentistry Arrives in Miami
Kendall and Kylie Jenner. Jennifer Lopez. Uma Thurman. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. And now you.
ON MY MIND: MIAMI WINS WINS WINS, NO MATTER WHAT.
There’s a video on X with 52 million views.
NYC Mayor Moron Mamdani standing outside 220 Central Park South, Ken Griffin’s $238 million apartment, announcing a new pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes owned by people who don’t live in New York City.
Griffin doesn’t live in New York City. He lives in Miami. He moved Citadel there in 2022. He just bought the 545Wyn building in Wynwood for $180 million. And now, because a mayor with a camera decided to make him the face of everything wrong with wealth in America, Griffin is reconsidering his planned $6 billion Park Avenue tower, the one that would have created 15,000 permanent jobs and injected billions into the New York City economy.
Citadel’s COO called it shameful. He noted Griffin paid $2.3 billion in city and state taxes and directed $650 million in charitable gifts to New York institutions. Bill Ackman described the potential exodus response to Mamdani’s actions as “Ken Griffin leaving Chicago for Miami on steroids.”
Miami did none of this. We didn’t run an ad. We didn’t post a billboard. We didn’t tweet. New York did our marketing again. And the $5M-and-above sales segment is up 27% year over year.
The money already moved. The restaurants already moved. The hedge funds already moved. And while the Moron Mamdani films content outside a billionaire’s homes, Miami just keeps welcoming them with open arms.
And that my friends is how the empire state falls.
IN RELATED NEWS, GARY V CONCEDES MIAMI IS NBA. LAUNCHES NEW AGENCY.
It started, like most things do these days, with a post. Gary Vee took a swing, called Miami the G League. Not the NBA. I wasn’t letting that one slide.
What followed wasn’t noise, it was a proper back-and-forth, point-for-point, until it turned into something better: a live debate at the launch of his new agency, Tamara Group, named after his mother and led by CEO Ryan Harwood (we love you Ryan!). Not a bad setting to settle it.
Then came the twist.
Somewhere between the speeches and the skyline, aboard a yacht that felt more like a floating proof point than a party, Gary said it plainly: Miami is the best. Not just good, the top of Maslow’s hierarchy. The place where it all comes together. And just to drive it home, working on a yacht beats sitting in an office. Every time.
That’s the thing about Miami. You can argue it from the outside, but once you’re in it, really in it, the conversation tends to end the same way.
Thank you for blessing us, Gary V. Congrats on the new agency, check it out here.
HOSPITALITY LOCAL INSIDER
RESTAURANT REVIEW: SLIMS STEAKHOUSE, STARR DOES IT AGAIN.
Stephen Starr is the last of a dying breed. A restaurateur from a different generation, the days of Danny Meyer, Keith McNally, Drew Nieporent. He was the Philly guy. The second-city guy. The one who had the desire, the capability, and the style, but wasn’t yet THE guy. Over the last two decades, with the exception of Meyer, he has largely eclipsed everyone from his era. Concert promoter to nightclub owner to second-city restaurateur to the pre-eminent fine dining operator in the country. That’s not a career arc. That’s a masterclass.
One reason Starr has pulled away from his generation is his instinct for association. He understands that opening at Bal Harbour Shops, partnering with Ian Schrager, or operating alongside Keith McNally and Roman and Williams makes him as good if not better than the company he keeps. It’s the same principle that built Kith and Aimé Leon Dore, proximity to greatness as a deliberate strategy. So as Starr becomes the elder statesman of American restaurants, still rocking the deep tan, the black t-shirt, the black suit jacket, his restaurants are aging as elegantly as he is.
At Slim’s, that elder statesman energy is in full effect. The word that kept coming back, again and again: elegant. The decor was elegant. The captain and waiters’ suits were elegant. The dishes were elegant. Some of it pushed slightly too far, five knife options for your steak is a statement, but the point was well taken. We do things right here. We thought about everything.
