Aside from introducing the drink program, Glass & Vine has also evolved its food since the opening, with Rapicavoli introducing a seasonal menu to coincide with the new cocktails, and also beginning lunch and brunch service.
“We change the menu based on the national seasons as we just really have summer here in Miami,” Rapicavoli says. “Since it is a little cooler (in winter), we tend to lean toward lots of root vegetables and citrus. Come March and April, the menu will be centered around more green vegetables like peas and asparagus.”
Garden offerings on the menu fit the lush environment, with items like watermelon salad, with crema, Cotija cheese, toasted corn, and cilantro, and Florida Stracciatella, made with California olive oil, local bread, and garlic confit. The restaurant also offers a happy hour on weekdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., where guests can get $4 snacks like marinated olives or cured meat, or $7 small bites, including sweet potatoes with Huancaína sauce, Queso Blanco, lime, and cured egg yolk, to go with the cocktails, priced $8.
For the seafood portion of the menu, Rapicavoli relies on fresh Florida catches in dishes like conch fritters with citrus, yogurt, celery, and jalapeño, and the local fish “AguaChile,” an ocean-raised farmed Atlantic salmon, which is served with carrots, passion fruit, and Florida citrus. But the land offerings aren’t just an afterthought, either, as Rapicavoli creates depth and contrast in dishes like the grilled sweetbreads with celery root, celery chimichurri, and onion ash, or the grilled duck breast with carrots, carrot purée, and smoked carrot juice.
The restaurant seats 200, with a 24-seat bar as a focal point. Via the outdoor seating, which Rapicavoli says is in particularly high demand during the colder months, guests can take in the surrounding park’s foliage. And when the weather warms up in the summer, Glass & Vine deploys Tuuci umbrellas and an air-circulation system to assist with the flow of the bay’s breezes throughout the restaurant.
“People really just love being around the lush foliage of the park, so we made sure to have lots of open windows and a bar that can be both indoor and outdoor,” Rapicavoli says. “Coconut Grove has such a close history and connection with the land that it only makes sense to create an environment where people can just lay back, relax, and enjoy some of South Florida’s most beautiful scenery.”
Glass & Vine is part of the Grove Bay Hospitality Group, led by restaurateurs Francesco Balli and Ignacio Garcia-Menocal, who plan to continue introducing new concepts in Dade County’s oldest neighborhood as part of what will be a 7-acre property called The Harbour, created with a 50-year lease with the City of Miami.