The Gables’ Oldest Restaurants
Caffe Abbracci : 35 Years of Excellence
Exterior And Interior Of The 35-Year-Old Restaurant
BY KYLIE WANG
Coming up on 36 years of doing business in Coral Gables this summer, Caffe Abbracci is a longtime staple of the City Beautiful. Loyal customers remember the days when proprietor Nino Pernetti would greet every diner by name – and usually in their native language – imparting wisdom, humor, and well wishes. After Nino’s death in 2022, his daughter Tatiana took the helm.
Continuing in her father’s footsteps, Tatiana is a warm presence in the restaurant, greeting patrons with a smile and reminding her staff that even the simplest gestures can mean the most. She grew up at the restaurant, working as a hostess since the age of 12. But even she can’t remember Abbracci’s earliest days from before her birth. Back when Nino Pernetti had two restaurants in downtown Coral Gables: Baci and Abbracci – “kisses” and “hugs” in Italian.
The site where Caffe Abbracci is located was originally across the street from a Greyhound bus station. When Nino Pernetti first opened it, it was in a quiet part of town, very different to today’s hustle and bustle. But first came Baci, which opened in 1987 on Miracle Mile. With two restaurants, Nino was constantly running back and forth to greet customers, eager to make sure every table received the personal Pernetti touch. “He didn’t like that though,” says Tatiana. “He wanted everything to be perfect and he didn’t feel like he could do that in two different places and have eyes on everything all the time.” So, Baci closed and Abbracci became Nino’s focus in 1989.
At the time, Ocean Drive had yet to be reinvented, and Abbracci was among the few sophisticated dining options in Greater Miami. Pernetti’s place became a celebrity magnet, attracting clients ranging from Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Mario Andretti to Antonio Banderas, Joe Montana, Robin Williams, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Elie Wiesel – basically the A-listers visiting South Florida. “South Beach didn’t exist; we were the first affluent restaurant that was here,” Pernetti told Coral Gables Magazine before his passing. “I was written up in any number of publications: Food & Wine serval times, Gourmet magazine, Esquire…”
Political heavyweights also came to Abbracci to eat – presidents Bush I, Clinton, and Obama, to name three – partly due to its reputation for good food but also because the restaurant, which had no windows at the time, was easy to secure.
Today, Abbracci is still known for its immaculate service and customer-focused approach to hospitality. According to Tatiana, “We’re very much in the business of the customer is always right.” That goes for the menu – if the chefs have the ingredients, they’ll make whatever your heart desires – to the service, with much of the staff having been there for decades.
The restaurant’s commitment to hospitality continues to draw politicians, CEOs, athletes, and celebrities to the restaurant, from Gwen Stefani (still a regular) to the San Francisco 49ers football team, serving pastas and burrata to them all. It was only recently that the restaurant added a few windows to its storefront, losing some of its cache as a private dining spot for the rich and famous, though there are areas of the dining room where one can still dine in total privacy. And while the menu changes every few months, there are mainstays, of course. Our favorite? The Tortellini “Tatiana”: homemade tortellini filled with Asiago cheese and stewed pear, tossed in a pink sauce made with Prosecco instead of vodka.
Christy’s: Still Old School
BY J.P. FABER
In Coral Gables, nothing speaks to the city’s heritage quite like Christy’s restaurant. A favorite haunt of politicians and business leaders over the years, the steakhouse is the place where, when two-martini lunches were in style, they were served. And of the three oldest restaurants in the city, Christy’s, at 47 years and running, is clearly the senior – compared to Abbracci at 35 years and JohnMartin’sat 36 years.
What also distinguishes Christy’s is how well owner Chris Klaic has kept it true to its incarnation as a traditional steakhouse, right down to the deep, Tuscan-red walls, the leather chairs, and a menu that boasts old-school favorites like shrimp cocktails, oysters Rockefeller, prime rib, and baked Alaskas. It also offers what is considered the best Caesar salad in the city, from a secret recipe that hasn’t changed in a quarter-century.
“When you come to Christy’s you know what you are going to get,” says Klaic. “There are no gimmicks. We never follow the trends. We haven’t changed the menu since we opened.”
About the only thing that has changed in Christy’s is the artwork on the walls, from its former display of Cuban landscape and still life paintings to modern pop art, which somehow fits the mood, perhaps even more appropriately for a place that gives off a New York sophisticate kind of vibe, assisted by low lighting, night-club lamps at each table, and a soundtrack straight from the Cole Porter songbook. An evening at Christy’s, with its highly polished service, makes you feel like you’ve been at The Carlyle.
We also like the elegance of a bar discreetly ensconced in a separate room, distinct from the current mode of bars that open onto dining areas. There are also two dining rooms, so there is never that feeling of cavernous open space you find at other steakhouses or large restaurants; here, there is always a sense of intimacy.
As for what it takes to last for so many years in the competitive restaurant business of Coral Gables, Klaic says it comes down to one thing: consistency. “Consistency of the product, consistency of the service. I’ve always believed that it’s not about any one person, not about me, not about a famous chef. It’s about the brand.”
What that brand means is over-sized New York strip and rib eye steaks, along with filet mignon and the now ubiquitous tomahawk for two, plus sea scallops, rack of lamb, and lobster tails. In
addition to the oysters Rockefeller and jumbo shrimp cocktail, appetizers include jumbo lump crab cake and escargot. The sides are equally traditional, from their grilled asparagus in a mustard vinaigrette to potatoes au gratin.
Over the years, there are two things that proprietor Klaic has resisted. The first is the suggestion that he create other Christy’s restaurants in other locations. The second is that he change the menu. “People say we are so old school, but nobody does [these sorts of dishes] anymore,” says Klaic. “Chateaubriand? Nobody does it. Baked Alaska? Nobody does it. And I think that has been very important for our survival.”
JohnMartin’s: There and Back Again
BY LUKE CHANEY
Few establishments have captivated the Coral Gables community throughout its decades-long history quite like JohnMartin’s has. Founded in 1989 by Irishmen John Clarke and Martin Lynch, the Irish pub provided Gableites with one of the first cozy places where they could gather, celebrate, and drink a glass of Guinness stout or Jameson Irish whiskey. “Before we got it going here, you could roll a ball down Miracle Mile at night and hit nobody,” Martin Lynch remarked at the time.
Initially, however, because of a Coral Gables ordinance passed in 1926, JohnMartin’s full potential was limited. When it started, JohnMartin’s could serve beer or liquor, just as you would expect at any pub, but a 1926 city regulation meant that bartenders were not allowed to directly serve patrons and had to walk around and bring drinks to where you sat, at a low table next to the bar. This changed in late 1990 when Lynch and several other local business owners finally convinced the City Commission to repeal the law. JohnMartin’s finally had the legal backing to fully align with the vision that Clarke and Lynch had always had for it.
Expansion of the pub quickly followed, knocking down a wall to add restaurant seating. The new space, which included flooring from an old Dublin church, was designed by an Irish architect and expanded so that every table had a view of the bar. For 30 years, JohnMartin’s continued to do a bustling business, serving up draft pints and classic Irish dishes like bangers and mash and shepherd’s pie. This three-decade run came to an unfortunate end during COVID, when JohnMartin’s closed down on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2020.
When Tony Guerra, a Miami native and the co-founder of Breakwater Hospitality Group, heard that JohnMartin’s was ceasing operations, he knew something had to be done. “It was unfortunate because it had been a community staple for so many years,” Guerra says. “My partner Alex and I talked about it, and we were like, ‘This might be an opportunity to bring [it] back.’”
Right: Former Owners John Clarke And Martin Lynch Founded The Pub In 1989
Left: Iconic Fish And Chips Are Found At All Good Irish Pubs
After meeting with Martin over the phone, a deal was struck with Breakwater that prompted the return of the beloved pub. The vision for the relaunching of JohnMartin’s, which opened its doors again on Nov. 18, 2022, was to honor its tradition while re-imagining it for future success. “The idea was that we would be able to bring back JohnMartin’s in a new iteration that could sustain another 30 years,” Guerra says. “The guys that owned it before did an incredible job. It lasted 30 years. And our goal was, ‘How do we do this for the next generation? How do we do something that honors its tradition but welcomes a new generation?’”
In additional to a new bar and clean tile flooring, one of the notable additions to JohnMartin’s is its whiskey collection. The pub now offers over 400 types of whiskey, as well as an exclusive, invite- only club called the “Whiskey Society” that is reserved for only the most dedicated connoisseurs.
Several important elements of the original JohnMartin’s were kept, such as weekly karaoke nights, the annual St. Patrick’s Street Festival, and classic menu items like fish and chips. The purpose of JohnMartin’s, most importantly, has stayed the same throughout its opening, closing, and relaunching: it remains a celebration hub for all Gableites, a place to relax and call a “second home,” as Guerra says.
Travel back in time — beyond the restaurants — and step inside Coral Gables’ 100-year-old homes.