Zitz Sum, The Globe, and Saturday Night

Another Case Of An Evening Made Easier By Proximity

Not every night out in Coral Gables needs a grand occasion behind it. Sometimes the draw is simpler: a dinner you have been meaning to try, a band in full swing nearby, and the sense that Saturday should not be wasted on anything forgettable. That was the shape of this recent evening that started at Zitz Sum, the Michelin- starred restaurant, and ended at The Globe, where live music, drinks, and dessert gave the night a second life.

Zitz Sum is where Chef Pablo Zitzmann built his Gables following, after he reinvented himself during the 2020 pandemic by making dumplings out of his home kitchen and selling them on Instagram. The restaurant opened as a pop-up in 2021, nestled in the back of the expansive marble lobby of the 396 Alhambra building, soon becoming a permanent home in the Gables for those dumplings. Chef Zitzmann has since expanded to a second location on Giralda – Dōjō Izakaya – with an expansive Japanese menu. But we wanted to try the original.

To reach Zitz Sum, you still walk through the building lobby, then into a space that feels completely removed from it – a small dining room with a few tables, dark, intimate, and gently animated by an open kitchen, with a low amber glow.

We went with the tasting menu, which felt like the right call. At $95 per person, it is the clearest way to see what makes Zitz Sum such an interesting place to dine. The first bites – tapioca mochi with duck prosciutto and egg yolk jam – opened things on a fun and chewy note. This was followed by a bright Hokkaido scallop crudo with Peruvian-Japanese acevichado sauce and hearts of palm. But the dishes that really stayed with us were the wonton in brodo, the angry agnolotti, and the koshihikari rice. The wontons were seriously unforgettable – chicken dumplings in a deeply savory shoyu broth. The agnolotti (dumpling-like folded pasta) were filled with potato and coated in chili crunch butter, just spicey enough to keep things interesting. And the koshihikari rice with mushroom XO and sunchoke velouté was earthy, savory, silky, and equally unforgettable.

After that came The Globe, which has been part of Coral Gables since 1997, and was just across the street at 377 Alhambra circle. It has changed little, from the glowing red neon sign outside to the old-world, slightly theatrical charm inside that patrons love – chandeliers, wooden floors and tables, Renaissance and 19th century paintings, and a long bar with globes stationed above the shelves of glowing bottles.

On Saturdays, The Globe has three sets of jazz, at 8 pm, 9:30 pm, and 11 pm. On this evening the room was filled with couples, families, and groups of friends, a nice mix of demographics. The Globe Latin American Stars, who now play there regularly, filled the room with Afro-Cuban jazz. Piano, percussion, and bass gave the night a steady swing. We ordered a French Martini and the Globe Fashioned (one of the Globe’s strengths is its cocktail list), along with a Brown Sundae, the perfect nightcap for the evening – sweet, generous, and just indulgent enough.