Inside the Bal Harbour Shops, a luxury retail hub in North Miami Beach, Le Zoo offers an escape to the French Mediterranean. The elegant coastal dining experience is aptly matched with a Wine Spectator Restaurant Award–winning list.
Le Zoo made its debut in 2015 from Stephen Starr’s Starr Restaurants, which includes Restaurant Award winners elsewhere in the country like New York’s Pastis and Philadelphia’s the Love. Focusing on classic French cuisine, executive chef Julian Baker crafts dishes like a St. Tropez salad, escargot, French onion soup and steak frites to match the bistro theme. Wine director Mikayla Cohen leads the 200-selection wine list, which has held the Best of Award of Excellence since 2020.
Over 20 of the selections are offered by the glass or carafe, with a noted collection of half-bottles. Backed by a cellar of more than 2,000 bottles, the wine list mostly offers French bottlings from an array of regions including Champagne, Burgundy, Bordeaux and the Rhône, while additions of California Chardonnay and red blends help round out the Old World selection. And though the Bal Harbour Shops aren’t directly oceanfront, guests are just minutes away from an after-dinner stroll on the beach.
