Last week in Miami, my mother, father, and I decided to go out to a special dinner to celebrate my little grandma’s long and legendary life. She passed away late in the evening on 2/27 after 90 epic years. The funeral was the next Wednesday and we’d been sitting shiva in Miami at her apartment.
My childhood friend recommended a little Japanese place in Sunny Isles called Naoe (pronounced “Now-We”) for our dinner. They only seat 17 and it’s all omakase. Opentable had them completely booked, so I got us a table at Palme d’Or in Coral Gables and sent an email to Naoe asking to notify us if they get any last minute cancellations. They did! (which my dad was doubly grateful for as then we weren’t going to make him schlep all the way down to Coral Gables).
The meal was really impressive. You start with a bento box. Starting clockwise from bottom left we had baby sardine rice, mushroom custard, oyster/fermented bean/cod belly, and shiso/wakame/wasabi/snapper. All were fantastic.

They serve their own sake made at a microbrewery in chef’s hometown of Nagano. Then the box is followed by the nigiri portion of the evening. We also had frozen sake ices which was fun to eat. And it’s closed out with mystery ice cream dessert (soy sauce!).
Everything was a phenomenally special treat.
Arigato Gozaimas, Naoe, Ja Ma Ta!