Dinner with Friends

The Culture Edit, March 17th-30th

Author

Susan Bannon
March 16, 2025

Guests enjoying a dinner by Chef Niven Patel at his 2-acre Homestead farm, Rancho Patel.

If you’re mourning the end of food festival season, fear not! Miami also has plenty of delicious smaller-scale food experiences where you can rub elbows with well known chefs and connect with fellow foodies. One of my favorites is Feal the Rancho, a series of dinners hosted by Chef Niven Patel (Ghee, Erba) at Rancho Patel, the Homestead farm where he lives and grows ingredients for his South Florida restaurants. These sell out like lightning, but as of this writing there are seats for the April 6th date.

Paradise Farms, one of the largest fully organic and regenerative farms in South Florida, hosts its own Dinners in Paradise series of family-style meals, featuring notable chefs using their seasonal produce right out of the ground. Award-winning chef Joe Anthony of Elastika will be manning the outdoor kitchen for the March 30th date.

For “food, stories, and community vibes,” Books & Books has started up a Community Dinners series, the second of which, on March 27th, will feature Cindy Hutson and Delius Shirley of the much-missed Ortanique on the Mile, plus Miami Herald food editor Carlos Frías. I love the idea of sharing dinner with new friends and interesting hosts in one of the best bookstores in America.

In arts news, a brouhaha erupted on the Beach this week (and made national headlines) when Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner moved to oust O Cinema from its city-owned location and cancel its funding over a screening of Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land. I would tell you more about this, but I don’t want to lose all my government funding (lol), so I’ll let WLRN do it.

Let’s get planning...

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Ongoing Theater

Fiddler on the Roof

Zoetic Stage presents the Tony Award-winning classic musical Fiddler on the Roof in an innovative new production at the intimate Carnival Studio Theater. Exploring the themes of tradition and family in a changing, sometimes hostile world, Fiddler touches the heart with beloved songs like “Sunrise, Sunset” and “Matchmaker, Matchmaker.” Add in a cast of South Florida’s best actors, including the phenomenal 8-time Carbonell Award-winner Jeni Hacker, and you have a production not to be missed!

Performances through April 6th, Carnival Studio Theater at the Arsht Center, $66-$76

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Tuesday, March 18th

Marta Minujín: Dreamscape

ICA Miami and the Design District host an opening reception with Argentine artist Marta Minujín to celebrate the installation of two of her monumental inflatable sculptures. On view for the first time, Emotional Candy will be a labyrinthine structure of merging hallways designed to disorient and delight. Sculpture of Desires will rise 30 feet above Jungle Plaza, composed of intertwined inflatable arms, forming a luminous blow-up portal. Within both sculptures, ambient birdsong recordings encourage visitors to whisper their wishes into the vibrant, undulating forms.

6-9pm, Jungle Plaza in the Design District, Free with RSVP

Neighborhood: Design District

Nearby Eats: Mother Wolf, Nami Nori, Mandolin | Drinks: COTE, Michael’s

Wednesday, March 19th

Faena Jazz Series: Sullivan Fortner

As part of its seventh annual Faena Jazz Series, the Faena Theater welcomes Grammy Award-winning pianist and bandleader Sullivan Fortner for a night of improvisation with his trio. A New Orleans native now based out of New York, Fortner has received international praise as both a soloist and as a collaborator with artists such as Paul Simon, Wynton Marsalis, and John Scofield. You can check out his trio in action here.

8pm, Faena Theater, $65-$175

Neighborhood: Miami Beach

Nearby Eats & Drinks: Make it an all-Faena night, with dinner at Pao or Los Fuegos and drinks at Living Room or The Saxony Bar (or head to Broken Shaker for a change of scenery).

Also on March 19th:

  • The widely revered Israel Philharmonic, lead by one of classical music’s brightest young conductors, performs at Knight Concert Hall for one night only, at 8pm. (Heat Game Alert - take the train!)

Thursday, March 20th

Tara Walters: Heartbreaker, Dream Maker

Tara Walters, Love and Water Falls, 2024, Water-based paint and oil pastel on muslin, 25 x 38 in.

Artist Tara Walters lost her home in the recent LA fires, but her new canvases at Nina Johnson Gallery about the fragile nature of the American dream were painted in the year before that. Each painting is accompanied by a poem, many by early 20th century painter and poet Florine Stettheimer. The gallery is opening two other exhibits the same night: Ficus Interfaith, a study of studies (it will make sense when you get there), and Materiality in Progress, a group show of mostly Asian artists working with traditional materials.

Opening reception 6-8pm

Neighborhood: Little Haiti / Little River

Also on March 20th:

Friday, March 21st

ICA Culture Club: Edmund Bagnell and Yasuhiko Fukuoka

ICA Miami is proud to present an evening of music and laughter with acclaimed singer, actor and violinist Edmund Bagnell. Bagnell, who is first violinist in the cleverly named quartet Well-Strung, has created a new show for ICA Miami that highlights his extraordinary storytelling with humor and dazzling talent. Bagnell will be accompanied by acclaimed composer and pianist Yasuhiko Fukuoka. 

5pm, Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, $10

Neighborhood: Design District

Nearby Eats: COTE, Michael’s, Mandolin | Drinks: The Sylvester, Lagniappe

Also on March 21st:

  • Video game composer and orchestrator Andy Brick leads the New World Symphony Fellows and the Master Chorale of South Florida in a performance of music from epic games The Witcher 3, Elder Scrolls, and Assassin’s Creed, at 7:30pm. 

  • Pianist and bandleader Jason Moran performs My Heart Sings: The Music of Duke Ellington, with the Frost Jazz Orchestra at Knight Concert Hall, at 8pm.

  • Coral Gables Art Cinema presents a rare screening of Love & Pop, the late 90’s cult classic from Hideaki Anno, visionary creator of anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, at 9:45pm.

Saturday, March 22nd

Emma Donaghue at Books & Books

Books & Books welcomes Emma Donoghue, author of the international bestseller Room, to discuss her latest novel, The Paris Express. Her new work of historical fiction captures the human drama around an infamous disaster at Paris’ Montparnasse train station in 1895. The accident was a point of international fascination thanks to some surreal early photographs. Emma will also be discussing her work as an award-winning screenwriter and playwright.

5pm, Books & Books Coral Gables, $27 includes admission for two and one book

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Also on March 22nd:

Sunday, March 23rd

Miami International Piano Festival: Ilya Itin

The Miami International Piano Festival presents a concert by award-winning pianist Ilya Itin, a performer whose “rare and exciting artistry” (Daily Telegraph, London) has made him a sought-after soloist with renowned orchestras around the world, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony, and London Philharmonic. Itin will be performing preludes by piano master Rachmaninoff and the lesser known Alexander Scriabin, a contemporary of Rachmaninoff’s who happened to be very, very strange.

5pm, Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, $45-$55

Neighborhood: Aventura

Also on March 23rd:

Happening NEXT Week:

Because maybe your friends are busy this week. Or you're busy this week. Or this week just seems too soon to pull your act together and make a plan.

Thursday, March 27th

An Evening with Karen Russell

Books & Books is proud to present an evening with Karen Russell, Pulitzer Finalist and bestselling author of Swamplandia!, to discuss her new novel The Antidote, a dust bowl epic that tracks five characters whose fates become intertwined after a dust storm ravages their small Nebraska town. Russell will be in conversation with Patricia Engel, award-winning author of New York Times bestseller Infinite Country and Professor of Creative Writing at UM.

7pm, Books & Books Coral Gables, Free with RSVP

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Also on March 27th:

  • Grammy-winning guitarist, singer, and songwriter Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, who has taken the blues world by storm in just a few short years, plays the Miami Beach Bandshell with his band, at 8pm.

  • Preview night for Actors’ Playhouse’s new production of the hit Broadway musical Waitress, featuring gorgeous songs by Sara Bareilles, at 8pm. (See Sunday feature.)

Friday, March 28th

Summer, 1976 - Preview Night!

Gablestage presents the Florida premiere of David Auburn’s Summer, 1976, after its twice-extended run on Broadway in 2023. Set at a university during our nation’s centennial, the story follows an unlikely friendship between two women who followed different paths - a rule-breaking artist and a faculty wife - that find they both have growing disquiet about the compromises they had to make.

7:30pm, Gablestage, $40-$50

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Nearby Eats: Babette, Vinya Table, MIKA | Drinks: Bulla, Sospiro Wine Bar

Also on March 28th:

  • Seraphic Fire, our stunningly-good vocal ensemble, presents Music of the Passion, a free concert of choral works of the Baroque and Renaissance periods, at Church of the Epiphany, at 7:30pm.

Saturday, March 29th

Wallcast: MTT Conducts Beethoven’s Fifth

Widely considered to be one of the greatest living conductors, Michael Tilson Thomas is technically retired - from being Founding Artistic Director of the New World Symphony as well as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. But he continues to make time for exciting performances with the New World Fellows when he can, like for this performance of Beethoven’s sublime Fifth Symphony, plus Schumann’s beloved Piano Concerto with special guest pianist Yefim Bronfman. Tickets are sold out, but you can catch the free WALLCAST in adjacent Soundscape Park.

8pm Saturday, Soundscape Park at New World Center, Free WALLCAST (b.y.o.blanket)

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

Nearby Eats: Tropezón, Mimi Chinese, Paya | Drinks: Water Lion at the Sagamore, Greystone Bar

Also on March 29th:

  • ICA Miami presents a public talk by modern Japanese art specialist Namiko Kunimoto, discussing the work of Keiichi Tanaami currently on view at the museum, at 2pm.

  • Spinello Projects celebrates the opening of Bernadette Despujols: Viva la Vida and Elizabeth Tremante: This The Dream We Were Made For?, with an opening reception from 6-9pm.

  • Baker Hall Gallery celebrates the opening of Windows, a group show of work by 13 artists from across the country, with an opening reception from 6-9pm.

Sunday, March 30th

Waitress

Actors’ Playhouse continues its “Iconic Season” with Waitress, a heartwarming Broadway hit that makes its Florida regional premiere. The musical revolves around Jenna, a talented piemaker trapped in a loveless marriage, who finds solace and strength through her extraordinary baking skills. With a soulful score by Sara Bareilles, Waitress is a delectable treat that explores the empowering journey of a woman finding her own recipe for happiness.

3pm, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theater, $65-$100

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Planning Ahead:

Miami's most anticipated events sell out and those new restaurants you want to try book up. Here are a couple of upcoming events to get on your calendar now…

Wednesday, April 9th

An Evening with Elaine Pagels

National Book Award-winning scholar Elaine Pagels visits Books & Books to discuss Miracles and Wonder, her new investigation into the life of Jesus. A recipient of Rockefeller, Guggenheim, and MacArthur awards in consecutive years, Pagels has been at the forefront of scholarship on early Christianity for decades, ever since the publication of The Gnostic Gospels in 1979. She will be in conversation with Pastor Laurie Hafner of the Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ.

7pm, Books & Books Coral Gables, $30 (includes copy of Miracles and Wonder)

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Tuesday, April 29th

Wilco at the Fillmore

Since forming in 1994, Wilco has run the gamut from alternative to country, continuing to put out new music the entire time. Their latest album, 2023’s Cousin, found them returning to their experimental roots, with a lot of comparisons to their 2001 breakout album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The band’s current world tour will bring them to the Fillmore Miami Beach for one night only. Tickets are almost sold out, but if you snag one, you can request a song on their concert page.

8pm, The Fillmore Miami Beach, $64-$300

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

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