Cecconi’s Miami Beach has an unfair advantage in the star-gazing department because it is located in the Soho Beach House, the private, member’s only club whose pool has seen some very naughty late night shenannigans. Every time you are reading US Weekly and see a celeb lounging on blue and white striped cushions by a pool (Katy Perry, Kate Hudson, Katie Holmes), they are at Soho Beach House. While the pool and club area are off limits to non-members and non-hotel guests, Cecconi’s is open to the public, and a prime spot to observe celebrities in their natural habitat- pushing their food around. First-hand sightings have included Courtney Cox, Cameron Diaz and A-Rod (remember them?), J Lo, Kate Walsh, and various Kardashians (shudder, sorry). It is a perfect place to start your night in Miami- under the stars and sitting amongst them; the menu is simple Italian food that you want to eat, done well, and the atmosphere is charming and beautiful, on a more earth-bound scale than some other places in Miami. Although there is a Ceccon’s in LA and London, this is not a cookie cutter restaurant by any means, and the vibe is strictly Miami, with a retractable roof, and wooden trestles dotted with white lights in the branches. Besides from celebrities, you will see the usual Miami suspects: girls out for the night in Herve Leger, Europeans, older men with much younger women, and the Latin Birkin- carrying set.
While Cecconi’s is the restaurant of choice before going out for the evening, the locals know that the time to see and be seen is at the Sunday brunch; the whole drawing room of Soho House is taken over by a buffet offering everything from eggs to risotto and pizza. The price of brunch includes a Mimosa, and the tempting roving Bloody Mary cart has local club owners and tourists alike shelling out to make their throbbing heads stop pounding. Go early and go hungry. There is lots of air-kissing and plate cleaning, and we never miss it.
