Before Michael Schwartz came to Miami and won a James Beard Award, the goateed toque was a Philly boy. His latest project, Fi'lia, housed inside Brickell's shiny new SLS, harks back to that humble Italian fare with style. A caesar salad ($20) is presented old-school at the table, where a server painstakingly grinds anchovies and garlic in a wooden bowl to form the base of the dressing. It's not all about breathing life into the seemingly mundane, though. Sweet-corn-filled agnolotti ($24) are draped in an elegant lobster sauce, while crisp-crusted pizzas come crowned with everything from a fragrant pistachio pesto ($16) to puttanesca with house-made sausage and stracciatella ($18).
