Some of our favorite Miami restaurants are the most simple ones, where it’s all about an extremely talented chef (or chefs) playing with what’s possible. Spots that come to mind from this category are Zitz Sum, Boia De and, perhaps the most experimental of them all, Itamae AO. Now add Kojin 2.0 to that list, where husband and wife Pedro and Katherine Mederos have set out to create a restaurant of the unfamiliar and reinvented.
Born in Cuba and raised in Miami, Pedro Mederos spent time in California before returning home to work at Brad Kilgore’s Alter. He and Katherine launched Kojin as a pop-up inside a ramen shop and recently expanded the concept into its own Coral Gables space. It’s simple: wood tables and chairs under a black drop-ceiling, with a lit-up kitchen pass-through. Mederos presides over the front of house, delivering and explaining dishes. Like a caesar that he says took inspiration from the one at Flanigan’s. It’s a bomb of umami, topped with smoked trout roe and nori and a bed of parmesan shavings, extra dressing pooled up below the baby lettuces.
The menu emphasizes hard-to-source ingredients: rare American Iberico pork with mashed acorn squash; grass-fed short rib that’s braised, smoked and glazed, ending up with a sirloin texture; and the fresh catch looking like a ship in rough seas, flaky corners rising out of a pile of creamy potatoes. All of that came as part of a $150 tasting menu for two. There’s also an “executive” option for a fairly astounding $450 with wine and sake pairings.
At the end comes Katherine Mederos’ contributions, desserts that also play with the familiar and nostalgic: a dark chocolate tart with an Oreo-like dust and miso caramel, a donut stuffed with foie cream and a chocolate-sage dipping sauce.
I do wish this house of wild experimentation had the quirky, detail-oriented decor to match, like the cozy-charming vibe of Boia De. I also wish they had a full bar and that the menu had more than just two vegetable dishes. Still, I wish to go back regularly, to try whatever latest dish they’re putting out as I have little doubt it’ll be unlike any dish served anywhere else. Despite its plain appearance, this is what makes Kojin 2.0 a true original.