Zitz Sum

Zitz Sum sits inside an office building lobby in Coral Gables, which tells you nothing about what happens on the plate. The menu turns over so fast that regulars have learned not to fall in love with anything specific — the dish that floored you last month may simply not exist anymore. That restlessness is the point. This is a kitchen working without a fixed identity, calling itself Asian-inspired while actually running Japanese ideas through Italian technique, and somehow making that collision feel coherent instead of gimmicky.

The hit rate is what earns the trust. A menu that changes this often should produce more misses than it does. Instead it keeps landing on combinations that read strange on paper and taste inevitable in the mouth, dish after dish, cycle after cycle, since the place opened in 2021.

The recognition followed the pattern rather than a single signature. A James Beard Best New Restaurant semifinalist nod and a Michelin Bib Gourmand both point to the same thing: a kitchen that keeps producing at a level most restaurants can't sustain even when they're not reinventing the menu monthly. Go in curious, not loyal to anything you read online. Whatever's good right now won't be there next time.