The Guide
The Guide — No. 09 · September 2026
September 2026
September opens on a boat and closes on Calle Ocho.
Labor Day weekend is the last unbothered stretch of summer, and this year it barely gets to end before the NFL season kicks off two days later. Mac's Club Deuce turns 100 the same weekend, with a block party taking over 14th Street. Miami Spice quietly discounts the city's best tables all month. And on the 15th, Hispanic Heritage Month takes over for six weeks that run straight through October. This issue tracks all of it — a hundred-year-old bar, a quiet garden two blocks off the sand, three Mexican tables worth knowing before the 16th, and the Little Havana institutions anchoring what's coming. — Mike
Mike Rynart
TMG Social Club: Labor Day Boat Day
Biscayne Bay
The best way to close out summer is on the water, not a rooftop. RSVP is capped and it fills fast, so this is a plan-ahead pick, not a same-week one. Bring sunscreen and low expectations for cell service.
Mac’s Club Deuce
Miami Beach
The Deuce turns 100 this year, marking it with a block party taking over 14th Street on September 5. This is the bar where the Miami Vice cast held their 1989 wrap party, Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas behind the bar until 2 a.m. A century in, same address, same jukebox, still the reason old Miami hasn't fully disappeared.
Sweet Liberty Drinks & Supply Company
Miami Beach
A cocktail bar with a dive-bar attitude about it, which is rarer on this strip than it should be. Order off-menu if you know what you're doing. Sweet Liberty's taking its signature cocktails two blocks over for four days, popping up at The Shelborne's Pool Garden September 4–7. Michelle Bernstein handles the food, the palm trees and ocean breeze handle the rest. It's Labor Day Weekend's actual send-off for summer.
Grails Miami
Wynwood
Wynwood's sneaker-themed sports lounge and restaurant pairs game-day energy across 70-plus screens with a Miami Vice patio and creative craft cocktails. With football season now in full swing, this is the headquarters for it — Sundays, Saturdays, whatever's on. Order the Holy Grail 1 for the table and watch it come out in a ceramic sneaker.
Miami Beach Botanical Garden
Miami Beach
Easy to forget it's there until you walk in — 2.6 acres of orchids, koi ponds and quiet corners two blocks off Convention Center Drive, and admission is free. Tai Chi runs Wednesday and Friday mornings for $15, and this month the garden's giant Victoria waterlily leaves are competing in Denver Botanic Gardens' Waterlily Weigh-Off. Check the calendar before you go, there's usually something on beyond the walk itself.
Uma House by Yurbban South Beach
Miami Beach
Two towers, one hotel: Sunrise has the 8,000 sq ft rooftop pool and record players in every room, Sunset has the quieter rooms and the ocean-view rooftop for evenings. Book Sunrise for the stay, Sunset for the rate. Stack the local code onto the three-night rate and it's the strongest version of a South Beach staycation.
Bakan
Wynwood
More than 200 mezcals on the wall and a color-coded menu that pairs each one to a taco. This is the loud version of Mexican Independence Day.
KoKo by Bakan
Coconut Grove
Bakan's quieter sibling, tucked under the tree canopy with its own wall of tequila and a kitchen that hand-presses every tortilla. Go for the whole snapper if you're not counting calories.
Cafe La Trova
Little Havana
Julio Cabrera, the 2023 Roku Industry Icon at North America's 50 Best Bars, runs the bar; Michelle Bernstein runs the kitchen. Their Hispanic Heritage cocktail menu runs September 15 through October 15. Order the mojito, skip the straw — the mint needs to hit your nose while you drink it, not just your tongue.
Torno Subito
Design District
Massimo Bottura's only U.S. restaurant, done in full 1960s La Dolce Vita — bright pastels, bold contrasts, Italian Riviera energy on the ground floor of The Moore. Chef Bernardo Paladini runs the kitchen day to day, balancing Bottura's tradition-and-reinvention approach across lunch, dinner, brunch and all-day bar service. Order the handmade tortellini in brodo and don't skip the tiramisubito.
Ball & Chain
Little Havana
Anchoring Calle Ocho since 1935, with a stage that's hosted Billie Holiday, Count Basie and Chet Baker. Order the Pastelito Daiquiri, eat the slow-roasted Ropa Vieja, and stay for the conga line that starts around midnight. History and current rhythm in the same room, which is rarer than it sounds.
Adrienne Arsht Center
Downtown
Buena Vista Social Club, the Tony and Grammy-winning musical, gets its South Florida premiere here, timed to Hispanic Heritage Month and running a full week, September 29 through October 4. It's the real anchor of the month, even if the calendar puts it one day into the next. Book it now, before the run sells out.
No. 10 drops next month.
Members read it first.
The Miami Guide · Covering Miami since 2011.