Tropical Transfer

Chef Thomas gravitates to the up-and-coming neighborhoods of Miami proper. “I like a lot of restaurants around Wynwood, the Design District and Midtown now,” he says. His top pick is Ghee (3620 NE 2nd Ave.; +1-786-636-6122). “I love Indian food and Ghee does a nice, modern take on it,” he says. “The chef grows a lot of his own vegetables.” Thomas’s favorite dishes include the smoked lamb shank curry with chickpeas and herbs. “And the breads are great—the paratha and the naan both have really good flavor.”

The recently unveiled 1-800-Lucky (143 NW 23rd St.; +1-305-768-9826), a 10,000-square-foot Asian food hall in Wynwood, lures Thomas in with delectable Peking Duck. And he doesn’t refuse dessert. The Miami outpost of New York-based Taiyaki has become instantly famous for its green tea and black sesame ice cream served up in Japanese fish-shaped waffle cones. Thomas has taken friends here, and says the food hall experience is enlivened by the venue’s onsite vinyl record store: “It’s very retro,” he says.

For a change of pace from East Asian cuisine, Thomas’s Mediterranean go-to is Riviera Focacceria Italiana (3252 Buena Vista Blvd., #110; +1-786-220-6251) for its authentic Ligurian specialties—like the kind of ravioli with walnut sauce that you might find in a Portofino trattoria, and the focaccia con formaggio, filled with stracchino cheese.

Of course, a visit to the Pérez Art Museum Miami or PAMM is required, and once there, you’ll notice that the architecturally stunning institution has been joined in Museum Park by the heralded Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science (1101 Biscayne Blvd.; +1-305-434-9600), which has expansive interactive offerings for kids of all ages—you can even pet the stingrays. Designed by Grimshaw Architects, the 250,000-square-foot facility houses a 250-seat planetarium, a science museum and an aquarium that sprawls vertically, with each floor offering a unique aqueous experience. The 31-foot-wide oculus lens that foreshortens the view of the watery habitat is a showstopper. Sometimes the chef finds himself farther afield for a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (70 NE 125th St., North Miami; +1-305-893-6211), especially for the Jazz at MOCA nights. Art lovers flock to the museum for its eight to ten annual exhibitions, which in the past have included mountings of works by Frank Stella, Helen Frankenthaler and Roy Lichtenstein.

Downtown Miami is the epicenter of stadium-style events, and Thomas has been quick to sample the frequent Broadway touring companies at the Adrienne Arsht Center For The Performing Arts (1300 Biscayne Blvd.; +1-305-949-6722), the state’s largest performing arts venue. He took his twin boys to see Wicked, and caught The Book of Mormon with his wife. Upcoming plays include Tony Award winner The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time—and The New York Times Critics’ Pick Off-Broadway hit, Hundred Days. Thomas gets giddy remembering a night at The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Center (1700 Washington Ave.; +1-305-673-7300) when he scored tickets to the German electronica band, Kraftwerk. The Fillmore has rich performing arts history, and has continued to offer diverse performances—from Rent to Riverdance, and from Lenny Kravitz and Anderson Cooper & Andy Cohen’s roadshow gabfest.

“As an area to stroll around, Wynwood is just great now,” Thomas says, “and it’s so much more pleasurable than it was just three or four years ago.” The arty neighborhood, known for its vivid wall art that covers the façades of half of its buildings, reminds him of Brooklyn—and Shoreditch in London, back home. “It’s nice seeing how busy it is, with its breweries and coffee shops. When Panther (2390 NW 2nd Ave.; +1-305-677-3952) opened, I said, ‘Now we’re a real city.’ And when Helene Henderson from Malibu Farms came down, we took her to Concrete Beach Brewery (325 NW 24th St.; +1-305-796-2727). They set up a whole beer presentation for us, and talked us through their whole process.”

When Thomas wants some downtime, he packs up his fox red lab and his pug and the family heads to the dog park at Haulover Beach (10800 Collins Ave., +1-305-947-3525), just north of Bal Harbour. “The fox red lab is named Waffles and the pug is Pancake—that was the kids’ choice,” he says, laughing. “We get there early in the morning when we can.” The beach is open to dogs until 3 p.m. and it’s a fine place to catch rays even without a dog. For a more urban linger, Thomas finds himself drawn back to Lincoln Road in South Beach—the famed pedestrian mall was his stomping ground when he first moved to Miami—because a friend of his opened Chotto Matte (1664 Lenox Ave.; +1-305-690-0743), which features Nikkei cuisine, a fusion of Peruvian and Japanese styles. For this chef, it always comes back to the kitchen.