Richard Sandoval's Toro Toro restaurant opens in Miami
Called Toro Toro, it's a pan-Latin restaurant that serves grilled steaks, small plates such as ceviche and hand-muddled cocktails at not-outrageous prices. Expect to pay between $7 and $14 for each of the small plates.
Keep in mind, hotel guests can easily pay around $250 a night or more to stay here on high-demand nights, but the Toro Toro concept is part of the hotel's broader plan to attract locals when they go out to for dinner and drinks. (Come back to Hotel Check-In tomorrow for my full renovation story and extensive photo gallery.)
Located off the InterContinental's lobby in what was formerly a typical hotel restaurant (read: boring), Toro Toro's design features dark woods, wood-plank flooring, and a mix of traditional tables and chairs along with black leather booths. To play up an informal feel, the lighting's in the form of hanging fixtures with exposed light bulbs.
Hotel general manager Robert Hill says the restaurant — and its Latin music soundtrack — are a great fit for the hotel.
"To experience Miami, you don't even have to go outside the door," Hill told me.
For dinner, guests are given complimentary Colombian cheese bread along with salsa for dipping.
Small dish options include lamb skewers with yogurt sauce, ceviche, crab cake croquettes and mini-arepas with short rib.
The restaurant is centered around a wood-fired rodizio grill, where many of the dishes are made, yet vegetarians will find several options. Meat lovers also can order larger dishes such as a 14-ounce rib-eye steak or bacon-covered barbecued salmon.
The bar specializes in drinks with a Latin flair such as the mojito and the caipirinha, which is Brazil's national cocktail. You can order a traditional version or try the not-too-sweet passion fruit-strawberry version. Expect to pay $12 for the hand-crafted cocktails.
First Toro Toro in the USA
This location marks Sandoval's second Toro Toro. He opened his first in Dubai. Sandoval hired executive chef Rodolfo Cuadros to run the show. Cuadros, of Colombian origin, came from New York — most recently from the Yotel hotel's ultra-hip "Four" restaurant also run by Sandoval's company.
The restaurant opened as part of the nearly 30-year-old hotel's renovation. The InterContinental in the last couple of years has faced fresh competition in the downtown area from the new JW Marriott Marquis and Kimpton's edgier Epic hotel across the street.
Sandoval has worked with the hotel's owner, Chicago-based luxury hotel owner Strategic Hotels & Resorts, on other hotel restaurants such as one in the Fairmont hotel in Scottsdale, Ariz., he says.
The hotel's ranked No. 12 out of 129 reviewed on TripAdvisor. The cheapest rate I found on a few websites such as Booking.com for tomorrow night was $269.