Taste of the Town: Smith & Webster
MIAMI -- The name Smith & Webster comes from the two last names of the owners.
Starex Smith is a Miami food blogger with a hugely popular Instagram and Facebook profile and is known as The Hungry Blackman.
Kayvon Webster is a Miami-born former NFL player who won the Super Bowl while playing with the Denver Broncos.
"That was while ago, way back in 2015," Webster said. "But it feels like a blink."
The two met when Kayvon, who owned a food truck, was a given a harsh review by Starex.
"I went and I didn't physically like the food and I had and shared that with the owner," Webster said. "And the owner was like, 'Hey, you know why don't you come in and help us to revamp this?"
He did and eventually the food truck closed, but a relationship was born.
Last May, the two opened Smith and Webster, a fun space with a cool vibe and large cocktail bar serving up fancy drinks with elevated American cuisine with Southern influences.
"We're very different. I'm nine years older than him," Smith said. "He's an ex-NFL player (and) I was an academic and just a nerd, and that's like two opposite worlds.
"So we wanted the restaurant to represent that personality," Smith said. "Where one side was like is youthful, vibrant and fun and then other side is more reserved and conservative."
Smith says he saw first hand that Miami-Dade, especially on the north side, had very few high quality Black-owned restaurants.
"We wanted to really make everyone feel a sense of belonging and i think that's what Black History Month is about, celebrating black excellence, celebrating black America and so how do we do that and interpret it through food? I think that was the bases behind the opening of the restaurant," Smith said.
Back in the kitchen a host of talented chefs and cooks prepare the tasting dishes.
It begins with brined and smoked chicken wings with yuzu butter, house lemon pepper powder and blackened ranch.
"I mean these are really phenomenal chicken wings," Lisa Petrillo said. "They have a nice crunch on the outside. It doesn't have a heavy fried feeling right and the sauce just kind adds that special blanket on the top right. It's a come back food. I keep coming back. I'm taking them home."
Next, the pan seared Ethiopian Spiced Branzino served with burre blanc and a special rice.
"Kind of a Japanese sticky rice .Amazing flavor. It's just a perfect amount of texture, but paired perfectly with this incredibly seasoned fish. Unbelievably perfect," said Petrillo.
And finally, Chef Naz's massive bone-in short rib with oxtail broth on a mountain of mashed potatoes.
"It kinda has a caramelized taste on the outside with the fatty meat the perfect amount of sweet and savory right. It's fall off the bone good." Petrillo said.
Smith and Webster is open five days a week for dinner and brunch on the weekends.
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