When news of the closing of Valerie Chang’s Peruvian restaurant Maty’s was announced in Midtown, Miami diners were stunned. The restaurant, which had opened in 2023 and was named for her grandmother, was named one of the best new restaurants of the year by Bon Appétit magazine.
It also helped earn Chang a James Beard Award in 2024, making her the first Miami chef to win one in 14 years. And Maty’s was special in another way, too: It housed her brother Nando’s Michelin-starred omakase counter Itamae Ao, which was also forced to close.
Now, there’s a sign on the former Maty’s indicating that another popular Miami brand will be moving into the space: Motek, the Mediterranean restaurant that opened in the Seybold Building during the 2020 pandemic that has gone on to build something of an empire across the county…