If you were eating in Miami around 2015, you likely remember Fooq’s. The downtown bistro was famous for two things: excellent Persian-French comfort food (even winning New Times‘ Best Downtown Miami Restaurant 2016), and a dining room so small you essentially ate dinner with the strangers at the next table. Then came the pandemic, a 2021 closure, and a pivot to pizza. For five years, the original restaurant went dark. But owner David Foulquier always promised he would bring it back.
The wait ends this month. Fooq’s officially reopens Friday, January 23, in Little River. While the name is the same, the restaurant has grown from a cozy “closet” in downtown into a massive two-story complex in Little River’s booming culinary neighborhood.
A New Home in Little River
The new Fooq’s is located at 150 NW 73rd St. inside a 14,000-square-foot space. It is a far cry from the original downtown outpost, featuring 200 seats and a design aesthetic Foulquier describes as “hippie chic.”
The challenge was recreating the intimate feel of the original spot into a warehouse-sized venue without creating what Foulquier calls a “wedding hall” atmosphere. To solve this, the space blends Middle Eastern influences, 1970s textures, and mid-century design to create distinct zones…