The Light Years team opens Bar Monte, a neighbourhood Italian eatery in Miami
Arcade Agency, the high-achieving group behind popular dining spots Light Years, Pixie, Moonlight and The Smoking Camel, has unveiled its latest venture – Bar Monte. Located on Mountain View Avenue in Miami, the newly opened neighbourhood restaurant is packed with personality, serving modern Italian eats and top-tier wines in a convivial, laid-back setting.
Bar Monte has come to life at the hands of Arcade Agency’s James Sutherland and Kim Stephen, in partnership with Italian-born hospitality identity Lorenzo Toscani, who most recently headed up Byron Bay’s Italian-leaning Pixie. After securing the former Domino’s pizzeria site just off the Gold Coast Highway, the trio got to work with Studio Plenty – the design visionary behind Light Years Byron Bay and local spots like the recently opened Burly Bar –to shape the Bar Monte concept. Following a from-scratch build, the charming 55-seat Italian restaurant quietly opened in the last days of 2024 – and it’s been humming ever since.
Acknowledging his Italian roots, head chef Nicolo Meani (formerly of Pixie) has debuted a concise one-page menu that aims to put a refreshing and modern twist on traditional Italian cuisine, balancing the venue’s laid-back vibe with precise cooking.
“We’re doing simple things, we don’t want to go too overboard,” co-owner Lorenzo Toscani. “The menu is interesting for locals. We have people coming in for long three-hour dinners who want to try everything, and others who just want sit outside and have a quick a pasta and a glass of wine and move on,” he said.
The Bar Monte menu kicks off with house-made focaccia with whipped butter and hot honey, followed by other snacks like Ortiz anchovy toast with smoked-tomato butter and lemon, a savoury eclair filled with chicken-liver parfait and cherry, and a mortadella bun with pickled green chilli and limoncello aioli.
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From there, dive into larger share plates like beef carpaccio with truffle mayo, fried capers, shallots and Reggiano, and the burrata on a bed of spicy ‘Nduja-cashew pesto and basil oil. Spaghetti cacio e pepe headlines the pasta offering, alongside the hearty paccheri wagyu ragu topped with fried sage. Further down the menu are mains like market fish with pea gazpacho and sugar snaps, and porcini-rubbed bistecca with onion and bone-marrow butter, joined by sides like zucchini fritti with hot honey, mint and lemon.
Sommelier Andrea Martinisi has carefully crafted a tight series of wines for Bar Monte, which sees handful of Italian drops on parade. There’s also a collection of cocktails, from Italian classics to summery spritzes.
Buoyed by the success of Light Years (the group is about to open its fifth venue over in Perth), co-owner Lorenzo Toscani says the trio is taking a similar approach with the Bar Monte brand.
“We know what Light Years has been able to do in such a short time. We are looking at expanding Bar Monte, and this is the first small step,” said Lorenzo.
Bar Monte is now open. Head to The Directory for booking links and details.