Though bright, neon design is a Miami Beach calling card, Caribbean and Latin American edibles dominate its culinary scene. Owned and designed by Keith Menin of locally based Menin Hospitality—in collaboration with Mark Lehmkuhl of local design firm Ghosthouse Inc.—Bodega Taqueria y Tequila is a Mexican street food-inspired restaurant that celebrates these themes with an unusual twist rooted in off-the-cuff design.
“Though we had our ideas, a lot of finishes and décor were completed sporadically onsite, which makes it more fun,” says Menin, who chose to house his brainchild in a massive alleyway warehouse. “We found a space that everybody said was a bad location, but I looked at it as a place I could take over from scratch.”
Menin wanted to diverge from the city’s nightclub scene with a restaurant and bar concept that stood out with funky and approachable energy. Not until the unit was already onsite did he consider the technical aspects of his idea to repurpose a vintage Airstream trailer as the kitchen and order counter. To accommodate air conditioning and kitchen equipment, he had to customize the trailer’s mechanics himself. “If it were easy, I wouldn’t enjoy it so much,” Menin explains. The transformed trailer was installed up front and now makes up the restaurant’s eclectic taqueria area, which comprises approximately 20 percent of the 3,500-square-foot building.
Vibrant teal walls, subway tile, and street art in the taqueria set the stage for picnic benches, hightop tables, and bar-style counters. Meanwhile, large windows and sliding garage doors allow in ample natural light, which is complemented by industrial-looking pendant fixtures and bulbs strung from the ceiling. A marquee over the trailer displays a different quote every week. “You’ll find something new with every turn you take,” says Menin. “We just threw it all in.”
Despite its hip front end, a large bar in the back serves as the true highlight. Guests in search of libations have to find the speakeasy-style entrance—through a Porta-Potty door that leads to a small hallway with urinals and graffiti on the walls that Menin says is “like something you’d find in a New York subway.” An even more discreet entrance on the other side of the trailer is disguised as a walk-in cooler and used only by in-the-know locals.
A second door opens to reveal the warehouse’s impressive 20-foot-tall ceilings with whitewashed walls illuminated by solitary Edison bulbs. Made from reclaimed barn wood, a 45-foot-long bar makes its own impression as one of the longest in the area. The expansive room was left mostly open, save for a mezzanine level newly built around the perimeter. Furniture grouped around area rugs throughout the room creates intimate, communal spaces and features pillows and banquettes upholstered in red velvet and denim fabric.
Bathrooms designed to mimic outhouses with bronze light fixtures and sheet metal roofing add to the gritty-chic atmosphere, their reclaimed barn wood mirroring the bar. “Mixing it all together is what makes Bodega unique,” says Menin.
