Amara at Paraiso

Amara at Paraiso occupies a waterfront pavilion at 3101 NE 7th Avenue in Edgewater, sitting directly on Biscayne Bay at the base of the Paraiso residential towers with a long terrace facing the water. It is the coastal Latin American restaurant from Michael Schwartz, the James Beard Award-winning chef and owner behind Michael's Genuine Food & Drink in the Design District. The restaurant opens at 11:30am Monday through Saturday and 11am on Sunday, closing at 10pm most nights and 10:30pm on Friday and Saturday.

The alcohol-free offering is short, named and documented by the city's own tourism authority. The Pathfinder's Hand is built on The Pathfinder Hemp & Root, the distilled non-alcoholic spirit with a bitter, root-driven profile, lengthened with fresh tangerine, lime and soda — a genuinely dry drink rather than a sweet one. The Miami Mockarita is the counterweight: a margarita-format pour of coconut water, lime and agave with orange bitters, pineapple and coconut. The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau lists Amara under "Dining Destinations With Exceptional Mocktails" and writes that the restaurant continues to elevate mindful sipping with drinks designed to complement its coastal menu. The Pathfinder is not currently a brand carried in this catalogue's brand registry, so no brand tag is attached to this entry even though the spirit is named on the drink. Michael Schwartz's Michael's Genuine, which runs its own alcohol-free list built on Lyre's and Pathfinder, is listed separately. The setting is worth planning around. Amara sits on the bay at the edge of Edgewater, a stretch that has become one of the denser clusters in this catalogue: Casadonna is a few blocks south along North Bayshore Drive and Joia Beach is a short drive across the causeway on Watson Island, both with documented alcohol-free builds of their own. The restaurant takes bookings on (786) 708-6408 and posts as @amaraatparaiso. Only two named alcohol-free drinks are published, which is why the programme is graded as real but modest rather than serious.