Grove Isle has a restaurant again. La Sponda, the new Italian ristorante and grill from Gioia Hospitality, is now open at Vita at Grove Isle, 4 Grove Isle Drive, serving dinner Wednesday through Sunday on the little island off Coconut Grove. Lunch and brunch are set to follow in October.

A father and daughter's Italy, on the bay

Gioia Hospitality is led by Thomas Angelo and his daughter, Kassidy Angelo, and La Sponda is the group's most personal project yet. The restaurant describes itself as a love letter to Italy, built out of years of the pair's travels, sourcing trips and friendships across the country's regions. The name itself means the water's edge, and that is exactly where it sits: on Grove Isle, across a short causeway from the Grove, looking out over Biscayne Bay.

The interiors are by Martin Brudnizki Design Studio, and the restaurant describes the result as warm and layered, with service and design meant to give every evening a sense of occasion. Small touches tell you how far the sourcing went. Even the steak knives were handcrafted in Florence.

What's on the menu

Culinary Director Daniel Ganem, who also serves as La Sponda's executive chef, built the menu around regional Italian cooking and carefully sourced product, with live fire at its center. It reads like a tour of the peninsula with a Miami appetite.

Start raw: Skipper Sweet oysters with a cucumber and tarragon granita, sea bream crudo with citrus and the group's own Leccino olive oil, or the La Sponda tartare, which stacks bluefin tuna, scampi and Petrossian Shassetra caviar over an heirloom tomato sauce. There is a wagyu carpaccio with tonnato and caper powder, bufala mozzarella with tomato and elderflower, a fritto misto and a Mediterranean octopus with cloud-light gnocchi. A full Petrossian caviar service runs alongside.

The pasta list is where most tables will linger. Ricotta cavatelli al pomodoro and trofie al pesto Genovese keep it classic. Orecchiette with fennel sausage and broccoli rabe nods to Puglia. Then it gets indulgent: a caviar carbonara on rye fettuccine, Maine lobster linguine, spaghetti alla chitarra under Burgundy truffles and a wagyu short rib cannelloni with truffle and unagi.

A steak program built on fire

The grill side leans heavily on Australian wagyu, from an 8-ounce filet to an 18-ounce rib eye and a 42-ounce bistecca Fiorentina meant for the whole table. There is a Japanese A5 wagyu and an olive-fed wagyu as well. If you would rather eat from the water, whole branzino baked in salt, wild Dover sole with capers and preserved lemon, and whole tiger prawns with rosemary come simply prepared. Secondi include lemon risotto with New Zealand langoustines, a Cornish hen with heirloom apples, and a grilled venison filet with truffle.

Wine and Beverage Director Daniel Bishop, a founding member of the group, built a list that walks Italy's regions and producers, supplemented by bottles from elsewhere. Dessert stays close to home: babà Napoletano soaked in rum, a house tiramisu, an Amalfi lemon delizia, and vanilla gelato finished at the table with strawberry compote, Amarena cherries and dark chocolate sauce.

Before you go

Dinner runs Wednesday from 5 to 10 p.m., Thursday through Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m. Reservations are taken through the restaurant's site, or call 786-761-5200. Lunch and brunch service is planned for October, which will make La Sponda a daytime option for the Grove too.

Two house rules are worth knowing before you drive over. There is a dress code: no shorts of any kind, tank tops, flip flops, open-toed sandals or baseball caps. And there is no corkage at any time, so leave the special bottle at home and let the list do the work. For a first visit, book a sunset table, split a crudo and a pasta, and save room for the gelato finished at your table.