Miami

Phase 1 cuisine essay · FRI Cuisine Essays

Descriptive Counts and statistics from the public record. Glossary →

Miami Southern & Soul Food Guide

FRI public-record essay for southern & soul food restaurants in Miami.

Miami has 219 validated Southern & Soul Food entries organized by county, price, and vibe. This versioned list is generated from public records, with price and vibe descriptors derived from license format, OSS categories, and venue footprint. 2 candidate evaluations were routed to the audit log.

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Updated 2026-07-05 22:08 UTC

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By FRI Editorial Desk · Vibe list · openings/closings route through the audit log at output/cuisine_essay_audit.parquet

Validated open entries219
Confirmed closures3
Inspection/safety overlays42
Filtered candidates2
High-turnover addresses3

Dade

$ · Casual & No-Frills

KELLY'S CAJUN GRILL

20505 S Dixie Hwy #1879, Miami

Website

Casual & No-Frills notables entry; inspection severity is elevated at 1.5x the peer alert threshold. Emergency-order history: 11 event(s).

$$ · Fast-Casual Chain

CHURCH'S CHICKEN #1109

17495 Nw 27 Ave, Opa-locka

Website

Fast-Casual Chain notables entry; inspection severity is elevated at 1.1x the peer alert threshold. Emergency-order history: 6 event(s).

$ · Casual & No-Frills

CHICKEN KITCHEN

13521 Biscayne Blvd, North Miami Beach

Website

Casual & No-Frills notables entry; inspection severity is within the typical peer range. Emergency-order history: 3 event(s) (Fly activity).

$$$$ · Late-Night & No-Frills

OLD TOM'S SPORTS BAR RESTAURANT

9525 North Kendall Dr, Miami

Website

Late-Night & No-Frills notables entry; inspection severity is within the typical peer range. Emergency-order history: 3 event(s) (Fly activity).

$$ · Fast-Casual Chain

POPEYES CHICKEN & BISCUITS #9

20690 Nw 2 Ave, North Miami

Website

Fast-Casual Chain notables entry; inspection severity is within the typical peer range. Emergency-order history: 3 event(s).

$ · Casual & No-Frills

KAY'S ISLAND GRILL

18587 Nw 27 Ave, Miami Gardens

FSQ popularity 0.53

Website

Casual & No-Frills notables entry; inspection severity is within the typical peer range. Emergency-order history: 3 event(s).

$$$$ · Late-Night & No-Frills

HOMETOWN BARBECUE

1200 Nw 22Nd St Unit 100, Miami

Website

Late-Night & No-Frills notables entry; inspection severity is within the typical peer range. Emergency-order history: 2 event(s) (Rodent, Roach & Fly activity).

$ · Casual & No-Frills

CAJUN GRILL

7501 Dadeland Mall Fc-3, Miami

Website

Casual & No-Frills notables entry; inspection severity is within the typical peer range. Emergency-order history: 2 event(s).

$ · Casual & No-Frills

KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN

20285 Nw 2 Ave, Miami

Casual & No-Frills notables entry; inspection severity is within the typical peer range. Emergency-order history: 2 event(s).

$$ · Fast-Casual Chain

KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN

17701 Nw 27 Ave, Miami Gardens

Fast-Casual Chain notables entry; inspection severity is within the typical peer range. Emergency-order history: 2 event(s).

$$$ · Fast-Casual Chain

RAISING CANES

8070 Nw 36 St, Doral

Website

Fast-Casual Chain notables entry; inspection severity is within the typical peer range. Emergency-order history: 2 event(s).

$ · Casual & No-Frills

TREATS & EATZ

12985 Nw 7 Ave, North Miami

Casual & No-Frills notables entry; inspection severity is within the typical peer range. Emergency-order history: 2 event(s).

$ · Late-Night & No-Frills

UNIVERS RESTAURANT

715 Ne 119 St, North Miami

Website

Late-Night & No-Frills notables entry; inspection severity is within the typical peer range. Emergency-order history: 1 event(s).

$ · Casual & No-Frills

LEMON PEPPERS

2701 Nw 54Th St, Miami

Website

Casual & No-Frills notables entry; inspection severity is within the typical peer range. Emergency-order history: 1 event(s).

$$ · Fast-Casual Chain

CHURCH'S CHICKEN #1101

13200 Nw 27 Ave, Opa-locka

Website

Fast-Casual Chain notables entry; inspection severity is within the typical peer range. Emergency-order history: 1 event(s).

$$$ · Late-Night & No-Frills

SHORTY'S BAR-B-QUE

9200 S Dixie Hwy, Miami

Website

Late-Night & No-Frills notables entry; inspection severity is running 2.7x the peer alert threshold.

$$$ · Late-Night & No-Frills

SHORTYS BAR B Q

11575 Sw 40 St, Miami

Late-Night & No-Frills notables entry; inspection severity is elevated at 1.8x the peer alert threshold.

$$$$ · Late-Night & No-Frills

JJ'S CUISINE

17 Ne 1 Rd Unit B, Homestead

Website

Late-Night & No-Frills notables entry; inspection severity is elevated at 1.7x the peer alert threshold.

Methodology and Audit

Entries clear the FRI cascade on DBPR status, closure vetting, and cuisine attribution. Identity enrichment (DBPR/OSS/Sunbiz name agreement, geocoded address, city/county consistency, plus cached Google/Foursquare/Yelp verifier context) refines a listing but is no longer a publish gate: a DBPR record that fails only enrichment is still shown rather than dropped. A record that cannot be matched to an identity is marked "Unverified DBPR Record" and its unverified corporate/website/social attribution is withheld; a record that cannot be geocoded is recorded as un-located. Failures and enrichment levels are written to output/cuisine_essay_audit.parquet for operator review.

222 of 224 candidate evaluations published (99.1%); 43 marked unverified (no identity match), 96 recorded as un-located (no geocode). Audit log: output/cuisine_essay_audit.parquet.

Data sources: FRI Cuisine Essays. Built from DBPR public inspection records, Florida Sunbiz business filings, and Foursquare/OSS location data. All counts are derived from public records — no estimates or projections unless labeled as forecast.