This summer brought a new chef to Lido and recognition for The Surf Club's Champagne Bar.
In late July, Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club announced that Michele Esposito would take over as Executive Restaurant Chef of Lido, the Italian dining room set inside the original 1930s ballroom. The announcement also appeared across half a dozen hospitality trade sites, with similar details about his childhood in Caserta and culinary philosophy.
A paragraph on the property's seasonal page noted that the Champagne Bar, the room sitting directly beside Lido, had recently been named one of America's Best Hotel Bars by Food & Wine.
For residents interested in the season's dining options, the Champagne Bar's recognition is another detail worth noting.
A Chef Who Already Knew the Neighborhood
Esposito was raised in Caserta, a farming region north of Naples known as the birthplace of mozzarella di bufala, and trained through kitchens that eventually included the three-Michelin-starred Villa Crespi on Lake Orta and the three-Michelin-starred Ristorante Quattro Passi. He is bringing that technical range to Lido's menu, with dishes like Spaghetti alla Nerano, Branzino all'Acqua Pazza, and Tagliolini al Limone.
For diners, a useful detail is Esposito's recent experience in Miami. According to reporting on his appointment, he most recently ran the kitchen at Casa Tua in Miami, handling operations and menu development there before moving to Surfside. He already knows what a Miami dining room expects on a Tuesday in August versus a Saturday in February. That's a different hire than a chef arriving cold, and it changes how much runway you should expect before the kitchen actually settles into its own rhythm.
His stated approach leans toward restraint rather than spectacle:
My vision for Lido is to bring the timeless traditions of Southern Italian cuisine to the table.
That's a meaningful shift from what came before it.
The Award That Predates Him
Lido's kitchen, under Florentine chef Marco Calenzo, had built a menu around technical improvisation, most notably a Cacio e Pepe built around raw yellowtail, and a tomato sauce constructed from four separate tomato varieties, Ligurian olive oil, and fourteen-month Parmigiano Reggiano. That kitchen earned Lido a spot on OpenTable's Top 100 Hotel Restaurants list for the United States in 2025, a recognition drawn from verified diner reviews rather than press coverage.
That's the detail worth sitting with. The award that put Lido on a national list belongs to the era that just ended. Esposito's own reference point for what makes a dish great is a plain Pasta al Pomodoro, three or four ingredients, no improvisation required. That's not a minor menu tweak. It's a different definition of what the room is supposed to do for you, and residents who booked Lido last year for the yellowtail cacio e pepe are walking into a kitchen built on the opposite instinct.
The Champagne Bar's Recognition
The Champagne Bar's Food & Wine recognition offers a different kind of news from a chef hire: it draws attention to a bar program that is not tied to one person's arrival. That continuity is a meaningful part of the dining experience.
The Champagne Bar sits directly off Lido's dining room and has built a reputation as home to one of the largest Champagne selections in Miami. Its list gives the bar a distinct and continuing place alongside Lido, whoever runs the stoves.
The Window to Actually Taste It
If you want to form your own opinion on the new kitchen before the wider food press catches up, the timing works in your favor. Miami Spice runs at Lido from August 1 through September 30, 2026, and the three-course dinner is priced at $65 per person, available Sunday through Thursday.
A few things worth knowing before booking:
- The Spice menu runs through the end of September, so there's roughly six more weeks to catch it as of mid-August.
- Pricing sits well under Lido's typical à la carte range, making it the lower-cost way to sample Esposito's early direction.
- Availability is dinner only, Sunday through Thursday, which means weekend diners will be ordering off the regular menu at full price.
The limited-run prix fixe offers a timely opportunity to try Esposito's early direction at the listed price.
The Rest of the Season
Other parts of Surf Club life continue through the summer. The Spa's summer treatment menu, built around Biologique Recherche and Pharmos Natur products, features a "Florida Escapes" line using Florida honey, organic cane sugar, and cold-pressed coconut oil, offered in 60, 75, and 90-minute sessions. Residents still have access to complimentary bicycles along the Surfside trail, and to Fruttini's frozen fruit creations, sold exclusively in the United States on this property, alongside the gelato cart that shows up most afternoons near the pools.
Together, these amenities and routines are part of the Surf Club summer, alongside seasonal changes at Lido and the Champagne Bar.
The Season Beyond the Chef Change
Lido has a new chef, while the Champagne Bar has received a Food & Wine citation. The room, the terrace, the bar next door, and the small daily rhythms residents actually live inside all outlast the chefs who pass through the kitchen. Esposito's Pasta al Pomodoro philosophy might turn out to be exactly what earns Lido its next national mention, or it might not. Either way, the Champagne Bar's citation is part of this summer's news, independent of whoever's cooking next door.
For residents at The Surf Club, and for anyone weighing whether this stretch of Surfside fits the way they want to live, Bryan Halda and The Halda Group follow this address closely, from dining changes to the amenities that shape daily life. Let's Connect.
