*Figata Brickell, Photo by* *Nadia Bouzid*

Type: Commercial | Restaurant and café
Address: 1414 Brickell Avenue, Miami, FL 33131
Cuisine: Italian
F&B concept: Coffee, breads, pastries and sandwiches, with a full restaurant menu including pizzas, pastas, fish and meat
Size: Approximately 2,000 square feet
Seating: 40 seats declared in the 2017 county application
Grease interceptor capacity: Two existing 2,000 gallon interceptors, totaling 4,000 gallons, in a system shared with Novecento
Previous tenant: Pasha’s
Façade: Black perforated metal panels with white script signage
Neighboring businesses: Novecento and Rik Rak, with Rik Rak next door at 1428 Brickell Avenue

Figata has opened in the former Pasha’s space at 1414 Brickell Avenue, beside Novecento, with Rik Rak next door at 1428. Its black perforated metal façade makes the arrival hard to miss. On a stretch of Brickell with two pioneers, the Italian café and restaurant brings another option to the neighborhood.

It is encouraging to see a new concept open here while so much attention is directed toward Brickell City Centre and the restaurants around it. This part of Brickell has an established residential and office clientele, along with businesses that were serving the neighborhood well before the current wave of openings. Figata enters a location people already know, at a time when they have considerably more choice.

The concept serves coffee, breads, pastries and sandwiches, alongside a restaurant menu of pizzas, pastas, fish and meat dishes. There is room for a quick coffee or lunch, as well as a longer meal. That breadth makes sense here, where office workers, residents and hotel guests use the neighborhood at different hours and for different reasons.

A café adds something particularly useful to the mix. Someone working nearby needs lunch between meetings; someone living upstairs wants coffee or something to take home. Those everyday purchases give a restaurant a place in the neighborhood beyond the occasions when people arrange to sit down for a meal.

Brickell Bakeries — *Figata Brickell, Photo by* *Nadia Bouzid*

Rik Rak has long understood the appeal of combining several reasons to come through the door. At 1428 Brickell Avenue, its salon, beauty services, boutique and café made it a household name in the neighborhood. Hair, nails, coffee, clothes and accessories all fit into the same afternoon. People arrive for an appointment and end up spending hours there.

Its role reaches beyond the office building it occupies. Rik Rak has been an anchor for this stretch of Brickell, drawing people here through years of residential growth. That familiarity matters to neighboring businesses, even when they occupy separate properties.

Novecento has its own place in that history, particularly for its happy hour. Before the neighborhood’s restaurant selection expanded, it was one of the established places where residents and people working nearby met for lunch, an after-work drink or a meal with friends. For those living on this southern stretch, having somewhere familiar within walking distance was part of the appeal. Novecento helped give this part of Brickell a social life while much of the neighborhood was still associated with offices and residential towers.

Figata joins that setting with a very different exterior. Black metal panels cover much of the frontage, with circular perforations of varying sizes forming a pattern across the surface. White script lettering stretches above the doorway. Against the taller buildings around it, the façade gives this low commercial space a distinct presence.

I like the confidence of the design, although it creates an interesting question for a café. The screen conceals much of the interior. Bread, pastries and a busy counter are often what draw someone in from the sidewalk; here, the architecture makes the first impression. It gives Figata a recognizable identity, but leaves more of the experience to be discovered once inside.

Figata occupies approximately 2,000 square feet in the former Pasha’s space. Two existing 2,000 gallon grease interceptors serve a system shared with Novecento, a substantial piece of restaurant infrastructure behind the redesigned storefront.

The opening comes a year after Brickell City Centre’s retail debut in November 2016. With more apartments, offices and places to eat, Brickell offers a larger audience and more competition. Figata’s combination of café and restaurant gives it several ways to earn a place in that daily life, from coffee and a sandwich to pasta and an evening out.

I am glad to see a new concept here. Rik Rak draws people for an entire afternoon, and Novecento’s happy hour has long brought residents and the office crowd together. Figata adds another reason to stay in the neighborhood, with a distinctive storefront and a menu that invites more than a special occasion.

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