Genghis Cohen is heading to Miami Beach, and owners Marc Rose and Med Abrous want it open by Christmas.
“For Genghis Cohen, we’re trying to open in time for Christmas,” Rose tells Observer.
The New York-style Chinese restaurant from Los Angeles will open at 1801 Purdy Ave. in the Sunset Harbour neighbourhood. It is the first Genghis Cohen expansion outside Los Angeles.
Rose and Abrous, both former New Yorkers, say Christmas is the main event for Genghis Cohen. The restaurant is known for lazy Susans and dishes including egg rolls, turkey minis, crab rangoon, salt-and-pepper tofu, no name duck, nothing special beef sizzler and queen chicken.
“It’s a Chinese-American menu that invokes nostalgia, one that has all the dishes a lot of us grew up eating,” Rose says. “I think it’s a menu that also represents a lot of what people in South Florida grew up eating. Fort Lauderdale and Miami had a plethora of this type of restaurant in the ’80s and ’90s, and a lot of them are gone. It’s just like what happened in L.A. and New York.”
Rose and Abrous, whose Call Mom hospitality group also includes La Dolce Vita in Beverly Hills, took over Genghis Cohen in 2015. The restaurant was founded in 1983.
Last year, they moved Genghis Cohen to a new address a few blocks south on Fairfax Avenue after they were unable to extend their previous lease.
“I think the intention is to continue the Genghis Cohen story,” Rose says. “We’ll have our big booths. Whether or not they’re red, we’re not sure at this point. There will be an oversaturation of all the elements that make you feel transported when you walk into Genghis Cohen. Of course, there will be a fish tank. Maybe the fish tank’s bigger. Maybe it’s saltwater instead of freshwater. What we want to do is represent Genghis Cohen, but also understand that we’re not on Fairfax. We’re going to be in the heart of Miami Beach in Sunset Harbour and we want to reflect that, too.”
The restaurant is also known for its tiki-inspired “foo foo cocktails,” and Abrous says the drinks may lean more tropical and theatrical in Miami.
“I think we’re going to come out kind of guns blazing with the cocktail side of things and amplify what we do here in L.A,” Abrous tells Observer.
The Los Angeles restaurant serves mini martinis, a zombie capped at two per customer and volcano chicken, which is lit on fire tableside. But Rose and Abrous say the business is built as a seven-night-a-week restaurant around family-style meals and expect to do plenty of takeout and delivery in Miami.
They also plan to work with Florida produce and seafood, and the Miami site will have the first outdoor space for Genghis Cohen.
Rose and Abrous are opening the restaurant with longtime friend Jason Pomeranc. The story says Pomeranc is best known as a hotelier, but the Miami Beach Genghis Cohen will be a standalone venture.
“I think Genghis Cohen really is a community place,” Abrous says. “It’s a year-round place, basically never closed. It’s a reliable place that really caters to the local community, and Sunset Harbour really is a place that people go to year-round.”
Rose says the project also has a personal connection. He spent holidays in South Florida as a child with his grandparents, who later became South Beach residents, and said he and Abrous spent almost five years looking for a Miami location.
“Miami will always have a special place in my heart, and getting to relive some of my childhood and spending more time in a city that just has colors that make you smile is pretty exciting,” Rose says.
Abrous said he is already thinking about the restaurant’s future.
“I think it starts with our love of history,” Abrous says. “We love legacy. We love places that have stories. In many ways, our job is to make memories and make stories. We couldn’t be happier about bringing this style of restaurant to Miami. It’s vibrant. It makes people feel good in so many ways.”
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