Chef Michelle Bernstein to close her Coral Gables restaurant

Chef Michelle Bernstein poses with her husband and business partner David Martinez at Sra. Martinez in Coral Gables.

Photo by World Red Eye

Sra. Martinez will serve its final dinner in Coral Gables on Saturday, September 26. Chef Michelle Bernstein and her husband and business partner, David Martinez, announced the closure on Instagram, saying they plan to keep the space at 2325 Galiano St. and are already working on what comes next.

“After a lot of thought, we’ve made the difficult decision to close Sra. Martinez,” the couple wrote. They did not give a reason or say what will replace it. For now, they are asking diners to come by for one more meal and a toast before Saturday’s service ends.

“Ajo Blanco” from Sra. Martinez in Coral Gables

A short return to the Gables

The closing comes less than two years after Bernstein and Martinez brought Sra. Martinez back on December 13, 2024. The restaurant had been gone for 12 years, and its return gave longtime fans another chance to enjoy the Spanish-inspired food and cocktails they remembered from the original. This time, it occupied the former Open Stage Club space and featured a dining room, covered patio, cocktail lounge, and stage for live music.

Chef Andrew Gilbert, who had worked at the first Sra. Martinez, returned to the kitchen alongside Bernstein. The menu brought back the restaurant’s croquetas in updated versions, including carbonara with cured egg yolk and pecorino. Newer dishes included mushroom shawarma and oxtail paella with bone marrow.

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Sra. Martinez combined old-world European elements with South Florida flair.

From the Design District to Galiano Street

Bernstein and Martinez opened the original Sra. Martinez in the Miami Design District in November 2008. It closed after its July 6, 2012, dinner service, ending a run that helped make the restaurant a fixture of Miami’s early cocktail scene. When the couple spoke to New Times ahead of the Gables reopening, Bernstein said the first version “had too quick of an ending.”

The couple says they are keeping the Galiano Street space. Their announcement offers no details about the next project or when it might open. Diners who want one last visit to Sra. Martinez have until Saturday.

Sra. Martinez. 2325 Galiano St., Coral Gables; sramartinezmiami.com. Final service Saturday, September 26.