Milanesa and GOAT beer: How Messi’s arrival is inspiring Miami’s Argentine restaurants

Lionel Messi’s new soccer teammates in South Florida aren’t the only ones relishing his presence.

Argentine-owned restaurants and bars in Miami, many of which have long been popular spots to live or die (mostly) with the white-and-blue jersey stripes of their country’s team during the quadrennial World Cup, are hoping to capitalize on the skyrocketing interest in watching Messi play for Inter Miami.

Graziano’s, a Coral Gables-based company operating three restaurants and seven markets in the region, will cater the professional soccer club’s big welcome Messi event on Sunday, then serve fans concessions from their menu during his first two games, said Melissa Graziano, director of marketing and development. Her grandfather Mario Graziano started the family business as a butcher shop in Buenos Aires in 1962, and opened the first Miami location in 1990 after he immigrated here.

Fans attending either of those two matches will be in for a true Argentine treat: they can buy sumptuous choripán or steak sandwiches, two of the restaurant’s signature items. Chimichurri sauce is included, obviously. The restaurant will have at least three large grills cooking outside DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.

Fiorito, an iconic Little Haiti restaurant named for the late Argentinian soccer great Diego Maradona’s hometown, opened in 2012. The two Argentine brothers who own the eating and drinking venue are also primed for Messi fever among soccer regulars. When a Herald reporter visited a week ago, they were awaiting delivery of a beer called GOAT 10 made by Prison Pals brewery in Doral. The premium lager already on the market was renamed by Prison Pals to honor Messi.

Overall, “we’re prepared,” said Fiorito co-owner Maximiliano Alvarez. “We’re anxious. We really want to see him.

“It’s a total honor that he lives here among us.”

Customers entering Fiorito’s can’t miss seeing a sign outside saying:

“@Fiorito

La casa de

MESSI

en Miami.”

Meanwhile, in North Beach — home to a large Argentine community and where in December massive crowds closed roads to vehicles after Messi-led Argentina defeated France to win the World Cup — Karnitas 71st, a small family-owned cafe, has started serving a special kind of milanesa called Mila Messi.

“I really wanted to do something for him,” said owner and chef Christian Fernandez, who learned how to grill from spending time as a kid with his grandmother in Messi’s hometown of Rosario, Argentina. “Hopefully, he’ll come and try it.”

‘An amazing feeling’

The grand arrival of who for many is the world’s all-time greatest soccer player is captivating South Florida. The 2022 World Cup winner and seven-time Ballon d’Or winner is a global star. In his career, mostly played for Barcelona, his teams won 10 titles in Spain’s La Liga, considered one of the world’s most competitive professional soccer leagues.

To be sure, Messi, 36, is a massive sports story around the globe. He’s also a business story, given his endorsement deals with Apple and Adidas. Now he’s a local story for Miami, too. For many Argentinians here, he is really a personal story. To most of them, he is an idolized family member who has vaulted himself into the nation’s pantheon of immortal soccer players.

While there are not precise numbers on the number of Argentines living in Miami or the size of the diaspora, the Argentine Consulate in Miami estimates 150,000 Argentines live in Florida.

“Most of them are in South Florida,” said Leandro Fernández-Suárez. But that does not include the numerous children and grandchildren of Argentines.

Melissa Graziano, 31, was born in Miami. She was 14 when Messi played in his first World Cup in 2006 in Germany, only a year older than Messi when he moved to Spain.

His nearly two-decade career would span World Cup disappointments in South Africa, coming close in Rio de Janeiro, then pure ecstasy last December in Qatar when he led Argentina, finally, to the winner’s circle.

During the whole time, she often watched games from her family’s restaurants.

For Graziano, the idea that Messi is living in Miami and playing for the home team is remarkable.

“The potential to be able to see Messi in person, when you’ve been following his career since basically you were born, is an amazing feeling,” she said.

Thousands of South Floridians have watched Messi and Argentina play from Graziano’s restaurants.

Now the family plans to show televised Inter Miami matches at the restaurants, said Nicholas Graziano, another grandson of Mario and Melissa’s brother, who manages the fine dining location in Coral Gables.

“It has not hit me yet,” he said of Messi’s arrival. “It’s kind of surreal.”

And this is someone who had an insider’s insight the past several months.

Jorge Mas, Inter Miami’s co-owner, “comes here to eat all the time, so he would give little hints here and there,” Graziano said.

Yet he remained skeptical. “I did not really believe it until it happened.”

The Grazianos will not have much time to remain awestruck. Messi’s first game in an Inter Miami uniform is set for July 21. It’ll mark the first time the 60-year-old Argentine restaurateurs will be cooking food for a stadium full of soccer fans, Melissa Graziano said. “This is our biggest event,” she said of Messi’s playing debut in Miami.

Milanesa for Messi

In Little Haiti, a decade ago Argentine brothers Maximiliano and Cristian Alvarez named Fiorito after the working-class neighborhood outside Buenos Aires where still-adored Maradona grew up.

Now it is Messi whose play is captivating the crowd at the Argentinian eatery on 2nd Avenue in Miami.

About 250 people gathered in December to watch him play in the World Cup Final. “It was our single biggest day in sales since we’ve been open,” said Maximiliano Alvarez.

Fiorito regularly shows soccer games. Televisions are often turned to TyC Sports, an Argentine channel.

“We have showed Inter, but not many people came to watch,” said Maximiliano Alvarez, who has gone to Inter Miami matches in Fort Lauderdale. “Now, with Messi, it’s going to be different.”

Newer Argentine establishments are seizing opportunities, too. Karnitas 71st, opened less than a year in North Beach and run by Christian Fernandez and his wife Maja, are among them. He decided to make a special milanesa called Mila Messi after learning the soccer star was moving to Miami.

The dish is a breaded, fried slice of chicken with ham, tomato sauce, with cheese on top. A traditional version uses two eggs. Fernandez opted for three eggs to mark Argentina’s three World Cup championships, the third which Messi made possible. He also plans to show Inter Miami games in his restaurant.

Milanesa is Messi’s favorite dish, according to a book on him by journalist Luca Caioli.

Manolo, also in North Beach and one of the epicenters of World Cup celebrations in December, won’t be changing their menu for now, said Rodrigo Lugano, one of the managers.

But the restaurant will show Inter Miami games, and expects a bigger crowd than the five to 10 people who would typically come to watch soccer matches.

Lugano has a slightly different perspective on Messi’s South Florida arrival.

“I think he still had a few years left he could have played with a European club at the highest level,” he said.

And he thinks that would train him better for the next World Cup. “In that sense, I’m a little sad because I want to see him play well in the next World Cup.”

Still, Lugano said, “I like that he’s here and can help the city.”