Cult-Favorite Fooq’s Reopens in Little River With 200 Seats and a Built-In Music Venue

Key Points

• Fooq’s reopens January 23 in Miami’s Little River neighborhood after a five-year hiatus.
• The Persian-French favorite expands into a 14,000-square-foot, two-story space with 200 seats.
• Upstairs music lounge adds nightlife value without turning into a traditional club.

A Downtown Favorite Finds a Bigger Stage

After years of anticipation, Fooq’s is officially back. The cult-favorite Persian-French restaurant reopens January 23 in Little River, marking a major expansion from its famously tight downtown footprint. Owner David Foulquier brings Fooq’s into a former warehouse at 150 NW 73rd Street, transforming it into a 200-seat dining room with layered design zones meant to preserve the intimacy that made the original location a hit. The move places Fooq’s squarely in one of Miami’s fastest-growing food and culture corridors.

Bigger Space, Same Personality

The new location spans 14,000 square feet, a dramatic jump from the original downtown “closet.” To avoid a banquet-hall feel, the interior leans into Middle Eastern influences, 1970s textures, and mid-century elements, breaking the space into smaller, lived-in sections.A notable callback is the original Fooq’s bookshelf, now rebuilt and filled with personal artifacts from Foulquier’s childhood home. Artwork by Austyn Weiner and music photography by Jay Blakesberg reinforce the cultural edge.

Food Program Gets a Serious Upgrade

The kitchen is now led by executive chef Andrew Bazzini, whose background includes high-end New York kitchens. The menu pivots slightly toward American cooking with Persian influence, anchored by a custom wood-fired grill. Large format proteins, whole ducks, shawarma, and shareable vegetable-forward dishes dominate the lineup. The headline experience is the Fooq’s Feast, a prix-fixe menu around $95 per person designed for groups.Fan favorites are also back quietly. Brussels Sprouts 2.0 returns, while the cult Bucatini Amatriciana lives on as a secret-menu item for those in the know.

Upstairs: The Lion’s Den

Above the restaurant sits The Lion’s Den, a purpose built music venue that avoids Miami’s typical bottle service model. Designed for warm acoustics and vinyl forward sound, the space hosts music three nights a week with a strict “happy music only” policy. For landlords and investors, the dual-use concept adds nighttime activation without cannibalizing the dining experience.

Why This Matters for Little River

Fooq’s reopening reinforces Little River’s evolution from industrial fringe to full-scale lifestyle district. Larger-format restaurants with cultural programming signal confidence in sustained foot traffic, longer dwell times, and higher spending per visit. For nearby owners, it’s another data point that Little River is no longer emerging. It has arrived