Kendall Jenner, LeBron James & More A-Listers Descend on Miami as Hospitality Shifts Into Overdrive for F1 Weekend

For the hospitality industry, there might be no greater intersection of power and influence than Formula 1 weekend in Miami. This is an annual gathering of restaurant and nightlife bosses who are here to entertain their highest-tier guests, and also check out what their friends and competitors have created. This is the culmination of the Spectacle Circuit.

So on Saturday night (May 4), it took only a few minutes at a preview of Eugene Remm, Mark Birnbaum and Tilman J. Fertitta’s Catch Miami Beach for us to spot luminaries like Cote’s Simon Kim, Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin (seated with his regular crew of Alan Tisch and Will Makris), Bowery Engine’s Shu Chowdhury (who’s driving the New York expansion of London powerhouse JKS Restaurants) and Official co-founder Tal Alexander. 

As guests ate crowd-pleasers like truffle sashimi and sipped espresso martinis made with Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila (Jenner popped by the day before), Kim complimented Remm on the high-quality food and undeniable vibe at Catch Miami Beach, while  actor Anthony Mackie sat down at a nearby table.

“The energy in Miami is different than anywhere else,” Remm, who’s opening Catch Miami on Friday, May 10, told Observer. “This is the mecca of America dining right now.”

No hospitality company has driven Miami’s culinary ascendance more than Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi and Jeff Zalaznick’s Major Food Group. On Saturday, Rubin (perhaps best known for the over-the-top, celebrity-laden parties he throws at his Hamptons mansion) also checked out the scene at Carbone Beach, Major Food Group’s annual American Express-presented supper club on the sand. Carbone Beach was a four-night extravaganza, punctuated by a Chainsmokers performance on Sunday, but Saturday was the biggest evening of the weekend, with everyone from Elon Musk, Ken Griffin, Stephen Ross, Patrick Mahomes, LeBron James and numerous other A-listers attending Major Food Group’s over-the-top pop-up.

“Our goal is always to take things to another level than what we’ve done before,” Zalaznick told Observer. “We’re here to create the greatest dinner party in the world.”

On Sunday night, when Zalaznick worked the room and a power table that included inKind Hospitality co-founder Johann Moonesinghe, Sodexo region chair for North America Sarosh Mistry, Major League Baseball chief product officer Vasanth Williams and MainStreet CEO Doug Ludlow enjoyed spicy rigatoni and veal parm, it was clear that Carbone Beach had leveled up at a new Miami Beach location in its fourth year of existence.

Oren Alexander, Tal’s brother and Official co-founder, was also holding court at Carbone Beach on Sunday. This was at the end of an eventful weekend where he showed VIPs The Raleigh, the new luxury Michael Shvo development that Official is selling. (At an exclusive 60-seat dinner preview of Langosteria at the Raleigh earlier in the week, guests heard Oren ask racing legend Helmut Marko who was the toughest contender for dominant driver Max Verstappen at the Miami Grand Prix. Marko’s reply? Lando Norris, the McLaren driver who ended up beating Verstappen at the race on Sunday.)

Every night after all the dinner action in Miami, assorted scene-makers kept the party going at nightclub E11Even, where 50 Cent, A$AP Rocky and Afrojack performed during F1 weekend.

“It’s a blessing,” E11even operating partner Daniel Solomon told Observer when asked about the impact of Formula 1 in Miami. “Our Wednesday numbers were like a Saturday, and it’s gotten better every night since then.”

Not long after Solomon said this, Zalaznick showed up at E11even, prompting the club to display a special message on its screens: “Welcome Home Carbone. E11even loves you.”