MIAMI
Coral Gables Native David Caceres Takes the Lead at Casa Gianna Downtown
Written by Eric Barton | June 26, 2025
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AUTHOR BIO: Eric Barton is editor of The Adventurist and a freelance journalist who has reviewed restaurants for more than two decades. Email him here.
When Casa Gianna opened last November inside the Gale Miami Hotel & Residences, it seemed easy to overlook. A hotel restaurant backed by a nightlife group, tucked into a condo development in the shadow of the Kaseya Center.
But six months later, something unexpected has happened: Casa Gianna has stuck. Not by screaming for attention, but by doing something far more difficult in Miami: serving food that locals actually return for, with a chef who grew up right here in the 305.
Lobster risotto
The man behind it is David Caceres, a Coral Gables Senior High alum who worked his way from food runner to culinary director of the Gale’s entire operation. Born in Nicaragua and raised in Miami, Caceres built his career at big-name properties like the St. Regis Bal Harbour and 1 Hotel South Beach. But Casa Gianna feels more personal. This is the restaurant where he’s putting his name on the food—sometimes literally, like in the house-made pastas and gnocchi, and often figuratively, in the flavor combinations that quietly break rules without drawing attention to themselves.
Take the pappardelle alla rosa de ricotta with brown butter and sage, or a pistachio-crusted seabass plated with fennel and tomato puttanesca. They’re not flashy dishes. But they’re confident ones. Like the chef, they don’t need to prove anything.
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There’s also pizza, made from dough that’s fermented daily and topped with things like truffle cream and roasted vegetables. Aperitivo hour means cocktails like the Tuscan Mule and Sunset in Sicily, plus small bites that have turned the restaurant’s terrazza into a hangout for Worldcenter residents and Kaseya concertgoers. Even the café window out front—modeled after a Cuban ventanita—is slinging solid espresso and bomboloni to downtown’s office crowd.
Short rib fagotini
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In a part of the city that still feels like it's figuring out its identity, Casa Gianna might be a hint of what’s to come: a place run by someone who grew up here, cooking Italian food that doesn’t pretend to be reinventing anything—but somehow still feels new.
