Chef Raheem Sealey holds a ‘She-So Spicy’ cocktail at KYU, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
Photo by Matias J. Ocner
mocner@miamiherald.com
Chef Raheem Sealey always knew there was something special about KYU, the Asian-inspired restaurant in Wynwood celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
The restaurant, which opened in February of 2016, is known for its wood-fired barbecue and other delights. But there’s something about it that he’s never been able to shake, even when he left for a few years.
“There was just a certain energy that hits you,” Sealey says now. “Like ‘I feel like I belong here.’ It’s something that I can just never explain. Like as soon as they open the front door, it grabs you, and you just can’t leave. I think everybody just had that same feeling walking in, you know?”
Miami knows. Ten years is an eternity in fickle Wynwood, and KYU has managed to thrive despite a mountain of setbacks, including the Zika outbreak shortly after it opened, near-constant construction and street closings throughout the neighborhood as Wynwood grew rapidly, the COVID pandemic and storms so severe they caused structural damage that kept the restaurant closed for more than a year for renovation.
But like the proverbial phoenix, KYU returned, brushing off the ashes and leaning into all the elements that made it one of the places to be in Miami.
An immediate hit 
The dining room at KYU in Wynwood, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com
From the time founders Alan Omsky and Jordan Sayfie opened KYU Miami, the restaurant was a hit. With Zuma alums general manager Steven Haigh and Culinary Institute of America-trained executive chef Michael Lewis leading the way, it developed a cult following swiftly, capturing the interest of locals and the famous alike.
Actress Lupita Nyong’o was spotted there one Saturday a few months after the opening. Cooking expert, writer, TV host and grillmaster Steven Raichlen, author of “The Barbecue Bible,” told a Miami Herald reporter he was having lunch with there that the wagyu brisket as “easily the best brisket in Miami.”
Miami Herald food critic Jodi Mailander Farrell called it “one of Miami’s best restaurants” and praised not only the ribs, duck and brisket but also the restaurant’s unerring sense of Miami: “KYU‘s entrance is framed by a selfie-friendly vertical garden and a linear mural by Miami-based artists Andrew Antonaccio and Filio Galvez. Haitian Barbancourt rum is the base for Cuban mojitos. A non-alcoholic strawberry-basil drink makes refreshing use of South Florida’s berry bounty.”
Monika Dominguez, chef de cuisine at KYU in Wynwood, prepares the popular roasted cauliflower. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com
The restaurant went on to earn a best restaurant nomination from the James Beard Awards in 2017 and made the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2021.
Sealey, a native of St. Croix who started his career in the kitchen of Michael’s Genuine and the late, great Sugarcane Raw Bar & Grill, then later worked at Zuma, was first hired as executive sous chef at KYU. At the time, the neighborhood was much less residential, more of a destination for dinner and hanging out afterward.
“It was just KYU, Alter, Wynwood Kitchen & Bar and Joey’s, and that was it,” Sealey says. “Wynwood was known for ‘OK, cool, we’ll go down and have dinner, then we could go and party for a little bit.’ At the time it was Dirty Rabbit, Wood Tavern, all these different places where people would hang out.”
‘I love KYU’ 
Jean Alva Petit Frere, 69, who has worked at KYU for 10 years, at work in the kitchen. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com
Haigh and Lewis left in 2020 for other opportunities, while Sealey stayed on. He remained at the restaurant through the birth of his pop-up barbecue spot Drinking Pig, which he started during the pandemic in his northeast Miami-Dade yard with his partner Mark Wint and his wife Yohanir Sandoval.
“I want to do our barbecue,” Sealey told the Miami Herald in 2020. “I wanted flavors that we grew up loving from our childhoods in the Caribbean.”
Sealey eventually left KYU, staying busy with a series of projects, including opening J&C Oyster in Hollywood, with which he is no longer affiliated, and Shiso, an upscale Asian barbecue spot in Wynwood that closed earlier this summer. He also finally opened a brick-and-mortar version of Drinking Pig in Coconut Grove, serving brisket, beef ribs, chicken and spare ribs — and all the classic sides like mac and cheese, cornbread, collard greens and baked beans, to go with them.
Tuna crispy rice at KYU in Wynwood. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com
KYU was forced to close in late 2022, when a series of heavy storms damaged the building, and didn’t reopen until March of 2024, the same year Sealey, now the brand’s culinary director, decided to return.
“They lost their chef, so when I heard the news, I reached out to Jordan,” Sealey says. “I told him ‘I love KYU. Whatever you need, help wise, I got you.’ ”
And when Sealey came by the restaurant to hang out one night, the memories came pouring back. He met with COO Brad Street and told him, ‘I’m here to help as much as I can. Let’s get it back to where it was.”
‘Keep the people coming back’ 
Chef Raheem Sealey prepares a beef short rib at KYU in Wynwood. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com
The plan as Sealey describes it mostly involves restoring and protecting what made KYU so appealing to Miami in the first place. He made small alterations to the Miami menu, then he did the same at the brand’s New York and Las Vegas locations (the New York KYU is temporarily closed for renovation).
“Our focus wasn’t really to change the menu much,” he says. “Our focus was to bring back the consistency and the nostalgia of KYU. We wanted to make sure the fried chicken was our fried chicken, that it was the same recipe that we opened with.”
Drastic menu changes can backfire, he adds. The moment you take a beloved item off the menu, diners complain. So don’t expect major overhauls any time soon, because this formula will still be in play when the latest KYU restaurant opens in the next several weeks in Los Angeles.
“I always tell everyone, ‘This place is not broken.‘ There’s nothing that needed to be fixed, because everybody who shows up shows up for a certain dish and eats the same thing. As a chef, you want to be creative, but you also want a place that you know makes money and is profitable. Let’s keep the people coming back.”
Dan Cuellar, lead bartender at KYU, where he has worked for six years, prepares a The World Is Yours cocktail at the restaurant. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com
Speaking of coming back: half of the current employees of KYU Miami have been part of the team for 10 years, a fact Sealey treasures.
“You don’t see that in the restaurant industry much,” he says.
Ten years in, nostalgia is a big part of the KYU formula, particularly in Miami, where diners have responded so strongly to the restaurant. While tourists still find KYU easily enough, some locals have been coming for a decade, feasting on beef short rib, Korean fried chicken, roasted cauliflower, tuna crispy rice and wagyu brisket. And, of course, the famous coconut cake for dessert.
“There are people walking up and say, ‘Hey, chef, how you doing?’ There are a lot of locals here,” he says. “Yes, there are a lot more restaurants for them to go to, so they might not come every single week like they used to, but they’ll come at least twice a month. It’s a unique place, like it’s been around forever, and I think it’s going to be here for a lot longer.”
Chef Raheem Sealey prepares a grilled octopus at KYU. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com KYU
Where: 251 NW 25th St, Miami,
Hours: 5-10 p.m. Monday-Tuesday; noon-10 p.m. Wednesday and Sunday; noon-11 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; happy hour 5-7 p.m. Monday-Friday at bar or on patio
Reservations and more information: kyurestaurants.com or (786) 577-0150
Connie Ogle loves wine, books and the Miami Heat. Please don’t make her eat a mango.