Uchi Miami hosts the third installment of its 2026 Summer Dinner Series on August 20 in Wynwood, pairing Chef de Cuisine Diana Martinez with Cotoa founder and executive chef Alejandra Espinoza for a 10-course omakase-style dinner that merges nontraditional Japanese technique with progressive Ecuadorian cuisine. Espinoza arrives with a 2026 Michelin Bib Gourmand designation behind her, making the $150-per-guest collaboration one of the more credentialed culinary crossovers on Miami’s late-summer calendar.
Key Takeaways
- Uchi Miami’s Summer Dinner Series continues on August 20 with a one-night-only, 10-course collaboration between Chef de Cuisine Diana Martinez and Cotoa founder Alejandra Espinoza at 252 NW 25th Street in Wynwood.
- Cotoa received a 2026 Michelin Bib Gourmand designation, recognizing Espinoza’s ingredient-driven approach to Ecuadorian and Latin American cooking.
- The dinner runs from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at $150 per guest, with reservations available through SevenRooms.
- Previous installments featured collaborations with Yoso Sushi (June 25) and Over/Under chef Michael Eure (July 23).
- The series concludes September 24 with founding chef Tyson Cole previewing Uchibā, Uchi’s new sister concept opening in Brickell.
Two Culinary Philosophies Meet on a Single 10-Course Menu
The format of Uchi’s Summer Dinner Series places two kitchens on equal footing for a single evening. Rather than a guest chef cooking within a host restaurant’s framework, each collaboration is built as a joint menu where both culinary perspectives shape every course. The August 20 dinner pairs Martinez’s command of Uchi’s Japanese-contemporary vocabulary, developed under the brand’s founder Tyson Cole, with Espinoza’s rooted-but-progressive interpretation of Ecuadorian cooking that earned Cotoa its Michelin recognition.
Uchi Miami operates at the intersection of traditional Japanese technique and global ingredient sourcing, producing dishes that borrow the structural discipline of nigiri, sashimi, and omakase while incorporating flavors and preparations that have no precedent in classical Japanese cuisine. Martinez, who leads the Wynwood kitchen, has shaped a menu known for dishes like aji crudo with sunchoke ponzu, corn arancini with dashi risotto, and braised short rib with mango-shiso relish, items that appeared in earlier Summer Dinner Series installments.
Espinoza brings a different set of references. Cotoa, her restaurant, works from an Ecuadorian foundation but approaches its source cuisine with a progressive, ingredient-forward method that treats tradition as a starting point rather than a boundary. The Michelin Bib Gourmand, awarded to restaurants offering quality food at moderate prices, placed Cotoa within the 2026 Michelin Guide’s recognition of Miami’s evolving dining landscape, a landscape that has expanded rapidly beyond the city’s traditional strength in high-end steakhouses and waterfront seafood.
The collision of those two approaches across 10 courses gives diners something that neither restaurant delivers on its own. Espinoza’s Ecuadorian techniques applied to ingredients that Uchi’s supply chain sources from Japanese markets, or Martinez’s precision applied to the bold flavors and aromatic profiles that define Cotoa’s menu, represent combinations that exist only within the temporary framework of a collaborative dinner.
The Summer Dinner Series as a Platform for Miami’s Culinary Network
Uchi Miami launched its 2026 Summer Dinner Series on June 25 with Yoso Sushi, the sustainably sourced sushi concept co-owned by Chef de Cuisine Deniz Aktug. That opening collaboration kept the conversation within a shared Japanese culinary language, pairing two kitchens that approach sushi and raw preparations from different angles but work within a common tradition. The July 23 installment with Michael Eure of Over/Under shifted the register, bringing southern and subtropical flavors into dialogue with Uchi’s Japanese base.
The Espinoza collaboration pushes the series further from its home territory. Ecuadorian cuisine has a limited footprint in Miami’s dining scene relative to Cuban, Colombian, Peruvian, and Mexican traditions, and Cotoa occupies a singular position within that landscape. Espinoza’s presence in the series reflects a broader trend in Miami’s restaurant community: chefs with Latin American heritage who are building restaurants that honor their culinary origins while refusing to be confined by them.
The series architecture also serves a business function for Uchi’s parent brand. Each dinner operates as a ticketed, limited-capacity event that drives revenue on a traditionally slower night while generating content and visibility that extends beyond the evening itself. For the guest chefs, the collaboration provides access to Uchi’s audience, a diner base that already self-selects for culinary curiosity and willingness to pay for experiential dining.
The September Finale Previews Uchi’s Brickell Expansion
The Summer Dinner Series concludes on September 24 with a collaboration that carries strategic weight beyond the culinary program. Founding chef Tyson Cole will return to the Wynwood dining room to preview Uchibā, a new sister concept that Uchi’s parent company plans to open in the Brickell neighborhood.
Uchibā represents Uchi’s first brand extension in the Miami market. While Uchi Miami has operated in Wynwood since establishing its Florida presence, the Brickell location introduces a distinct concept under the same culinary umbrella, targeting the financial district’s dense residential and office population with a format that may differ from Wynwood’s full-service omakase model.
Cole’s decision to use the September dinner as a preview for Uchibā turns the final Summer Dinner Series event into a public testing ground for dishes and concepts that will define the new restaurant. Diners who attend will encounter menu items and preparations that may appear on Uchibā’s opening menu, making the September 24 dinner both a conclusion to the summer series and an introduction to Uchi’s next chapter in Miami.
For a city whose dining scene has expanded at a pace that sometimes outstrips the culinary infrastructure needed to sustain it, the Uchi-to-Uchibā pipeline represents the kind of methodical brand building that prioritizes kitchen development over rapid unit growth. The Summer Dinner Series, in that context, functions as research and development conducted in full public view, with each collaboration testing the boundaries of what the Uchi platform can absorb and deliver.
Wynwood as Miami’s Culinary Collaboration Hub
Uchi Miami’s location at 252 NW 25th Street places the Summer Dinner Series within a neighborhood that has become Miami’s primary corridor for chef-driven, concept-forward dining. Wynwood’s evolution from an industrial warehouse district to a nationally recognized arts and dining destination has created an environment where restaurants operate with more creative latitude than in the city’s legacy dining neighborhoods like South Beach, Coral Gables, or the Design District.
The neighborhood’s density of independent restaurants, galleries, and creative businesses generates a built-in audience for the kind of experimental, limited-run dining events that the Summer Dinner Series represents. Diners walking from a gallery opening or a mural tour into a 10-course collaborative omakase are participating in a consumption pattern that Wynwood’s urban design was, intentionally or not, built to facilitate.
The August 20 dinner with Espinoza is ticketed at $150 per guest, with reservations available through the SevenRooms platform. The evening runs from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Walk-ins are not accepted for the Summer Dinner Series events.
FAQs
What is the Uchi Miami Summer Dinner Series?
The Summer Dinner Series is a four-part program of one-night-only collaborative dinners at Uchi Miami in Wynwood. Each installment pairs Uchi’s Chef de Cuisine Diana Martinez with a guest chef from another Miami restaurant to create a shared multicourse tasting menu available exclusively for that evening.
Who is Chef Alejandra Espinoza?
Alejandra Espinoza is the founder and executive chef of Cotoa, a Miami restaurant recognized with a 2026 Michelin Bib Gourmand designation. Espinoza is known for her progressive approach to Ecuadorian and Latin American cuisine, using an ingredient-driven philosophy that builds on traditional culinary foundations while incorporating contemporary techniques.
How much does the dinner cost and how do guests reserve?
The August 20 dinner is priced at $150 per guest for a 10-course omakase-style menu. Reservations are available through the SevenRooms booking platform. The dinner runs from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Uchi Miami, 252 NW 25th Street in Wynwood. Walk-ins are not accepted.
What is Uchibā and when does it open?
Uchibā is a new sister concept from Uchi’s parent brand, planned for the Brickell neighborhood. Founding chef Tyson Cole will preview the concept at the final Summer Dinner Series event on September 24. An opening date for the Brickell location has not been publicly announced.
