Food, Recent Posts

Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s The Rez Grill hosts La Cañita pop-up

by Alexandria Ebron

The Rez Grill at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino will host a three-day pop-up featuring James Beard Award-winning chef Michelle Bernstein next weekend. Guests can experience the flavors, cocktails, and ambiance of Bernstein’s acclaimed Latin-Caribbean restaurant La Cañita, located in Kendall, Florida.

La Cañita, which translates to “little sugarcane” in Spanish, celebrates the rich culinary traditions of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and beyond. The restaurant debuted in 2021 at Miami’s Bayside Marketplace before opening its flagship location in January 2025.

This exclusive pop-up at The Rez Grill offers a dining experience inspired by all the vibes of La Cañita featuring dishes prepared in The Rez Grill’s signature woodfire oven. Guests can also enjoy an elevated cocktail menu and lively bar scene, all paired with live music throughout the duration of the pop-up.

Chef Michelle Bernstein (known affectionately as “Michy”) has been a culinary trendsetter since the late-1990’s. She’s opened some of Miami’s most definitive restaurants, including her beloved Sra. Martinez, the original Michy’s, Café La Trova , MBC Catering and, most recently, La Cañita. She is widely-recognized due to her two television shows: PBS Television’s “Check, Please!” and “SoFLo Taste” on WPLG ABC 10. Her cooking style, celebrated in her cookbook “Cuisine a Latina”, originates from not only her foodie experiences around the world but alsoher rich culinary cultural heritage. In 2008, she made history as the first woman to win the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast.
A few standouts from Chef Bernstein’s pop-up menu, available to order à la carte, include Prawn Trifongo with yuca-green-ripe plantain, grilled shrimp and red chimichurri; Ricotta Gnocchi with rabo encendido; Cuban Panzanella Salad with toasted Cuban bread, queso blanco, tomato, avocado, and mojo vinaigrette; and a Passion Fruit Tres Leches for dessert.
Specialty cocktails include the Mojito Criollo, a refreshing blend of rum, lime juice, sugar, mint, soda water, and bitters; the Disco Inferno, an adventurous mix of reposado tequila, passion fruit, and spicy agave; the Domino OF, a rich combo of rum, rye whiskey, demerara, and chocolate bitters; and the namesake La Cañita, a tropical fusion of classic rum, banana liqueur, guava, strawberry, and lime.
During the pop-up, The Rez Grill will also offer some of its signature selections: Maryland crab cakes; Benton’s Ham; and Prime-Bone-In Ribeye. Additional cocktail specials include Lychee Martini; Rum Runner, Espresso Martini; Spicy Ginger Rita and Rezzie or Not mocktail with guava nectar, prickly pear puree and ginger beer.
The La Cañita pop-up at The Rez Grill happens next week Friday, March 28-Sunday, March 30. Reservations are recommended and you can make those here.
The Rez Grill is located on the mezzanine level of the casino at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, accessible from the Orient Road Garage. For reservations or more information, please call (813) 627-8120 or visit casino.hardrock.com.
Header photo c/o Michael Pisarri