You know what they say about New York: If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.

But for many a Palm Beach County restaurateur, the same apparently holds true for Miami. In recent years, a number of enterprising chefs and proprietors have looked to the city to our south as a kind of ultimate testing ground.

Running a restaurant in ever-competitive Boca Raton, West Palm Beach or Palm Beach Gardens may not be an easy task. But running one in Miami, with its celebrity-crazed, international-minded scene, is the true challenge. Some veteran restaurateurs even suggest it’s a more demanding, and complicated, market than New York.

With that in mind, we ventured south to visit with some Palm Beach County restaurateurs at their new Miami addresses and see what the dining scene is like. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to do the same.

DAVID MANERO
HIS PALM BEACH COUNTY RESTAURANTS:
Vic & Angelo’s in Delray Beach and Palm Beach Gardens
HIS MIAMI RESTAURANT:
DeVito South Beach in Miami Beach

What brought him to Miami: Manero had his eye on an Art Deco property in South Beach as the perfect setting to expand his South Florida culinary empire. It turns out that the food-mad actor Danny DeVito was also eyeing the same building to open a restaurant. A partnership was soon born and DeVito South Beach opened in 2007.

Menu and ambience: Think a mom-and-pop Italian-American eatery crossed with a cool, gourmet-inspired steakhouse. The two-story restaurant, designed by Manero’s style-conscious wife Lynn, is marked by its playful mix of indoor and outdoor spaces, including Caribbean-like cabanas for semi-private dining and a Venetian-inspired indoor bar. It also boasts a menu of high-end beef items galore, from an $18 Kobe beef steak tartare (beyond delicious!) to a $295 DeVito Kobe “flight” that offers samples of melt-in-your-mouth meat from around the world. But pastas (dubbed “macaroni” in the Old World tradition) and other Italian favorites get their due, as evidenced by a sweet-meets-savory $29 four-cheese pear tortellini that’s such a brisk seller that Manero has decided to offer it in his Palm Beach County restaurants. Oh, and if you’re feeling thirsty, the wine list has bottles that go for a few dollars to a few thousand. Or you can sip a specialty martini made with DeVito’s own brand of limoncello.

The differences of doing business down south: Money. It costs a lot to build a restaurant like this, and a lot to keep it going. More than $7.5 million went into the project, with the price being driven by Miami’s then-soaring real estate, plus the difficulty of doing any kind of construction in a crowded urban environment. (Says Manero: “There’s nowhere to put Dumpsters.”) And staffing needs are enormous: In Palm Beach County, you don’t need to hire an in-house bodyguard to keep an eye on things. In South Beach, it can be a necessity. But the money thing goes both ways. At this place, patrons spend freely. Manero has one regular customer who orders $3,000 in Kobe beef for himself and his entourage, but usually leaves more than half of it untouched.

Celeb factor: Because of the built-in Hollywood connection with DeVito, anyone and everyone can show up at DeVito South Beach, and they often do. Patrons have included Paris Hilton, Halle Berry, Lance Armstrong, Diana Ross and Michael Bolton. Manero has quickly learned how to assist celebs who want to avoid the limelight (they get shuttled in and out through the back of the restaurant) and celebs who want to milk every minute of fame (the restaurant has an on-call paparazzo).

Miami vice: The restaurant may attract its share of big spenders, but it also attracts its share of small-time crooks. Patrons always are trying to leave without settling their bills. “I’ve never experienced this in any other market,” said Manero.

Info: 150 Ocean Drive, (305) 531-0911, devitosouthbeach.com

GARY RACK
HIS PALM BEACH COUNTY RESTAURANT:
Coal Mine Pizza in Boca Raton
HIS MIAMI RESTAURANT:
RACKS Italian Bistroand Market
in North Miami Beach
What brought him to Miami: The location on the Intracoastal. Rack admits he wasn’t so much interested in having a Miami restaurant as he was in having one on the water anywhere in South Florida. When this spot became available at the right price, he realized it was “the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Menu and ambience: The restaurant expands upon the neighborhood coal-oven pizzeria concept that Rack brought to Boca in Coal Mine by offering a broader selection of Italian appetizers and entrees and by introducing a certain element of theatricality. RACKS appears to be little more than a small Tuscan-style market in front, but step inside and it’s actually a block-long strip of a restaurant. Plus, it has a waterfront patio that makes for breezy dining even in the summertime. (Boaters also can anchor at the restaurant.) Pizzas are still a must-have — try the $12 Fiore di Latte pie for something simple but satisfying. But the other stars on the menu include a gnocchi made with ricotta cheese ($15) and salmon served with a Sicilian-style eggplant caponata ($23). The bar also pours plenty of Italian cocktails, including the classic negroni made with Campari.

The differences of doing business down south: The international flavor of the community. This part of Miami has it all, from Latin Americans to Russian émigrés. And each group has its own particular culinary demands and desires. Plus, even though the restaurant attracts its share of seniors, they tend to be more active and party-minded than the retirees in Boca.

Celeb factor: It’s still early — the restaurant opened just a few months ago — but operations director Steve Lieber believes some Miami Dolphins and Miami Heat players have stopped by.

Miami vice: Some international patrons try to bring in their own booze, under the table. Rack and his staff have learned to look the other way because those same customers still can be some of the restaurant’s biggest spenders.

Info: 3933 N.E. 163rd St. (in the Intracoastal Mall), (305) 917-7225, grrestaurant.com

JOHN SULEY
HIS PALM BEACH COUNTY RESTAURANT:
Café Joley in Boca Raton
(He has sold his stake in the restaurant, but it’s still open.)
HIS MIAMI RESTAURANT:
Gotham Steak
at the Fontainebleau
in Miami Beach
What brought him to Miami: For Suley, this is something of a Miami encore. A few years ago, he worked as a chef at The Ritz-Carlton in South Beach. Then, he opened his place in Boca. But when Alfred Portale of New York’s famed Gotham Bar and Grill asked him to be the chef de cuisine at the Miami incarnation of his steakhouse, Suley knew he couldn’t say no. The restaurant opened in 2008, but Suley started a few weeks ago.

Menu and ambience: This is anything but your typical hotel restaurant, or your typical steakhouse. The look is clean and open, as bright and sun-splashed as Miami itself. The food is focused on contemporary tweaks on steakhouse standards; instead of an everyday baked potato, you can have a baked potato stuffed with Maine lobster. Suley is also trying to play up the Florida factor: He’s introduced a grouper Provençal to the menu and is bringing in lots of locally grown produce. But Suley likes to share credit. He proudly points to his pastry chef, Josh Gripper, as one of the key forces behind the restaurant’s success. And once you try Gripper’s out-of-this-world ice cream sundae, made with caramelized bananas and chocolate almonds, you’ll know why. But nothing here comes cheaply: That sundae runs $18, specialty cocktails cost as much as $17, and an aged steak can run up to nearly $100.

The differences of doing business down south: “You have to be a little more edgy and innovative,” said Suley. In other words, Miami is much closer in culinary spirit to New York than Palm Beach.

Celeb factor: This is the Fontainebleau, after all. In the old days, that meant Sinatra. Today, it means Sean “Diddy” Combs and a gazillion other A-listers.
Miami vice: There’s nothing like feasting on a fine meal, then glancing out the restaurant’s window and seeing a Fontainebleau pool-goer wearing, well, next to nothing.

Info: 4401 Collins Ave., (877) 326-7412, fontainebleau.com

LIRIM JACOBI
HIS PALM BEACH COUNTY RESTAURANTS:
Taverna Opa, City Pizza and Wild Ginger at CityPlace in West Palm Beach (He also took over Opus 5 in Boca Raton.)
HIS MIAMI RESTAURANTS:
Taverna Opa and Taco Viva
(opening later in 2009) at the Dolphin Mall in Miami
What brought him to Miami: The sheer size of the market. Jacobi says the Dolphin Mall attracts more than 20 million shoppers a year. That’s a lot of hungry people.

Menu and ambience: Jacobi is still in the planning stages with both restaurants. The Miami Taverna Opa likely will follow the same formula as the CityPlace one, a Greek restaurant that balances food and fun (think dancing on the tables). But Jacobi plans on tweaking the menu to include some items that should appeal to the large Miami Latin population, such as paella. As for Taco Viva, it’s a new concept — Jacobi is billing it as a “hip Mexican restaurant.”

The differences of doing business down south: Jacobi is still learning the ropes, but he already knows that Latin customers love to party, and they also love their beef and pork. “Our meat platters will be the biggest sellers,” Jacobi predicts.

Miami vice: All that partying can be fun, but it can add up to a few headaches for a restaurateur. “We’re going to be crazy busy,” said Jacobi.
Info: Details still are being finalized, but for Dolphin Mall info, you can always go to shopdolphinmall.com