The trio has maintained Paradis' homey environment while offering an eclectic and ever-changing menu that goes from a bakery and café during the day into a restaurant serving Afro-Caribbean cuisine and wine at night. Four feels like a playground for its new inhabitants, and that's where its magic lies. Four brings together some of the most exciting talent in Miami's food scene and allows them to experiment in their craft independently. Operating as a pop-up (it's not confirmed if or when they will end operations) has allowed them to try things on for size without sacrificing quality or the intimate vibe. And luckily, wherever the folks at Four want to take its customers, they're in for the ride.
To know what will be served at Four on any given day, you'll have to follow the collective on Instagram. There, the restaurant collective posts its offerings on its days of operation (Friday through Sunday). During the day, Blk Brw — made up of Taylor Morgan, Andres Cantey, Nick Murray, and Ashley Lindo — serves a rotating coffee and tea selection alongside an array of fresh baked goods by Gheiler. Then, come the evening, Hall creates and executes the food menu accompanied by a specifically curated lineup of wines.
How The Four Crew Came About
Blk Brw conceived of taking over the former Paradis space in August 2024 after a successful dinner pop-up with Hall at New Schnitzel. "They're phenomenal," Hall tells New Times about the Blk Brw team. "If they were not there, none of us would be able to do this," says Hall. "They really give Julian and I this position to show up, make our product, and flex our creative muscle." Blk Brw was founded in 2020 to shed light on the black coffee roaster scene and then grew into a hub for creation in the Miami food and beverage world, prioritizing the work of fellow BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people.With Blk Brw's stated values of "education, inclusivity, and community," the crew walks the walk, regularly hosting affordable workshops like making latte art and espresso tastings showcasing local roasters. As for baker Gheiler, "He's a beast, bro," says Hall. According to an Instagram post by Gheiler, after seven years of baking consistently, he was thrilled to open a bakery of his own within the collective space at Four.
From Los Angeles to Miami With a Vision
Hall's no newbie at this cooking thing, either. Hall has been experimenting with the evening fare, starting exclusively with Detroit-style pizzas, then offering a South Asian pop-up on select Wednesdays, and now focusing on Afro-centric cuisine."I started cooking when I was a little kid, like four," he says. As a teenager, Hall started working in kitchens in both Miami and Los Angeles, where he attended the Los Angeles College of Music (he still makes music under the stage name Ilikebloo). Then, in 2022, to raise funds for victims of an earthquake in Haiti, Hall and his friend Marlon Lagos decided to sell pizza from Hall's Miami Shores home. The pizza was such a hit that friends asked Hall to sell food regularly. "It was just the two of us making pizza every fucking day we could. Like any place they would let us sell pizza from, we would be there. So we would be at really lame concerts like selling pizza in the front."
Then, at the end of 2023, Hall moved back to Los Angeles and decided to try a pop-up on his own. "I started selling Trinidadian food, and just because I was older, I understood the game more. It picked up way more quickly, and I got a spot to sell at immediately." That spot was Canary Test, an art gallery in the fashion district of Los Angeles. Canary Test is where I first met Hall. I remember it vividly. Hall was cooking outside in a giant wok while socializing, holding multiple conversations, and smiling ear to ear while doing it. In 2024, Hall returned to Miami, where he linked up with Blk Brw for the pop-up dinner, and Four began shortly thereafter. I've been to Four several times, and Hall's joy has never wavered. The evolution, though, has taken place in the dishes themselves, with Hall finding his most realized self through the current Afro-centric selections he's been serving. "When I started doing the pizza, it was because I was sort of accommodating myself to the space. Since there's no stove in Four's kitchen, I was like okay it makes sense I just do pizza."
His solution? He built a kitchen outside. Building a stove outside has allowed Hall to expand into the cuisine he's most comfortable in. "Honestly, it's a lot more fulfilling and gratifying," he says of his Afro-centric cooking. The food itself can be described as such, too.
Hall's jerk chicken wings served with house-made sweet jerk barbecue sauce, and slow roasted jerk pork.
Photo by Adriana Santos
Hall Has Found His Groove With Afro-Caribbean Cuisine at Four
On my most recent visit, I had Hall's collard greens, Kunde (black-eyed peas, peanuts, tomato, and sumac onions), Nigerian Jollof rice, jerk chicken wings served with house-made sweet jerk barbecue sauce, and slow-roasted jerk pork. Hall has hit his stride. The chicken was the perfect combination of sweet and spicy cooked to ideal softness; the rice was deliciously seasoned and felt nurturing in the way someone who really knows how to cook rice can make you feel. The Kunde was my absolute favorite, having never tasted that combination of sweet and tart flavors in a bean dish. I had a second serving.Hall's family is Jamaican, and he's been enjoying incorporating his Caribbean roots into his menus. "Showing people this is where I'm from, and this is the food we eat felt really good," he explains. The North Miami community is primarily Haitian, so at first, he feared the community wouldn't stop by. However, this has all changed. "Since we've started this Afro-centric menu, I've really understood the complexity of wow food is really a universal language," he says. "When we started the afro centric thing a bunch of people came, like, 'Yo! I'm from the barber shop next door!' It's super cool. I feel mad happy now that they come because they smell what's going on outside and they're like, 'This reminds me of something I like to eat. Even if I haven't had this actual dish before, it's still something that makes sense to me.'"
The Four gang has a gift and, I suspect, a passion for making people happy through food and drinks, but the best part of eating or drinking there is that it feels like the staff are happy to be there, too.
One of the nights I went, I saw Cantey experimenting with a dish. As he cooked, he took his time to try different things and even chatted and laughed with the customers in between. Then, upon deciding the dish was good enough, I watched him place a small, makeshift sign that read "Coconut Rice Pudding." I immediately went up to order it, and it was delectable. It reminded me of the rice pudding my grandmother would make me as a kid. Maybe, partly because I felt the love in it. I let him know it was delicious, and he seemed genuinely pleased. "It's the first time I'm making it!" he said with glee.
At that moment, my experience at Four shined above any other dinner I've had in Miami in recent years. That's the magic of Four. At its core, it's a group of talented individuals obsessed with their craft, coming together and utilizing 12831 W. Dixie Hwy. to play and serve quality goods in the community.
That joy is something no Michelin-starred spot can rival.
Four. 12831 W. Dixie Hwy., North Miami; instagram.com/four.miami.
