Chef Clay Conley and Palm Beach-based Ember Group are bringing three restaurants to one Coral Gables address in mid-April 2026, opening flagship Buccan, Japanese sister concept Imoto, and the Buccan Sandwich Shop inside a single ten-thousand-square-foot space at 100 Miracle Mile. It is the first expansion of the Buccan brand since Conley opened the Palm Beach original in January 2011 and his first Miami-Dade restaurant since he left Azul at the Mandarin Oriental Miami in 2010.
The three concepts share one building but operate with separate entrances, with Buccan and the Buccan Sandwich Shop facing Miracle Mile and Imoto entering from Galiano Street. The project sits in a new low-rise mixed-use building from developer MAS^AJP, a joint venture between Mas Group and AJP Ventures, on a parcel that previously held a three-story office occupied by SunTrust Bank and H&R Block. AJP Ventures purchased the property for $8.3 million in 2014. Architect of record is Coral Gables firm Behar, Font and Partners.
Conley’s Path to Coral Gables
Conley grew up in Limerick, Maine, skipped formal culinary training, and spent roughly ten years with Todd English’s Olives Group, rising to culinary director overseeing about eighteen restaurants across Boston, Washington, Las Vegas, and Tokyo by age twenty-nine. He was the opening executive chef of Olives at the Bellagio in Las Vegas in 2001. In 2005 he moved to Miami to run Azul at the Mandarin Oriental, where he stayed until 2010 and earned a 2008 StarChefs South Florida Rising Stars Award. Azul itself closed in June 2017 after a seventeen-year run.
Conley opened Buccan in Palm Beach in January 2011 with partners Sam Slattery and Oliver “Piper” Quinn. The restaurant at 350 South County Road is a modern American bistro built around a wood-burning oven, with a small-plates format and a name borrowed from the Caribbean buccan wooden grill. Imoto, a Japanese-inspired sister concept serving sushi, small plates, and wood-fired items, opened next door inside the same building in 2012. The Buccan Sandwich Shop began as a three-hundred-square-foot converted storage room at the back of Buccan and later added a second counter at Ember Group’s Italian restaurant Grato in West Palm Beach, which opened in January 2016.
Conley has been a James Beard Foundation semifinalist for Best Chef in the South seven times, most recently in 2024, though he has not advanced to finalist.
Why Coral Gables, Why Now
In interviews with Miami New Times, Conley said the team had tried to bring Buccan to Coral Gables once before. “We actually had a building in Coral Gables that we were trying to open Buccan in, but that deal ended up falling through. We’ve just always felt like that was a good spot for us. We like that market, so we’ve just always kept our eyes open for the right spot.” He also said senior staff from his Azul years will return with him. “The style will remain the same, but I’ve rehired these two guys that used to work with me at Azul.”
Alberto J. Perez, managing principal of MAS^AJP, framed the project as an anchor tenant for the broader 100 Miracle Mile development in a statement to commercial real estate trade press. Perez said the building “will serve as a cultural and business hub for top-tier dining, retail, residential and office space.” Daniel Diaz Leyva, Florida real estate chair at Day Pitney and counsel to the developer, added that “high-end restaurants are following their clientele to these new destinations, and Buccan is paving the way, enhancing the fine dining experience on Miracle Mile.”
What the Opening Signals for Miami-Dade
The project puts a James Beard-recognized Palm Beach operator in direct competition with the Miami-Dade fine dining field at a moment when Coral Gables has been courting chef-driven tenants for its Miracle Mile retail strip. The three-in-one format also gives Ember Group a way to carry three price points and three service styles under one roof, from the quick-service sandwich counter up through the wood-fired flagship. For landlords watching comparable deals in South Florida, the Coral Gables debut is a signal that legacy Palm Beach operators are now willing to underwrite expansions across the county line, after more than a decade of staying inside Palm Beach’s own market.
Buccan Palm Beach holds a 2025 Florida Michelin Guide recognition. The Coral Gables opening comes roughly a year ahead of the next Florida guide cycle and will give Conley a second kitchen in state when inspectors return.
Sources
Miami New Times, Famed Palm Beach Sandwich Shop to Open in Coral Gables This Spring
Commercial Observer, Buccan Signs at 100 Miracle Mile
CRE-Sources, Chef Clay Conley's Buccan to Make Coral Gables Debut in New 10,000-SF Space
WPB Magazine, Chef Clay Conley
Broward Palm Beach New Times, Clay Conley Opens Wood-Fired Buccan in Palm Beach
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