Miras Mediterranean Cuisine on Corrine Drive is one of those places that gets better the more times you go, and I’ve been going long enough to feel embarrassed I didn’t write about it sooner.
Nadia Hamed opened Miras over a decade ago after years of cooking for family, then friends, then friends of friends who kept asking if she ever thought about opening a restaurant. She finally did, in a compact space in the Mills 50 district that seats maybe forty people on a good day. The room is warm without being fussy — mismatched chairs, art on the walls that feels personal rather than curated, and a smell when you walk in that is some combination of garlic, lamb fat, and dried herbs that I honestly cannot explain except to say it makes you hungry immediately.
I first went because a friend dragged me away from the Thai place I always defaulted to on that stretch of Mills. I went back the following week on my own. That’s usually how it goes with Miras.
The menu is Lebanese-Egyptian, which means you get some dishes you recognize and some you have to ask about. Ask. Nadia or whoever is working the front will explain everything without making you feel like a tourist. The fattoush here is crisper and more acidic than it has any right to be — she uses sumac heavily, which I appreciate. The lamb shawarma plate is the thing most regulars order, slow-roasted and carved to order, served with rice that has toasted vermicelli folded through it and a yogurt sauce she makes in-house. It runs about fourteen dollars and is one of the more satisfying lunches I’ve had in this city.
If you go on a Thursday or Friday evening, Nadia is usually there herself, moving between the kitchen and the front without any visible hurry. She has a way of remembering what you ordered last time, which is either charming or slightly unnerving depending on your relationship with being known. She remembered I didn’t like cilantro after exactly one visit. I’ve never had to mention it again.
The moussaka here is worth noting separately. It’s nothing like the Greek version most people know — Nadia’s is lighter, with more tomato and less béchamel, and it tastes like something a grandmother worked out over years rather than something assembled from a recipe. It’s a rotating special, so you won’t always find it, but if you do, order it.
Miras is cash-friendly and also takes cards, prices are reasonable — most plates fall between eleven and seventeen dollars — and the lunch crowd tends to be a mix of hospital workers from nearby Florida Hospital, regulars from the neighborhood who’ve been coming since the beginning, and people who found it on Yelp and can’t believe it’s not more talked about. It is talked about, actually, just quietly, the way good neighborhood places usually are.
Parking on Corrine can be tight, especially around noon on weekdays. Street parking on the side streets usually opens up if you circle once. It’s worth the circle.
