By Ellen Kanner
Hanging with U2, Madonna and Bruce Springsteen would be almost anyone’s definition of wow. But for Stephen Starr, concert promoter turned restaurateur, it’s not about rock, it’s about restaurants. 
Starr is the man behind twenty chic eateries around the country including brand new Makoto in Bal Harbour Shops.
Makoto is named for Iron Chef Makoto Okuwa, who rules -- and rocks -- the kitchen with playful spins on Asian classics. Starr had been impressed by Makoto back when the chef trained under sushi master Morimoto (who chefs a Starr restaurant of the same name in Manhattan). Starr wanted Makoto back when the Bal Harbour restaurant was little more than a dream. And the chef has made the restaurant a luscious reality.
Among Starr’s favorite dishes onthe menu are the crispy sushi rice and the Kobe beef stir-fry, plates juxtaposing hot and cold, salty and sweet, melty and crispy, elegant and approachable. Indeed, to eat your way through Makoto is to experience a yin-yang of sensory contrasts, like tea-crusted tuna tataki, sparked with chili and cooled with avocado.
“He’s very creative, has some whimsy to what he wants to do for this food. He’s young, Japanese, playful, the proper match for Miami,” says Starr, who somehow divides his time between Philadelphia, New York and here (Starr’s other South Florida restaurant, 954, is at the W Hotel in Fort Lauderdale. “Miami is sort of a southern sister to Philadelphia and New York and it feels right. I like Bal Harbour -- it’s sophisticated.”
Though Starr wanted Makoto to be “very food-driven,” the space itself will take your breath away. It’s very different from the “big bang theatrics” of Starr’s Buddakan. With Makoto, “I wanted to go with a warmer environment.” Designed by the French team of Gilles and Boissier, the warmth comes through with golden walls and lighting that gives everyone a rosy, golden glow. Though it seats 200, Makoto feels intimate.
If one of the visual standouts is the sushi bar that seats a dozen, one of the culinary ones is the robata grill. Asian, ancient, intense and elemental, it’s a method of cooking using only high heat and a little salt. “It’s healthy -- you can eat and get good flavors and it doesn’t affect your waistline.”
To get every dish just right, “we tweaked, tasted -- it’s a whole process.” He and Makoto collaborated on the menu, riffing off each other like rock stars on stage.
That’s about as close as Starr gets to the music business these days. He sold his concert promotion company in the mid-90s and found himself in the enviable position of being young, wealthy and free. And, he discovered, bored. Getting into restaurants happened “by accident.”
Twenty years and twenty restaurants later, Starr hasn’t been bored since. “It’s like producing a show every night,” he says. “You’re overseeing the cast, the servers, bartenders, managers, chefs.” Then there’s the set -- “the music, the lights, a beautiful open kitchen.” And of course, the performance. “The ballet of great chefs putting food out.”
He wants you to feel at Makoto what he wanted you to feel at a Springsteen concert -- “an immediate satisfaction. I love when people walk in and you see their eyes widen -- that wow. That makes it a success for me.”
Gingered Sake from Makoto
Muddle 3 wedges of ruby red grapefruit
3.5 oz Ozeki Dry Sake, chilled
.5 oz Ginger Rosemary Syrup
Roll with ice in shaker
Garnish with rosemary sprig (dip in hot water first to release aroma)
Makes 1 cocktail
