Northern Spain’s Basque Country is famous for its coastal scenery and bold architecture as well as its free-spirited populace. Encompassing all those regional aspects is the new Zeru Miami restaurant, where a cozy aesthetic and authentic menu combine in a culinary love letter to the Basques. The first design project in the United States by Faci Leboreiro, an architecture and interior design studio based in Mexico City, Zeru feels like a refreshing walk through Basque Country. Faci Leboreiro co-founders Carlos Faci and Marina Leboreiro discuss how they created the restaurant’s elegant yet approachable vibe, where warm wood tones meet deep blue shades of the seaside to create an intimate, seductive dining experience.
Gwen Donovan: How does designing a restaurant differ from designing a home or commercial space?
Carlos Faci: Restaurants can be more experimental because the time people live in the space is temporary, so we can create more fun, exotic and diverse concepts.
GD: What details did you incorporate to bring a sense of the Basque Country to Zeru?
CF: The use of wood in the form of lattices that resembles the beams used in the typical casonas vascas (Basque houses), the different shades of blues inspired by the sea of the region, and also the paintings and sculptures of the Meninas, one of Spain’s most important icons.
GD: Did you encounter any design challenges as Zeru took shape?
Marina Leboreiro: It was difficult to understand the way our design was going to be executed in the U.S. since constructive criteria is different from Mexico, so we had to be very close to the construction team in order to learn new ways in which the design could be done and solved.
GD: What is your favorite part of Zeru?
ML: The bar and the kitchen are our favorite spaces because they function as the heart of the project; around them and in them is where magic extends to all of the restaurant.
GD: Which menu items do you always order at Zeru?
CF: Socarrats are amazing, also fish grilled in Getarian style in the Josper, a hybrid grill and oven.
GD: What is your takeaway from this restaurant design?
ML: It has been an honor to be part of Zeru history; we are very grateful to be a part of the evolution of this concept. As designers, it has been an incredible journey to be able to design a restaurant that has been evolving and adapting at its Mexico City locations, while keeping its essence in the new Miami location.
Photography by Rafael Gamo.
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