In a day and age when every menu item needs to be Instagram-worthy, you might not be surprised to see melting desserts, smoky cocktails, and ice cream sundaes large enough to feed a table of six. But Instagram didn’t exist in 2002 when Barton G. Weiss launched the eponymous Barton G. restaurant in Miami. Even though people were still taking pictures with their cameras and showing photo prints to their friends, the prescient restaurateur went ahead with flashbulb-ready presentations like popcorn shrimp served inside an old-fashioned popcorn machine, a full-sized retro toaster containing lobster-filled pop-tarts, and a Caesar salad balanced carefully atop a bust of Julius Caesar. So, when social media did become more photo-driven, it’s no surprise that Barton G. (along with a sister restaurant that opened up in Los Angeles in 2014) became what many have called the most Instagrammable restaurant in the world.
For Weiss, who started his career as an ice skater before switching to event production and ultimately opening the Miami restaurant, it wasn’t about getting his restaurants on social media. “My whole mission is to make people happy,” he told the Miami New Times. “It comes back to the basics of wowing people and letting them have memorable moments.”
Old standbys and new creations
Barton G. Weiss and his team seek to dazzle guests with something new on an annual basis. The restaurant spends close to $160,000 every year to come up with eye-popping delights for both the LA and Miami locations. Still, some dishes — like those lobster pop tarts and popcorn shrimp — appear year after year. Other stalwarts include Marie Antoinette, a mannequin head topped with a two-foot tall cotton candy wig that would rival anything you’d see on “Bridgerton.” For Dollar Dollar Bills Y’All, a safe filled with chocolate gold coins and an oversized $100 bill accompany a large edible gold brick is set ablaze to reveal a chocolate s’mores-inspired confection.
While the menu items at Barton G. are certainly eye-catching, does the food live up to the hype? It depends on who you ask. Noting the fantastical displays at the LA restaurant, one critic for The Infatuation wrote, “Some of this is fun, but as the night progresses, it becomes clear why these props exist: to distract you from the inedible food […] It’s a Cheesecake Factory for people with more money than sense.” But a local critic writing for Miami Beach Community News was more enthusiastic. Barton G., the critic wrote, is part Cirque du Soleil, part music festival, and part Indy 500, “with the quality and flavors of a Michelin-starred restaurant.”
Prices as staggering as the presentations
One common complaint about Barton G. is the high prices. In Miami, cocktails from its Below Zero Nitro Bar, which uses liquid nitrogen to concoct over-the-top drinks, start at $35, but more mundane mixed drinks are priced in the $20 range. Those lobster pop-tarts, portioned as an appetizer, are $30. Entrees start at $47, a mac and cheese side dish (served on a human-sized mousetrap) is $27, and Marie Antoinette is $42. Prices in LA are similar.
Many of these dishes are meant to be shared, so guests can split the price this way. “I’m not trying to be the most expensive guy in town,” Barton G. Weiss told the Miami New Times. “There’s a lot of work that goes into these pieces. You’re paying for creativity and innovation.”
A third location opened in Chicago in 2019, but it has since closed. During its time in the Windy City, however, Barton G. did offer its nitrogen cocktails half-off during happy hour.
Barton G. may not be the reason Miami was named a foodie capital in the United States and it may not be where you’d choose to eat if you only had 24 hours in Los Angeles. But, where else can you get a steak entree served on a “Lawn Moo-er” or a 4-foot-tall ice cream cone? At $225, the latter is still a far cry from the most expensive desserts in the world, and it feeds up to 12 people.
