Enrico Malta, Cara Mia Trattoria owner

Born in Sicily, Italy in 1956, Enrico moved with his family to New York in 1962. After attending school in Queens, he moved to Manhattan in 1977 and worked in the restaurant business as a waiter, bartender and manager. He opened his first restaurant in 1982 and quickly started opening a slew of restaurants in the years following; from 1982 until 2012, with the help of his brother Bob, he opened roughly 40 establishments in Manhattan. The restaurants- mostly Italian- were a huge success and the formula was an easy one to follow: “si mangia bene, si paga poco.” This is a low risk formula that means “eat well, spent less”. The two formed NYCRG [New York Restaurant Group] which operates restaurants in the upper West Side, Hell’s Kitchen, The Theater District and Chelsea. All of these restaurants are quintessential neighborhood trattorias catering to folks that eat 3 times a week. 

  After 30 years of running NYCRG, Enrico made the move to Miami to be with his wife and son Luca. Although initially fun to live in a tropical paradise, after a year "I got a little bored- I mean how many times can you go to the beach?" he says. Thus Cara Mia was opened!  After 3 months of renovation to transform a space with a small kitchen, limited storage and low ceilings, a mixture of Fellini and industrial looks with a solid Italian menu was born.