This Chef Lost His Restaurant the Week Michelin Called. Now He's Made a Comeback By Perfecting One Recipe. Chef Frank Neri discusses how a trip to Tijuana changed his view on flavor, a WhatsApp group kept him in the game, and doing one thing well became his recipe for success.
By Shawn P. Walchef Edited by Jessica Thomas
Key Takeaways
- When Frank Neri received an email from the Michelin Guide, his restaurant had already closed.
- A 2012 visit to Tijuana introduced Neri to bold, unexpected flavors that reshaped his culinary philosophy and planted the seed for what would eventually become El Primo Red Tacos.
- Neri built his brand around birria, believing that focusing on one standout dish creates clarity, consistency and loyalty.
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Frank Neri was shutting down his first restaurant, Pez, when he got the email.
It was a Monday when he announced the closure. Two days later, a message came in from the Michelin Guide asking for photos, chef details and a full description of the restaurant.
"We didn't get a star," Neri says. "But we made the list. And we had already closed."
The irony wasn't lost on him. After years of pouring his heart into Pez, a Baja-style seafood concept rooted in fine dining, the validation came just a few days too late.
"The media jumped on it," he says. "The story became about how we closed right before the list came out."
But the experience gave Neri clarity. He had chased perfection and ambition, and he learned just how fragile a great restaurant can be. That lesson stayed with him. So did the need to evolve.
"I used to think fine dining meant success," he explains. "Now I know it's about doing one thing really well, keeping the team small and staying focused."
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Like many others in the hospitality world, Neri had to learn in public. He made tough decisions, weathered shutdowns and leaned on a WhatsApp group of local Miami restaurateurs to share strategies and vent frustrations during the pandemic.
The group, which he jokingly refers to as the Cuban Mafia, included some of the city's most influential operators. "One day they'd say, 'Tomorrow we're talking to the mayor, we're pushing for full capacity,'" Neri recalls. "And then it would actually happen."
Those hard lessons reshaped his approach to the business. It became the beginning of El Primo Red Tacos.
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The birria taco boom
When the pandemic hit, Neri had a choice. Rather than double down on big dining rooms and complicated menus, he simplified. He took a slow-braised beef birria recipe, one he had been serving quietly for brunch, and turned it into the centerpiece of a stripped-down popup. Birria only. Takeout only. Twenty hours a week.
Within days, people were lining up around the block.
But the move wasn't just reactive. The foundation had been laid years earlier, during a trip to Tijuana in 2012. Neri remembers the exact date, July 28, because it changed the way he thought about flavor.
"I had this tostada with yellowfin tuna and machaca," he says. "I'd trained in France and Spain, but this was something else. A flavor explosion."
It wasn't about copying that dish; it was about chasing that feeling. The impact of bold, unexpected flavor combinations inspired Neri's approach to tacos. He wanted to create something equally memorable, but rooted in his own voice and vision.
Years later, when nobody in Miami was doing tacos the way he remembered, Neri gave the city six months to get it right. When no one did, he launched his own concept: El Primo Red Tacos.
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Now located in downtown Miami, El Primo Red Tacos keeps the menu tight and the focus singular. The specialty is birria, and everything revolves around doing it right. "We specialize. That's what we believe in," he says. "Specialize, perfect it and that's it."
Even the recipes are personal. Neri's mother-in-law helped shape the original birria blend, which he fine-tuned with care.
Neri offers his advice with the same clarity that came from hard-won experience. Take small steps. Avoid bloated menus. Focus on what you care about most. That mindset didn't just help him rebound; it gave him a new blueprint for growth.
Failure didn't end his career. It set the stage for something more focused, more intentional, and more successful. "We're proud of our food," Neri says. "Everybody does birria now, but not everybody does it well. Nobody does it like we do."
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