NIU Kitchen is the small restaurant making a big buzz in Downtown Miami because of its inventive Catalan-cuisine and electric offerings. Chat Chow TV met with Executive Chef and partner Deme Lomas to hear about the new menu, its authentic inspiration and what makes its menu unique.

Lomas hails from Barcelona, where he cooked as an executive chef for a large restaurant group for many years. He came to the U.S. three years ago and worked appropriately enough at Barconleta, the popular Spanish restaurant in Miami Beach, before branching out on his own with partner Karina Iglesias earlier this year.

What makes NIU unique from the large array of Spanish restaurants in South Florida is that it focuses on the cuisine of of Lomas’ hometown of Barcelona where the emphasis is more on seafood dishes that are lightly cooked and grilled.

The restaurant serves both lunch and dinner using a concise but eclectic menu that features 10-15 items at any given point with unique spins on traditional tapas like gazpacho and tartare along with specials rotating every few days.

Curious what makes NIU’s gazpacho so different? Or what NIU means in Catalan? Discover all of this and more in the video above.