TV Restaurants

What Happened to Sparky's Roadside Barbeque After Food Paradise?

Food Paradise, Season 18 Miami, Florida

Current status

Closed

As of October 2026, Sparky's Roadside Barbeque has closed — confirmed via miaminewtimes.com, September 14, 2021.

What the source shows: The Miami New Times reported the restaurant's closure on 2021-09-14, and Google Places separately marks the business as permanently closed. How we decide a status →

What happened after Food Paradise?

The 'Hog Wild' episode (S18E7) featured Sparky's Roadside Barbeque for its Guava Habanero Wet Baby Back Ribs and Tyler's Vegetarian Pressed Sandwich, according to Wikipedia's Food Paradise season 18 episode guide. The barbecue restaurant operated in downtown Miami at 204 NE 1st Street for more than a decade. According to the Miami New Times (2021-09-14), the restaurant closed after owner Hans Seitz said the business was 'operating at a loss' during the pandemic; co-owner Kevin Kehoe had died earlier that year, per the same source.

A Google Places listing also marks the business as permanently closed. The restaurant had been named Best Restaurant in Downtown Miami in 2011, according to the Miami New Times. No successor business at the NE 1st Street address was identified in the evidence reviewed for this record.

The episode Food Paradise, Season 18

Episode 7
Air date not confirmed
Title: Hog Wild · What was featured: Guava habanero baby back ribs for 'Hog Wild'
How Food Paradise restaurants have fared: 27% closed →

Also in Season 18 Food Paradise

Season 18: 36 of 54 still open · 2 renamed, moved or under new owners

All 7 Season 18 episodes →

Nearest open restaurants By distance from 204 NE 1st St

All 277 TV restaurants in Florida →

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Sources we checked 2 references

  1. miaminewtimes.com https://www.miaminewtimes.com/restaurants/sparkys-roadside-barbecue-in-downtown-miami-has-closed-12915788
  2. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Paradise_season_18
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Record fp-1507 · checked by Cal Marchetti.