Mastro’s is well-known nationally as a high-end steakhouse chain that also features a line in seafood. Their new location in Fort Lauderdale sits on the Intracoastal near Oakland Park Boulevard, an area that’s quickly becoming a go-to dining locale. Executive Chef Rocco Nankervis aims to give customers plenty of options with a menu that, alongside prime cuts of beef, offers all sorts of seafood and even a sushi menu.
Il Paesano emphasizes fresh ingredients, quality food and spreading love. There’s no set menu, only daily specials determined by the fresh ingredients that are found in the market. During the week there are about 15 to 16 different dishes. And owner Vergilio Peixoto has no freezers; from the pasta to the tomato sauce, everything is made fresh in-house. Il Paesano’s chef formerly owned Vesuvio, which was a popular Italian restaurant in Fort Lauderdale back in its heyday.
Il Paesano has a wide variety of wines and the private wine room can also be used as a more intimate setting for couples to dine. (There have been marriage proposals, Peixoto reports.) And if you want to know more about wine, Peixoto hosts a winetasting class every month. But be quick – the classes tend to fill up within minutes of being announced.
Old-fashioned, homemade cooking in the form of seafood cuisine with locally sourced ingredients.
A family-owned restaurant serving upscale comfort food from chicken potpie to pigs in a blanket to Janice’s meatloaf and fried green tomatoes. And yes, drinks are served in Mason jars.
Kitchenetta was opened in 2004 by chef Vincent Foti and wife Maria as a come-as-you-are casual eatery that pumps out top-notch Italian fare with a modern touch. The menu rotates seasonally and includes as many organic and local ingredients as possible. Individual and family-sized portions are offered, so you can mangia some rigatoni bolognese de medici all by yourself or share with your favorite famiglia.
This beachside restaurant offers casual, classic Floridian breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Almost any seafood you can think of is offered at Crafty Crab. The chain promises to use only the freshest seafood and most authentic food in the area. Menu items include crab meat fries, oysters, seafood boils and platters and much more.
Sushi, tempura and a large list of sushi rolls, including the Matsui 55, volcano roll, fire roll, spider roll, and dancing eel roll. For those wanting cooked food, there’s steak teriyaki, dynamite lobster, or nabeyaki udon (a kind of noodle hot pot with seafood and vegetables).
This traditional Italian place serves generous portions of familiar fare.
The dishes Myapapaya puts out feature ingredients found in few South Florida restaurants, healthy items owner Adam Kanner says he found while traveling the globe. The kale salad, for instance, features almonds roasted with tamari, a soy sauce brewed with a deeper flavor. The Whole Grain Bowl — overflowing with quinoa, brown rice, tomatoes, peppers, chickpeas, feta, and coconut oil — has a bit of dulse flakes, a snack food from Iceland that provides a nice saltiness to a stunningly beautiful and delicious dish.
The juices, sold in 16-ounce plastic bottles for about $9, are made in a cold-press system that keeps more nutrients and allows them to stay fresh longer. They also feature blends like the Peruvian Pink, with beets, ginger, pear, pineapple, and a Peruvian fruit called maca, which some believe improves libido.
This authentic Thai restaurant guarantees only native flavors in their unique dinner offerings. Notable menu items include grilled whole squid marinated in house special sauce, Choo Chee Snapper (whole fried snapper with Thai choo chee curry sauce), Thai curry dishes and stir fry.
Oceanfront meals – in the dining room or on the veranda – include Sunday brunch. Executive chef Todd Lough does Floribbean: roasted Cuban pork shank with onion mojo and natural jus, guava barbecue ribs with Latin slaw, Florida yellowtail snapper a la plancha. For lunch try the churrasco steak nachos.
Only USDA prime beef is used for the six signature steaks: filet, petite filet, rib-eye, cowboy rib-eye, T-bone, New York strip and porterhouse (for two). Also available are lamb chops, lobster, stuffed chicken breast and barbecued shrimp.
A part of the Ocean Manor Beach Resort, this casual spot serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. There’s brunch on Sunday, followed by a late-afternoon Caribbean pig roast buffet. Mondays are dedicated to Italian food, and parties are held whenever the moon is full.
To prepare the menu, owner Frank Talerico and his family took several trips to Calabria to gather authentic recipes. Each dish had to be approved by Talerico’s mother and his family. Every sauce is freshly made in-house every day. Another unique characteristic is the small marketplace inside the restaurant. The marketplace provides a variety of cheeses and meats, olives, eggplants, mushrooms, bread sticks and more, all imported from Italy.
Located inside the Ocean Sky Hotel & Resort, serving American Continental at budget-friendly prices.
Known for its wood-fired dishes, J. Alexander’s serves classic cuisine in a sophisticated setting. Enjoy Tuscan steak, grilled fish with mango papaya salsa, chicken Milanese and seafood czarina. Pair your meal with wine from the full-service bar.
Italian food in a relaxed setting.
Shake Shack, known for its 100-percent all-natural Angus burgers, fresh-made frozen custard and crinkle-cut fries, has finally opened in Fort Lauderdale. The East Coast rival of West Coast icon In-N-Out Burger also serves chicken sandwiches and griddled flat-top dogs (which have no hormones or antibiotics). Keeping things local, they offer brews from Wynwood Brewing Co., Due South Brewing Co. and Funky Buddha Brewery. Lucky for us, this location includes a collection of frozen custards exclusive to Fort Lauderdale: Pie OH My, S’more and Caramel Crumble (in addition to the classics).
This elaborate confection of waterfalls, gardens and thatched roofs along U.S. 1 has been around so long that things Polynesian are once again hip. You can enjoy dinner and a show (dances of the South Pacific) or hang out at the Molokai Bar – which hosts a popular happy hour – with the other retro trendies.
It’s hard for Fort Lauderdale locals to imagine a summer without taking a dip in the water…well, what about their bagels? Known for a 14-step water filtration process that goes into its authentic Brooklyn-style bagels and coffee, Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. has officially opened its second Fort Lauderdale location. In addition to bagels and coffee, menu items include breakfast and deli sandwiches, baked goods, omelets and “baninis” – bagel paninis, naturally.