On East Las Olas, the boat show decides when restaurants open. This October, at least four new rooms are trying to open before the docks fill on October 28. One 25-year staple closed right as they arrive, and several of the openings have already moved past the dates their owners gave in June.
Mike Weymouth, president and CEO of The Las Olas Co., told the Sun Sentinel in June that openings are best timed around the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, "that way, when you open, you burst out of the gate." Tim Petrillo of The Restaurant People said it more directly to Miami New Times in September: "Our season in Fort Lauderdale is pre-boat show and post-boat show." Both quotes help explain the October calendar below and why its dates keep moving.
The October Calendar, as of the First Weekend
The 67th Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show runs October 28 to November 1. Here is what is scheduled before it, with every date still a target until doors actually open:
- October 12. Sweetwaters welcomes its first diners at 58 E. Las Olas Blvd. in Huizenga Park. Specialty Restaurants Corp., the family-owned group behind Miami's Rusty Pelican, will start with dinner and add lunch and a morning café later.
- October 15. Magie Wine Bar opens at 551 N. Federal Hwy., Suite 600, in Flagler Village. It brings its Little River formula north: daily happy hour, caviar-topped Dino Nuggets and truffle grilled cheese.
- Weekend of October 18. Naia targets its first dinner service at 904 E. Las Olas Blvd., pending final inspections.
- October 27. Caviar Club opens reservations to the general public at 833 E. Las Olas Blvd., the day before the boat show starts.
Three of those four land on East Las Olas or right beside it, and the two biggest share a single intersection.
The Corner at Southeast Ninth Avenue
Caviar Club and Naia sit across the street from each other at Southeast Ninth Avenue and Las Olas, and New Times reported they will change that corner within days of each other.
Naia takes the address that for years housed Mangos. The Restaurant People bought the real estate there hoping to regain control of the leasehold, which let the group build from the ground up. The new building sits 25 feet back from where the old one stood. That frees up a wide sidewalk, and the bar reaches out onto it. "Now it's going to be a signature corner and a great gathering space," Petrillo told New Times. The restaurant seats 240 indoors and out. Its menu mixes Mediterranean and Asian cooking: charred octopus with miso olive oil, sushi, glass-noodle pastas, Japanese A5 Wagyu. South African designer Tristan du Plessis designed the space, much of the woodwork and furniture was shipped from South Africa, and the building has its own parking and valet. Naia opens with dinner, adds lunch about one to two weeks later and brunch within two to three.
Marc Falsetto calls Caviar Club "a retro-glam American steakhouse inspired by the excess and decadence and unapologetic luxury of the 1980s." The membership program has drawn most of the attention. Its first 100 founding memberships sold out in three weeks, and another 50 followed. If you live nearby, the practical details matter more:
| Question | Answer, per Falsetto |
|---|---|
| Membership required? | No. The public can book the Main Dining Room for dinner or the Bar Room for cocktails and bites. |
| Bar Room hours | Opens daily at 4 p.m. |
| How reservations work | Only through the restaurant's website, released daily at 9 a.m. for dates 30 days out. Some early-evening walk-ins. |
| Dress | "Dress for the room." No shorts, athletic wear or hats, and no sandals for men. No sport coat required. |
| Age | Everyone must be 21+ after 8:30 p.m. Earlier seatings exclude children under five. |
Under that reservation system, the earliest public bookings go live October 27, and the first full month of tables gets released one morning at a time. The members-only VIP event comes first, but its date is unsettled: New Times printed October 5 on September 23 and October 15 on September 30.
How the June Dates Held Up
In June, the Sun Sentinel published opening targets supplied by the venues themselves, with a warning that they could change. Here is how those targets look from the first weekend of October:
| Venue and address | June target | Status as of October 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Naia, 904 E. Las Olas | First week of October | Targeting the weekend of October 18 |
| Caviar Club, 833 E. Las Olas | October | Public reservations open October 27 |
| Good Night John Boy, 270 SE 6th Ave. | October 1 | Its Fort Lauderdale page still reads "GET READY" |
| Little Hen, 1201 E. Las Olas | Fall | Open and taking reservations |
| Flora, 1021 E. Las Olas | Fall-winter, announced as La Felicità | Open |
| Amal, 500 E. Las Olas | Fall | Still listed for fall, no date |
| Skinny Louie, 401 E. Las Olas | Fall | Its page says it is about to arrive and lists no hours |
| Kapow Izakaya, 250 SE 6th Ave. | Fall-winter | No newer update found |
The rooms already open are the two that never tied themselves to a specific date. Little Hen, the Weston-born brunch spot from Enrique Altamirano, is serving English-inspired breakfast and afternoon tea in the old Planta Queen space. The 1021 address was announced as La Felicità and now operates as Flora under the La Felicità Group. It serves lunch and dinner from 11:30 a.m. on weekdays and opens at 10 a.m. on weekends, and it welcomes walk-ins when tables are free. The venues with a fixed day are the ones still racing toward it.
Good Night John Boy has a slightly different story. The disco bar that's replacing Howl at the Moon was the earliest target on the June list. On October 4 its Fort Lauderdale page still shows a countdown message and no opening day. Weymouth also told the Sun Sentinel in June, "There's a lot of economic headwinds right now. But operators like having a presence on Las Olas."
The Room That Closed
Big City Tavern announced it would close September 30, after 25 years at 609 E. Las Olas Blvd. The announcement went up on Instagram on September 18, giving regulars less than two weeks. The restaurant gave no reason and named no replacement. It belongs to Big Time Restaurant Group, the company Todd Herbst, Bill Watson and Lisabet Summa founded in 1993. Its kitchen also has a place in local restaurant history: Louie Bossi started there as a line cook and became executive chef about a decade later. In its last weeks, executive chef Ladanna Lawas ran a menu with breads, pastas, desserts and gelato made in-house every day.
The South Florida Business Journal described Big City as a 198-seat restaurant closing "as the Fort Lauderdale dining corridor shifts toward more upscale concepts." The seat counts show what that shift means in size. The 198 seats leaving 609 are fewer than the 240 Naia adds three blocks east. Sweetwaters, in Huizenga Park, is a glass-walled room the Sun Sentinel put at 291 seats inside and on its New River terraces. Amal is planning 6,000 square feet of Lebanese dining in the former Sushi Garage space at the Icon Las Olas tower, run by INK Entertainment Group, the company behind Miami's Byblos. Caviar Club fills 4,200 square feet. So the boulevard is adding seats this fall, and a growing share of them are at the higher end.
More is lined up after the boat show. Falsetto plans Pizza Queen, a New York-style slice shop, for the former Dammiano's space at 1217 E. Las Olas in January 2027. Ivy's, named for Fort Lauderdale pioneer Ivy Stranahan, is planned for early 2027 in the former Salt7 space at 500 E. Las Olas. It will seat up to 300, including at a freestanding bar on the Riverwalk.
The Weekend Everything Overlaps
October 17 and 18 brings the most at once. The Las Olas Association's 39th Annual Art Fair takes over East Las Olas Boulevard both days. It's free, and Howard Alan Events hosts it with the Association. On Saturday the 17th, Riverwalk's 10th Annual Fall Festival runs from noon to 4 p.m. at Esplanade Park, with free admission. And Naia is aiming to open that same weekend at 904, on the stretch of Las Olas the fair is using. If you plan to walk the fair and then try Naia's first dinner, check that it has passed final inspections, and expect valet at the building's own lot to be in demand.
A week and a half later, Caviar Club opens public booking on October 27. The boat show opens the next day at the Broward County Convention Center and Las Olas Marina, among its other sites. Petrillo's "pre-boat show and post-boat show" line describes the restaurants' calendar, and this year it shapes the neighborhood's too.
If you own a home or condo within walking distance of Southeast Ninth and Las Olas, that corner is about to become the busiest part of your block. Team Van Zyl follows how changes like these show up in downtown values, and we can tell you what your place could be worth now that the boulevard is changing around it. Get Home Value.
