"Our season in Fort Lauderdale is pre-boat show and post-boat show," Tim Petrillo of The Restaurant People told Miami New Times in September. "That's the real marker of season kickoff."
This fall's Las Olas openings are lined up against that marker. The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show runs October 28 through November 1, and most of the new restaurants on the boulevard planned to open in the weeks just before it. As of this week, only one of them is serving. It sits in a public park at the river end of the street, and that park was finished nine months before any of this started.
Huizenga Park was ready first
Huizenga Park reopened January 24 after a $15 million redesign. The Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority owns and manages the park and led the project. The city put in $5 million and the state put in $1 million, according to the Sun Sentinel. The redesign added 88 shade trees, a fenced dog run, climbable play hills, a civic lawn, a fountain, a public pavilion with restrooms, riverfront terraces and river access.
People started using it right away. The park passed 100,000 visitors in its first five months, according to Downtown Development Authority figures cited by the Sun Sentinel. Events like the Sunny Side Up Market, sunset yoga and dog-friendly Yappy Hours bring in a lot of that traffic. The park's own calendar also lists Zumba and free Saturday morning workouts.
Sweetwaters finishes the park
Sweetwaters opened to the public October 12 at 58 E. Las Olas Blvd. The Sun Sentinel described its arrival as the end of the park's three-year redesign. It is a big room, about 10,000 square feet with 291 seats across the dining room and patio. The wraparound patio looks onto the park on one side and the New River on the other.
Specialty Restaurants, the family-owned group behind Miami's 54-year-old Rusty Pelican, runs it, and a few Rusty Pelican dishes made the move. General manager Ashley Ermus told the Sun Sentinel those include seafood towers, Brussels sprouts, a version of the crab cakes and the Pink Brick, a Wagyu flatiron steak seared tableside. Prices vary widely. Yellowfin tuna crudo is $18, charred octopus is $26, and the Steak Progressive flight is $130.
For now it serves dinner only, from 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Breakfast and lunch are planned for later. The best-value window is happy hour, 4 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, with several cocktails at half price and $5 beers. Reservations and details are at SweetwatersRestaurant.com, or call 954-231-7777.
For a coffee on a dog walk, Ophelia serves coffee and baked goods out of an RV trailer near the restaurant. It is a separate business from Sweetwaters.
Southeast Ninth Avenue is the corner to watch
Most of the openings planned for the boat show window sit about nine blocks east, where Southeast Ninth Avenue crosses Las Olas. Two restaurants planned to open on that corner within days of each other.
Naia, 904 E. Las Olas Blvd. Naia is The Restaurant People's new Mediterranean restaurant, and it was aiming for the weekend of October 18, depending on final inspections. Its website still said "coming fall 2026" in mid-October and was collecting sign-ups for opening updates, so check naialasolas.com before you go. The plan is dinner first, lunch one to two weeks later and brunch within two to three weeks. The building itself will change how the corner feels. Petrillo's team set it back 25 feet to make room for a wide sidewalk and a bar that, as he put it to Miami New Times, "pokes out onto the sidewalk."
Caviar Club, 833 E. Las Olas Blvd. Marc Falsetto calls the restaurant "a retro-glam American steakhouse inspired by the excess and decadence and unapologetic luxury of the 1980s," according to Miami New Times. The key date is Tuesday, October 27. Miami New Times reported that as the day reservations open to the general public, after an earlier period for members and VIPs. Browardist calls it the grand opening.
How you book matters more than which date is right. Reservations are available only through the Caviar Club website. They are released daily at 9 a.m. for dates 30 days out, and a limited number of early-evening walk-ins will be taken. The bar room opens daily at 4 p.m. with martinis, caviar bites, a limited dry-aged burger and a Wagyu French dip. The main dining room focuses on dry-aged and Wagyu steaks and tableside Dover sole. Expect competition for tables. The first 100 founding memberships sold out in three weeks, and another 50 followed.
The rest of the boulevard, west to east
Not every change on Las Olas this fall is an opening. Going east from the river, here is where the street stands:
- Sweetwaters, 58 E. Las Olas Blvd. Open since October 12, dinner only for now.
- Good Night John Boy, 270 SE Sixth Ave. This is a 1970s disco-themed bar and restaurant in the former Howl at the Moon space, just off the boulevard. A June Sun Sentinel listing gave October 1 as the opening date, but the venue's own page still says "GET READY" with no date or hours.
- Amal Las Olas, 500 E. Las Olas Blvd. A Lebanese restaurant from INK Entertainment Group, which already operates locations in Coconut Grove and Toronto. The latest reporting puts the opening in "fall" with no specific date.
- 609 E. Las Olas Blvd. Big City Tavern closed here September 30 after 25 years, according to Miami New Times. Its menu ran from a lunchtime meatloaf sandwich to weekend brunch, and chef Louie Bossi worked his way up from line cook to executive chef there.
- Caviar Club, 833 E. Las Olas Blvd. Public opening set for October 27.
- Naia, 904 E. Las Olas Blvd. Targeted to open around October 18, depending on inspections.
Reading the list in order shows how the new season is laid out. The open, all-ages, dog-friendly anchor is at the west end in the park. The reservation-driven rooms are clustered near Ninth Avenue. In between, a 25-year-old tavern has just closed.
Downtown dates through early November
The boat show is what pulls these openings forward, and it brings other changes to downtown too. Here are the dates that matter for anyone heading downtown between now and early November:
| Date | What's happening |
|---|---|
| Oct. 15 to 25 | OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Fall Edition, with Broward screenings at Paradigm Cinemas: Gateway Fort Lauderdale and Regal Dania Pointe |
| Oct. 24 to 31 | King Tides, as listed on the City of Fort Lauderdale calendar |
| Oct. 27 | Caviar Club opens to the public |
| Oct. 28 to Nov. 1 | Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show |
| Nov. 5 to 8 | FLIFFShorts, the third edition of the international short film showcase |
The King Tides and the boat show overlap for four days, October 28 through 31, on the city's event calendar. The show spreads across Bahia Mar, the Broward County Convention Center, Pier Sixty-Six, Hall of Fame Marina, Las Olas Marina and Superyacht Village. Organizers recommend the Convention Center as the transportation hub, with more than 3,000 parking spaces at $20 a day and water taxi, shuttle or golf-cart connections to the other sites. The show's parking page has the current map.
Falsetto calls this "probably the most exciting time here in the last 10 or 20 years for downtown Fort Lauderdale, especially Las Olas," as he told Miami New Times. Petrillo connects the boom to growth around the boulevard. He points to the Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale, which is open, the St. Regis, which is coming, and the residential towers going up downtown. Right now, though, the finished part of that story is a riverfront park with 88 shade trees and one dinner-only restaurant at its edge.
At The 90th Group, we keep track of downtown Fort Lauderdale the same way we track the market, by following what actually opens and what is still on the calendar. If you have questions about Las Olas, the blocks around Huizenga Park or anywhere else in Broward, contact us. A member of our team, including our leadership, will get back to you directly.
