CHANGING OF THE QUARTERDECKS
Cordova Road location closing, nearby Fort Lauderdale site coming in May
Paul Flanigan, 62, founder of Quarterdeck, shows off the taxidermy fish that hang from the ceiling of the new restaurant.
One door is closing and another soon opening for the Quarterdeck restaurant’s flagship Fort Lauderdale location. After 53 years, the weathered old bar on Cordova Road will serve its last shrimp, ribs and beers on Easter Sunday (April 21). Then, if all goes well, an impressive new two-level Quarterdeck will open in early May two blocks away, at 1035 SE 17th St., at the northern end of the same strip mall that houses Waxy’s Irish Pub and the Village Well.
“We’re respecting the past and moving into the future,” says Quarterdeck founder Paul Flanigan.
The new Quarterdeck features a second-floor terrace, a center courtyard surrounding a ficus tree and a separate 40-seat sidebar scheduled to open later this year named Whiskey Neat. The new 160-seat Quarterdeck includes booths and decor from the old location, including hundreds of photos and taxidermy fish that have been moved in recent weeks.
Flanigan hopes to have the new Quarterdeck open before Mother’s Day (May 12), but final licensing and inspections remain.
Flanigan, who operates five Quarterdecks in South Florida, says the move has been in the works for five years, since he and his partners bought land to house the new restaurant and side bar along with a building on Southeast 16th Street that’s being razed for an 80-spot parking lot.
Flanigan says he’ll always have a soft spot for the site his late uncle, Joseph “Big Daddy” Flanigan, opened in 1966 as a liquor store and bar. But the building has become dilapidated and the landlord didn’t want to sell the land. “How do you make a pig look good?” Flanigan says.
The old Quarterdeck will celebrate its final days with bands, activities and rounds of beers, shots and reminiscences
from patrons who’ve been coming for decades. Starting Friday, the parking lot will be transformed into a celebratory space with cornhole, beer pong and Jenga.
A whole pig will be roasted on Friday.
“People have gone on first dates here. They’ve gotten engaged here. They’ve celebrated birthdays and anniversaries here,” Paul Flanigan says. “It’s a chapter that’s closing.”
The Quarterdeck has seen its share of joy and strife, the triggering point of a family split and lawsuit after Paul Flanigan bought the restaurant at a bankruptcy auction in 1985 when his uncle ran into financial trouble.
“I didn’t handle things well,” Paul says now. “I deserved to get sued.”
Paul and his cousin Jimmy Flanigan, who now runs the separate Flanigan’s Seafood Bar and Grill/Big Daddy’s Liquors chain, have patched things up and are on good terms, Paul Flanigan says. Joseph Flanigan died in 2005.
Brothers Joseph and James Flanigan, Paul’s father, were stockbrokers from Philadelphia (and graduates of the prestigious Wharton business school) who got into the bar and restaurant business in the 1950s when the top income tax rate was 90 percent. They preferred stashing cash in new ventures rather than sending it to Uncle Sam.
After owning several bars in Philadelphia, they bought five liquor stores in Hialeah. The brothers rapidly expanded throughout South Florida, with a string of nearly 100 liquor stores and adjoining bars.
Paul Flanigan recalls how each were given nicknames, Excalibur for the one in Pompano, 747 for the one near Miami Airport. The one on Cordova road was called Quarterdeck because of its proximity to Fort Lauderdale’s boatyards. He kept the Quarterdeck name and made that his brand after he bought the Cordova Road location from his uncle’s defunct firm.
Things have changed through the years, with a sushi bar replacing what was once a dance floor, and outdoor seating added.
Paul Flanigan, 62, says he views the new Quarterdeck complex as a legacy project. His son James is involved with the company and he’s trying to get his daughter to join, too.
“The Quarterdeck is a place that brings comfort,” Paul Flanigan says. “That’s not going to change.”