Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dining out on Spoelstra
Team holds dinner at 23Hoyt, restaurant in which coach is partner
PORTLAND, Ore. — The bill was no obstacle when it came to the Miami Heat’s team dinner, with coach Erik Spoelstra picking up the check at 23Hoyt. Then again, there was no check, with Spoelstra a partner in the venture.
“It’s amazing because you get to order whatever you want — on the house, for sure,” forward and team captain Udonis Haslem said with a smile, as the Heat prepared for Saturday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Moda Center.
Point guard Goran Dragic said he was unaware that Spoelstra was an owner until arriving. That’s when everything changed. “We ordered as much as we could,” he said with a grin.
Spoelstra said he has been involved with the restaurant for 10 years, beginning when he still was a Heat assistant coach.
“A bunch of friends of mine from Portland, we got involved with it years ago,” said Spoelstra, who is from Portland and played collegiately at the University of Portland. “We thought it would be fun to do. We involved one of the top restaurateurs in Portland.”
Spoelstra said you can often find him on premises in the offseason.
“I just come back in the summer and hang out either with my friends or my family, usually at the bar during the summer,” he said.
If there were any complaints Friday — which there weren’t — Spoelstra said that part of the experience couldn’t have been on him.
“I do not cook,” he said, with the Portland establishment his lone restaurant venture. “I was having a home-cooked meal, so I wasn’t able to supervise.”
Apparently there were enough stars bestowed by his own stars.
“The food was really good,” Dragic said. “We had some good moments.”
According to the restaurant’s website, “23Hoyt has the welcoming ease of the best neighborhood restaurant in a sophisticated, contemporary atmosphere. At 23Hoyt, you’ll feel right at home celebrating an occasion or the pleasures of the everyday. Chef Lorenzo Capoccia’s seasonal Pacific Northwest American menu is brimming with his innovative takes on familiar dishes and local ingredients. Capoccia brings a gutsy, farm-to-table sensibility and a light hand to the 23Hoyt menu with hearty and satisfying dishes.”
Spoelstra, of course, approved that message.
“I was able to make a good recommendation for ‘em last night, one of the first times I’ve been able to do that,” he said.
Dragic said spending the time with teammates — and not having to spend — made it a win-win proposition.
“We’re on the road a lot,” he said. “You’re away from your family and it’s not good when you’re always in your room, all alone. We need to hang out. This group is really closely connected. And every time when we have a chance to do something together off the court, we always do that.” sunsentinel.com/Heat
Haslem said the connection within the team is growing, which is significant for a team that added so many newcomers in the offseason.
“As we continue to grow on the court, we know that we have to connect off the court,” he said. “I really believe that a lot of the success that we had with some of the teams I played on, it was because the bond was so strong off the court.
“We still can get to that level, where we understand everything about each other, our families, our kids, our backgrounds and everything like that.” For Spoelstra, it was family first. “I would have joined them [Friday] night,” he said. “Most of the staff was at dinner with the players, as well. But I had a home-cooked meal at my parents’ house [Friday] night, family and friends over there, a perfect night.”
Spoelstra appreciated the timing of the annual trip home, with the Heat arriving late Thursday night.
“We haven’t had this, I don’t think, ever here,” he said of his coaching tenure. “So we’ve been able to spend a lot of quality time. Our family is not taking this for granted.”