Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
New to chew on
Beer hall, Asian restaurants open in Fort Lauderdale.
Township restaurant — part German beer hall and part reincarnation of the recently shuttered Tarpon Bend — is scheduled to open Friday on South Andrews Avenue in Fort Lauderdale. The restaurant will feature communal tables and more than 70 draft beers served in steins, along with modern twists on German comfort foods such as bratwurst and pretzels, and popular past Tarpon Bend menu items such as burgers and fish sandwiches.
Township, the latest venture from the Restaurant People (YOLO, S3, Boatyard), will also feature fresh draft beer from Tarpon River Brewing, its local partnership with craft beer experts Adam Fine and Julian and Lisa Siegel, which opened earlier this year on the south side of the New River.
“That’s the bonus of having a brewery nearby,” Restaurant People CEO Tim Petrillo says. Township will feature dozens of other draft beers from near and far, including domestic craft brews and top European and German beers, served in liter steins and smaller glasses. The restaurant will also serve cocktails. On Friday, the restaurant will offer a free onethird liter draft beer from 4 to 5 p.m. as a grand opening special.
Township, 219 S. Andrews Ave., is on the north side of the New River in the old McCrory’s department store building. The restaurant is around the corner from Tarpon Bend, the Himmarshee Village stalwart that closed last month after 19 years. Many Tarpon Bend employees have been hired for Township, Petrillo says.
“Township brings something fresh to downtown while keeping a piece of Tarpon Bend alive through its offerings,” Petrillo says in a press release.
Township marks the second
high-profile restaurant opening in two weeks in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Etaru Las Olas, an upscale Asian eatery featuring sushi and grilled items from the same outfit behind Zuma in Miami, opened June 21 at the new Icon Las Olas residential tower, 500 E. Las Olas Blvd. Etaru’s first location opened last year in Hallandale Beach.
Township Fort Lauderdale also has a sister venue, in Tallahassee. The first Township opened in November 2016 and has become popular with Florida State University students. Petrillo says the beer hall concept should play well in Fort Lauderdale, with young professionals swarming into apartments and high-rises being built downtown.
Petrillo gave SouthFlorida.com a tour of Township earlier this month while still under construction. The Restaurant People gutted the former site of a Tilted Kilt restaurant and designed a large eatery and bar that will have a garden patio along the side and long, wooden tables inside. The interior has a modern, industrial feel, with brick walls and exposed ducts.
Township will be the third and final component of an impressive dining-and-drinking complex on the block. The Rooftop at 1WLO, a seventh-floor rooftop lounge overlooking downtown, opened last fall, and TRP Taste, a theatrical open kitchen and 24-seat dining room featuring visiting chefs and special events, opened earlier this year.
Township’s opening weekend hours of operation are 4 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 4-10 p.m. Sunday. Starting July 2, the restaurant will open at 11:30 a.m. daily (10 a.m. on Sundays) and close at 11 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 2 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and 10 p.m. on Sunday.
Etaru Las Olas serves lunch daily starting at 11:30 a.m. (11 a.m. for Sunday brunch). Etaru Las Olas offers dinner nightly starting at 5 p.m., with daily happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m.