South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Las Olas shuffle
The dining room at Thursday’s in Fort Lauderdale when it opened in 2015. The restaurant closed recently.
Restaurants come, restaurants go. A recent trip down Las Olas Boulevard found this fact of life to be so. Trata Greek Taverna and Thursday’s are the latest casualties, shuttered and desolate. But Sushi Shack has come to life after opening last month, and Del Frisco’s Grille is soon set to debut, new furnishings wrapped in plastic this week as workers put finishing touches on the dining room. Also on the way: Piazza Italia, an Italian-food multiplex that is coming to the former site of Mangos.
Here are some sights from a recent stroll along Fort Lauderdale’s fashionable shopping and dining strip.
Thursday’s closes
This location, at the eastern edge of the downtown Las Olas hub, is challenging. Thursday’s opened in October 2015, a French restaurant with Canadian influences from a family that operates several successful restaurants in Quebec. When I favorably reviewed it in 2016, it was eerily empty on both my visits, but owner Bernard Ragueneau said he could weather some lean times because he owned the building. After nearly three years, the restaurant at 1521 E. Las Olas Blvd., shuttered last month and an “available” sign hangs at the entrance.
According to a Facebook post linked to a story in Le Soleil de La Florida, a publication
focusing on South Florida’s French-Canadian community, Thursday’s closed on Sept. 22 as Ragueneau said he was selling the building “for health reasons.” According to public records, Gro Link Capital LLC of Aventura bought the property for $1.95 million on Oct. 1.
Sushi Shack opens
Sushi Shack, not to be confused with Shake Shack or Bake Shack, opened in September and is not just another Asian-Thai-sushi fusion restaurant. It is an American-sushi fusion restaurant. Its website calls the eatery “a contemporary American bar and grill” and features images of grilled chicken, a cheeseburger and cocktails. The menu offers cooked small plates and entrees and a full range of sushi and sushi rolls.
The restaurant, at the corner site of the shortlived Fork and Balls, is on a block that’s bursting with activity. The Balcony, a stylish, two-story bar and eatery from Kim Bokamper’s restaurant group that evokes New Orleans’ French Quarter, opened earlier this year. And construction Sushi Shack, a California-influenced restaurant with sushi and American dishes, recently opened at 1301 E. Las Olas Blvd.
is ongoing at Talento, an Italian restaurant scheduled to open at 1307 E. Las Olas Blvd.
Trata shutters
Trata Greek Taverna and Wine Bar has closed after eight years at 1103 E. Las Olas Blvd. I didn’t realize that Trata had been around since 2010, and my predecessor gave it a mixed review in 2013, saying “it
should win the prize for most handsome Greek restaurant” but decrying some flavor shortfalls.
“If you can judge a restaurant by its Greek salad, then Trata needs to up its game,” John Tanasychuk wrote. “The tomatoes weren’t ripe. The cucumbers were tasteless. The triangle of feta helped, but it had very little salt, oregano or oil. Too bad.”
No wonder why I never went. But eight years is a
pretty good run for South Florida.
Piazza Italia on the way
The saga of Mangos goes on, although the book is now closed on that storied name as new owner Frank Talerico launches Piazza Italia at the prime corner spot. “Mangos … it’s had its day,” Talerico says. He hopes to open the new Workers have been busy putting the finishing touches on Del Frisco’s Grille, an offshoot of a famed Dallas steakhouse that will soon open at 501 E. Las Olas Blvd.
Italian multiplex concept at 904 E. Las Olas Blvd., by year’s end. It will be a three-in-one eatery, with a bar-cafe featuring small plates and light bites, a formal dining room with a separate menu, and a back market-gelateria-pastry shop.
An Italian reboot of Mangos earlier this year lasted four months. The big question as Piazza Italia is built: With Louie Bossi’s Ristorante, Caffe Europa and Noodles Panini all within a meatball’s throw and Talento on the way, does Las Olas really need (or want) another Italian joint?
Del Frisco’s Grille opening soon
Del Frisco’s Grille, a
nationwide offshoot of famed Dallas steakhouse Del Frisco’s Double Eagle, is set to soon open its first South Florida location at
501 E. Las Olas Blvd., converted from a former SunTrust branch. Workers scurried this week to finish interiors at the 270-seat eatery.
The restaurant aims for a November opening. Del Frisco’s Grille will feature steaks and seafood along a corridor that already has Lobster Bar Sea Grill, Grille
401 and Timpano Italian Chophouse, and a Morton’s steakhouse a few blocks away. However, South Floridians do love their shiny, new things. Let the competition begin.