Fort Lauderdale restaurant Timpano Italian Chophouse reopens (sort of )
Timpano Italian Chophouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale is taking another step toward a full reopening by offering a limited dinner menu available for weekend takeout and delivery, beginning this weekend.
The abridged menu includes several salads, appetizers, sides and cocktails to go, but just eight entrees. They include two pastas, two seafood dishes, two chicken dishes and two steaks — a 10-ounce filet mignon ($50) and a New York strip ($46).
Fans of Timpano’s legendary roasted mussels will be disappointed to learn they did not make the cut.
The service will be available weekly 4-10 p.m. Thursday-Sunday for pickup on the side patio. For details, visit TimpanoChophouse.net.
The dining room remains unavailable due to an ongoing renovation.
A downtown favorite for more than two decades, Timpano has been closed since pandemic restrictions were put in place more than 18 months ago. With neighboring restaurants along ago reopened, Timpano has been an enigma, the Greta Garbo of Las Olas.
A representative for the restaurant would not predict when it might reopen.
“We are actively working on refreshing our space, with full reopening details to come,” said Kasey Andersen, a senior marketing manager for Timpano’s owner, Orlando-based Tavistock Restaurant Collection.
Timpano’s sister location in Tampa’s Hyde Park Village also remains closed for its own renovation, but its return looks imminent and may provide a window into what to expect on Las Olas.
Lauren Gustafson, of Tavistock Restaurant Collection, told Business Insider last month that she expects the Tampa location to reopen by September or October.
Gustafson predicted a “re-imagined Timpano,” with a new color scheme.
“Definitely still focused on cocktails, Italian food,” she said. “We’re really working to … play into seasonality and what Florida has to offer.”
Tavistock also operates Boca Raton’s popular Glades Road steakhouse Abe & Louie’s and is known for chic urban restaurants in Boston, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
Timpano was popular on Las Olas from the moment it opened in 1999, a room of warm sophistication, Sinatra-lined walls and live music. The menu and its execution impressed critics.
“In a region full of corporate restaurants, Timpano stands out,” wrote Sun Sentinel restaurant reviewer John Tanasychuk.