Where on Las Olas Boulevard can you get a cinnamon roll at 8 a.m., and where can you still order sushi at 11 p.m. on a Tuesday? Since October, the two answers sit at opposite ends of the street. The fall openings went to the two ends of the boulevard, and each end keeps different hours. The west end, in Huizenga Park, now opens with the morning coffee crowd. The 800 and 900 blocks of East Las Olas now run late into the night. The blocks between them lost a 25-year anchor in September, and its replacement is still weeks away.
The West End Now Opens at 8 a.m.
Huizenga Park reopened in January after a three-year redesign. It came back with a new fenced dog run, shade trees and grassy hills built for climbing. For most of this year the park had more lawn than places to eat. This fall it added two restaurants built to keep people in the park from morning on.
The first to open was Ophelia, a bakery and café from husband-and-wife chefs Ana De Sa Martins and Juan Vieira. Coconut Grove knows it as a vintage-style mobile café, and the park spot is its first location in Broward County. According to the Huizenga Park announcement, the kitchen makes its own breads, pastries, syrups and cold foams. That includes the English muffin under the bacon, egg and cheese sandwich and the coffee-glazed cinnamon rolls. Ophelia is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It closes before the boulevard's dinner crowd shows up.
Sweetwaters is the evening anchor. It is a 10,000-square-foot, glass-walled restaurant at 58 E. Las Olas Blvd. that held its grand opening Oct. 12. Specialty Restaurants Corp., the family-owned group that runs Rusty Pelican on Key Biscayne, operates it. The Sun Sentinel reports 291 seats across the dining room and a wraparound patio that looks out on the park on one side and the New River on the other. Executive chef Nicco Salanitro told the paper who the menu is for:
"I talked to people who live in the [residential] towers around the park, who've been watching us build this for three years. It's for them and, yes, it's for tourists."
The menu covers a lot of ground. There are seafood towers, a raw bar, sushi, Thai chili Brussels sprouts at $15, miso-glazed Chilean sea bass at $48, and a $130 steak flight called the Steak Progressive. Some dishes come straight from Rusty Pelican, including a crab cake close to the original and Pink Brick, a Wagyu flatiron seared at the table with black truffle butter. The detail that ties it to the park is the dedicated pup menu, which sits a short walk from the new dog run. The park pitches the restaurant as the next stop after a Riverwalk stroll, with happy hour on the patio leading into dinner.
The East End Starts Serving at 4 p.m.
Head east past the 600 block and the openings are built for a different part of the day. They opened on consecutive days in October, and both have house rules that the park restaurants do not.
Caviar Club opened to the public Oct. 21 at 833 E. Las Olas Blvd. It comes from Marc Falsetto, whose South Florida concepts include Tacocraft and Apothecary 330. The 40-seat Bar Room opens daily at 4 p.m. with its own menu and takes walk-ins when there is space. Dinner is served nightly in the 88-seat Dining Room, with Dover sole filleted at the table and Australian Wagyu prime rib. Reservations go through the restaurant's website only, and membership is optional. A group capped at 100 people gets priority booking, but anyone can reserve. The Bar Room makes only 12 dry-aged Wagyu burgers a night, and at 9 p.m. both rooms switch to nu-disco, French house and reworked '80s hits, as Today in Fort Lauderdale reported. Browardist reported the dress rules before opening. Shorts, athletic wear and hats are out, and so are sandals for men. A sport coat is not required, and guests must be 21 or older after 8:30 p.m.
NAIA opened the next day, Oct. 22, at 904 E. Las Olas Blvd. It is a 225-seat Mediterranean-Asian restaurant from Tim Petrillo of The Restaurant People. Miguel Casanova runs the kitchen, and Ped Phommavong runs the sushi program alongside mezze and live-fire robata. The look is high-end, but the prices are lower than it suggests. The Sun Sentinel reports that most main courses run $30 to $50, nothing on the menu tops $85, and cocktails run $17 to $45. The NAIA FAQ recommends reservations. It also accepts walk-ins, keeps bar seats first-come, and runs an in-person waitlist that cannot be joined by phone. It asks for casual-chic or business-casual dress and may turn away hats, tank tops, athletic wear or team jerseys.
Side by side, the hours show the split:
| Restaurant | Address | Opened | Hours on record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ophelia | 32 E. Las Olas, Huizenga Park | Fall 2026 | 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily |
| Sweetwaters | 58 E. Las Olas, Huizenga Park | Oct. 12 | Patio happy hour into dinner; reservations online |
| Caviar Club | 833 E. Las Olas | Oct. 21 | Bar Room from 4 p.m. daily; room changes over at 9 p.m.; 21+ after 8:30 p.m. |
| NAIA | 904 E. Las Olas | Oct. 22 | Kitchen to 11 p.m. Sun–Thu and midnight Fri–Sat; bar to midnight Sun–Thu and 2 a.m. Fri–Sat |
Ophelia closes at 5 p.m. Caviar Club's Bar Room opens at 4 p.m. That leaves one hour when both ends of the boulevard are open at once.
The Blocks Between Them Are Waiting for Winter
Walk from Huizenga Park toward the east end and you pass the two addresses that tie the boulevard together. Neither has a restaurant serving yet.
At 609 E. Las Olas Blvd., Big City Tavern closed Sept. 30 after 25 years, as Miami New Times reported. The owner, Big Time Restaurant Group, is replacing it with Parisol, a French brasserie led by chef-partner Lisabet Summa. The Sun Sentinel reports a mid-January target, with breads and pastries baked in-house, French bistro cooking and a more accessible price point.
A block west, at 500 E. Las Olas Blvd. next to the historic Stranahan House, We Care Hospitality is building Ivy's. The family-owned group behind Le Tub, Tiki Tiki and GG's Waterfront in Hollywood named it for Ivy Stranahan, a teacher and civic figure from the city's early years. Alex Serafini, who runs the project with his parents, Dan and Lise-Anne, wants it to feel like "a place that belongs in Fort Lauderdale." The plans call for handmade pastas, grilled meats, seafood, a raw bar, a riverside bar and outdoor seating. One dish in development, Around the Campfire, would let guests grill their own skewers at the table. The target is the first quarter of 2027, according to Today in Fort Lauderdale.
Both of these middle-block projects are planned as mid-priced, sit-down restaurants for the hours in between. A brasserie with its own bakery and a riverside room built around pasta and the grill would cover the stretch between the park's morning hours and the east end's late nights. Until they open, that stretch of the boulevard has gaps in its afternoons and early evenings.
Off the Boulevard, the New Rooms Pick a Time of Day Too
Three fall openings within a short drive of Las Olas keep hours that start at 10 a.m., at 5 p.m. and at 6 p.m.
- Motek By The Sea, at the W Fort Lauderdale, 401 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., started dine-in service Nov. 5, according to South Florida Digest. Browardist reports 315 seats in about 12,000 square feet, serving Mediterranean food with all-day brunch from Happy Corner Hospitality, founded by Charlie Levy. Motek's site lists hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, with weekday happy hour from 2 to 6 p.m. Sesame Kitchen, from the same group, is slated for the space next door.
- Magie Wine Bar, at 551 N. Federal Hwy., Suite 600 in Flagler Village, opened Oct. 15, per South Florida Digest's dining guide. It opens at 6 p.m., stays open until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, takes walk-ins only and admits guests 21 and older. The menu includes escargot, truffle grilled cheese and caviar-topped "dino nuggets."
- Barchetta, the Italian chophouse at Omni Fort Lauderdale, 1880 SE 17th St., opened Oct. 1. It serves dinner Tuesday through Sunday from 5 to 11 p.m., until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and the kitchen closes at 10 p.m. Reservations are on OpenTable. The Omni announcement highlights handmade pasta, Bistecca Fiorentina and Frutti di Mare.
On Las Olas itself, a full day still takes some walking. Coffee and a cinnamon roll at Ophelia when it opens at 8 a.m., then a stroll along the Riverwalk. Patio drinks at Sweetwaters before dinner. A walk east past the dark windows at 500 and 609 to a late table at NAIA, whose bar stays open until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
At Brosda & Bentley Realtors, we follow Las Olas block by block because what opens and closes on it affects how the towers and waterfront homes nearby are lived in. If you are weighing a home within walking distance of Huizenga Park or the 800 and 900 blocks, schedule a private luxury consultation and we will walk the boulevard with you.
