The Weekly Dish: Italian chef opens Fort Lauderdale bakery bar…and more

The Weekly Dish is a TRD recurring feature that showcases the latest in South Florida’s restaurant openings, leases and sales. 

Italian chef and restaurateur Angelo Elia opened its bakery bar in Fort Lauderdale, complete with coffee and wine. Aventura ParkSquare, a mixed-use project being developed by Integra Investments, announced Starbucks signed a lease. And two investors behind the Zuma food and beverage concept are launching a casual chicken restaurant in Wynwood called Le Chick Rotisserie.

Angelo Elia The Bakery Bar | Fort Lauderdale

Angelo Elia The Bakery Bar just opened in Fort Lauderdale.

The cafe, at 2104 East Oakland Park Boulevard, opened in a 2,000-square-foot space with indoor and outdoor seating. The Fort Lauderdale restaurant will offer counter service and serve pastries, sandwiches, pizza, coffee and wine. The restaurant declined to provide lease details.

Elia first opened Casa D’Angelo, an upscale restaurant in Fort Lauderdale in 1998, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Since then, he’s expanded to the Bahamas and throughout South Florida.

The chef and restaurateur also owns Angelo Elia Pizza, Bar & Tapas, which has locations in Fort Lauderdale, Weston, Delray Beach and Coral Springs. The pizza bar is also set to open at Aventura ParkSquare early next year, with two more restaurants planned for Miami-Dade, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

Rendering of Aventura ParkSquare

Starbucks | Aventura

The developer of Aventura ParkSquare brought on Starbucks to join its mixed-use development when it opens in 2018.

The 1,600-square-foot Starbucks marks the third for Aventura, which has two stores on Biscayne Boulevard. The ParkSquare location, on the north side of the office building fronting Northeast 207th Street, will have outdoor seating and a dedicated parking lot.

Urbis Real Estate, led by Argentine developers Pablo Hoberman and Alejandro Rakover, brought Starbucks. The company assembled a joint venture with a group of Argentine investors to bring Starbucks to a number of South Florida locations, the first of which is at 6080 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach. Urbis has sold the most square footage at the Aventura development, according to a press release.

Integra Investments developing ParkSquare, which is set to have a 131-unit residential tower, 100,000 square feet of Class A office space, a 45,000-square-foot wellness and medical center, plus an Aloft Hotel with 207 rooms developed by Norwich Partners.

Integra broke ground on the project in April with a $100 million construction loan. Other retail tenants include Icebox Cafe, greenmonkey, Graziano’s Market and Barry’s Bootcamp.

Rendering of Le Chick Rotisserie

Le Chick Rotisserie | Wynwood

Two Zuma investors will open a fast casual chicken restaurant in Wynwood, set to open in time for Art Basel.

Le Chick Rotisserie will open in a 4,000-square-foot space at 310 Northwest 24th Street, on the same block as 250 Wynwood. The European restaurant concept is also in Amsterdam as Rotisserie Amsterdam, Gaston Miculitzki of BM2 Realty told The Real Deal.

BM2 represented the landlord, Block Capital Group, in the 10-year lease deal. Leslie Cooper and Sophie Bamps of ONE Sotheby’s International Realty represented the tenant, Zuma owners Yona and Tunu Puri. Coco Coig and Jorge Sanchez will bring the concept from Europe, Miculitzki said.

In Amsterdam, the menu includes chicken, burgers, a variety of sauces, salads and cocktails. [more]

Employees Only | South Beach

The Washington Park Hotel brought in Employees Only, a New York-based cocktail lounge, to handle the hotel’s food and beverage. Set to open at the property’s coral house in September, the restaurant and bar will span about 3,500 square feet, outdoor space, dining space, and kitchen included.

Known for its craft cocktails, the bar will serve drinks that include the Amelia, a vodka and liquor cocktail with pureed blackberries and fresh lemon juice. The dinner menu will offer tableside steak tartar, bone marrow poppers, bacon-wrapped lamb chops; caviar service and fresh oysters.

Highgate is managing the hotel at 1030 Washington Avenue. The Witkoff Group and the Carlyle Group are the owners/developers. [more]

Peppers Authentic Mexican | Pinecrest

Peppers Authentic Mexican is opening a third location at Dadeland Plaza in Pinecrest this month, replacing Brazilian eatery Giraffas.

The casual Mexican restaurant will open at 9459 South Dixie Highway in a 3,000-square-foot space, according to a press release. David Gonzalez and Gonzalo Leon De Bracamonte own and operate the chain, which is also located in South Beach and Brickell.

Signature dishes include made-to-order tacos, salads, fajitas, enchiladas and burritos.

Hungry for more? Check out last week’s Weekly Dish.