The New Las Olas Is Opening Closer to the Isles Than You Think

"Our season in Fort Lauderdale is pre-boat show and post-boat show," restaurateur Tim Petrillo told Miami New Times in September, describing why so many restaurants timed their openings for late October. Now that the boat show is over, you can see where those openings actually landed. The biggest new rooms are on the 800 to 1200 blocks of East Las Olas Boulevard, the end of the street closest to the isles.

Southeast Ninth Avenue is the new anchor

Two of this season's most expensive builds opened across the intersection from each other within about a week.

NAIA, 904 E. Las Olas Blvd., opened October 22. It sits on the old Mangos site, which Petrillo and his business partner have owned since 2013, according to the Sun Sentinel. He tore the old building down and spent three years rebuilding. The new building sits 25 feet back from the boulevard to make room for a 45-seat patio. The kitchen is coastal Mediterranean-Asian: sourdough pita with mezze dips, a full sushi bar and robata-grilled skewers. No menu item costs more than $85, and most mains run $30 to $50. Petrillo said an omakase-style experience will start this winter. He also has a high-end retailer in mind for the space next door, and no tenant has been named.

The setback was deliberate. Petrillo told New Times the wide sidewalk and a bar that "pokes out onto the sidewalk" were meant to make the corner "a signature corner and a great gathering space."

Caviar Club, 833 E. Las Olas Blvd., opened to the public in late October. What Now Miami describes Marc Falsetto's steakhouse as inspired by 1980s Wall Street and Hollywood Regency. The membership program confused some people. You don't need one to dine or drink there, and reservations are made only through the restaurant's website. If you don't want to plan a whole night out, the 40-seat Bar Room opens at 4 p.m. daily. It sells 12 house-ground, dry-aged Wagyu burgers a night, first come, first served. Dinner is served only in the 88-seat Dining Room. Falsetto told New Times that reservations open daily at 9 a.m. for dates 30 days out and that the club would take a limited number of early-evening walk-ins.

Between them, the two restaurants add more than 300 seats at one intersection. NAIA alone seats 225.

Read the boulevard by block number

The Ninth Avenue corner isn't the only activity on the eastern blocks. In June, the Sun Sentinel listed 11 restaurants headed for Las Olas, and nearly half of them were on the eastern stretch. Here's the list sorted from the isles west.

Little Hen is the Weston-born brunch brand's fifth location. Its menu includes rose petal pancakes, churrasco chilaquiles and bourbon-battered French toast. Petrillo's Java & Jam is down the street, and he told the Sun Sentinel he welcomed the competition: "the pie is big enough for people to eat off of." For a resident, that puts two brunch options within a few blocks of each other at the east end.

La Felicità's renderings showed vines, grass walls, chandeliers and lamplit bookshelves. Pizza Queen will use unbleached imported Italian flour and San Marzano tomatoes in a triple-deck electric oven. The menu will be short, with spumoni-style ice cream, espresso and ready-to-drink spritzes.

The downtown end had its own wave this fall, and those openings mostly serve a different kind of night out. Sweetwaters opened October 12 at 58 E. Las Olas in Huizenga Park. It's from the owners of Miami's Rusty Pelican, with 291 seats indoors and on terraces facing the New River, according to the Sun Sentinel. Ophelia, a bakery and café, has been serving coffee and pastries from an RV trailer in the same park ahead of a permanent spot at 32 E. Las Olas. Farther west are several more names from the June list:

• Amal, a Lebanese restaurant from the group behind Miami's Byblos, at 500 E. Las Olas in the Icon Las Olas tower
• Ivy's, a Florida coastal restaurant named for Ivy Stranahan, also at 500 E. Las Olas and announced for early 2027
• Skinny Louie, a smashburger spot at 401 Las Olas
• Kapow Izakaya and Good Night John Boy, a block off the boulevard at 250 and 270 SE Sixth Ave.

That end of the street also lost a long-running restaurant. Big City Tavern, at 609 E. Las Olas, announced it would close September 30 after 25 years. Taken together, downtown's fall was a mix of openings and closings, and the stretch nearest the isles mostly gained.

The same blocks lost their oldest errand

As those restaurants were going up, the eastern stretch lost the business with the most daily foot traffic. The Colee Post Office at 1404 E. Las Olas Blvd. suspended operations at close of business July 10, the Sun Sentinel reported. The Colee station first opened in the late 1940s. A 1949 Fort Lauderdale News item announced an April 1 opening for the sub-station.

According to the Sun Sentinel's report, a Postal Service spokesperson said the agency had been told the lease would not be renewed and was reviewing sites "in the area" for a possible new post office.

The 1404 address is closer to the isles than any of the new restaurants. For years, a trip to the eastern blocks might have meant mailing a package. This fall it's more likely to mean a dinner reservation. The new businesses fill evenings and weekend mornings, and none of them covers that kind of weekday errand.

Where the holiday calendar meets the eastern blocks

The new Ninth Avenue corner gets its first big test about six weeks after it opened. Christmas on Las Olas, the Las Olas Association's 64th annual free holiday event, runs Tuesday, December 1, from 5 to 10 p.m. along the boulevard between SE Sixth and SE 11th avenues. The event includes a holiday market, performances, Santa's Village, a snow mountain and ice skating. NAIA and Caviar Club are both inside that footprint. The association's event page suggests the Water Taxi or Ride Circuit and links to parking lots and valet options.

The rest of the season runs along the length of Las Olas:

1. Light Up the Beach, Thursday, November 19, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., at Las Olas Oceanside Park, 3000 E. Las Olas Blvd., per the City of Fort Lauderdale.
2. Christmas on Las Olas, Tuesday, December 1, 5 to 10 p.m., SE Sixth to SE 11th avenues.
3. Menorah Lighting Celebration, December 6 at 6 p.m., also at Las Olas Oceanside Park, per the city's holiday events page.
4. Winterfest Boat Parade, Saturday, December 12. The public viewing area at Las Olas Intracoastal Promenade Park, 80 Las Olas Circle, opens at 4 p.m. The parade starts at 6 p.m. and should reach the viewing area around 6:30.
5. Las Olas Art Fair, January 9 and 10, 2027, then March 6 and 7, according to the Las Olas Association.

Pizza Queen's announced January 2027 opening at 1217 E. Las Olas lands the same month as the first Art Fair of the new year. If that timing holds, the 1200 block will have two new businesses within a few doors of each other by winter.

Falsetto expects the busy season to hit his end of the street hard. "We are anticipating a very busy winter," he said in a statement published by What Now Miami. For people who live on the isles, that busy winter will be a few blocks from home.

If you're weighing a move to the isles end of Las Olas, or wondering how this fall's openings affect a home you already own nearby, Lauren Kahn Group follows these blocks closely. Contact Lauren for a personalized market consultation.