The Restaurant Folks (TRP) has been creating eating places and nightlife ideas in South Florida for practically three many years, however CEO and co-founder Tim Petrillo sees one thing completely different occurring within the firm’s dwelling metropolis of Fort Lauderdale.
This fall, the hospitality group will open Naia at 904 E. Las Olas Boulevard, a restaurant that Petrillo believes displays each the altering tastes of native diners and the bigger evolution happening alongside Las Olas and all through downtown Fort Lauderdale.
For Petrillo, the restaurant is arriving at an necessary second for town.
“We went from a bed room group to a thriving metropolis,” he says, pointing to the hundreds of residential models which were added or deliberate downtown, together with the conference heart enlargement, and tasks such because the deliberate St. Regis at Bahia Mar.
Maybe extra necessary is who resides there.
“It’s superb to see how youthful our metropolis has grow to be,” Petrillo says. “Now you’re seeing lots of people coming again. There are issues for them to do and get enthusiastic about.”
Naia is The Restaurant Folks’s response to that altering Fort Lauderdale. The corporate bought the Las Olas actual property with the hope of ultimately regaining management of the leasehold, Petrillo says, giving TRP the chance to construct one thing new from the bottom up.
Slated to open in early October, Naia, whose identify refers back to the stream of water, will mix Mediterranean and Asian influences with an emphasis on lighter, wellness-minded meals and shareable dishes. The newly constructed restaurant may have indoor and outside eating centered round a big bar serving cocktails and wines, together with devoted parking and valet service.
The design is equally bold. South African designer Tristan du Plessis is overseeing the venture, his fourth restaurant with The Restaurant Folks.
This time, Petrillo traveled to South Africa to fulfill du Plessis’ staff and see what could possibly be sourced there. The reply turned out to be quite a bit. A lot of Naia’s woodwork, furnishings, and paintings are being shipped to Fort Lauderdale from there. Getting every little thing right here offered its personal challenges. At one level, the restaurant was ready for containers of supplies to make their method throughout the globe. These shipments have now arrived.
“It’s right here. It’s on web site,” Petrillo says. “We will breathe.”
The culinary aspect will even deliver new expertise to Las Olas. Petrillo says the staff features a sushi chef from a Michelin-starred institution, with one other chef announcement nonetheless to return.
However regardless of the worldwide design and culinary influences, Petrillo doesn’t need Naia to really feel as if a restaurant from Miami, New York, or one other main eating metropolis has merely been dropped onto Las Olas.
The Restaurant Folks, which was based in 1997 and has developed, managed or operated greater than 70 hospitality ideas, has discovered that the idea of success is to grasp the native buyer and make a restaurant refined with out being intimidating. “We all know we have to make it approachable,” he says.
On Las Olas, that may imply serving company in shorts and sandals alongside diners dressed for an evening out. Petrillo sees that lack of rigidity as one among Broward’s strengths.
“The approach to life in Broward is a little more approachable,” he says.
He additionally believes Fort Lauderdale has a bonus in its relative comfort. Residents can transfer amongst downtown, the seashore, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Worldwide Airport and Port Everglades with out among the logistical challenges that include dwelling in a bigger metropolis. “I really like Miami, don’t get me unsuitable,” Petrillo says. However, he provides, “The comfort of dwelling in our metropolis is it’s simpler to get round. I believe our bones are much more enticing.”
Petrillo sees proof of Fort Lauderdale’s evolution past Las Olas as effectively. TRP is concerned in FAT Village, the place he says the extent of curiosity displays the transformation underway in Flagler Village.
Younger households are transferring downtown, faculties are following, and residential progress is creating one thing Fort Lauderdale didn’t at all times have: a inhabitants that lives, works and spends its leisure time within the city core.
“We’re actually beginning to see the fruits,” Petrillo says.
For The Restaurant Folks, Naia is each a product of these adjustments and one other signal that the transformation is way from completed.
“I really like Las Olas,” Petrillo says. “I’m tremendous enthusiastic about what’s coming.”
