Before Sweetwaters debuted, the menu for the stylish glass-walled restaurant in Fort Lauderdale’s Huizenga Park stayed a tight-lipped foodie mystery.
Its owner Specialty Restaurants Corp., which runs Miami icon Rusty Pelican, posted online teasers ahead of the Oct. 12 grand opening that showed coastal cuisine, cocktails, coffee and not much else. Would the grand centerpiece of the downtown park’s $15 million revamp, under construction since 2024, be a Mediterranean seafood spot? Maybe a riverfront oyster bar? Would it satisfy downtown locals who watched it take shape as much as weekend warriors who Water Taxi’ed to the Las Olas park?
Short answer: It seems Sweetwaters has something for almost everyone, with shareable plates and main courses including seafood towers, Tomahawk steaks, salads, spicy rigatoni, chilled oysters, and sushi.
“It took so much time, we couldn’t share the menu until we got it just right,” head chef Nicco Salanitro tells the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “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, because we respect the culture and history of Fort Lauderdale. This sits right where pioneer fishermen and Seminoles met in the 1800s to trade goods.
“I hope Sweetwaters will be known as the heartbeat of Las Olas,” he adds.
Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel
The raw bar at Sweetwaters restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Paid Vacation, a specialty cocktail at Sweetwaters restaurant inside Huizenga Park in Fort Lauderdale, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel
The Chef’s Sushi Tower at Sweetwaters in Fort Lauderdale includes sushi rolls, spicy tuna crispy rice, nigiri, sashimi, tuna crudo and marinated salmon roe. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Carline Jean / South Florida Sun Sentinel
Wagyu flatiron steak frites, Wagyu beef sliders and ahi tuna tartare at Sweetwaters. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Ahi tuna tartare at Sweetwaters restaurant inside Huizenga Park in Fort Lauderdale, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Tiffany, a specialty cocktail, and Wagyu beef sliders at Sweetwaters restaurant inside Huizenga Park in Fort Lauderdale, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel
The new Sweetwaters restaurant seats 291 people in its dining room and expansive patio. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Wagyu flat iron steak frites at Sweetwaters restaurant inside Huizenga Park in Fort Lauderdale, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Wagyu beef sliders at Sweetwaters restaurant inside Huizenga Park in Fort Lauderdale, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Send Flowers, a specialty cocktail at Sweetwaters restaurant inside Huizenga Park in Fort Lauderdale, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel
Tiffany, a specialty cocktail, is served at Sweetwaters restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel
Sweetwaters restaurant caps a three-year, $15 million redesign of Huizenga Park in Fort Lauderdale. The restaurant had its grand opening on Oct. 12. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel
Executive chef Nicco Salanitro, left, and general manager Ashley Ermus of Sweetwaters restaurant, which had its grand opening inside Fort Lauderdale’s Huizenga Park on Oct. 12. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Executive chef Nicco Salanitro of Sweetwaters restaurant inside Huizenga Park in Fort Lauderdale, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Show Caption
Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel
1 of 14
The raw bar at Sweetwaters restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
At 10,000 square feet, the sit-down at 58 E. Las Olas Blvd. is the size of a Trader Joe’s, with a sprawling dining room, open kitchen and dramatic basket chandeliers hanging from high ceilings, plus a wraparound patio offering views of the park on one side and New River on the other. Its arrival caps a three-year redesign of Huizenga Park, which reopened in January with a new fenced dog run, shade trees and lush, climbable hills.
With this urban oasis in mind, Salanitro (ex-Elisabetta’s Ristorante and The Belgrove Resort & Spa) says he crafted the crowd-pleasing menu with culinary director Matthieu Godard, whose career includes eight years under French chef Daniel Boulud (at Miami’s late db Bistro Moderne). Fine-tuning the fare proved to be less a mystery than a head-scratching puzzle, which is why they revised the dishes 30 times before cracking the final menu, he says.
The influences from Specialty Restaurants’ flagship, the 54-year-old Rusty Pelican on Miami’s Key Biscayne, are so strong that a few “legacy items” are repeated at Sweetwaters, general manager Ashley Ermus says. These include seafood towers, Brussels sprouts and Pink Brick, a Wagyu flatiron steak scorched tableside with black truffle butter and roasted garlic.
“Rusty Pelican is famous for their crab cakes, and we have a very similar version on our menu,” she says. “The raw bar is incredible, too. The main thing was to make the menu approachable, to be the neighborhood go-to spot for everything.”
Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel
Sweetwaters restaurant caps a three-year, $15 million redesign of Huizenga Park in Fort Lauderdale. The restaurant had its grand opening on Oct. 12. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The seafood-heavy lineup also features charred octopus with fingerling potatoes in chimichurri, lemon and garlic aioli ($26); yellowfin tuna crudo with sweet mango, tangerine and scallion ($18); miso-glazed Chilean sea bass with coconut jasmine rice, broccolini and shiitake mushrooms ($48); and whole Maine lobster spaghetti with a spicy tomato vodka sauce ($59).
Vegetarians have options, too, including Thai chili Brussels sprouts with crispy shallots and coconut ($15), and a crispy enoki mushroom roll with charred broccolini, roasted bell pepper and avocado ($16).
For carnivores, there’s Cajun-Roasted Freebird Chicken ($32 half, $58 whole) with fingerling potatoes and what Salanitro calls “devil jus,” a rich demi-glace made from a white chicken stock thickened and strained over three days with sherry, Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce. Devil jus also coats the Steak Progressive ($130), a steak flight that includes a 7-ounce N.Y. strip, 8-ounce filet, 4-ounce Black Angus skirt steak and a 5-ounce Wagyu flat iron.
Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel
The new Sweetwaters restaurant seats 291 people in its dining room and expansive patio. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Along with beer ($7-$8) and zero-proof cocktails ($10-$12), the menu’s 12 cocktails ($15-$17) include Send Flowers (vodka, crème de violette, Lillet Blanc, lavender crisp) and Tiffany (tequila, Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto liqueur, limoncello sorbet and white edible pearls). Happy hour, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, offers multiple half-off cocktails and $5 beers.
Since reopening in January, Huizenga Park surpassed 100,000 visitors in its first five months, according to the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority, with foot traffic that includes events such as Sunny Side Up Market, sunset yoga and dog-friendly Yappy Hours.
Carline Jean / South Florida Sun Sentinel
Wagyu flatiron steak frites, Wagyu beef sliders and ahi tuna tartare at Sweetwaters. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
One of the new park vendors, Miami-based Ophelia, serves coffee and baked goods out of an RV trailer near Sweetwaters but is independent from the restaurant, Ermus adds.
“If you want something grab-and-go for a walk in the park, there’s Ophelia. But if you’re not in a rush, you come to Sweetwaters,” Ermus says. “Bring your dog. You’ll feel like you’re walking into a place where you know everyone.”
Sweetwaters, at 58 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, opened to the public on Oct. 12. Visit SweetwatersRestaurant.com or call 954-231-7777.
Sun Sentinel senior features writer Phillip Valys can be reached at pvalys@sunsentinel.com or Twitter/X @philvalys.
Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel
Tiffany, a specialty cocktail, is served at Sweetwaters restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel
The Chef’s Sushi Tower at Sweetwaters in Fort Lauderdale includes sushi rolls, spicy tuna crispy rice, nigiri, sashimi, tuna crudo and marinated salmon roe. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)