{"id":163,"date":"2025-10-13T18:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T18:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/163\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T18:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T18:19:11","slug":"top-chef-alums-to-open-new-fort-lauderdale-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/163\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Chef Alums to Open New Fort Lauderdale Restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTop Chef alums Janine Booth and Jeff McCinis will open Florida Room in Fort Lauderdale on October 15 with Southern dishes for dinner and pickleball views.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Florida Room photo<\/p>\n

Jeff McInnis and Janine Booth, the Top Chef duo behind South Florida favorites Stiltsville Fish Bar<\/a> and the now-shuttered Root & Bone <\/a>and Mi\u2019talia, are heading north with Florida Room, opening Wednesday, October 15, at the Fort<\/a>, a 9.5-acre sports and entertainment complex in Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n

In a very 2025 move, the restaurant sits beside the venue\u2019s pickleball courts, meaning diners can enjoy wagyu meatloaf and caviar-topped tots while watching strangers argue over line calls.<\/p>\n

For now, Florida Room will open for dinner service only. \u201cWe envisioned Florida Room as the perfect spot for affordable, comfortable, stress-free weeknight dining, a fun family dinner, or drinks with happy hour friends,\u201d says McInnis. \u201cNaturally, the offerings are elevated by technique and made with the best ingredients available, but a night at Florida Room should feel familiar and comforting in the best possible ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"From left: Husband and wife Top Chef alums Janine Booth and Jeff McInnis<\/p>\n

A Neighborhood Spot with a Side of Athletics<\/p>\n

Florida Room\u2019s menu is certainly robust, offering nearly 40 dishes that mix Southern comfort with coastal ingredients. Appetizers include a crunchy calamari Caesar, grilled mango and sesame salad, and peaches paired with stracciatella and prosciutto. <\/p>\n

The house-made tater tots arrive with cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche and caviar, while lamb sausage rolls, smoked fish dip, and pimento cheese with focaccia round out the starters. Flatbreads range from margherita and hot honey pepperoni to a black truffle version with caramelized onions, mushrooms, and aged balsamic.<\/p>\n

\"\"The \u201cWood Plank Salmon\u201d from Florida Room in Fort Lauderdale<\/p>\n

Heartier main courses include a wagyu short rib \u201cmeatloaf\u201d brushed with plantain barbecue glaze and a spatchcock chicken pressed under a brick until its skin turns golden and crisp. There\u2019s chili-lime yellowfin tuna with miso sweet potato puree, spicy rigatoni with Calabrian \u2019nduja, and a ten-ounce double smash burger. The \u201cFavorites + Classics\u201d section complements the main offerings with double buttermilk-fried chicken, barbecue ribs, and an 18-ounce Australian ribeye, served with marrow butter and chimichurri.<\/p>\n

Sides include pimento cheese grits, rosemary citrus fries, and sweet plantains with chimichurri. Desserts lean nostalgic: a baked Alaska torched tableside, coconut key lime pie, and chocolate spumoni tart with bourbon cherries. Weekend brunch is expected later this year.<\/p>\n

\"\"The coconut key lime pie, and chocolate spumoni tart with bourbon cherries at Florida Room
\nFrom South Beach to South Broward<\/p>\n

McInnis, a Florida native and James Beard Award nominee, first came onto the scene as executive chef at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach before co-founding Yardbird Southern Table & Bar. Booth, originally from Australia, also competed on Top Chef and earned a James Beard semifinalist nod for her work at Root & Bone.<\/p>\n

The 4,000-square-foot space is bright with sandy tones, plenty of greenery, and a bar that spills out toward the courts. There\u2019s room for 100 guests inside, 100 outside, and 45 in a private dining room. A separate event space upstairs doubles that capacity.<\/p>\n

Florida Room at the Fort. 891 SW 34th St., Fort Lauderdale; playthefort.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top Chef alums Janine Booth and Jeff McCinis will open Florida Room in Fort Lauderdale on October 15…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[289,249,251,250,290],"class_list":["post-163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-chefs","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-openings-closings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}