Todd Herbst, co-founder of parent company Big Time Restaurant Group (Louie Bossi\u2019s Ristorante Bar Pizzeria, Rocco\u2019s Tacos and Tequila Bar, Elisabetta\u2019s Ristorante), on Thursday was vague on details about the reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we were fortunate to be there as long as we have been. Times are changing and you can\u2019t compete with progress,\u201d Herbst said.<\/p>\n
He called Big City Tavern\u2019s finale a \u201ccause for celebration\u201d and said a new Big Time eatery would soon appear on Las Olas.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I can say is we have a terrific agreement with the landlord, so stay tuned,\u201d Herbst said. \u201cWe made lots of memories serving the Fort Lauderdale community [at Big City Tavern] and a lot of money, but like all great runs, it must come to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/TFL-L-BIG-CITY-TAVERN-FTL-CLOSIN.jpg\")
A scene from the lunch crowd at Big City Tavern in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. The restaurant is scheduled to close at the end of the month. (Carline Jean\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n
Big City Tavern\u2019s 45 workers, informed of the closing on Wednesday night, have been offered jobs at the hospitality group\u2019s other locations, he said. Herbst added that there are no plans to throw a goodbye party.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s more to come from us on Las Olas,\u201d he said. \u201cThank you for choosing us to share your celebrations and first dates and last dates with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
This news follows the recent closures of City Cellar Wine Bar & Grill in May<\/a> and Grease Burger, Beer and Whiskey Bar in July<\/a>, both run by Big Time Restaurant Group in West Palm Beach. It also follows the high-profile arrest in January of Big Time chef and partner Louie Bossi<\/a>, whose namesake Italian restaurants are still in operation.<\/p>\n Herbst said Big City Tavern\u2019s shuttering isn\u2019t tied to those closings or to his business partner\u2019s arrest, insisting that \u201cBig Time Restaurant Group is still financially healthy, and there are more restaurants on the drawing board.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no correlation to any of that. These two restaurants [City Cellar and Big City Tavern] recently hit the 25-year mark, while Grease hit 15 years, but nothing lasts forever,\u201d he said. \u201cThey had great runs, but their times were up and we have no regrets.\u201d<\/p>\n At its peak, Big City Tavern had multiple outposts in South Florida. The Las Olas restaurant-bar featured oversized brown-leather booths and rustic walls mounted with old paintings and an elk head and served comfort dishes including jerk-chicken pizza, rigatoni bolognese, plus pastries and breads made in-house.<\/p>\n A 2011 Sun Sentinel dining review<\/a> described Big City Tavern as \u201ca great dining spot for everyone\u201d that \u201cdoesn\u2019t feel corporate.\u201d<\/p>\n Big City Tavern, at 609 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale<\/a>, is scheduled to close on Wednesday, Sept. 30. Visit BigCityLasOlas.com<\/a> or call 954-727-0307.<\/p>\n Sun Sentinel staff writer Phillip Valys can be reached at pvalys@sunsentinel.com<\/a> or Twitter\/X @philvalys<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Say goodbye to Big City Tavern, the Fort Lauderdale staple slinging all-American spreads of lobster mac \u2018n\u2019 cheese,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1593,506,104,1594,28,688,249,251,250,114,687,109,685,106],"class_list":["post-402934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-bars","tag-broward-county","tag-entertainment","tag-explore-florida","tag-florida","tag-food-and-drink","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-restaurants","tag-social","tag-the-eat-beat","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402934","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=402934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Server](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/TFL-L-BIG-CITY-TAVERN-FTL-CLOSIN1.jpg\")
Maurizio Meloni serves dishes on Thursday, Sept. 17, at Big City Tavern in Fort Lauderdale. (Carline Jean\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n