This past Thursday, 19 food trucks took to a Seminole Hard Rock Casino parking lot for families and foodies to enjoy. The new event, which apparently will be weekly, ran from 5:30-10pm. The list of attendees included Aaron’s Catering Express, CheeseMe, ChurroMania, Daddy’s Grill, Dim Ssam a Gogo, Dolci Peccati Gelato, The Fish Box, The Flying Saucer, gastroPod, Grill Master Cafe, Jefe’s Original Fish Taco, Latin Burger, Latin House grill, MexZican Gourmet, Mr. Good Stuff, Ms. Cheezious, The Red Koi, The Rolling Stove, and The Yellow Submarine. Below you can view some of what we sampled, including fish tacos from Jefe’s and MexZican (we preferred Jefe’s), gastroPod pork tacos, Ms. Cheezious grilled cheese and sweet potato fries, and Dim Ssam a Gogo meat-topped tater tots. We’ll be sure to post more pics in the future as we got too full before we could check everything off our list (Dim Ssam a Gogo ginger brussel sprouts, CheeseMe mac n cheese pancakes, Aaron’s Catering truffle mac n cheese bites, and sweets from Sugar Rush which was scheduled to attend but didn’t make it will have to wait til next time)
Downtown Ft. Lauderdale has a new breakfast locale coming this July, and with the recent closing of Bluejays Cafe (can someone please turn off their Christmas lights), this couldn’t come at a better time. In the spot where Village Pie never opened, Old Fort Lauderdale Breakfast House will be making its debut. By glancing at their website (and listening to the auto-play banjo music), it’s evident that the owner Rodney Ely is banking on the quality and farmer freshness of his food. According to his bio, Rod is an old school local who has been a part of many successful restaurants from FTL’s past. The walls inside are decorated with vintage photos, further emphasizing his roots in the city. Even though there are no free refills on coffee (“that’s not Folgers in your cup”) and it’s a little pricey for breakfast, the FTLC staff will be eagerly waiting for the announcement of the OB House grand opening. Take a glance at their tasty menu and share in our excitement.
The restaurant is located at 333 Himmarshee St, Ft Lauderdale.
In addition to our heartfelt list of Monday afternoon thanks, we’d like to also mention the band that graced the stage of our unofficial, not-so-advertised after party at the Green Room. Throughout the last year, we truly have tried to keep it local, but it’s tough, especially when it comes to bands that really get us riled up, like Miami Beach’s Deaf Poets.
Though we had heard of Deaf Poets before, we didn’t actually get a chance to catch them until this past May’s SW 3rd Ave Music Festival (if you missed out, you missed out, honestly). Obviously, we felt pretty excited to book them ourselves (on behalf of Mig, I suppose). And if you haven’t seen them yet, make sure to keep an eye on these guys as you’re about to find out what makes them so pretty cool.
For one, the duo (it’s a two man gig) has got quite some catchy tunes. Granted, they’ve got a few slower ones, but we’ll be damned if they don’t have you toe-tapping to all of them. Check out Cold Cold Thieves at the end of the post.
Secondly, it’s pretty hard to not be captivated when the passion between these guys is so evident. Not only do they look like they’re super into it, but they almost look like they’re rooting each other on (hey, I guess you gotta make up for a lack of members somehow, not that this band seems like they’re lacking anything). When Chillwave’s biggest critics argue the talent of one guy and his laptop it’s pretty difficult to defend two guys and two instruments.
Which leads us to our next point, how can only two guys make you forget you’re watching only two guys? Watching lead singer Sean Wouters’ amazing footwork is enough to keep you entertained not to mention the previously written catchy vocals or instrumentals. To explain, I have yet to see anyone outside of a major city ballet troupe showcase that kind of intensity and grace. It sounds cheesy, but it’s not. And once you see, you’ll get it.
If through our wayward writing we’ve lost you, give the below tracks a listen, or just take our word for it and check Deaf Poets out live.
Stopping into Macabi’s Cigar Bar on Las Olas for an after-dinner drink on a recent weekend evening, your blogger had an interesting time. Macabi’s Cigar Bar is a relatively small but nice establishment with a bar on the right and a large case of cigars lining the full length of the room on the left (plus a full liquor store adjacent to the bar). An interesting mix of patrons were at the bar this evening including, for you single ladies, a smart and attractive bachelor orthopedist named Brian that volunteered months of his time in Haiti immediately after the earthquake. But this post isn’t just about good-looking, rich heroes or the wide variety of cigars, wine, and beer available at Macabi’s Cigars. It’s about the crazy proprietor Pat Patel.
Pat is nothing if not sociable. Exceedingly talkative to his guests and quite full of himself and his nice bar, at one point he bragged about winning a NewTimes Best Of award. Not surprised, considering the delicious wines and good cigars, I expected to see an award for Best Wine Bar or Best Cigar Bar. But no, the award he chose to show me was a framed NewTimes award from several years ago for Best Bar To Get Yelled At (turns out he has won Best Cigar Bar in other years). A little strange but believable from the salty behavior Pat had exhibited towards his bartender and patrons that evening, plus the stories Pat shared about kicking people out for spilled drinks or whatever other behavior Pat found offensive.
Pat is too interesting to ignore. Not only did he provide us thirsty customers with delicious wines, he broke out a couple of mystery dishes gratis, challenging us to guess what we were eating. An especially ambiguous plate turned out to be chili-spiced mango slices tasting nothing like what one might expect of a mango, but quite good and hot. And when nobody knew what the hell that spicy crunchy dish they were eating might be, Pat ostracised us for our lack of knowledge.
Again, like I said, you cannot stop talking to Pat, partly because he will not stop talking to you. Pat’s nationality is hard to determine. I was pretty sure he is either Turkish or Middle Eastern, but I was wrong; turns out Pat is from Uganda. And then, as Pat was listing the offenses for which one might be ejected from Macabi’s Cigar Bar, he included that being Muslim would earn you that fate. Yes, I don’t know why, nor do I really care, but I will tell you this: Pat does not like Muslims. I was of course surprised by his statement. I even informed Pat I was planning to write a blog post about his bar and that some people would not like that detail. But Pat is Pat and was not to be deterred: “I don’t care, Muslims are not welcome here,” said our outspoken proprieter. Which leaves your blogger in a strange position: I would like to recommend this quirky bar with its good wine, fine cigars, and its beyond-quirky owner. But the FTLC is also a supporter of multiculturalism and, although we appreciate crazy, only to a certain extent. So we recommend you make your own decision. Hate Muslims but love cigars? This is your place. Love cigars and rationality? We cannot fully endorse. Muslim and offended? Pat doesn’t care. That is Macabi’s Cigar Bar.
The FTL Collective would like to thank everyone who helped make our 1 year anniversary party last Saturday so amazing. It’s kind of risky to recite a list of everyone we want to thank because we’re bound to forget someone, but we’re going to do it anyway.
Thanks to the people behind The Bubble for letting us throw our birthday bash at your space. That includes everyone from the door people to the bartenders to the people that helped set up and clean up. Thanks to Manifest Test Subject, Lavola, Ryan Alexander, Retrocities, Brady Newbill, The Goddamn Hustle, and Travalonia for the great performances. Thanks to all the artists who showcased their incredible work at our party: Ari Justin Rothenberg, Luzalma Gonzalez, Rachel DeJohn, Laura Atria, and South Florida Camera Club members Danny Hammontree, Tracy Mendy, Nancy Goldwin, Jayne Villamizar, Lauren Britz. Thanks to Frank for cooking up some delicious food on the grill. Thanks to Kimber Kirton (Penelope Lane Photography) for bringing her zany photo booth. Thanks to Green Room for donating some delicious bottles of vodka for the party. Thanks to every single person that attended the party. It really meant a lot to us to see everyone out there. And thanks to everyone who has taken the time to check out our website over the past year. We appreciate all of our readers, even the ones that couldn’t make it this past Saturday.
If you weren’t able to make it, here are some tunes from some of the bands that performed. Enjoy.
Manifest Test Subject – Castle Crashers
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/17093680″]
The Goddamn Hustle – Bodies
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/16067493″]
Ryan Alexander – Catacombs & Caves (acoustic)
Retrocities – City Nights and Written By Machinery (live @ Propaganda)
We have written about the Fort Lauderdale Strikers previously, but to reiterate, if you enjoy sports you have got to check them out. Saturday they played the Puerto Rico Islanders and it was one of the more enjoyable sporting events I have attended recently. The Strikers secured their first home win of the season 3-2 with two late goals after the game had seemed to slip away from them. The Strikers had a 1-0 halftime lead and were playing with an extra man after a Puerto Rico player was ejected for stomping on one of our guys. But the Islanders took the lead with two quick goals around the 60th minute. After scoring the second goal, the Puerto Rico player taunted the main Strikers cheering section by running over to us with his hand cupping his ear, as if to say “I can’t hear you.” But we’re not going to take that: one local hero ran to the front of the stands and chucked his beer at the Puerto Rico player, nailing him in the chest. It was of those split second decisions that was undoubtedly disliked by some, but necessary to defend our honor. This is OUR Fort. The fan was ejected from the game by security that seemed reluctant to throw him out, but were just doing their job.
Meanwhile, the Strikers responded with two late goals setting off pandemoniom in the stands. The game ended a couple of minutes later and then the teams proceeded to brawl after the final whistle. Damn it was a fun Strikers game. I declare Puerto Rico our new rival. Fuck those guys.
So the FTLC has been covering the local scene for one year. In this day and age, a blog that lasts longer than a couple months, let alone a whole year, is something to be celebrated. Therefore, we are throwing ourselves a one-year birthday party on Saturday, June 11, and you are invited.
The Bubble (a real-world collective as opposed to our web-based collective) has agreed to host at its real-life domain at 810 NE 4th Avenue in FTL. The party kicks off early at 5:00 in the afternoon (remember, we are turning 1…think of it as a kids party). There will be a solid lineup of booze, bands, art, food, booze, photo booth, freeze pops, and I’m sure some other random madness as is common at the Bubble.
The exhibiting artists (more TBA): Danny Hammontree Tracy Mendy Nancy Goldwin Jayne Villamizar Lauren Britz Ari Justin Rothenberg Luzalma Gonzalez Rachel DeJohn Live painting by Laura Atria
Don’t eat beforehand because we have BBQ from Jeremiah Lewis (better known as the guy with the smoker in front of Monterey Club) and vegetarian friendly fare from Frank McGuffin (formerly of Munchie One Food Truck). Photos will be taken by Valyn Calhoun and Penelope Lane Photography will be on hand with their infamous Photo FUN Booth with tons of tacky accessories. Digital Love DJ’s Mig and Andie Sweetswirl will be spinning indie and electro all evening.
The bash continues until 11:00 p.m. with an after-party at the Green Room downtown with the band Deaf Poets. It’s $10 to get in The Bubble, but that includes complimentary beer and FTL Mules (courtesy of Green Room). So stop by and have a good time, and do what the FTLC was created to do: support and enjoy the local scene.
Find out additional deets by clicking on the facebook event page here.
And who knows, maybe Russell Brand will stop by and sing us a rendition of African Child.
