Timon Balloo made a name for himself first by collecting accolades as head chef of Sugarcane in Miami before heading north to open this homey neighborhood spot. At this restaurant named for his wife, Marissa Katherine, Balloo combines inspiration from family recipes, like the Chinese dishes that mom would make as a kid and the sancocho of Katherine’s Colombian grandmother. That’s evident with the deeply umami heirloom tomatoes in coconut vinaigrette and the richly seasoned Trini oxtail with Haitian pikliz. While dining here, we’ve often said that we’d never had anything like the creative dish in front of us, but we hope very much to see them again soon.
The Wall Street Journal published an article recently with a headline that asked: “Wait, Is Fort Lauderdale…Cool?” To locals, this seemed both like confirmation of something they already knew and absurd. Because if that’s ever been an actual question, it was answered long ago. That’s especially true when we’re talking about the Fort Lauderdale restaurant scene. Sure, a generation ago, dining out here largely meant staid Las Olas restaurants serving vaguely continental cuisine. But now, the city has stellar restaurants spread from the sand's edge to the county's western reaches. To be sure, we visited the city’s chef-driven spots and hidden strip-mall gems and places as cool as, well, Fort Lauderdale itself. Follow our guide to the best restaurants in Fort Lauderdale to see just how cool this city has become.
This guide was updated by South Florida-based writer Eric Barton. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.
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