Huizenga Park Now Runs From Morning Coffee to Sunset Yoga

"I talked to people who live in the [residential] towers around the park, who've been watching us build this for three years," Sweetwaters executive chef Nicco Salanitro told the South Florida Sun Sentinel ahead of the restaurant's debut. "It's for them and, yes, it's for tourists."

Sweetwaters held its grand opening on Oct. 12 at 58 E. Las Olas Blvd. It completes the redesign of Huizenga Park, which reopened in January with a fenced dog run, shade trees and grassy hills built for climbing. For most of this year the park filled the morning and the weekend. With the restaurant open, it now has something on the calendar for nearly every hour between the 7 a.m. opening and the 10 p.m. close.

The Last Room in a Park Designed as Rooms

The 3.6-acre plan for the park divides it into outdoor "rooms." Each one is built for a different use, and the Sun Sentinel's January preview counted 88 shade trees across the site. The park's own site lists these spaces by name:

• Civic Lawn: the central green, where the market, yoga and Saturday workouts take place
• The Dog Spot: the fenced dog run, where dogs can be off leash
• Poppy's Play Patch: rolling hills for children to climb. Adults may enter only with a child.
• Legacy Terrace: shaded café seating
• Riverwalk Terrace and New River Landing: a raised circular deck that links the park to the Riverwalk
• Spirit of Fort Lauderdale Fountain
• Public art: Cey Adams' LOVE mural and Manolo Valdes' sculpture Head with Butterflies

The Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority owns the park and led the $15 million redesign. The City of Fort Lauderdale put in $5 million and the state $1 million. Private donors and the DDA covered the rest.

The park was getting heavy use before the restaurant opened. According to the Sun Sentinel, the DDA reported more than 100,000 visitors in the first five months after the January reopening, which included events such as the market, sunset yoga and Yappy Hours. All of that happened with the park's largest building still under construction. Sweetwaters is a glass-walled, 10,000-square-foot dining room with an open kitchen. Its wraparound patio faces the park on one side and the New River on the other, and it seats 291 between the dining room and the patio.

A Day at Huizenga Park, Hour by Hour

Huizenga Park describes its partner programs as recurring and free, and says its programs are generally open to all. Here is the schedule from this week through November, based on the park's event listings:

Cleveland Clinic sponsors both the Saturday workouts and the sunset yoga. The November yoga dates on the park's calendar don't match each other, so check the live event listings before you bring a mat.

Look at the late afternoon in that table. Before Oct. 12, the park's evening offer came down to the dog run and the lawn. Now the restaurant's weekday happy hour starts at 4 p.m., Yappy Hour starts at 5:30 p.m. a short walk from the patio, and yoga on the Civic Lawn takes the 6 p.m. slot. Depending on the night of the week, one walk across the lawn can now end in a happy hour drink, a dog run meetup or a yoga class.

Two Places to Eat, at Two Speeds

Sweetwaters general manager Ashley Ermus laid out how the park's two food options split the day. "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," she told the Sun Sentinel. "Bring your dog."

Ophelia is a Miami-based vendor. It sells coffee and baked goods from an RV trailer near the restaurant and operates independently of Sweetwaters. For a morning walk or a coffee before the Saturday workout, it's the quicker of the two.

Sweetwaters belongs to Specialty Restaurants Corp., which also runs the Rusty Pelican on Key Biscayne. A few of that restaurant's signature dishes appear on the new menu: seafood towers, Brussels sprouts, a crab cake close to the Rusty Pelican version, and the Pink Brick, a Wagyu flatiron steak seared at the table with black truffle butter. Salanitro developed the menu with culinary director Matthieu Godard, and they revised it 30 times before opening.

The menu covers a wide price range, which fits a restaurant pitched to people who live nearby as much as to visitors:

• Smaller plates: Thai chili Brussels sprouts at $15, a crispy enoki mushroom roll at $16, yellowfin tuna crudo with mango and tangerine at $18
• Mains: charred octopus at $26, Cajun-roasted Freebird chicken at $32 for a half or $58 for a whole, miso-glazed Chilean sea bass at $48
• Larger orders: whole Maine lobster spaghetti at $59, and the $130 Steak Progressive flight of four cuts
• Drinks: 12 cocktails at $15 to $17, zero-proof cocktails at $10 to $12, beer at $7 to $8

Those prices put a weeknight visit within reach for anyone just crossing the lawn. A $15 plate of Brussels sprouts and a half-price cocktail during happy hour is a much smaller bill than the steak flight. Ermus told the Sun Sentinel the aim was "to make the menu approachable, to be the neighborhood go-to spot for everything." For more, visit Sweetwaters' website or call 954-231-7777.

Getting There During Boat Show Week

The busiest week of the season starts Wednesday, Oct. 28. The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show runs through Sunday, Nov. 1, across six venues: the Convention Center, Bahia Mar, Hall of Fame Marina, Las Olas Marina, Pier Sixty-Six and Superyacht Village. If you usually reach downtown by boat, plan around it. Water Taxi says its regular service is suspended during the show. It will run boat show routes instead, with $15 daily and $65 five-day passes, and children under 5 ride free.

Getting to the park on land doesn't change. The park's visitor page lists these options:

1. Water Trolley to Stop #2
2. Brightline to the Fort Lauderdale station, about a ten-minute walk
3. Street parking on SE 1st Avenue
4. Riverwalk Center Garage at 150 SE 2nd Street
5. 10X Riverwalk Garage at 4 W. Las Olas Boulevard

New River Landing connects the park to the Riverwalk, and the Riverwalk leads to Esplanade Park, where the November calendar continues. Light Up Lauderdale is on Thursday, Nov. 5, and the Downtown Day of the Dead is on Saturday, Nov. 7. On Saturday, Nov. 14, the free Riverwalk International Food Festival runs from noon to 4 p.m., and every vendor is to offer a $5 item. The free Saturday workout on the Civic Lawn ends at 10 a.m. the same morning, so you can do both.

If a finished Huizenga Park has you thinking about life within walking distance of the New River, whether that means a downtown residence, a second home or a move from Georgia, Toya Carter can help you plan it around the routine you want. Let's Connect.