A Taste of Fort Lauderdale's Ravenous Food Scene: 5 Top Restaurants

Fort Lauderdale has shed its reputation as a college spring break playground and moved upscale. One facet of this shift is giving Miami a run for its culinary. Although my awareness is just a few plates deep, I was impressed after experiencing 3 fine dining restaurants within walking distance of each other on Las Olas (beach) Boulevard and 2 near the redeveloped downtown Huizenga Park area.

For this visitor, the scope and quality of development, including the concern for public spaces is quite remarkable. Taylor Davis from Craft Food Tours led me and a small group on a fast-paced threesome lunch to Casablanca Cafe, Lona Cocina y Tequileria and Takato Restaurant.

Designed in 1927 by Francis L. Abreu, the talent who gave south Florida its Mediterranean revival style architecture, Casablanca Cafe began life as the first home built on Fort Lauderdale Beach.

A vegetarian dish known as a Bazaar Bowl proved photogenic against the cafe's original dark wood.

The view through one of Casablanca's windows wasn't bad either.

Lona is a 3-minute walk from Casablanca Cafe

The beach view from Lona's terrace bar is a definite plus.

Having accepted an offer of a quick back massage at a spa area off the dining room at Lona, I had precious little time to fully enjoy my Margarita and tacos de carnita.

Takato rightly ranks as one of the city's best seafood and sushi restaurants. The Florida Panthers Stanley Cup hockey team champions have deemed it their favourite.

It's not all seafood, as evidenced by this mildly spicy Korean dish known as 'Angry Chicken.'

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Food preparation is on open display at Takato.

Another day, an evening of "speed dining" began with a walk from Broward County Center for the Performing Arts through an urban landscape of tropical greenery along the water.

We headed out from the Performing Arts Center with visual confirmation of why Lauderdale calls itself the boating capital of the nation.

The half dozen blocks we strolled through downtown have been re-envisioned for public enjoyment.

Sushi, pork and brisket with sake , lager and whiskey were my surprise introduction to the evening. It was a new experience for me in delicate culinary art.

Sliced hamachi.

Suchi aficionados and business partners chef Michael Lewis and Lizzy Mayne were our hosts.

Fort Lauderdale is indulging in a fresh new vibe.

A point of pride for community events is Huizenga Park's 3 1/2 acres of reimagined green space. The park is safe, well-lit and even has attendants for the new restrooms.

Our second restaurant, Santorini by Georgios, near Huizenga, had a perfect patio space — until a downpour. We were lucky; our table was under cover as the gastronomic evening unfolded.

A surfeit of food arrived at the table until we couldn't eat any more.

Each platter was a veritable feast!

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I always welcome music that invites lively conversation, and this iconic Greek song does it well. It helped make the evening special. Here it is in its entirety.

Full disclosure: I was hosted by Visit Lauderdale, the Official Tourism Marketing Agency for Broward County, Florida. Thank you for the opportunity to showcase your community. Whether hosted or not, I expect and encourage readers to apply critical judgement — proverbial grains of salt — to my text and visual commentary when considering a visit. Treat this article as an appetizer. Bon appétit!