“For years, I said, ‘I’ll never open in Fort Lauderdale.’ These people will never get me,” says award-winning chef Timon Balloo. He first moved to the Florida city at age 15 and met his wife here, and then, as his career took off, he decamped to lead restaurants in Brooklyn and Miami. But never say never: In 2019, he returned to open his own place in Fort Lauderdale, a destination better known for its cruise-ship departures than its dining scene.
Timon Balloo, the chef and restaurateur behind the Katherine, in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Courtesy of Timon Balloo
Named the Katherine (after his wife’s middle name), Balloo’s restaurant melds the “flavours, memories and nostalgic little references” of his multicultural background — Chinese and Indian-Trinidadian — and his global travels. This year, the restaurant earned Balloo a James Beard Award semifinalist nod for Best Chef: South. “It’s showing that food has no boundaries, and flavours don’t either,” says Balloo, who was also on the New York Times’ 2019 list of Black chefs changing food in America.
Those who assume they already know Fort Lauderdale may be surprised by its evolution: “Post-pandemic, there’s been a large migration of people from dense urban cities like Boston and New York. With that comes accelerated demand for the kind of food I’m making, and increased support for cool new businesses,” says Balloo. Here are just a few of his local favourites in and around Fort Lauderdale.
Opened in February 2020, this isn’t just another Italian restaurant: “It’s owned by a young Italian-American chef, Rino Cerbone, who came from a restaurant family but was a rock musician — a real one with a band and everything,” explains Balloo. “And then he came back to food, giving this play on his family’s heritage that’s just beautiful to see. His food has an immigrant story to tell, and I can really respect that.
At the Katherine, Balloo serves coffee with locally roasted beans from this hip company, owned by another husband-and-wife team. “(One location is) in FATVillage, an up-and-coming Fort Lauderdale arts district, and I just love their horchata spiced cold brew,” he says. It’s well worth wandering the whole neighbourhood, formerly a warehouse district, where you’ll find small galleries, murals and other creative spaces. “Definitely stop at Invasive Species Brewing for a beer while there,” advises Balloo.
An intimate bottle shop/bar with a chill atmosphere, this is a great spot to hang out and sample carefully selected wines from biodynamic producers. “These guys are pioneering the natural wine movement in Fort Lauderdale and moving the wine culture here forward, with a lot of the same vibes and energy we bring at our place,” says Balloo. “You definitely gotta go and listen to Wu-Tang while you’re drinking a pét-nat.”
When he wants to catch some sun on the sand, Balloo tends to avoid busier spots and heads to quieter Dania Beach, which is about a 15-minute drive from Fort Lauderdale and backs onto Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park. The latter was recently renamed after two civil rights activists who campaigned for Broward County to have at least one beach for African Americans, during a time when Black citizens were denied access to the area’s public beaches. “There are mangroves in the park, and it’s a beautiful place to kayak or fish,” says Balloo.
This antique bookstore looks relatively nondescript from the outside, but you’ll feel as if you’re stepping into a historic library in a European city or into a fantasy novel. Shelves run from floor to ceiling, stocked with books — some 50,000 of them, including first editions and rarities such as a vellum-bound 16th-century text. The 1,200-square-foot space also comes complete with artifacts, a piano, historic photographs for sale, and an adorable resident cat named Peter roaming the stacks.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Correction — Jan. 3, 2024
A previous version of this article mistakenly included a photo of Miami Beach, Fla. instead of Fort Lauderdale.
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