A New Restaurant Is Coming To Pompano Beach; Serving Southern comfort food

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

by Marie Puleo, Pompano Beach News Reporter

A new restaurant that will offer Southern comfort food in a sleek rustic setting is being planned for Pompano Beach’s historic downtown. The restaurant, tentatively named Wood & Wire, will occupy the building at 165 NE First Avenue, which is currently empty. The Pompano Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Board approved a sublease for the new restaurant last October.

Mike Linder and Mitch Amsterdam are the business duo behind the restaurant. They are the owners of Silver Lining Inflight Catering, which provides upscale catering services for private jets at airports throughout the southern half of Florida. The main kitchen for Silver Lining is located in Pompano Beach on Blount Road. Linder and Amsterdam also own Jet Runway Café, a popular breakfast and lunch restaurant located on the tarmac at the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.

Their new restaurant in Pompano Beach’s Old Town district will have an outdoor dining area overlooking a new public plaza that the Pompano Beach CRA is in the process of creating as part of its effort to redevelop Old Town as an arts and entertainment destination. The central feature of the plaza is a large existing ficus tree.

The restaurant’s “soul warming” menu will feature appetizers such as fried green tomatoes, corn hoecakes, hushpuppies, and buttermilk biscuits with Southern ham. Entrées will include chicken fried steak, blackened redfish (made famous in Louisiana by chef Paul Prudhomme), shrimp and grits, gumbo and broiled catfish. Desserts will include pecan pie, chess pie (made with a custard-like filling) and hummingbird cake (a banana-pineapple spice cake). An indoor/outdoor bar will serve craft cocktails.

The interior design will be entrusted to Fort Lauderdale-based Pam Manhas, who has done numerous projects in South Florida, including the interior of Yakuza restaurant on East Atlantic Boulevard. The idea is to create a welcoming space inspired by rustic industrial design, said Linder, who grew up in Pompano Beach. Locally sourced woods such as Dade pine and Florida cypress will be combined with metal elements, including custom light fixtures and reclaimed steel.

Renovation of the 3,600-square-foot restaurant space will be substantial, including an entire interior build-out, new facades, and parapets to screen new mechanical equipment. Construction documents for the project are anticipated to be completed next month. The next step will be to submit an application to the City for building permits.

In addition to working on Wood & Wire, Linder and Amsterdam are getting ready to open, possibly next month, a waterfront seafood restaurant, called YOT, at the Lauderdale Marine Center. It’s a busy time for the Pompano Beach restaurant operators.

For more news about restaurants in Pompano Beach and all of the season’s biggest events read Pompano! magazine and search our website.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7176″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row]