Chef Jose Mendin’s new restaurant is now open, and it is serving crab donuts

Chef Jose Mendin’s new restaurant is now officially open - but you’ll have to drive north to check it out.

Located on Fort Lauderdale’s riverfront, Rivertail is Mendin’s first seafood-centric restaurant - and his first restaurant in Broward County. The menu features a variety of different cuisines and encourages diners to order plates to share.

In addition to a full raw bar, expect a wide array of chef specialties, like bay scallops escargot, chilli crab, crab donuts and a creation called Mof-Gumbo, which combines plantains, Creole seafood stew and a dark roux. There’s also Moqueca Mista, a Bahia-style Brazilian stew with cod, shrimp, mussels, clams, calamari and cashews with coconut milk, citrus and cilantro

The restaurant’s atmosphere fits with the Riverfront aesthetic: It’s laidback, with indoor and outdoor bars, lounge areas and communal seating.

“We want to be a go-to fixture for visitors and locals enjoying the riverwalk and downtown Fort Lauderdale, a place where guests can enjoy a special occasion or simply stop in for a quick snack,” Mendin said in a press release.

It has been a busy year for Mendin. In October his Pubbelly Gloal group closed the original Pubbelly, a beloved gastropub in Miami Beach’s Sunset Harbour neighborhood. He and his group have been battling a local historic preservation board over the mural of the Puerto Rican flag at his restaurant La Placita in the MiMo district of Miami. There’s been no decision on whether or not it must be painted over.

Rivertail

305 S. Andrews Ave., Unit 123, Fort Lauderdale

Hours: Opens 6 p.m Wednesday-Sunday; happy hour 4-7 p.m. Wednesday- Friday with $1 oysters, $2 peel and eat shrimp and $3 medium stone crab claws.

This story was originally published December 31, 2019 at 1:17 PM.