These Miami and Broward restaurants opened in the 1950s or before. Have they changed?
Restaurants come and go in Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
But not these.
They have been around for what seems like forever.
Here is a look through the Miami Herald archives at some of the restaurants that have put down deep roots in South Florida:
JAXSON’S ICE CREAM
Opened 1956: Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlour, 128 S. Federal Hwy. in Dania Beach, is a restaurant and country store featuring ice cream made on the premises using recipes developed by founder Monroe Udell. It also offers homemade corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, salads, burgers, hot dogs, steaks, chicken and wraps. Jaxson’s has a whimsical carnival atmosphere: The store’s interior sports hundreds of old license plates dating back to 1912, for instance, as well as photos and antiques.
MAI-KAI
Opened: 1956: The Mai-Kai, which reopened in November 2024 after four years of repair and renovation, is a Fort Lauderdale treasure. Expect kitschy charm, Polynesian dancers and large drinks, which reputedly use the same recipes devised by tiki-craze originator Don the Beachcomber in the 1930s, are enduring lures for tourists and locals.
FRANKIE’S PIZZA, ARBETTER HOT DOGS
Opened, Frankie’s 1955, Arbetter 1959: Before Bird Road was Bird Road, it was just a dirt street with a few businesses. Two of those businesses have become official landmarks: Frankie’s Pizza on 9118 Bird Rd., and Arbetter Hot Dogs on 8747 Bird Rd.
LESTER’S DINER
Opened 1967: If you dined at Lester’s when it opened in Fort Lauderdale in 1967, there’s a chance you could be served by the same waitress if you went back there tonight. Patrons can relax in the retro bright-red booths, framed with neon lights and order anything from pancakes to pasta — and you can’t miss the homey desserts. The 24-hour diner offers more than 600 menu items on a classic all-American diner menu accented with Greek dishes.
JOE’S STONE CRAB
Opened: 1913: Oh, the faces this restaurant has seen. Frank Sinatra. Muhammad Ali. Burn Notice co-star Sharon Gless. Woody Allen. President George W. Bush. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Al Pacino. Billy Joel. Movie and TV stars. Rock-and-rollers and jazz sophisticates. Gangsters and the fuzz. Bankers and lawyers. Royalty and their subjects. The rich and those who aspired to be. Go for the stone crabs, the fried chicken, the Key lime pie, or just the classic experience.
CAP’S PLACE
Opened 1928: Cap’s Place, an island restaurant, is the antithesis of a theme park experience. Everything — from the 200-year-old carved wooden figurehead from the bow of a Spanish galleon to the 350-pound tuna to the framed photographs of the famous and infamous — is authentic. Opened in 1928 by Eugene “Cap” Knight and his partner, Al Hasis, the restaurant was once a casino, a haven for rumrunners, a speakeasy and restaurant. Broward County’s oldest restaurant, it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and can only be reached by the restaurant’s boat. Over the decades, the restaurant has been frequented by celebrities including gangsters Al Capone and Meyer Lansky, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, President Franklin Roosevelt, actress Susan Hayward, Beatle George Harrison, singer Gloria Estefan and President Bill Clinton with his daughter, Chelsea. The only way to get there is by a shuttle boat.
TROPICAL ACRES
Opened: 1949: This Dania Beach restaurant near the Fort Lauderdale airport is known for its steak, sides and old Florida charm.
SHORTY’S
Opened: 1951: Have the barbecued chicken, pork, corn and other sides while you sit inside at picnic-style tables with others. It’s a step back in time on busy South Dixie Highway near Dadeland. The atmosphere at Shorty’s is summer camp mess tent with long, wooden picnic tables on concrete floors. Utensils are plastic. Napkins are rolls of paper towels. At each place setting an open brown bag awaits the deposit of gnawed ribs and chicken bones. The rustic log cabin building that houses the Kendall restaurant seems out of place in an area of shiny new office buildings and shopping malls. Yet Shorty’s — named for Shorty Allen who came down from Georgia as a young man to open a barbecue joint — is still a popular destination for people who savor slow-cooked ribs and chicken basted with homemade barbecue sauce.