Chimney House owners bring beachy vibe to Latin fusion cuisine with new Casa Playa
Casa Playa, which had a soft opening during the last week of April, boasts a coastal-cool vibe with a wraparound veranda and white modern-industrial decor with tan wood touches warming the aesthetic — all just two blocks from Fort Lauderdale beach.
Casa Playa couldn’t be more different from The Chimney House.
Both Fort Lauderdale restaurants finesse a Latin fusion cuisine concept and both are owned by wife-and-husband team Yady and Frank Rodriguez. But that’s where the similarities end.
The Chimney House is an antique-y eatery housed in a cozy 1920s-era home on the edge of Sailboat Bend Historic District (and, more importantly, behind the Broward Center for the Performing Arts).
Whereas Casa Playa, which had a soft opening during the last week of April, boasts a coastal-cool vibe with a wraparound veranda and white modern-industrial decor with tan wood touches warming the aesthetic — all just two blocks from Fort Lauderdale beach.
Around Chimney House, “it’s a lot of offices,” says Yady. While at Casa Playa, it’s “more neighbors, residential and also tourists. This area became very popular, very trendy for a restaurant.”
The total capacity of the new spot is 150 patrons, with the main dining room downstairs seating about 60 people and the veranda handling another 15. There’s also a private dining area upstairs that seats about 36. “You can use it for private parties. You can use it for conferences. We have the TV and everything so you can have events up here,” she says.
Aside from the visuals, Casa Playa has an expansive indoor-outdoor bar and a larger kitchen, comparatively speaking.
“We have a lot of limitations at Chimney House because of the size,” Frank says. “Our kitchen is very small.”
Conversely, the Casa Playa kitchen allows for menu tweaks not possible at The Chimney House.
WHAT IS THE MENU LIKE?
To Yady, it’s all about “home food, comfort food.”
Despite the differences between the two eateries, when it comes to the actual food, “we’re not straying away from what we do,” Frank cautions. He referred to it as South American fusion.
The owners both were born in Colombia. Yady moved to the United States when she was 27. Frank relocated here with his family at age 11, growing up in Queens, New York.
“I mean, the culinary scene in Queens, New York, is incredible,” he says. “Very authentic. You had an Ecuadorian restaurant that made tremendous food. You had a Colombian place. We had Peruvian, Uruguayan and Korean and Indian places, and everything in between. So I think the idea with what we do is to provide people with … an introduction to the differences in South American food versus what many may know, you know, Mexican and Cuban, which are the two most popular Latin (cuisines).”
A close family friend from Peru, for example, has shared his expertise in that type of cuisine.
“So we mix in Peruvian, we mix in the Colombian side, my mom’s dishes,” he says. His mother owned the Tierras Colombianas restaurant in Tamarac back in the 1990s. Plus, he has the influence from his stepfather, who is Uruguayan.
Of course, over the past few weeks there have been a few menu tweaks.
“We tried to accommodate the customers,” Yady adds. “Because at the beginning … we were not doing
waffles. And then the morning people were leaving because what are you gonna give to the kids? … It’s something that Latins don’t eat for breakfast. But then we (added) waffles. Little by little, you see what the customers want.”
So now the menu, which is seeing an update here and there, includes appetizer tapas such as Crispy Pork Belly with Lime Salsa and Spicy Tuna Guacamole, and entrees including Lechon Asado (mojo marinated pork), Chilean Seabass, Grilled Wagyu Skirt Steak and Peruvian Seafood Jalea (a crispy mixture of calamari, scallops, white fish, mussels and shrimp). There are also ceviches, tiraditos (Peruvian raw fish dish), American and Latin sides and desserts ranging from Spanish Flan and Tres Leches Cake to Passion Fruit Mousse and Rice Pudding.
One of Casa Playa’s early fan-foodie-favorites is the Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken.
“Here we have a convection oven, so we’re using a chicken breast that’s organic but also, more importantly, that’s thick,” Frank says. “It’s a thick, juicy piece of chicken, so it gets marinated in lime, cilantro marinade … and we sear it and we finish it in the oven, so it stays juicy.”
Also popular, according to Yady, are the Chilean Sea Bass en Leche de Coco (“It does very well.”) and the Wagyu Skirt Steak (“That one has been selling very well too.”).
While The Chimney House has a bar, it’s not a main focal point like at Casa Playa.
“Here we had a chance to be more contemporary, modern and … what do you call it? Beach chic,” says Frank. “I think we had to refocus a lot more on our bar program, because the bar at Casa Playa is more of the focal point.”
He adds that the cocktail menu also has an early standout: the Guava-rita.
“It’s basically a margarita that uses guava, which is very popular in South America. In … everything we do, we want to keep our Latin angle and our Latin base on the food and drinks. The guava component, I think, ties it even more into the concept of the food.”
WHY ANOTHER RESTAURANT AND WHY THIS ONE ?
The dynamic dining duo had been looking to open another restaurant for about the past five years, Frank says, until this space caught their eye — snuggled up to the Tiffany House condominiums on the corner of Birch Road and Bayshore Drive. They’ve spent the last two years and a few months building out the kitchen and dining spaces from scratch.
The location is close to their home, which is a huge help for their family, with two boys age 10 and 8.
“There were people asking us to open locations in Pompano, in Orlando. No, thank you,” Yady says. “From the house to here is 5 minutes.”
After the COVID-19 pandemic, Frank says, “there were a lot of different locations of offers, because they had spaces open for many years that were wanting to attract a tenant. And because we had Chimney House, and we had been around for a while, it actually gave us a little bit of credibility. … We also realized that many people during COVID were all at the beach. Nothing was going on anywhere, but the beach still had people.”
Despite their new food-and-beverage venue being on the Intracoastal Waterway, a short stroll from the visitor-vacation-hub of State Road A1A, the owners’ focus continues to be on South Florida residents.
“Obviously, there’s some seasonality but there’s a lot of people living (in the area),” Frank says. “We knew that we needed a local focus, a local base that would come regularly. If you do a good job with the locals, the tourists will find you.”
Casa Playa is at 401 N. Birch Road, Fort Lauderdale. For information, visit casaplaya.com or call 954-376-5512.
