This will be my last column of the year and due to space considerations, I am only given one column besides the To Do List, so I’m combining some events from Hot Dish and Culture Corner so that I can return to a clean desk in 2025.
LIGHT SHOW
Set sail on a magical evening with Fort Lauderdale’s Water Taxi Holiday Lights Cruise, running each evening through Jan. 4. This festive cruise highlights the beauty of Fort Lauderdale’s famous waterways with holiday lights and live music. This year, experience the VIP Captain’s Holiday Pass, it includes an open bar for added enjoyment. This premier upgrade includes unlimited access to premium alcoholic beverages. The Holiday Lights Cruise boards at the Riverside Hotel for a cruise lasting about an hour and a half. Cruises depart at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Ticket prices start at $45 for adults and $59 for the VIP Captain’s Pass, plus an 18% gratuity per guest, added at checkout. Tickets are available at watertaxi.com/tickets.
IT’S STILL LIZA WITH A Z
The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival returns early next year with more than two dozen world-class movies from all over the world, kicking off with a razzle-dazzle screening of LIZA: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story. The Florida premiere of this sizzling documentary about superstar Liza Minnelli will be shown on Thursday, Jan. 23, at the Kravis Center. This portrait emphasizes a lifetime of meaningful relationships with mentors including Kay Thompson, Bob Fosse, and Halston, as young Liza emerges from the shadow of her famous father, film director Vincente Minnelli, and her legendary mother Judy Garland to become one of the most extraordinary artists of our time. The glittery opening night will include a cocktail reception with light bites in the Kravis Center’s Cohen Pavilion from 6 to 7 p.m. Tickets are $75 and are available at kravis.org.
FORT LAUDERDALE A TOP FOODIE CITY
To determine the best and cheapest local foodie scenes, WalletHub compared 182 cities, including the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state, across a variety of key dimensions. Fort Lauderdale just made the top 20, ranking just behind Chicago (18) and ahead of Washington D.C. (20). Miami grabbed the number one spot. Orlando (3) and Tampa (5) were the other Florida cities that made the list. Such factors as restaurants per capita, the ratio of full-service restaurants to fast-food establishments, restaurant diversity, presence of Michelin-starred restaurants, food trucks per capita, access to healthy food options, farmers markets per capita, craft breweries and wine bars per capita, and food festivals per capita, among others were considered in the rankings.
A BIT OF HEAVEN
Hot Dog Heaven has a new top dog running the famed Fort Lauderdale eatery. Restaurateur Joe Barra, of Fort Lauderdale, took over the business last month from longtime founders Barry and Pamela Star, who officially retired on Nov. 2, more than 45 years after first opening the ketchup- and mustard-hued doghouse on Sunrise. The only menu change thus far: the addition of pastrami sandwiches from Chicago-based Vienna Beef, which also supplies the restaurant’s franks, Italian beef sandwiches, Polish sausage, and salami products. One thing they haven’t changed is the longtime employees. Barra, who runs the restaurant alongside business partner Matt Abdol, who have both run sandwich shops before, have made a few other changes. Hot Dog Heaven now accepts credit cards and is open until 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. “We think there are lots of people who want hot dogs later at night,” says Barra.
