Where in Broward County can you go to dine on fresh seafood at a historic place where you know that Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Al Capone also once dined?
Why, it’s at Cap’s Place Island Restaurant, a national landmark and Broward County’s oldest restaurant. Located in a secluded spot off Lighthouse Point on the Intracoastal Waterway, the venue’s way-back roots include being a 1920s casino and a rum-running speakeasy. Cap’s Place can only be reached by a dedicated motor launch, and I decided to check it out recently with three others.
I made an advance reservation through their website for 7 p.m. on a Saturday, and we arrived around 6:30 to the address listed for their boat dock, found a space in public parking close by, and waited to board Cap’s small ferry, which runs back and forth continuously to take customers to the restaurant when it’s open (five days a week). The boat ride was short and scenic, and we arrived at the wooden pier near the restaurant a little early. Walking around, we could enjoy the sun setting over this waterfront site, which is nestled in coastal pine and cypress, with various resident cats sauntering around.
The property is anything but fancy looking, resembling a series of old wood-frame shacks from the outside. Everything looks much like it did when it opened back in 1928. Inside the first structure is Cap’s very kitschy and quaint bar area, with an ancient cash register and lots of cool memorabilia. This building includes the only restrooms for the restaurant. Back outside, past the patio area, is the main structure, which contains adjoining rustic dining rooms with creaky wooden floors, open-rafter ceilings, and weathered walls covered in pictures, old papers, and more mementos.
Cap’s Place was listed as a historical site on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, and the place is musty, chockful of old things to look at, and a fun place to wander around and be transported back in time. It felt like we were in log cabins or the well-worn lodge of a campsite, but with nice views of the water.
According to Cap’s, the restaurant “has hosted the famous and infamous for decades,” including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers, Al Capone, Meyer Lansky, George Harrison, Errol Flynn, the Temptations, Susan Hayward, Gloria Swanson, and Joe Namath. Photos line the walls showing Cap’s famous customers.
Yellowed old newspaper articles also hang on the walls of the various rooms, with headlines such as “We Remember Churchill,” “Cap’s Place: Untouched by Time,” and “A Place Older Than Lighthouse Point.” We saw two walls displaying a large collection of historic currency from different states and countries, along with brittle stock certificates and numerous framed coins from yesteryear. You really get a sense of being in another era at this place, and that enhances the quirky charm.
The fresh cuisine was good too. We had an excellent server who gave us the history of Cap’s Place and impeccable details of everything on the menu—descriptions of the specials, what the entrees come with, and favored options for our sides. She was right about everything she told us. To order mixed drinks, you have to trek to the bar, but we had wine and food brought to our table with fast service. The crabcakes there have a great reputation, and mine were perfect. Their hearts of palm salad is also famous. As is the key lime pie, which we gobbled up.
Some regulars take the boat over just to go to that landmark bar, with its down-home ambience. Cap’s Place is not like any place else. After dinner, we wandered around the property a little more, then headed back to the pier and got right on the boat. We were whisked back in the dark, with lights twinkling on either sides of the water. Definitely a nice evening.
For more information and reservations, go to capsplace.com.