As founder and CEO of Falsetto Hospitality, he has a restaurant portfolio that includes Tacocraft, Pizza Craft, and Apothecary 330. In addition, Falsetto is also a partner in the iconic Runway 84. Now, the restaurateur is preparing to open Caviar Club on Las Olas Boulevard this fall. For Falsetto, the ambitious restaurant and nightlife concept represents more than another opening. It is a bet on the evolution of downtown Fort Lauderdale — and what he believes Las Olas can ultimately become.
“I think Las Olas and Fort Lauderdale will keep evolving into an A city,” Falsetto said. “It’s not going to be Miami’s little brother.”
Caviar Club is Falsetto’s vision of what comes next. Described as “old money energy with modern execution,” the restaurateur has drawn inspiration from the unabashed excess of the 1980s and the great dining rooms and hotel bars of New York, Paris, and London. Think polished wood, Art Deco lighting, cheetah prints, martinis, and tuxedoed service rather than Miami Vice kitsch.
“This concept isn’t for everybody,” Falsetto said. “It’s for that luxury experience that our locals don’t have.”
The 80-seat dining room will serve classic American dishes, including Dover sole filleted tableside, steak frites, lobster Thermidor and an extensive steak program featuring prime beef and Australian and American Wagyu. There will also be playful indulgences, including caviar-stuffed cannoli.
A separate 40-seat space called the Bar Room will feature 16 bar seats and 24 lounge seats, with a menu of caviar service, mini wagyu hot dogs, and French dips alongside martinis, champagne, and cocktails. At 9 p.m., the lights will dim, a DJ will take over, and the room will transition into a sultry cocktail club.
The details are deliberately old school. Caviar Club will have a maître d’, captains, valet service, a dress code, and custom uniforms. Falsetto wants guests to experience the kind of hospitality in which the maître d’ knows their name and a bartender remembers exactly how they take their martini.
“Everyone has forgotten about hospitality,” he said. “Having that feeling of going somewhere special and feeling something — that’s what we’re focusing on.”
The restaurant will be open to the public, but members receive priority access to tables. Its first 100 founding memberships sold out in three weeks, Falsetto said, and another limited allocation is planned. Beyond priority reservations, members will have concierge service, private events, wine dinners, and access to special wine and spirits allocations. Falsetto said Caviar Club is working with luxury brands to provide bespoke experiences ranging from yachts to trips to Napa and Europe, while developing reciprocal relationships with private clubs in Palm Beach, Miami, and the Hamptons.
Falsetto has assembled a team he believes would previously have been difficult to attract to Broward County. Garrett Singer Architecture + Design, whose projects include Flyfish Club and Torrisi for Major Food Group in New York is designing the space. Jeremy Loya, whose background includes Soho House and Maple & Ash, will helm Caviar Club’s kitchen, while the cocktail program is being developed with talent behind New York concepts The Eighty Six and The Corner Store. The team also includes two Level 3 sommeliers on site. Falsetto sees that investment as evidence of how much Fort Lauderdale has changed.
He lives on Las Olas and says the idea grew partly from his own frustration with having to leave Broward for the kind of sophisticated night out he wanted.
“Las Olas was a land of corporate restaurants,” he said. “Everyone was safe and happy serving burgers to tourists. There’s a renaissance of people who live here and want to dress up and go out for elevated dining.”
Falsetto points to new luxury development and retailers — including plans for a Rolex boutique — as signs of a larger transformation. He believes the next piece of the puzzle is attracting more high-end retail to complement the residential, hotel, and restaurant investment already underway.
“My vision is for this to be our own Rodeo Drive,” he said. “Las Olas hasn’t hit its stride yet. It has so much upside and so much potential.”
That doesn’t mean Falsetto believes everything on the boulevard should cater to luxury consumers. He is also planning Pizza Queen, an affordable New York-style slice shop inspired partly by his wife’s nickname, for Las Olas. The restaurant, expected to open in January, will sell artisanal slices for about $4 to $6 alongside whole pies.
The contrast is intentional: Falsetto sees a successful urban district as one that can accommodate everyone.
For the 47-year-old restaurateur, however, Caviar Club is personal. He started working in his family’s restaurants at 11 and says the new project distills what he has learned over a career spanning dozens of concepts and nearly two decades of openings.
“This is everything in my whole career bringing me to this point,” Falsetto said. “It’s my dream project. I’ve been working on it for over 10 years.”
Now he wants that project to help push Las Olas forward.
“I want to be a big part of it,” he said. “I want to be known for pushing hospitality and pushing the boundaries.”
