By Jan Engoren and Yours Truly

The Lazy Dayz of Summer may be here, but with that comes the annual Dine Out Lauderdale 2022 running from now through the month of September. What better way to indulge in your favorite restaurants or try somewhere new?  Get deals and sample some of the leading eateries in Fort Lauderdale with special Dine Out Lauderdale menus, all with three courses specially priced at $35 or $45.  And make a day of it with our suggestions for things to do plus Fort Lauderdale has its spa days now!

Sample Mediterranean delights for $45, including appetizer, entrée and dessert at Evelyn’s Fort Lauderdale at the Four Seasons Hotel, 525 North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard. Start with their classic hummus or Za’atar Kale Caesar Salad followed by Evelyn’s Chicken Shawarma served with fries, sweet potato fries or side salad and finish with their Almond Basbousa – what could be sweeter?

Or, make a reservation at The Katherine and sample their Heirloom Tomato and Burrata appetizer, followed by an entrée of Short Rib and Summer Corn, Thai Red Curry Braised Fish or Jerk Grilled Chicken Thighs with coconut milk braised kale and plantains followed by dessert of chocolate pudding or vanilla bean soaked “Torrejas” (like French toast) – yum!

Next, enjoy DUNE by Laurent Tourondel with its elevated dining experience and oceanfront ambience at the Auberge Residences on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. Choose DUNES’s chopped salad, summer flatbread or salmon roll made with avocado, cucumber and daikon sprouts for an appetizer. Entrées include a choice of Grilled Branzino Fillet or Prime Hanger Steak accompanied by sautéed spinach, homemade fries, confit tomatoes and oregano choron or the Orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe. For dessert sample their Key Lime meringue cheesecake,  milk chocolate peanut butter croquant banana gelato or eight other flavors of gelato, including chocolate, vanilla, pistachio and coconut.

For a new twist on two iconic cuisines, try Casa Sensei, (1200 East Las Olas Boulevard) a pan-Asian Latin fusion restaurant which marries the best of two culinary worlds and is one of my “go to” places in the area.The waterfront restaurant offers an elevated menu for Dine Out Lauderdale. Amuse your palate, beginning with the truffle infused Ahi Poke, made with ahi tuna, red onion, drizzled truffle oil, seaweed salad, soy, and cilantro, paired with veggie wonton chips.  Next up, savor the Salt and Pepper Prawns or the Blue Crab Rangoon, made with a mixture of cream cheese, crab claw sauce meat and sweet chili sauce.

After appetizers, choose from a variety of lunch entrées, including sushi rolls or the Pan-Asian Latin Fusion specialties, including Sesame Chicken, Pad Thai,  their famous Truffle Butter Crunch Roll made with yellowtail or the fan-favorite Fish Burnt Roll, created with fresh wahoo, Thai sriracha sauce, avocado, kani, sesame oil and cilantro topped with seared, spicy, smoked tuna and Cajun spices.

Dinner menu entrées include Shogun Roll, made with spicy tuna, wagyu beef, cilantro, red onion and topped with a touch of kimchi sauce; Mongolian Duck in a sweet soy glaze served with vegetable fried rice and the Shrimp Curry Curl, a combination of shrimp, red curry sauce and fresh, seasonal vegetables over white rice. Save room for dessert.  Desserts include Coconut Cream Cake, Cheesecake Dulce de Leche, or Chocolate Lover Cake.

For an added price, guests can enjoy a relaxing gondola ride après dîner, with Riverfront Gondola, located right behind Casa Sensei on Las Olas Boulevard.

Other participating restaurants in Dine Out Lauderdale include Union Kitchen & Bar, offering  a great three course menu for $35, and Shady Distillery, with a four-course menu. Each course comes paired with a cocktail made from their house-distilled Shady Vodka or 12 Mile Rum.

New this year to Dine Out Lauderdale is Planta Queen, serving 100 percent plant-based cuisine.  Treat yourself to appetizers such as unagi eggplant, daikon katsu bao or sunomono salad with cucumber, broccoli hearts, seaweed, avocado, cilantro, chili sesame soy.  For an entrée try their crispy tofu and broccoli, red Thai curry noodles or their Singapore noodles with curry, kale, peppers, cilantro, crispy shallots, Thai basil and lime. Dessert options include chocolate brownie or Vietnamese coffee sundae – be still my heart!

After dinner, take a stroll down Las Olas Boulevard to experience the avenue’s ambiance and sample Dine Out Lauderdale menus at other favorite locales, including  American Social, Sushi Garage, and YOLO Restaurant.

As an extra bonus, special offers on Spa Days in August and September can be found at Spa Days  and check out VisitLauderdale.com/deals for hotel and attraction deals.

For more information on Dine Out Lauderdale 2022 please visit:  visitlauderdale.com.

Make it A Day

Head up the road to the NSU Art Museum, (One East Las Olas Boulevard) for their current exhibitions, “History in the Making: Andy Warhol’s “Mao” Prints and William Gropper’s “Watergate Series,” Beyond Alechinsky and Lux et Veritas

“History in the Making” marks the 50th Anniversary of two landmark events of Richard M. Nixon’s presidency – his landmark visit the People’s Republic of China, ending years of diplomatic isolation between the two nations and the break-in to the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office building and the subsequent coverup which led to Nixon’s resignation on August 9, 1974. The exhibition includes works by Andy Warhol and William Gropper drawn exclusively from the NSU Art Museum’s collection. The exhibit runs through October 31.

“Beyond Alechinsky” offers viewers a condensed overview of the historic CoBrA movement, (an expressionist art form flourishing between 1948 and 1951) and the artistic context that profoundly shaped the life and work of Pierre Alechinsky. While Keith Haring was outspoken about the enduring influence of the art of Pierre Alechinsky, the joyful, spontaneous, collective spirit of Haring’s work reveals an overarching affinity with the entire CoBrA movement.

An accompaniment to NSU’s exhibition Confrontation: Keith Haring & Pierre Alechinsky, a spotlight is cast on the ways in which Haring’s playful imagery, improvisational technique and childlike innocence reveals him to be one of the CoBrA movement’s key disciples.The exhibit runs through October 2.

The third exhibition, Lux et Veritas, explores a transformative period in contemporary art by focusing on a generation of artists of color who attended Yale School of Art for graduate studies between 2000 and 2010.The exhibition’s title alludes to Yale University’s motto, Lux et Veritas, which translates from Latin to “Light and Truth.” In the context of this exhibition, the title references how these artists thought with critical complexity about their work and their movement through institutional structures.

Due to the lack of diversity at that time, the students filled gaps in the school’s curriculum and faculty by inviting artists, curators and writers of color as advisors and guest speakers, developing an interdisciplinary forum.

Their reevaluation of the Western art canon, and commitment to the method and practice of teaching has contributed to a greater recognition of artists of color, challenged stereotypes and enriched the overall shared spaces of learning and thinking about art. Lux et Veritas provides a public forum in which to address the directions these artists took based on the explorations that began in graduate school and were instilled afterwards in their practice.

Featured artists include (among others), Mike Cloud, William Cordova, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Abigail DeVille, Torkwase Dyson and John Espinosa. The exhibit runs through January 8.

Visit nsuartmuseum.org. Tel:  (954) 525-5500.

In the mood for theater, something dramatic or musical?  Check out the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (201 SW 5th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312).

Singer Christopher Cross performs August 17, followed by Latin Grammy winner Gilberto Santa Rosa (The Gentleman of Salsa) August 19; H.I.T.S. on Fifth: What are Men Thinking,? – a dinner in black featuring musicians and poets from South Florida on August 20;  An Evening with author and violinist Damien Escobar, August 25; Latin jazz on August  27 with two-time Grammy award-winner Marlow Rosado; closing out the month on August 28 with Randy Rainbow and his Pink Glasses Tour.

September brings a variety of programming from Beres Hammond Solid Love 2022, September 2-3; Miami saxophonist Ed Calle and Federico Britos on September 17; to David Spade: “Catch Me Inside” on September 27.

Broward Center for the Performing Arts is located at 201 SW 5th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33312.  For a full listing of events visit Broward Center for the Performing Arts.  Tel:  (954) 462-0222.

For the more adventurous, head up the highway to the Boca Raton Museum of Art (501 Plaza Real, Boca Raton, FL 33432), where you can be the star in your own movie.  Strike a pose in front of the backdrop from “The Sound of Music,” where Julie Andrews sang “The Hills Are Alive,” or tap dance next to Gene Kelly’s Paris street dance scene or pretend you are Gary Grant or Eva Marie Saint as they make their way down the iconic face of Mount Rushmore in Alfred Hitchcok’s 1959 film, “North by Northwest.”

“The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop,” showcases many of the iconic and scenic backdrops, made for the motion picture industry between 1938 and 1968.  Ironically, the famous and well-known pieces of Americana were handpainted by artists, most of whom received no recognition for their talent or applause for their essential role in making Hollywood film magic.

There are 22 backdrops on display, made for the big Hollywood studios between 1938 and 1968. The exhibit is a celebration of a popular art form that had almost been forgotten and were rescued from the basement of the MGM Studios.

“The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop,” runs through January 22.

Upstairs, a companion exhibit, “Bonnie Lautenberg:  Art Meets Hollywood,” showcases a series of photographs by Lautenberg who pairs iconic artworks with stills from Hollywood movies released the same year the artwork was made. Known for her photographs of individuals and events from the worlds of politics and the arts, Lautenberg began this series in 2017 and continues to work on it.

She explores images that “speak to each other” in ways that disrupt how we experience both the film and the artwork. Often, she chooses the artwork first and searches for a connection to that year’s film, or reverses the process to find an artwork that relates to the film.

The exhibit runs through August 28.

The Boca Raton Museum of Art is located at 501 Plaza Real, Boca Raton, FL 33432  Tel:  (561) 392-2500. Visit bocamuseum.org.

And finally, if you don’t mind going a little further afield, don’t miss a fave place I often write about, The Boys Farmers Market in Delray Beach. If you’re a foodie, or just really appreciate fresh fruits and vegetables and enjoy the gourmet market experience, you must put a drive to The Boys Farmers Market on your “to do” list. There’s nothing even close to it in Miami in terms of variety and quality of fruits and vegetables, price point,  as well as having a wide selection of other food items in one place. Here’s Karen’s review.