Why South Bar & Kitchen is opening in Pompano Beach’s historic Old Town

This is opening weekend at South Bar & Kitchen in Pompano Beach, the latest idiosyncratic statement from Fort Lauderdale restaurateur Mike Linder.

Made evident in its name, Linder’s new spot will focus on the comforting cuisines of the American South, with influences from New Orleans and Nashville to South Carolina’s Low Country, all given a modern spin by executive chef Kelly O’Hara.

The setting for South is a beautifully renovated 100-year-old storefront, its warm woods, whitewashed brick and exposed wood-beam ceilings at once homey and relaxing, with a touch of lofty chic. A backyard patio, embraced by the soaring limbs of a gnarly ficus, includes a vividly muraled shipping container bar (by local artists Orla Ananda and Lori Pratico) that is sure to become a signature hangout.

What guests may find particularly distinctive about this Linder restaurant is its location, not within the whirl of new near-the-pier eateries on the east end of Atlantic Avenue in the recently beautified Pompano Beach Fishing Village — but in the city’s historic Old Town.

Linder’s SFL Food Group has been known for creating winning restaurants in offbeat settings, beginning with Jet Runway Café, next to the runways at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. YOT Bar & Kitchen is tucked into the Safe Harbor Lauderdale Marine Center, on a remote bend in the south fork of the New River west of downtown.

Even his other recent project, the reconstituted Canyon restaurant and companion Rio’s Tequila Bar, while located on busy Federal Highway in downtown Fort Lauderdale, sits on what the Las Olas dining crowd may consider the wrong side of the New River.

At South, his first restaurant outside of Fort Lauderdale, Linder is again happy to zig when other restaurateurs are zagging.

“I don’t want to compare Old Town to the next Flagler Village, because I think Pompano has its own identity, but I saw something in Pompano and I didn’t want to miss the chance of being a pioneer. This is like history to me,” Linder says.

A former Pompano Beach resident, Linder grew up in the area (he attended Coconut Creek High School) and his first hospitality company, Silver Lining Inflight Catering, is based there.

Before moving to Fort Lauderdale, Linder lived in Garden Isles, and says the whole area, from Cypress Creek to Copans roads is “loaded with people with money, who can afford to go out to dinner, looking for a spot.”

Citing similar success with his other out-of-the-way restaurants, Linder believes word-of-mouth buzz is stronger than geography.

“It’s chef-driven, but it’s still simple, approachable, great-quality Southern food. It’s going to be a special restaurant that’s going to be heard about,” he says.

If the time has come for Pompano’s Old Town arts and entertainment district, the only surprise is that it hasn’t happened sooner.

For the better part of a decade, the city has spent millions of dollars restoring the area along Northeast First Street and Northeast First Avenue, an intersection a block north of East Atlantic Avenue.

The crown jewel of the project was the old Bailey Hotel, built in 1923 as a centerpiece of a thriving downtown Pompano Beach. After a $1.2 million renovation was completed in 2014, it was christened the Bailey Contemporary Arts Center (BaCA), home to artist studios, galleries, education and event spaces.

The long-running BaCA-affiliated Old Town Untapped series brings top local bands and food trucks to Northeast First Street on the first Friday of the month. Facing BaCA, Odd Breed Wild Ales is a destination for adventurous craft beer drinkers.

Just to the north of BaCA, a project called Old Town’s Backyard recently debuted, bringing the area a 15,000-square-foot communal gathering and dining plaza.

If Linder wants South to turn Old Town into a dining destination equal to what is happening at the other end of Atlantic Avenue, the most important element, of course, is the food.

Linder and O’Hara developed the menu after repeated trips to New Orleans, Nashville and Charleston, S.C. They hit the Michelin-blessed high points, but also found inspiration in “backwoods” tours.

“We went for the flavors, the service, the presentation. And who doesn’t like good Southern food?” Linder says.

Signature items start with the Boudin Balls appetizer (Cajun-roasted pork-and-rice balls with housemade pepper jelly; $14) and made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuits (with pepper jelly, housemade jam and honey butter; $10). Sandwiches include the PBLT (with pork belly; $19), the South Fried Chicken Sandwich ($18) and Muffuletta ($21). As for entrees, there are shrimp and grits ($29), a grilled bone-in pork chop ($38) and fried chicken (half $29, whole $48).

Linder also swears by his smoked ribs, cooked in a smoker (currently using pecan and apple wood) that he had custom-made in a small town near Fort Worth, Texas.

The cocktail menu is highlighted by the Old Town Fashioned ($14), a riff on the Old Fashioned and Canyon’s famed Prickly Pear Margarita, substituting tequila with Knob Creek Rye.

No Southern restaurant would be complete without a great dessert menu. At South, one of the rotating specials is The Elvis, which includes layers of banana bread, whipped peanut butter and blackberry-blueberry jam, dusted with bacon ($15).

South Bar & Kitchen is at 165 NE First Ave., Pompano Beach. For information and reservations, visit SouthPMP.com or call 954-890-2000.

Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Instagram @BenCrandell and Twitter @BenCrandell.