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Last Update: Jun 7th, 2012
Bourbonon2nd closed

Bourbon on 2nd

201 SW 2nd Street
Fort Lauderdale FL, 33301
(954) 522-1253
Overall Rating
2.3
Food
Service
Ambiance
Last Review
03/15/2011

Details

Hours: 11am-2am, 4am on FriSat
Attire: Casual
Parking: Street Metered, Garage
CC: Yes
Alcohol: Full Bar
Prices: Moderate
Outside Dining: Yes
Reservations: No
Delivery: No

Critic's Review

Another bad restaurant bites the dust. Surprise, surprise. Bourbon on 2nd is closed.

*****

Mark Sulzinski, former owner chef of Creolina's, is back in the kitchen in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Bourbon on 2nd has replaced the Porterhouse Bar and Grill.

As a club, how could it not be an improvement? The porterhouse was an awful place; now you can see live music and the sounds of New Orleans.

Bourbonon2nd band

Their menu is pretty straight forward New Orleans fare; etouffees, Jambalaya, red beans and rice, po boys. And of course Oysters. I stopped in for lunch.

I was never a big fan of Creolina's; it was one of the early signals that South Florida isn't the culinary capital of the world, with all of the ranting about Creolina's. I'd hoped that Sulzinski had evolved a bit.

As a restaurant, the place really has some issues. My server seemed nervous; like she really didn't know anything about the menu. She didn't know what Pellegrino was. Or sparkling water. I settled for a club soda.

They have a special each day; today's didn't interest me. I can't remember what it was. I asked about the "fish", which they serve blacked or grilled. She said it was mahi; yum, blackened mahi. Is mahi the only fish available in South Florida? I ordered the cajun sampler, which includes jambalaya, crayfish etouffee and red beans and rice and bread and butter.

Since bread comes with just about everything it would be nice to put some bread or something on the table; I ended up waiting in an empty restaurant with a bare table for 15 minutes. It was just a bit strange. Finally the food came out.

Bourbon2nd sampler

There's a lot of rice in these 3 dishes, and it wasn't something I really needed, so I emptied the 3 serving plates into the big dish and discarded about half the rice. I tasted each dish, cleansing my palate in between. There was a general lack of flavor anywhere to be found. In fact, all 3 dishes tasted pretty much the same, as if they have a big vat of roux in the back and they just spoon different stuff onto each plate from a steam table or something. The blandness was pervasive. The crawfish had little taste, in fact I was thinking that they could have replaced them with almost anything and it would have made no difference. The Jambalaya had no kick, and the sausage was much closer to kielbasa than andouille. I like a spicy Jambalaya; you have to eat the one they serve at Coconuts with one hand on a glass of water. This was boring. Roux is too fattening to have no taste. It's just a waste of calories.

Creolina's used to have a late night serving window where they served late night snacks like sausage on a roll and Gyros; I had one of the worst Gyros I've ever had there. Making food look like a dish but not using the right ingredients or spices doesn't work for me. I like my cajun food spicy, but I can enjoy it if it's just well-seasoned. This was neither.

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86d
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i understand it is now closed. i'm sure it was due to the horrid service and exceptionally high rent.

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