The Most Unique Dinner in Florida Is in a Yard Farm With a 2-year Waitlist—and It is Well worth the Wait

At daybreak on Saturday mornings, Regina Rodrigues drives her pickup truck to purchase tons of of kilos of meals and provides: oxtail, beef, rooster, onions, rice, sugar. Later that night, she opens the doorways to her literal yard to feed as much as 150 individuals throughout a four-hour feast.

Regina’s Farm is an outside, nonprofit meals expertise tucked into the residential Sailboat Bend neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The gathering spot (“We do not name it a restaurant,” Rodrigues tells Journey + Leisure) is a working farm lower than a mile from downtown’s skyscrapers, full with chickens, rabbits, produce—and a two- to three-year waitlist. 

Rodrigues says the idea was impressed by the roadside, open-air eateries the place she grew up in Brazil’s Minas Gerais area. “I introduced my Brazil to my yard,” she informed T+L. “The meals [in Minas Gerais] is acknowledged everywhere in the world as a result of it’s totally conventional. It is like mother’s meals, grandma’s meals. Folks journey from the Northern and Southern components of the nation to strive the meals.”

Now, individuals journey from throughout Florida for the expertise. Since opening in 2013, the lore of this farm has slowly unfold—although solely a few of what’s really grown on-site (herbs, choose greens) leads to the greater than two dozen dishes served throughout the meal.

Some meats are marinated and prepped prematurely, however a lot of the cooking occurs on Saturday—the one day the farm is open. (Although occasional Sundays pop up, too.) It closes in July and August because of South Florida’s wet, brutally sizzling summer time; the occasion is rain or shine. This yr, the expertise reopens on Sept. 20. After pandemic closures and some viral YouTube and TikTok movies, the waitlist ballooned. It is presently booked by means of 2029.

To feed greater than 100 individuals, Rodrigues employs round 13 “helpers,” who help with cooking, serving, cleansing, busing, seating friends, and extra. Whereas ready, diners sip contemporary sugarcane juice and may uncork their BYOB (wine and Champagne solely, no corkage price) at communal tables. Because the meals opens up like a kaleidoscope, friends are referred to as in teams primarily based on the color-coded bracelets they obtain upon arrival.

The menu adjustments barely week to week however all the time stays rooted within the flavors of Rodrigues’ hometown. The primary course is quite a lot of soups (oxtail, rooster, corn, and vegan choices) served with pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread) and guava bread. The second course brings out an abundance of salads, plantains, yucca, collard greens, and feijoada (the basic black bean and meat stew). The primary course includes a collection of churrasco (grilled meats), rooster pie, ribs, fish, and beef. Vegetarian and gluten-free choices are plentiful. 

Proceeds from the dinner go to the church throughout the road, Las Olas Worship Heart—the church throughout the road the place Rodrigues’ husband, Elizeu, serves as pastor—and help its numerous missions around the globe. Leftovers are served to the area people after Sunday church providers.

The occasion is kid-friendly, too, with a prepare trip, swings, rope climbs, and alternatives to feed the animals. “Children can run round and scream and play,” stated Elizeu, who can be the tractor-train trip conductor.

Dessert is a manufacturing of its personal: reside flan-flipping, key lime pie, cheesecake, coconut cake, brownies, s’mores over the fireplace pit, and brigadeiro, a Brazilian deal with comparable a chocolate truffle. There are additionally a number of do-it-yourself ice lotions, fruit, and Brazilian-style pour-over espresso. 

Of the 2 dozen friends we spoke to, most have been locals who had waited at the least two years to get in—and dropped every little thing once they acquired the affirmation textual content earlier that week. One couple, who repeatedly journey the world to dine at among the most acclaimed eating places, stated that they had been on the listing since August 2023 and have been struck by how the dishes “let the elements shine.” One other visitor drove solo from north of Orlando (about 4 hours away) simply “for the expertise.”

The meal lasts about 4 hours, although 40 or so friends have been nonetheless hanging out once we left after hour 5. “Folks keep all night time,” Rodrigues stated. “It is a celebration of life along with different individuals. It is an expertise, you do not hurry up. Generally I excuse myself to fall asleep, and I sit by my window, and persons are nonetheless right here sharing tales, consuming wine. They do not wish to go.”

Regina’s Farm; reginasfarm.com; 1101 Center St., Fort Lauderdale. $65 adults, $35 children. No walk-ins. Textual content for reservation: 954-465-1900. Free parking. Bogs on-site. Doorways open round 6 p.m.