Chef Allen Susser photo
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For one night, a cornerstone of South Florida dining history is stepping back into the spotlight. On Friday, May 1, James Beard Award-winning chef Allen Susser will revive the spirit of his seminal restaurant, Chef Allen’s, with a multi-course pop-up at Sunness Supper Club in Fort Lauderdale. Consider it a 40-year anniversary celebration that’ll double as a reminder of how far the region’s culinary scene has come.
“Forty years ago, 1986, the restaurant scene was very different,” Susser tells New Times. “There wasn’t much of a restaurant scene… it was a lot of flash, but there really weren’t restaurants that had good food and good service using high-quality ingredients.”
Chef Allen Susser photo
The Blueprint for South Florida Cuisine
His answer at the time was to build something new. The result was a distinctly South Florida cuisine rooted in fresh fish, tropical fruits, Caribbean spice, and Latin ingredients. “I wanted to do a Miami cuisine… that brought in the local resources,” he says.
Former New Times food critic Jen Karetnick reviewed Chef Allen’s in 1994. “Passover comes just once a year, but the chef sees to his customers’ dietary requirements nightly, with a menu that is frequently revised and rotated,” she says. “Susser’s dishes reflect a tropical outlook, forgoing fats in favor of light, fresh fare cooked with a minimum of oil — foods that are comfortable to eat in this heavy humidity. One of five salads listed on the menu, a cool mix of organically grown arugula and endive, was the perfect embodiment of this philosophy.”
It’s a reminder that Susser is truly one of South Florida’s culinary pioneers. His approach — once entirely novel — may now be a blueprint for the modern South Florida menu. And for this one-night return, Susser isn’t tinkering with the formula. “I’m actually bringing it as authentic as I was cooking it years ago,” he says. “You look at the menu and go, ‘This looks like today’s menu.”
mborrero photo
A Menu Built on Nostalgia and Influence
The lineup pulls from decades of dishes, a collection shaped by both nostalgia and relevance. There’s a lionfish ceviche, a contemporary twist on a dish Susser says he helped introduce to Miami. “I’ve always done a ceviche on the menu,” he says. “Here I’m using lionfish… and being mindful of sustainable seafood and educating guests about the choices they make.”
The menu also nods to one of his most talked-about indulgences: black market caviar. And yes, the name comes with a story. “It wasn’t just a cool phrase — this was actually black market,” Susser says, recalling the influx of Russian caviar during the breakup of the USSR. “Miami was flooded with it, and we loved it.”
Then there’s the dish that quietly became a signature across South Florida: pistachio-crusted grouper with rock shrimp, leeks, mango, and coconut rum. “It brought in tropical fruit, rum, coconut… and great grouper, which was underutilized here,” he says. Today, he still spots versions of it across menus. “I’ve seen it on about six different menus,” he adds with a laugh. “Some of my chefs call me and ask… others don’t.”
The Details That Defined the Experience
Beyond the composed plates, Susser is reviving smaller touches that helped define the original experience. Bread service, for one, is making a return — albeit in his own style. “We didn’t serve bread,” he says. “I didn’t want people to fill up before dessert.” Instead, guests will find 24-inch breadsticks presented in flour-filled vases, meant to be snapped, shared, and dipped — a playful, interactive start to the meal.
Dessert, meanwhile, remains sacred territory. The double dark chocolate soufflé — available for two — reflects Susser’s long-standing commitment to pastry. “It takes technique and timing and talent,” he says. “I always felt desserts were a significant part of the meal.”
Chef Allen Susser photo
A Comeback That Looks Forward
The setting, Sunness Supper Club, adds another layer to the story. Susser serves as culinary director there, and the idea for the pop-up grew organically. “It came on demand,” he says. “People come in, they see me, and they’re in disbelief. They say, ‘You’re not Chef Allen.’ And I say, ‘No, I am.’”
The room itself aligns with his long-held philosophy of hospitality, something shaped in part by his wife, Judi, who will be by his side for the evening. “All you have to do is go in the dining room and meet the guests and make sure they’re happy,” he recalls telling her early on. “That’s what hospitality is about. They’re coming into our house.”
That mindset still drives him. After decades in the business, what keeps him going is simple: “Happy guests,” Susser says. “That’s really what I love to do.”
And with this one-night revival, he’s also looking forward. “Fort Lauderdale is coming up… becoming a very interesting culinary destination,” he says. “I want to set a flag to say, this is a good place to come.”
Chef Allen’s Pop-Up at Sunness Supper Club. 5 to 10:30 p.m. on Friday, May 1, at Sunness Supper Club, 2465 E. Sunrise Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; 954-491-6611; sunnesssupperclub.com. Seatings are $160 per person with wine pairings for $75 per person. Advance reservations required.
