Some things are better with age: fine wines, aged whiskeys, cougars. When it comes to food, however, it's best to keep it fresh. Sure, you have your old fine-dining establishments commemorating the past, but after a decade or so, it's usually time to hit reset.
After 13 years, Athena by the Sea finally worked some renovation magic. The layout of the restaurant has been totally redesigned. But, of course, no restaurant overhaul can be complete without adding some glitz to the bar. Athena by the Sea is now guaranteeing, "the coldest martini, the coldest draft beer, and the coldest shots, in all of south Florida," According to owner Louis Marchelos.
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The restaurant was redesigned to give the spot a more open feel--the entire kitchen was moved to open things up. Reclaimed wood ceilings, imported Greek limestone, new floors, new bathrooms, and custom made tables were all just recently installed. After a four month renovation, the restaurant recently reopened its doors. November 30, was opening day.
While the new interior is nice and all, we're most interested the bar. Isn't that really what you want to do when you head to the beach? The new Chill-Rite system, which stretches down the length of the outer bar, ensures draft beer is kept at a constant 32 degrees. The system also includes dispensers for four liquors--holding each at 0 degrees--and a 25 foot frost rail to keep the cold drinks cold. The rail even defrosts and re-frosts itself over night to keep the ice clean and, well, frosty. "By 8am, the rail is so frosty that people could make snowballs out of it if they wanted," Marchelo touts.
He stumbled onto the system while visiting the French Quarter in New Orleans and decided it was a must for his new bar. According to Marchelo, "No one in Broward county has a frost rail and shock vodka."
While this is the first, we have seen in Broward, the new bar technology is starting to pick up some steam. We recently featured a similar chill-rail in another piece on the Sports Page Bar & Grill in West Palm Beach. In a region known for scorching summer heat, keeping cold drinks cold, is kind of a no-brainer.
Athena by the Sea is located at 4400 Ocean Drive in Lauderdale-by-the Sea. For those of you wanting to check out the new system in action, the restaurant is now offering happy hour seven days a week from 5 to 7pm, including draft beer and cocktails for $3.00.
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