Night Watch is a regular feature about bars and clubs by nightlife columnist Tara Nieuwesteeg. 
JByrd's Muddy Waters Restaurant and Raw Bar (2237 W Hillsboro Blvd, Deerfield Beach Call 954-428-6577, or visit muddywaters.biz)
Out front, the patio area is replete with glider booths, palm trees, and parrot cages. A small island-like oasis sits in the center with a running-water fountain. A statue of a sexy lady-pirate, boobs very nearly popping out of her ruffled shirt, stood beckoning near the door.
The expansive inside was decked out, from floor to ceiling, with island swag and accessories that would please the Margaritaville maestro himself: Caribbean flags, giant plastic sting rays, and sea sponges and fishing nets. The brightly colored walls were more crowded with glass globes, miniature ships and fishing photos than the Fort Lauderdale beaches are with piss-drunk college kids during spring break. Nearby, a giant barrel had been labeled "J Byrd's rum," presumably so that any would-be liquor pirates would think twice.
A healthy crowd of patrons bantered; a few drinkers complained about
the temperature in the bar (first it was too hot, then too cold); and
the whole room got in on a discussion of the "lesbian gene."
Bartender Jilly, a petite, mousy brunet, explained the intention of
Muddy Waters: "It's like Key West...only here in Deerfield." She also
gave me a rundown of the specials: Irish Mondays (corn bread, cabbage,
and $5 Baileys!), ParrotHead Tuesdays, Caribbean Wednesdays (featuring
mango martinis!), Karaoke Thursdays, Floribbean Fish Fry Fridays, and
weekend all-you-can-eat shrimp deals.
She familiarized me with the
kick-ass "Havoc Hour" (4 p.m. to 7 p.m., 2-for-1 wells, wines, etc.).
"This place started 20 years ago, and back then it was just the bar
you're sitting at," she said. "Since then, we expanded to the second
bar, then the back room, then the room over there..."
"Dreams do come
true," I said.
As I got up to shuffle around the restaurant, a patron
in an aloha shirt stopped me. "Did you get the job?" he asked.
Huh?
"Weren't you interviewing to be a bartender?"
After I explained that I
was here to write about the bar, Aloha Shirt and another patron, a
no-nonsense woman with cropped hair and a penchant for the restaurant's
burgers, tried to think up interesting stories to tell me.
"Rich folks who play at the men-only golf course nearby come up here,"
Aloha Shirt said. "They go sit in the corner. People like Dan Marino."
"We play the trivia game, too," his compatriot informed me.
"Yeah, the
one against other bars. We always place in the top ten. Sometimes
people from other states will fly in just to meet the smart trivia
people who keep beating them," Aloha Shirt said. "And boy, aren't they
surprised when those 'smart people' are us."
