Big changes are coming to Hollywood Beach. In a little more than two years Margaritaville, a 350-room, 17 story, $149 million resort wonderland will rise smack in the middle of the Broadwalk.

Some restaurant owners are saying the nearly 800 parking spots removed from the beach will be their end. They say they can't survive the 27 months until Margaritaville is finished and gives 600 parking spots back to the public. Others are excited, and see plenty of dollar signs attached to all the beachfront construction.

See also: Hollywood Beach Restaurateurs Sound Off on Margaritaville

When it's all said and done the waterfront strip the New Times in 2013 named Broward County's best beach will change dramatically.

"Business attracts business," said Nathan Lieberman, who, with his father and South Beach real estate developer Alan Lieberman, owns Taco Beach Shack on Arizona Street.

Yet everyone doesn't share the same excitement.

"I think what it will be remains to be seen," said Manoucher "Ali" Shaditalab, who owns the Peruvian Pachamamma on the Beach restaurant. "Sometimes people expect too much and then hit reality."

Whatever impact Jimmy Buffett's dreamland has on Hollywood Beach, there's still time to visit the best restaurants and beach dives and decide for yourself whether the grand plan was worth it all.

Here, we've curated the ten most interesting restaurants you should visit on Hollywood Beach before Margaritaville comes to town.

10. Billy's Stone Crab

Old-world manners are standard issue here, where waiters wear matte-black ties and clean, pressed white shirts. Here, sitting in an oversized blue banquette, you can get your fill of steak, stone crab, and fresh-caught Florida fish all before massive windows that offer a stunning Intracoastal view. If you're vacationing on a budget, the place also serves alligator tidbits. Rubbery pieces of gamey tail meat are fried up crisp and served with mustard sauce and a spicy remoulade.

9. Hollywood Grill

From Russia with love. Hollywood Grill serves a myriad Eastern European cuisine you can find in the homes of Georgians, Armenians, and others from the former Soviet Union. The stars of the menu are the kebabs -- lamb, beef, chicken, sea bass, snapper, and more. If you're looking to get a bit more adventurous, then try the pickled herring or cured beef tongue. Be happy you can take this culinary trip without even having to change your wet bathing suit.

8. Organic Brewery

It's Edelweiss on the Atlantic. Organic Brewery's fermenting vats glitter through glass windows, easily drawing in passing tourists. Here they brew a nutty, hoppy India Pale Ale and a filling stout they call Russian Knight, which leaves a lingering taste of coffee. As the craft beer obsession builds and beercentric joints to look more like gastropubs than German bierhauses, Organic is a relief. There's a floor-to-ceiling mural of cobblestone roads lined with small white-and-green Bavarian cottages. Grab a seat in one of the chunky wood chairs, order a manhole-sized chicken schnitzel, and grab a growler with some stout to go.

7. Pachamamma Restaurant

About a year ago, Carolina and Manoucher "Ali" Shaditalab bought Pachamamma to pursue Carolina's dream of owning a restaurant. The design echoes the art of ancient Central America, and the cuisine is a survey of everything that has made Peru a culinary force to be reckoned with. Even on a hot day, their aji de gallina, a traditional Peruvian chicken stew, hits the spot. The combination of a creamy, garlicky taxicab-yellow sauce with pulled chicken and steamed rice is just what you need to help bring on that afternoon nap in the sun.

6. Sugar Reef Grill

While dive joints line the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, Sugar Reef offers upscale Caribbean cuisine (like gumbo and Jamaican jerk-rubbed pork loin) in a setting that somehow gives a white-tablecloth-dining feel while holding on to that beachfront ambiance. Paper-covered tables and crayons allow kids to entertain themselves as they wait. Meanwhile, an adult can kick back with a glass of wine and pair it with roasted duck with a sweet and spicy mango salsa or a combination of shrimp, mussels, and calamari with pasta in a creamy tomato pesto sauce.

5. Taco Beach Shack

There's a lot of beach food on Hollywood Beach, and tacos more than fit the category. Yet the tacos and overstuffed burritos from South Beach real estate tycoon Alan Lieberman's Taco Beach Shack are a cut above the rest. Pull up a stool at the bar and order a short-rib taco topped with a nuclear spicy kimchi slaw. There are also calamari and cilantro tacos as well as quesadillas stuffed with mahi-mahi, pico de gallo, and cilantro cream. Though his place is only a stone's throw from where Margaritaville is rising, co-owner Nathan Lieberman has few concerns. "I think business attracts business, and people attract people," he says. "The more energy, the more action, the better."

4. Istanbul Restaurant

Hasan Kochan's Istanbul is one of the mainstays on the Broadwalk. In business for more than two decades, Kochan recalls a time when cyclists and skaters weren't allowed to gracefully make their way up and down the oceanside walkway. Like many business owners, Kochan is concerned about the removal of almost a third of the beach's parking. "People are going to come to the beach and turn and turn and turn, and after an hour when they can't find parking, they'll leave," he worries. However, if they've had Kochan's Turkish pizzas -- small round flatbreads topped with ground lamb and tomatoes and fragrantly seasoned with coriander, cumin, and parsley -- they might be willing to search a bit longer.

3. Sardelli's Italian Steakhouse

The Sardelli family -- known for Fulvio's 1900, just off Hollywood Boulevard -- spent five years and their life savings turning an empty lot just off the beach into an opulent Italian villa. After the massive investment, Fulvio Sardelli said that he sees Margaritaville developer Lon Tabatchnick as a man of his word and that the area needs any and all improvement. Whether it will bring people in the door for a $15 scallop -- perfectly cooked and set atop a parsley pesto sauce and creamy parsnip puree -- remains to be seen, however.

2. Le Tub Saloon

Whatever changes come to Hollywood Beach, it seems like Le Tub Saloon -- practically a national treasure for its juicy burgers on poppy-seed-sprinkled buns -- will remain the same. Though the original owner, Russell Kohuth, passed away in 2010 at 75, it remains true to its founder thanks to Robin and Steve Sidle, who've run the restaurant for the past 15 years. When Margaritaville opens and you're looking for a respite from the rum runners and the steel drums, this will be the place to go.

1. Nick's Bar & Grill

When you ask South Floridians for a recommendation on Hollywood Beach, Nick's is the name that always pops up. At 2 p.m., still wet from the ocean, you can stroll up to one of the windows on the stone-built bar and order a frozen strawberry daiquiri, and at 2 a.m., you can go in again for a beer. Order the Ipswich clams with drawn butter. They meaty mollusks are lovingly referred to as "pissers" for the water jet they shoot out as they filter food from the seawater.

For more follow Zach on Twitter @ZachIsWeird.

If you like this story, consider signing up for our email newsletters.

SHOW ME HOW

X

Newsletters

_{All-access pass to the top stories, events and offers around town.}

• No Thanks
• Sign Up

X

SUCCESS!

You have successfully signed up for your selected newsletter(s) - please keep an eye on your mailbox, we're movin' in!

• Best of Broward / Palm Beach