Cap's Place Island Restaurant and Bar

• Cuisine(s): American, Seafood
  Hours: Sun, Tue-Sat 5:30pm-10pm
  Price: $$ $$
  Payment Types: MasterCard, Visa, American Express, cash
• Attire: casual
  Features: Smoking, Patio/Sidewalk Dining, Private Party, Wheelchair Accessible, Kid Friendly, Business Dining, Water View
  Serving: Dinner
  Alcohol: Full bar
• Reservations: Accepted, Recommended for Large Parties
  Parking: Lot Available

Description

Old gambling dens never die; they just fade away. Cap's Place, set on an island in what used to be acres of scrub and beach sand, is now surrounded by million-dollar condos and even pricier yachts in Lighthouse Point, but that just makes the nostalgia even richer. In 1928, Cap Knight and friend Al Hasis dragged a barge up onto the beach and founded Club Unique, a restaurant/casino serving fresh snapper, turtle-egg pancakes, and bootleg whiskey. Meyer Lansky dined here when he came to collect his take on the gambling, and so did Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt when the two met to discuss strategy in 1942. The place is still run by Hasis' kids. Today, you take a flat-bottomed motorboat over to the island, and a slightly updated menu offers local fish caught daily, raw oysters, crab cakes, chicken and pasta, and lime pie for dessert. You'll pay a bundle for that pompano or grouper fillet, but the experience of putting your fanny in the chair George Harrison once sat in? Priceless.