For a long time, the honest answer to "where should we go to dinner tonight" in Parkland was a shrug and a drive. Boca. Delray. Fort Lauderdale if you had the patience. The city had good Italian, a few reliable pizzerias, and a Mediterranean courtyard on University Drive, but an elevated Tuesday night usually meant a highway.
That geography has changed. Between March 2025 and July 2026, one husband-and-wife hospitality group opened three restaurants along Parkland's borders. A separate wave of independents filled in the gaps at Waterways Shoppes, Riverstone, and Parkside Drive. The Farmers' Market at the Equestrian Center is about to return for another season. If you already live here, the practical question is no longer whether to leave town for a decent meal. It is which of the new rooms is worth your Friday.
One family, three restaurants, eighteen months
The biggest single force behind the shift is P Hospitality Management, run by Eddie and Christina Pozzuoli. According to reporting in the Coral Springs News, the couple already runs Prezzo Boca Raton, Prezzo Palm Beach Gardens, Corvina Seafood Grill, and Amante's Italian Restaurant. In eighteen months, they added three more in Broward.
Eddie & Vinny's Coastal Italian — Coral Springs, opened March 2025 Dear Olivia Bar & Kitchen — Parkland, opened August 2025 Ember & Vine — Coral Springs, opened July 27, 2026
Dear Olivia sits at 7805 North University Drive, in the space that longtime residents will still call Deja Blue. It opened with Paul Greenberg as a partner, a co-founder of the American Social concept, and the room leans into the bar side of the equation. The WhatNow Miami preview described soft greens and aquas, twinkle-lit cabanas, and a menu that treats the small plates as the main event. Reuben eggrolls, Korean-style steak tips, and a Mushroom & Black Truffle Flatbread anchor the starters. Weekend brunch runs Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. There is a $10 Cheeseburger Monday and a late-night program called Olivia After Dark on Fridays.
Ember & Vine is the newer, quieter sibling. It took over the former Angelo Elia location at the Sawgrass Center on Coral Ridge Drive, a few doors down from the Publix, near Heron Bay. Eddie Pozzuoli told the Coral Springs News that the concept came out of a trip to Napa and that the group saw a gap in northwest Broward, where diners still assumed they had to drive to Boca or Delray for an elevated experience. The restaurant opened July 27, 2026 with the full menu and no soft-opening phase. Coffee comes from Coral Springs-based 360F Coffee Roasters, a deliberate local partnership. Signature dishes so far include Christina's Crudité, Tuna Bombs with avocado and sesame, Hearth Bread with whipped herb ricotta and local honey, Miso Black Cod with crispy rice, and Beef Short Ribs with scallion pancakes.
Three restaurants from one operator in a market this size is not a coincidence. It is a bet that Parkland's dinner spend has been leaking to other zip codes for years and is ready to stay home.
The independents filling the map in between
The Pozzuolis are the loudest story, but they are not the only one. A short list of what has opened, is opening, or is under construction inside Parkland's own commercial nodes:
| Concept | Where | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Sababa Hummus House | Waterways Shoppes, State Road 7 (former Glyk Gelato) | Building out, opening soon |
| Cozy Drop | Parkside Drive (former Queen's Tea House) | Coffee, breakfast, baked goods, seven days |
| Keke's Breakfast Cafe | Parkland | Opened September 11, 2025 |
| Ernie's Acai Bowls | Parkland-Coral Springs Sawgrass Center | Open, first Broward outpost of a Coral Gables concept |
| La Boulangerie Boul'Mich | Riverstone Shoppes, east Parkland | Under construction, French-Latin bakery and café |
| Il Tartufo | Parkland | Regional Italian inspired by Abruzzo and Naples |
A few of these deserve more than a table row. Sababa Hummus House, according to TAPinto Parkland's food and drink section, is completing its build-out in the former Glyk Gelato space at Waterways Shoppes. Cozy Drop is filling in the daytime coffee gap that Queen's Tea House left on Parkside Drive. La Boulangerie Boul'Mich is a South Florida French-Latin bakery moving into a purpose-built pad in the Riverstone Shoppes parking lot. Ernie's Acai Bowls migrated from Coral Gables and slotted into the Sawgrass Center alongside the new Ember & Vine, the incoming Wingstop, Pummarola Pizzeria, and Long Island Bagel Cafe that the Coral Springs News listed as part of the same plaza's build-up.
If you drove past the Sawgrass Center on Coral Ridge Drive six months ago and thought it looked half-empty, look again. The plaza has become one of the densest concentrations of new food square footage in northwest Broward.
What it means when you actually sit down
The interesting part is not the count. It is the pricing and the format.
Eddie Pozzuoli told the Coral Springs News he has adjusted portion sizes and cut refined sugars and seed oils in response to what modern diners are asking for, and he framed that choice as a way to keep prices in check. Ember & Vine's format leans on shareables and small plates across a single menu rather than dividing breakfast, lunch, and dinner into separate identities. Dear Olivia does the same trick from a different angle, treating the bar program as equal in status to the kitchen and stacking the calendar with daily specials, happy hour, and a late-night lounge program.
This is not the old Parkland restaurant math, where a couple sat down, ordered an app, two entrees, and a dessert, and left having spent three figures without much room for interpretation. The new rooms are built for two people ordering four small things, or six friends splitting a table full of them. That format compresses the check and stretches the visit. It is designed, quite explicitly, to keep the drive to Boca from happening.
Whether it holds is a separate question. Il Tartufo continues to run its own lane with a regional Italian menu drawing on Abruzzo and Naples that TAPinto called authentic rather than adapted. Deja Blue's old spot is now Dear Olivia. Angelo Elia's is now Ember & Vine. A city that used to be defined by a handful of long-tenured operators is being redefined by a handful of new ones inside the same walls.
The weekend around the meal
Dinner is only half of a Parkland weekend, and the city calendar has kept pace.
The Eats 'N' Beats free concert-and-food-truck series at the Pine Trails Park Amphitheatre wrapped its 2026 season on August 1, according to Miami on the Cheap, which listed the run as May 2, June 6, July 11, and August 1 at 10561 Trails End. The next chance to catch it will be in spring 2027, so if you missed the last one, plan around the calendar next year rather than the weather.
More usefully for right now: the Parkland Farmers' Market returns Sunday, November 1, 2026 at the Equestrian Center at Temple Park, 8350 Ranch Road. The city confirms the schedule as first and third Sundays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., through April, with a mix of fresh produce, breads, cheeses, honey, jams, and prepared food. Parking is off Ranch Road. The market is dog-friendly, which is worth mentioning because the Equestrian Center is the only city park that allows owners to bring their pets. If you have a rescue that has never quite figured out crowds, this is the softest introduction in town.
Between now and November, the calendar is quieter. The Movies in the Park series at the Pine Trails Amphitheatre continues to run its inflatable-screen nights. The library at 6620 University Drive has an active adult and children's programming slate. And Parkland Day, the city's anniversary celebration with a parade and outdoor concert, is already on the books for Saturday, March 7, 2026 next cycle at the Pine Trails Amphitheatre.
A short honest recommendation
If you have not been out in Parkland in a year, start with dinner at Dear Olivia on a Wednesday, when the room is easier and the kitchen has time. Drive over to Ember & Vine for a Saturday breakfast in September, once the opening crush has settled and the coffee program is dialed in. Keep Il Tartufo for the anniversary. Save Sababa Hummus House for the first cool-enough weekend to eat outside on State Road 7. Put the Farmers' Market on your calendar for the first Sunday in November.
The city that used to send its dinner reservations to Boca is quietly building a case for keeping them here. Whether that shift shows up in home values, resale demand, or simply in shorter Friday-night drives is a longer story, one we track closely as the market moves through the fall.
If you are weighing a move within Parkland or thinking about what the next chapter of the neighborhood means for the value of the home you already own, the team at Steven Kaminer is here to talk it through. Request a complimentary home valuation or speak with our team today.
