FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A food boat that capsized is now ready to return to the water.
The owner said the community was determined to keep it alive.
This is Jay Lycke, like the executive chef of the Fort Lauderdale Sandbar or so people say.
“Everybody freaks out over alligator bites,” said Lycke, owner of Jay’s Sandbar Foodboat. “I sell about a half ton of alligator a year … it’s fusion cooking. It’s made to make your mouth explode with flavor, you know truffle French fries with Asiago Parmesan cheese. We take it a bit over the edge.”
Lycke was not always so excited and upbeat.
Last year, a boat came through the sandbar and pushed a giant wave into his food boat, and so he watched his dreams sink along with his kitchen.
“It was just a catastrophe,” he said. “I heard ding, ding, ding, the alarm bell … She went down. We evacuated the boat.”
But then the community came together, garnering thousands of dollars and donating equipment.
“You know, I need a martini and mental institution,” said Lycke, “and these people are just, they refused to stop dusting me off.”
So now he is ready to get back out there to feed hungry boaters, and customers are ready to greet him too with open arms and empty stomachs.
“If it wasn’t for the Fort Lauderdale community I would’ve just closed my doors and that’s it,” Lycke said. “I’ve got the luxury of all of my customers becoming my friends.”
Jay’s Sandbar will officially be back on the water this weekend in Fort Lauderdale, but if you don’t have a boat, no worries. Soon you’ll be able to taste his food on land because he’s opening an actual restaurant this year.
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