Ophelia, the Coconut Grove bakery known for turning a retrofitted RV into one of Miami's most talked-about pastry stops, is opening its first Broward County location this fall inside Fort Lauderdale's Huizenga Park. The bakery will serve grab-and-go breakfast and lunch daily, bringing its house-made breads, pastries, syrups, and cold foams to the 3.6-acre riverfront park at 32 E. Las Olas Blvd.
The move north comes courtesy of co-founders Ana De Sa Martins and Juan Vieira, both alumni of Michelin-starred Stubborn Seed in Miami Beach, as reported by Miami New Times. Stubborn Seed, helmed by “Top Chef” Season 13 winner Jeremy Ford, earned a Michelin star in 2022 and held onto its one-star rating in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide USA. Vieira, who moved to Miami from Colombia at age 3 and started working in kitchens at 16, was also previously executive chef at Beauty & The Butcher.
The Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority is calling Ophelia its second concessionaire at Huizenga Park, following Mr. Smash Burger's opening inside the park in December. Ophelia will join Sweetwaters, a 291-seat waterfront restaurant also due to open in fall 2026, managed by Specialty Restaurants Corporation, which also runs Key Biscayne's Rusty Pelican, according to Florida YIMBY. Hoodline previously reported on Sweetwaters' waterfront debut.
From a Parking Lot RV to a Landmark Park
Ophelia's origin story is unlikely for a bakery now expanding across county lines. The concept launched from a retrofitted RV parked at 2140 S. Dixie Hwy. in Miami on May 29, 2025, and a line reportedly formed within the bakery's first hour of business that day. The menu that built that following includes the coffee-glazed cinnamon roll, brown sugar cinnamon latte with vanilla cold foam, olive oil loaf cake, pistachio crumb cake, gouda jalapeño scones, bacon and swiss focaccia, guava kouign-amann, and banana walnut bread with cream cheese frosting.
Pastry chef De Sa Martins built her reputation well before the RV opened its windows. Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, she trained at the Institute of Culinary Education, moved to New York in 2011, and worked for two years at Patisserie Chanson under Rory MacDonald before eventually joining Stubborn Seed's kitchen. That résumé earned her a StarChefs Miami Rising Star Award for pastry in 2025, per StarChefs.
A Park Built to Draw Crowds
Huizenga Park itself reopened on January 22, 2026, after a five-year redo that Miami New Times describes as a $15 million transformation. The renovation, designed by architecture firm Perkins&Will and built by MBR Construction, added downtown Fort Lauderdale's first enclosed dog run, 88 new shade trees, more than 13,500 new plants, and permanent public art from Manolo Valdés and Cey Adams, according to South Florida Business & Wealth. The project drew on a public-private-philanthropic partnership that included $5 million approved by the Fort Lauderdale City Commission, $950,000 from the State of Florida, and a $1.5 million gift from Pet Supermarket founder Chuck West Jr. and his wife Michele West, as reported by Florida YIMBY.
The park has drawn more than 100,000 guests in its first five months, per the Downtown Development Authority, and Fort Lauderdale Magazine named it Best Park and Best Outdoor Space in 2026. The DDA has scheduled more than 150 events for the park's inaugural year, including a Health & Wellness Series sponsored by Cleveland Clinic Florida, biweekly farmers markets, and trivia nights — daily programming designed to keep residents coming back, and with them, steady foot traffic for concessionaires like Ophelia. Hoodline previously covered the park's $15 million reopening in January.
Why Miami Concepts Are Looking North
Ophelia's expansion also tracks a broader shift in downtown Fort Lauderdale's population. The urban core's residential count reached nearly 50,000 people in 2025, a 44 percent jump since 2020, fueled partly by an 83 percent increase in families with young children living downtown since 2018, according to WLRN. A 2025 economic study by Walter Duke & Partners found downtown Fort Lauderdale generates $43 billion in annual economic output — nearly a third of Broward County's GDP — while sitting on less than 1 percent of the county's land.
Vieira told Miami New Times that downtown Fort Lauderdale is as exciting as anything he and De Sa Martins have seen, adding that south Florida isn’t just Miami. It's a sentiment that fits a moment when established Miami food-and-beverage names are increasingly betting on Broward County's growing appetite — and its growing number of residents willing to line up for a guava kouign-amann on their way to work.
