"Thanksgiving to Christmas is a six-week stretch of insanity."
The hot gossip from Santa’s Workshop flies fast and heavy at Rosalia Kitchen’s in Miramar.
“Candy Cane Clara only glued two gumdrops on her gingerbread house. She’s such a slacker,” squeaks one elf over a loudspeaker in the restaurant’s restroom.
“And did you see Mrs. Claus lost 3 pounds?” a second elf chimes in over the clatter of toymaking sounds. “I heard she got a Peloton.”
Eavesdropping on tea-spilling elves is part of the immersive vibes at Rosalia’s Holiday Extravaganza, a Christmastime makeover of the Mediterranean-Italian restaurant.
Less a pop-up than a total tacky transformation, the dining room features hundreds of shiny ornaments, gift-wrap wallpaper and a trellis draped in faux snow, and serves up dishes like Xmas Tree Spaghetti and 3D-printed cocktails like D’Grinch, with a felt-green hand pinching a cherry stem over a sour apple martini.
Total cost this year: $10,000, estimates co-owner Rafael Brazon-Di Fatta, which includes a promotional blitz of slick influencer videos.
It’s worth the investment: Holiday-obsessed diners can’t get enough of the playful decor, stiff drinks and Christmas-coded meals, so decking out Rosalia’s — this is their third year — translates to big business, he argues, adding that reservations are already nearing capacity through Dec. 25.
Read more at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel