Mr. E.L. "Shorty" Allen left Georgia as a young man more than 50 years ago. In 1951 he built and opened the familiar log cabin style restaurant, including family size picnic tables, screen windows and a concrete floor. Since those early days, Shorty's has been satisfying appetites with our famous ribs, chicken, homemade sauce, creamy cole slaw, and of course our delicious corn on the cob.

Loyal patrons were shocked when their favorite restaurant burned down in 1972 (pictured at the left). Two years later Shorty rebuilt an almost identical building on this same location. Today the restaurant remains a piece of South Florida's glorious history, a nostalgic and delicious landmark next door to Datran Center Skyscrapers, and the southern end of MetroRail, all just a block from Dadeland shopping center. We maintain the "Shorty's Atmosphere" in our newer restaurants, so our old friends will certainly recognize the familiar tastes that remain almost unchanged since 1951.

In 1992 "Hurricane Andrew" came through South Dade County. Shorty's was heavily damaged but thanks to a lot of hard work, we reopened in a week to serve the community. Shorty's continues to be an "Oasis in Time", where you can taste what it was like in South Florida over 50 years ago.