New Coral Springs restaurant to feature mural by acclaimed artist. Take a look
Work continues around the clock at Coral Springs’ next-to-open restaurant in the Cornerstone development — from welders and plumbers to nationally acclaimed artists.
Gary Rack’s Farmhouse Kitchen plans to welcome its first diners in June. Its long-awaited Broward location will be the franchise’s third South Florida eatery and a return to its collaborations with Miami muralist Ruben Ubiera, who is adding the finishing touches to a surrealist piece spanning two walls in the dining area.
“Nothing that you see here is by accident,” Ubiera, 50, told the Coral Springs News. “Everything is intentional. Everything was planned and made to marry.”
The 3,600-square-foot restaurant was designed by Pam Manhas of Manhas Design. The space aims for a “distinctly urban aesthetic,” featuring concrete floors and open ceilings with bright red vintage birdcage light fixtures.
One of Ubiera’s biggest challenges was choosing colors that would blend well with the space, while still adding to the aesthetic, he said.
“To me, culinary arts is the highest form of art,” Ubiera said. “It’s the only one that you can’t put in a museum. It’s the only one that you can’t put in a gallery. If two generations don’t cook it, you lose it.”
He has also designed and painted murals for other South Florida restaurants, including El Camino and The Mexican in Boca Raton, Melt Crafted Grilled Cheese in Boynton Beach, Lucille’s and Tacocraft in Miami, and Wynwood Brewery, among others.
Ubiera says creating a design comes down to a restaurant’s identity.
“I like to think of my art as something that it’s like a billboard without words, so it has to have a concept, tell a story, and carry your eye, so because of all the shapes and things and angles that this architecture has, the visuals move horizontally to keep your eye moving,” he said.
Gary Rack’s pitches itself as an elevated, lively and engaging dining experience.
Ubiera took the prompt and ran with it.
“First I chose the oranges to represent Florida, then [I thought about] what fish can marry this visually in a fun, entertaining way with scales that showcase the transparencies and things like that,” Ubiera said.
“The goldfish were the most fun, most eclectic way to kind of do a juxtaposition and show you that this is not real life. It showcases life to the viewer in a happy way, but at the same time that it’s not telling them that we’re a fish house.
“It’s layers and layers of the illusion of this: The closer you get you realize how it was done, but the further away you get, it plays this game in your eyes.”
Ubiera’s fish swim over an expo kitchen, where diners can watch their meals being prepared, live, and a woman’s face — masked with sunglasses and framed with long, wavy hair — takes up a large portion of the unit’s left wall.
Gary Rack’s has not announced an opening date as of May 28 but has posted on social media that it plans to open the Coral Springs location, at 3314 N. University Drive, in June.
A menu shared with the Coral Springs News features items such as the Kale Yeah salad, truffle mushroom flatbread and monster carrot cake.
The restaurant will also have brunch.
