By DALE MADISON

Matt Auslander is no stranger the bar and grill business. For years, he was the general manager at venerable Wilton Manors staple Georgie’s Alibi. Thinking that the grass might be greener out west, Auslander decided to pull up stakes and give Las Vegas a spin. As he likes to put it, he soon learned “there ain’t much grass in Vegas.”

After about a year in the arid Intermountain West, he returned to Fort Lauderdale. It wasn’t his first stop on the ‘service train,’ one that first pulled away from the station almost 30 years ago. “My first foray into the hospitality business was in 1985,” the native of Manhattan recalled. “There was a restaurant in my neighborhood that I frequented. I was in one night and the maitre d’ came up to me and asked, “Do you want to work here?” Auslander turned out to be a “quick study.”

“I began as a server, then two days later I was promoted to bar back. I worked in that position, and then two days later I started bartending. I worked one summer for Julius in [Greenwich] Village [located about a block from the historic Stonewall Inn]—which was a real happening spot and I then in 1994 I moved to Fort Lauderdale.”

Auslander worked at Club Elektra in Fort Lauderdale, and eventually to that Gayborhood standard, the Alibi. The experience would leave an impression. “Having worked for George at the Alibi, it gave me the freedom to go to another part of my career. I got to work in Saint Pete, and then opened Alibi Palm Springs, which was a great experience, but I really wanted my own place.”

That place would be Matty’s on the Drive, which he would locate at the northern tip of Wilton Drive, within throwing distance of Five Points. Auslander is proud of his accomplishment. “Since we opened four years ago, we have won ‘Best New Bar’ in 2008, in 2009 we won ‘Best Signature Martini,’ and in 2012, ‘Best Bar,” he noted before adding, “and now onto the next frontier.”

Ironically, that next frontier takes him back to where it began. “We recently purchased the former Oscar Wilde bar,” in New York City’s Manhattan, “and while we are still working on the details, we are very excited about the addition,” Auslander says.

Even as he plans for expansion to the New York tavern, Auslander is determined to provide great service to his existing local patrons. “We have our employee Turn-About show coming up October 15, and we will be heavily involved with Wicked Wilton Halloween on the 31st, including a dance floor and”— now hear this—“a castle we are building to coincide with the theme,” he said, adding ‘wickedly,’ “Anything can happen in the Castle.”

Last Sunday, September 23, Auslander celebrated a birthday, which he insists makes him one year closer to 40. That “extra” year has made him a little wiser, too, and made him one of the community’s business owners who help make Wilton Manors a destination spot. Stop in and say hi to Auslander at Matty’s on the Drive, located at 2426 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors.

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