There’s been such a maelstrom of changes on the southern Palm Beach County restaurant front that last week’s column could not contain them all.
The closings, openings, rehabs and substantial staff shifts have set records; while the area has not quite reached the hectic musical-chairs level of South Beach’s restaurant du jour situation, it’s getting close.
If you’re keeping track, here are a few additions to the many developments described Nov. 29.
First of all, there have been a couple of major cosmetic changes in two special places. Angelique (1840 N. Dixie Highway, Boca Raton; 561-368-7270), as exciting as ever inside, is benefiting from a major overhaul of its facade thanks to its neighbor, the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce.
The Roasted Pepper Cafe (Boca Plaza, 3340 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton; 561-362-5925) made its substantial changes inside, spending the summer gutting, rebuilding and expanding the interior, while keeping the same talented performers who brought their Philadelphia-honed skills south a year ago, serving moderately priced, excellent pizza and pasta.
Also rebuilding is one of South Florida’s premier delis, Poppies Restaurant and Deli (BocaRay Plaza, 4900 Linton Blvd., Delray Beach; 561-498-4900), after a disastrous fire. It’s scheduled to reopen on or about Dec. 15.
Say’s Thai (Glades Plaza # Detected. #90l) suddenly shuttered a few weeks ago, and to date there’s been no news about a reopening or replacement. Thus we’ve lost one of Boca’s best Thai hideaways and the only one that had Laotian items on the menu.
Also gone is Boca’s premier Vietnamese restaurant, the very well-dressed La Truc in the Palmetto Park Shops. Chef-owner and cookbook author Binh Duong gave up after trying heroically for six years to build a base introducing local palates to the specialties of his native country.
In its place is another ethnic exotic, Patogh (297 E. Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton; 561-416-9277) featuring Persian, Mediterranean and vegetarian cuisine. So now instead of satay and mee krob you can have ghormeh sabzi, gheimeh bodemjan and fessenjan.
Not far away, a French team will soon open L’Orangerie (Royal Palm Plaza, #39, Boca Raton; 561-392-7555) where the Brazilians used to be.
Where Pasta Market Cafe used to draw the crowds (when chef Richard Lemon was in charge of the kitchen, before he started his own hugely successful Splendid Blendeds Cafe on Atlantic in Delray Beach), there’s a new pasta purveyor, Sotto Luna (1600 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton; 561-416-9404), yet another import from Long Island. Its headline dishes are the kind of classic Italian-American fare developed at its other establishments of the same name in Roslyn Heights and Massapequa, and one called Pirandello, also in Roslyn Heights.
Pangaea (Boca Center, 5050 Town Center Circle, Boca Raton; 561-338-2401), has opened, describing itself as a unique Floribbean bistro, one that uses the freshest organically grown ingredients it can find.
Farther west in Boca, on the corner of Powerline and Palmetto, behind Club Boca, Mim’s (561-362-6560) took over the space where Americana used to be, and its owners are working hard to make their new venture “Your home away from home without the mess.”
Soon to reopen after a long spell of “closed for remodeling,” the catch phrase that usually means it’s all over but the sheriff’s summons, is Boca’s Wildflower (551 E. Palmetto Park Road; 561-391-0000?.) The same operators who made the unique fortress on the Intracoastal hugging the bridge such a success in its early years are in charge, and they are installing a fuller menu than the snack stuff, while opening up the walls and decks to the boat parade on the Intracoastal.
It’s a setting that another newcomer, this one from Rhode Island, would like to have. Cherrystone’s (5199 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach; 561-498-8799) is a long way from the water, a couple of hundred yards west of Military Trail. But it still features reasonably priced New England-style seafood and that means whole belly clams, New England and Manhattan clam chowder, haddock, flounder and scrod, Boston cobb salads and a Nantucket Platter with fried everything.
Another simple seafood server has opened in Delray, along Federal Highway. Shells (969 SE Fifth Ave.; 561-274-6633) is the name, and it’s a spinoff of the successful restaurant of the same name in Sunrise.
Finally, there’s a newcomer not to forget in Boca. It’s called Christophe (Paseos Plaza, 2621 N. Federal Highway; 561-393-6673) and it’s in the single little room that used to house Caruso’s and most recently, La Casa Mia.
French-born Christophe Douheret is the chef-proprietor and Bettina Geyer is his partner. Together they have created a sophisticated, European kind of retreat, one with a changing menu reflecting the vagaries of the market and Christophe’s whims. More French nouvelle than classic, but without the nonsense.
