Palm Beach County

Anything new opening in PBC? What’s closed?

I’m most looking forward to the opening of Grato in West Palm Beach.

It’s an Italian concept, not too fancy, from Buccan’s Clay Conley. He researched food for over a year, and this has been a long time coming. Due to open literally any day now, I think they are mock service this weekend, so first public dates early in the New Year.

I’ve seen publicity shots of some of the food and it looks great:

And I’m a huge fan of Buccan so this should be fun.

Chef Clay also installed a pizza over with the goal of making the best pies in South Florida, I’m eager to see what he’s come up with.

BTW if you know any In The Biz folks looking for a job, Grato is hiring…

http://miami.craigslist.org/pbc/fbh/5380846081.html

Get them a job and then you’ll have a friend in the house :smile:

This board obviously doesn’t get the action that my home board (NJ) does, but since I’m down here and had some WONDERFUL food last night, I thought I’d post… Get thee to Hutton in the Northwood area of W. Palm Beach! Fantastic flavors, beautiful presentations, small plates that are legit servings, and prices that were beyond fair. http://huttonnorthwood.com

My folks have been down here for 7+ years and the truly good restaurants are few and far between. We’re also fans of Coolinary Cafe (not a typo) in Palm Beach Gardens. https://www.coolinarycafe.com

I haven’t been, but they also love Avocado Grill in downtown WPB.

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Bumping this up… I’ve been down in W. Palm for almost two weeks, and have two excellent finds:

Indus Indian & Herbal Cuisine is a spot we discovered in the last year, and it has definitely become a favorite. I haven’t been to their buffet yet, but my dad says it’s terrific. We were there this week with friends who are adventurous eaters, but who don’t know Indian cuisine, so they had us order. :slight_smile: Four of us had:
Samosas
Gobi (cauliflower) Manchurian
Onion Kulcha
Kheema Naan (filled with minced lamb)
Dal Makhani (black lentils with kidney beans)
Lamb chops
Goat Rogan Josh

Seriously spectacular–dish after dish! Full of different flavors, medium spice on all, and the lamb chops were insanely tender. We finished by sharing a mango lassi. $56/couple all in.

The other spot I hadn’t been to that’s in regular rotation for my dad is the Mediterranean Market & Deli, which is exactly the kind of place I love–ethnic, a little rough around the edges, and so many delicious things to choose from, we left with way more than we intended. :slight_smile:
We got:
Tabouli (a staple in my dad’s fridge)
Lentil salad
Babaganous
Fattoush salad
Butter bean salad
Spinach and feta (hand) pie
Meat (hand) pie
Date cookies

I think it all totaled about $38. What a haul! There is a small table out in the parking lot with umbrellas for shade, but that’s it for seating. This is a call-in/pick up or order at the counter spot, and I’ll definitely be back on my next trip to try the falafel and other sandwiches/wraps.

Souvlaki II in the very cute Northwood neighborhood is another favorite of ours… zero atmosphere but who cares when the gyros, calamari over Greek salad and other traditional treats are so yummy? They have about half a dozen tables so you can eat in or take out, and their first location (further south in WPB) is still open as well (haven’t been to that one).

Finally a real newcomer–as in, only open a month or so, iirc, is Seasons Thai, also in Northwood. Dad has eaten in the restaurant, but the meal I had was via huge takeout order for 7 people. We shared chicken lettuce wraps, potstickers, duck salad, the mixed veg stir-fry, chicken satay, and a noodle dish that was similar to Chow Fun. EVERYTHING was delicious!

Little by little, there are more spots in this area, and since I visit 3-5x/year, I’m happy about it!

Edited to tag @PHREDDY :slight_smile:

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Hey!
The plan now is to be down in FLA for more than 6 months a year. Found a sweet shack in West Boynton Beach, at Boynton Beach Blvd. about 20 0or so minutes from WPB… (been here since the beginning of December)
I will give those a shot and let you know! Thanks!

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Congrats on the new digs! Sorry I didn’t have a chance to write back; I was down there unexpectedly for 2 weeks, as my dad had a (TG) mild stroke the morning I was heading down (planned months ago). Thankfully he bounced back rather quickly, but I stayed to make sure he could drive and handle things on his own–came home yesterday.
If there’s anything specific you’re looking for food-wise down there, he’s THE guy to ask, so just let me know! He drives all over to find the good stuff. (It’s in my DNA…) :slight_smile:
Evie

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Great to hear your dad is ok…
I have had a home in this area for the last 12 years…so this was just a change of venue, from the old house to the new…Moved my mom into the old house with help… she is 90+…so all is well…
Although I am a little south of you, not real familiar what is up in WPB, but I still love to explore new places…

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Ah…I knew you were down there on a regular basis but didn’t realize you owned a place! He goes down to/near Boca for legit dim sum, I know that (because he raves about the chicken feet), but that’s the only place much further south other than The Eagle that I know about–but he definitely has places, as he has friends down that way.

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E,
Actually when I first came down here in the late 90’s it was a culinary wasteland…hence 30 years later there are some great places and some meh…
Hit or miss as such I enjoy your recommendation of EAGLE…it was a hit!
As such I am open meaning …thanks for your remembrance I am even down here!!!
Perhaps we can do an HO…meet up with HO’S or Just us and your folks…would love it…
Keep me posted Curlz!!!

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So perhaps some southern comfort food… or some beach fare…or maybe some local Mexican? ju.nevr.no?

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Hmm. Southern food definitely isn’t his thing but I’ll ask him about Mexican!

Mexican recs:
Tacos al Carbon gets high marks.

For plated food, there’s a chain he likes called Anita’s Mexican Grill and another place called Guadalajara (no website, but 905 Federal Hwy, Lake Park, FL 33403), but he says he hasn’t found good ‘upscale’ Mexican.

In Delray, he loves J&J Seafood and a place called Frank’s but he can’t remember the full name–just that “when the main road goes from 2 lanes to 1, the restaurant is at 1 o’clock on the side street.” :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I’ve found a couple of barbecue places – Off the Bone in West Palm and Troy’s in Boynton Beach. Both are reviewed at johntannersbbqblog

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We’ve stayed in Palm Beach Shores or Riviera Bech for years now. We only recently discovered Cod and Capers, a nice seafood market cum restaurant that we really liked. We go to U Tiki and the Reef Grill a lot. Leftovers and Little Moir’s are casual and usually very good – both run by the same people. I’ve reviewed all except the last two on my non-commercial blog, https://johntannersbbqblog.wordpress.com, so you can go there for details. Frankly, we’ve been migrating over to Marco Island on the west coast. The food there is much better, thanks to a nearby fishing village and an abundance of stone crabs, and then there are the sunsets. Note: I rarely go super high end on restaurants.

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Greetings from NJ!

My dad(who gave me my foodie genes) is in WPB and I’ve been going there for more than a decade; when a fellow member of the NJ board was on Singer Island, he was looking for places to eat, so we now have a discussion of our favorite spots in the vicinity of WPB on this thread on the NJ board.

We’re far more active on the NJ board, so at the request of @johntannerbbq I’m sharing!

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As a further resource for folks in Palm Beach County, there are about a dozen places reviewed on my blog – https://johntannersbbqblog.wordpress.com/?s=Palm Most but not all are up in the northern end. If you’re in the southern part of the county, here are a couple of good places in northern Broward. https://johntannersbbqblog.wordpress.com/?s=broward

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Just realized that I forgot to mention a new find! While I didn’t get there this trip, I discovered there’s an outpost of Pig Beach in WPB now… We were going to go for lunch before I headed home, but they were closed on Monday.

I’ve been to the original location in Brooklyn - with a bunch of chefs and people from Food Network. The BBQ was DELICIOUS.

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Excellent!

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We were just in Palm Beach County, and lane to stop by but COVID intervened. We did get a chance to go to the very engaging Grato in WPB, where ordering the whole left side of the menu (for 6) led to a wonderful, fun dinner. Alas, no photos (one of the couples were strangers so I didn’t photograph anything).
Also great meals a the Sailfish Marina on the water in Palm Beach Shores, and a stunning dinner at the Pelican Cafe in Lake Park. I’ve posted odd my blog and still post here when I get my act together post-COVID. Driving back was hell, having to whiz past all of those green local places on my list.

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