Is Lake Worth Beach the next restaurant hot spot?
If you’re looking for an up-and-coming mecca for munchies, you might want to checkout LakeWorth Beach.
Over the past few months there has been a flurry of new and so onto-come restaurants, including with chefs J.D. Eubanks (“Guy’s Grocery Games”) and Jeremy Hanlon (“Chopped,” “Beat Bobby Flay”).
“I believe LakeWorth Beach is on its way to becoming a foodie paradise,” says Joan C. Oliva, executive director of the LakeWorth Beach Community Redevelopment Agency.
She said the city offered small grants to keep restaurants and bars going. “As we add new residents to the area, we anticipate more demand for different types of restaurants.”
Those projects will include apartments buildings with ground floor commercial spaces such as the Bohemian, Village Flats, Element, Deco Green and the historic Gulf stream Hotel.
“We think it’s going to be growing even more in the future,” says Omar Arrieta, who co-owns Los Panchos Tacos and Tequila Bar with business partner Gustavo Gabriel and chef J.D. Eubanks. “In the future ... this will be very, very upscale, like Las Olas, Atlantic Avenue.”
Here’s a breakdown of what just opened (and what will open) in downtown Lake Worth Beach.
Viva La Playa
10 South Ocean Blvd., LakeWorth Beach. 561-247-7245 or VivaLaPlaya.com.
Openedin September. Background: Viva La Playa is the new beach side eater y byand Max Lip ton and executive chef Jeremy Han lon, the same team behind Benny’ s on the Beach, which, like Viva, is in the Lake Worth Casino Building and Beach Complex.
Hanlon, who competed on the Food Network’s “Chopped” and “Beat Bobby Flay,” says, “These chef slured me... to travel to Mexico City, Argentina and Brazil and Colombia. I got a lot of my tech-