TAPAS IN HISTORIC SETTING
Fork Play restaurant is nearing opening in Ruth Jones Cottage.
The owner of Fork Play in the historic Ruth Jones Cottage expects the restaurant to be open for business by the end of September at the latest.
Lisa Mercado will bring the kitchen and dining room expertise she gained from running The Living Room on Congress Avenue to the site at 480 E. Ocean Ave. Fork Play will offer small plates, commonly called tapas.
The menu, which could change by opening date, includes a crab cake with blood orange aioli, calamari frites with buffalo aioli and maple bacon kettle corn. For dessert, you can cook your own s’mores or have a deconstructed cannoli. Think chips and salsa but with pieces of the crunchy pastry dough and cannoli cream.
“I think it will be a nice change because there’s nobody in that area that’s really doing that,” Mercado said of the tapas option. “Plus the name’s fun.”
For those readers who think Fork Play sounds like something else — Mercado is aware. “It’s a little bite before the main course.”
The restaurant came to fruition through a partnership between Mercado, Palm Beach County resident Barbara Ceuleers and Richard Lucibella, former vice mayor of Ocean Ridge. Lucibella and Ceuleers bought the historic building from the Community Redevelopment Agency for $335,000.
Lucibella told the CRA they’d finish construction by Aug. 2, but they’ve hit setbacks. While the kitchen is finished and all equipment is there, the partners await windows and possibly a new roof.
The Cottage was most recently home to the Little House tavern and cafe, which closed in 2014.