JEWELL’S A GEM
Rebel chef turns bistro into Lake Worth go-to
Some of the county’s most brazen cooking is happening at a small, casual restaurant in Lake Worth. It’s easy to blur by Jewell Bistro, which opened early this year in the former Zapata space on North Dixie Highway — it’s the squat, black structure that’s tucked between a car wash and a botánica. But I’m glad I stopped in on a recent night.
The rebel chef behind this enterprise is no stranger to local food lovers. Dak Kerprich earned cult-hero status when he ran Pizzeria Oceano, the Lantana restaurant that preceded chefs Jeremy and Cindy Bearman’s Oceano Kitchen.
The drill is pretty much the same for Kerprich at Jewell: fresh, smallish menu posted online daily, cash only, onsite ATM.
But at Jewell Floridian Bistro, Kerprich ventures well beyond pizza, offering an eclectic range of dishes that can go from mainstream comfort (chuck roast and potatoes) to inventive comfort (cauliflower in chicken sauce with fennel seed and olives) to Old World (like bigos, a Polish hunter stew) to just retro (like tiki culture-era rumaki bites). The menu changes often.
It’s all served impeccably, both in presentation and service.
On a recent night, we feasted on Baharat-spiced chicken thighs served alongside buttery Salanova lettuce and a delicious hunk of feta ($18). I enjoyed the fresh flavors of a horseradish-rich “unsmoked fish dip” ($11), a dish that replaces smoky with tangy. It was a creative alternative to the classic.
We found a heap of delicious in Jewell’s vegan eggplant and fennel-seed dip ($8), served with warm naan that’s freshly made at the restaurant. The fennel and chile-infused oil gave the eggplant a meaty dimension.
We swooned over a tangle of fettuccine tossed with a hearty, creamy mushroom fricassee ($14). The sauce was appropriately decadent upon those homemade noodles, which were served al dente yet tender enough.
And don’t get me started on dessert — Miss Marsha’s Mango Pie ($7), made by Marsha Kerprich, Dak’s wife, with local backyard mangoes.
She tops it with coconut shavings. It might be the best pie I’ve had this year.
The Jewell team has really made the small space work. Kerprich, who used to cook at pop-up events in the space when it was still Zapata, now welcomes area chefs on occasional Monday nights for pop-ups of their own. Meantime, on Sunday nights during summer, Kerprich turns Jewell into “The Polka Room,” offering an Eastern European menu.
The chef also hosts a podcast, “American Cheese Transmission,” which is recorded at the restaurant. He has set up his podcasting equipment on a bar table in one corner of the place, where he and fellow chefs vent and dish. Glance to the left as you walk in and you’ll see the microphones and headphones.
But keep walking to your table. The best is not on the podcast — it’s on the nightly menu. ON THE COVER: Miss Marsha’s Mango Pie is a heavenly sweet finale at Jewell Bistro in Lake Worth. LIZ BALMASEDA / THE PALM BEACH POST