Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Food and art are at play at Dada
Dada — the Delray Beach restaurant, not the art movement — was born out of taking the easy path.
“My partner Rodney Mayo and I were looking at a space on Atlantic Avenue to open another Lost Weekend Pool Hall back in 1998,” recalls Scott Frielich, one of Dada’s owners. “We cut through the side street to get some ice cream from Doc’s [All American] and came across the lease sign in front of the house. We fell in love with the space and opened Dada in 2000, named after the art movement that was the same period the house was built.”
Frielich and Mayo are partners in the Subculture Restaurant Group, which operates 16 properties from Miami Beach to Jupiter, including Boca Raton’s Dubliner and Kapow, West Palm Beach’s Respectable Street and Howley’s as well as Delray Beach’s Honey and Subculture Coffee.
But it’s Dada that offers dining al fresco under a gi-normous banyan tree, a cool and shady respite from the summer sizzle. And even better, there are 12 different and refreshing mojitos, Dada’s signature calling card of a cocktail.
The outdoor space has vintage playground rides including a carnival plane ride from the 1960s. There are also a few pop art pieces such as a Mickey Mouse See Saw. The tree’s canopy covers most of the front yard of Dada, which is in the historic Tarrimore House, built around 1924 with the second floor added around 1939.
“Dining under the 100-year-old banyan tree is definitely a big draw,” adds Frielich. “People love to be outside in Florida.”