Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Restaurant brings clam-shack casual
Fried Ipswich belly clams, thick New England clam chowder and lobster rolls prepared two ways — warm drenched in butter (Connecticut style) and cold dressed with mayonnaise (Maine style) — are among the comforting classics being served at newly opened Seafood Street Eatery in Boca Raton.
“I thought this building and area had potential,” owner Derek Panaia says. “Most of the seafood restaurants in Boca are on the fine-dining side. I said let’s do something relaxed, casual and comfortable that’s more middle of the road.”
After shuttering a short-lived organic burger restaurant (Burganic) at the Yamato Road site in December, Massachusetts-born Panaia drew on happy childhood memories of Cape Cod clam shacks for inspiration. He also hired a well-known South Florida
name to run the kitchen: Johnny Vinczencz, former chef-partner of Johnny V in Fort Lauderdale who most recently cooked at Jackson’s Prime steakhouse.
“It’s just good, fresh seafood,” Vinczencz says.
“So far people really seem to like it,” Panaia says.
The 60-seat, full-service restaurant opened Feb. 12 and is open daily for lunch (11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.) and dinner (5-9 p.m). Panaia says he’s still tinkering with menu items and pricing. Beer and wine are available.
The setting is sparse, almost austere, with most seating in an enclosed side room with a floor of brick pavers. It’s not quite the salt air and sunshine of Cape Cod shacks with picnic tables, but it’s decidedly more low key than recent Boca seafood restaurants Loch Bar and Luff ’s.
I stopped in at Seafood Street for lunch over the weekend and was impressed. I enjoyed Vinczencz’s simple and delicious handling of “Drunken Littleneck Clams” ($11), briny and perfectly steamed until shells opened, surrounded by a warm bath of white wine, garlic, shallots, lemon and red pepper flakes. A crab cake ($9) was reasonable and enjoyable, shredded lump crabmeat served with Key lime mustard and chopped mango salsa. Tomato-based Bahamian conch chowder ($7) was on the tame side, with sweet morsels of conch and chunks of potato, but came to life with dry sherry and an impressive rack of hot sauces brought on request.
Panaia, a businessman and former commodities trader who has lived in South Florida and Massachusetts,
says he’s also being health-minded with his newest venture. Fried items are battered in corn flour. “Everything that goes in the fryer is gluten-free,” he says.
The blackened mahi sandwich ($12) features a thick hunk of fresh seasoned fish, served with fries. “That’s been our biggest seller,” Panaia says. The fries are not housemade — Panaia says he’d rather keep costs down by using some premade “convenience” items — but the tangy tartar sauce is made fresh daily in the kitchen.
Also housemade: Vinczencz’s desserts, including a not-too-sweetnot-too-tart Key lime pie ($7.50) with mango whipped cream, and his “apple pie inside a cheesecake” ($9.50), a turducken-inspired stuffed pastry that features strawberry sauce and whipped cream.
The lobster roll ($22 one style, or $23 for a combination hot-and-cold) featured a split-top challah bun generously stuffed with steamed Maine lobster. Blackened scallops ($23) featured an ample portion of medium-size sea scallops, served with a choice of two sides. I enjoyed the fried onion strings and crispy Brussels sprouts with apple vinaigrette. Other options include Old Bay fries, cole slaw, potato salad, vegetable of the day, Cape Cod Kettle chips or herbed rice.
Vinczencz became available after a short stint at Marky’s Caviar at the new Hard Rock Guitar Hotel didn’t work out. “He’s a hard worker,” Panaia says. “We’re all working 90 hours a week until we get this thing figured out.”
So far Seafood Street Eatery appears to have set sail on a promising course.