Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Red Pine brings high-end Chinese to Boca
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Red Pine Restaurant & Lounge, Boca Raton
Pricey traditional Chinese cuisine from high-end restaurateurs is having a moment in Palm Beach County, and the latest example is this eatery from Farmer’s Table owner Mitchell Robbins, which soft-opened March 8 inside the One Town Center building a wok’s throw from the Town Center mall. The menu touts wok entrees, dim sum, housemade egg rolls and steamed xiao long bao (savory bone broth soup pork dumplings) from chefs
Chi K. Chan (formerly of Mastro’s) and Michael Schenk. The idea is “to bring traditional Chinese cuisine to a fine-dining environment, the side of Chinese cuisine that kind of got lost being Americanized for so long,” manager Charles Eisenhart says.
The restaurant will offer communal-style seating and its red marble-topped bar slings 10 craft cocktails and mocktails. A grand opening is planned for late March. 1 Town Center Road; 561-826-7595, RedPineBoca. com, OpenTable for reservations.
Double Roads Tavern, Jupiter
Nightly jam sessions, a righteous vinyl shop and smoky barbecue are the norm at owner Vince Flora’s live-music tavern, which reopened after a two-year hiatus in late January. After pandemic troubles shuttered his original Double Roads in April 2021, Flora, a jazz player and blues rocker, revived it up the street out a former Outback Steakhouse. On the menu are smoked hamburgers, IPA beer-steamed shrimp, pulled-pork frittatas, arepa hush puppies, Nashville-hot mahi mahi and a barbecue-Cuban sandwich mashup stuffed with pulled pork, swiss cheese, pickles, brisket and mustard barbecue sauce. 103 U.S. Hwy 1; 561-437-3348, DoubleRoads Tavern.com
Brewlihan, Oakland Park
John and Stacey Hoolihan’s buzzworthy hive of mead — better known as honey wine — opened its brewhouse in August and its long-awaited public tasting room in late February, adding to the city’s growing cluster of craftbeer bars, breweries and distilleries perched along North Dixie Highway. The 1,700-square-foot mead house, decorated with science flasks and honeycomb motifs, has 16 taps and sources its honey from Florida beekeepers and fruits from farmers in the Pacific Northwest and New York. Its grand-opening weekend is planned for March 3 to 5 at the taproom. 3472 NE Fifth Ave., Unit 1, Oakland Park; Brewlihan.com
Maple and Cream Restaurant, Plantation
This new brunch restaurant specializing in coffee and prodigious latte art quietly opened in late February by the old Fashion Mall, a slight jog north of the Plantation Walk hullabaloo. The restaurant, registered to manager-partner David Gonzalez, offers diner fare such as biscuits and maple sausage gravy, croissant french toast and a shaved ribeye skillet mixed with eggs, potatoes, peppers, onions and smashed avocado. For lunch, there are so-called “light eats” — including roasted beet hummus, avocado toast and panzanella salad — but also comfort items such as fried cinnamon rolls and tempura chicken thighs plated with cornbread and broccolini.
Bariloche Gourmet, Fort Lauderdale
Gourmet fast-food is the concept for this new restaurant that opened on Feb. 17 three blocks from Fort Lauderdale beach.
The name of the eatery refers to San Carlos de Bariloche in Argentina. “Yes, I lived in Bariloche for a long time,” says Valeria F. Camporro, the owner along with husband Juan M. Delutault. “Bariloche is an amazing tourist city in Argentina [known] for its incredible natural landscapes and, of course, the food as well.” The signature dishes are sandwiches de miga, empanadas, pizzas, pastries and desserts. The new restaurant can seat 32 people indoors and outdoors. The couple also has a Bariloche Gourmet in Miami. A grand opening is set for 5 p.m. Saturday, March 4, with live music and pizza samples. 2915 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; 954-918-8312; Instagram.com/bariloche gourmet
Moxies, Fort Lauderdale
The second South Florida entry of this popular Canadian restaurant chain is massive, fitting 366 seats and a pair of indoor-outdoor bars across two stories at the new-ish Main Las Olas building. After several months of delays, the restaurant finally soft-opened on March 1 with American and global cuisine, from hamburgers and N.Y. strip steaks to miso ramen bowls and beef vindaloo. The menu, created by chef Brandon Thordarson, also includes pot stickers, Thai chili chicken, French onion soup, baby back ribs and short-rib bolognese. Its two-story dining room and mezzanine is adorned in elegant white crossbeams, faux-grass walls, marbletopped tables and indoor palm trees. 201 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; 954-666-6861; Moxies.com
Cluckin Hot Chicks, Dania Beach
Yet another new chicken franchise has landed in South Florida: Cluckin Hot Chicks had its soft-opening on Feb. 25 on South Federal Highway, replacing a former Checkers fastfood restaurant. Registered to owners Ahshan Latif and David Shaw, this fast-casual spot leans into Nashville-style hot chicken and every other poultry configuration imaginable: wings, tenders, quarters, sandwiches, waffles and tacos. Chicken is doused in 10 different sauces, from honey-cinnamon “Sweet Heat” to “What the Cluck.” (The menu is, of course, pun-heavy.) Sides include fries, coleslaw and mac ‘n’ cheese. A grand-opening party is planned for March 10. 645 S. Federal Highway, Dania Beach; 754-777-7901; CluckinHotChicks.com
Point Break, Plantation
With a name like Point Break, you might expect Keanu to show up at the restaurant and nod approvingly at your choice of healthy lunch. But no, the name is really a rechristening of Poke House, a lunchonly poke shop from local restaurateur Memphis Garrett (Fort Lauderdale’s Ya Mas! Taverna, No Man’s Land) that opened without fanfare a year ago. The 1,300-square-foot storefront will host its grand opening on March 4 in the Shoppes at Cleary plaza. Now that Point Break is a fast-casual eatery serving pan-Asian street food for lunch and dinner, Garrett ditched half the poke menu in favor of tuna tacos, Hawaiian fried rice, tonkotsu ramen, poke gyoza, coconut shrimp and chicken karaage. 8970 Cleary Blvd., Plantation; 954-999-5758; EatPointBreak.com
Buccan Sandwich Shop, West Palm Beach
Clay Conley, arguably one of Palm Beach County’s most-decorated chefs (and a multiple James Beard Award nominee), has quietly created the Buccan Sandwich Shop takeout window into the side of Grato, his elegant Italian eatery in the Flamingo Park neighborhood. The sandwich counter is a spinoff of the lunchtime menu at Buccan, his small-plates bistro in Palm Beach, where fresh-sliced hot and cold meats are served on long rolls, along with soups and salads. There are handhelds stuffed with Grato’s meatballs, plus corned beef Reuben, prime N.Y. strip cheesesteak, Buffalo chicken, turkey club, falafel pita and double-cheeseburgers topped with remoulade. The takeout window (look for the giant pink flamingo on Buccan’s Kanuga Drive side) opened for delivery-only this week, with plans to debut the full takeout window experience by mid-March. 1901 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach; BuccanSandwichShop.com
Bagels With Deli, Delray Beach
A sister location to its flagship New York-style deli on Linton Boulevard, this bakery registered to owners Robert and Dawn Bloom debuted Feb. 5 on West Atlantic Avenue, sharing a strip mall with Joseph’s Classic Market. Along with noodle kugel and potato latkes, there are appetizing cases selling spreads and salads by the half-pound (including hummus, macaroni, Greek orzo, chicken and tuna), plus 14 fresh-baked bagel flavors, bialys and flagels (aka flat bagels). The breakfast-lunch menu also offers housemade corned beef hash, egg sandwiches,
LEO omelets, wraps, salads bowls and 14 deli sandwiches filled with everything from hot pastrami to honey almond chicken.
Smoke Shack BBQ & Burgers, Royal Palm Beach
Born in New Jersey, Timothy Jensen and Greg Stouffer’s smokehouse pub debuted its first South Florida outpost in early February in the Cobblestone Village plaza. The sports-themed restaurant serves barbecue sandwiches, footlong hotdogs, beef brisket and baby back ribs by the pound, along with 10 styles of hamburgers on brioche. But Smoke Shack’s bestsellers are its specialty sandwiches like Three Little Pigs, packing roughly a pound of 14-hour smoked pulled pork, 4-hour smoked pork belly and whole-hog bacon into a brioche bun, somehow managing to save room for lettuce, tomato and onion on top. A second location is planned for Delray Beach, at 13900 Jog Road, sometime in April. 10233 Okeechobee Blvd., Royal Palm Beach; 561-437-1121; SmokeShackBBQand Burgers.com
Le Colonial, Delray Beach
This luxe time capsule to 1920s French Colonial Vietnam, under restaurateurs Rick Wahlstedt and Joe King, soft-opened on Feb. 15 within the new Atlantic Crossing shopping village. At 7,500 square feet, this restaurant-bar is accented with tropical furnishings, breezy verandas, leather banquettes, mahogany millwork and framed period photographs. Its classic Vietnamese menu, by chefs Nicole Routhier and Hassan Obaye, offers crunchy green papaya salad dressed in tangy nuoc cham (a sweet-sourspicy dipping sauce), moist dumplings garnished with ginger, half roasted duck and suon nuong, or lemongrass-marinated baby back ribs. Wahlstedt and King — who operate other locations in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta and Lake Forest, Ill. — are planning another Le Colonial in Naples later in 2023. 601 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach; LeColonial.com
Closed
Thai Thyme & Sushi Bar, Plantation
This 6-year-old Japanese-Thai eatery in the Plantation Centre West plaza permanently closed on Feb. 28. Co-owner Iwan Saputra told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that the restaurant has been sold to new owners who plan to change the restaurant’s name and concept. Thai Thyme specialized in pan-Asian fare including bento boxes, shoyu ramen, tom kha soup and pad see ew, along with sushi and shumai, dumplings and curried dishes. 7039 W. Broward Blvd., Plantation; 954-990-7110, ThaiThymeFL.com
Blue Moon Diner, Cooper City
This suburban stripmall hub for down-home classics — bacon-stuffed omelets, tuna cheese melts, bison hamburgers — has closed in the Pine Lake Plaza on Griffin Road after 13 years. The eatery abruptly shut in mid-January without fanfare or social-media updates, and its phone number and website have been taken down. Last year, the diner was renovated by new owners Shaune and Sarah Walter, who took over Blue Moon in 2021. The diner was also known for its collision of high-end and low-end dishes, such as breakfast burritos, lobster quiche, avocado egg rolls and Atlantic salmon. 10076 Griffin Road, Cooper City
Holy Mackerel Small Batch Beers, Wilton Manors
The signs are down and the phone line is disconnected at this brewpub near Five Points Plaza that abruptly closed without fanfare in late January after nearly three years in Wilton Manors. Owner Frank Barecich told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that the brewery, which closed to make way for a new condo development, plans to relocate this year, although no new lease has been signed. Holy Mackerel, which began its life in 2008 under brewer Bobby Gordash, opened its first taproom in 2017 in a Pompano Beach warehouse. Then it migrated in 2020 to Wilton Manors under new owner Frank Barecich, who bought the naming rights and recipes from Gordash. Despite the many stainless-steel tanks adorning this brewhouse, the (sometimes controversial) brewery did not brew beer on premises, instead outsourcing its suds to South Carolina’s Thomas Creek Brewery, which made Holy Mackerel recipes including Special Golden Ale, Panic Attack and Café Cubano. 1414 NE 26th St., Wilton Manors; HolyMackerelBeers.com
Mr. Chen’s Hunan Palace, Delray Beach
A favorite of retirees orbiting the Kings Point condo community, this reliable eatery serving Chinese-American staples permanently closed in late January after 35 years in the Palm Court Plaza medical-office complex on Linton Boulevard. Though multiple proprietors ran Mr. Chen’s over the decades, its most-recent owners, Dewei Liang and Lina Budiman, took over the restaurant in
2019, upgrading the dining room and introducing dim sum like shumai and shrimp-and-pork fun guo, until foot traffic slumped during the pandemic. Later this spring, the space will become a sister location for Florida chain 5th Element Indian Grill. 5130 Linton Blvd., Unit E1, Delray Beach; 561-498-4703