Tapas spot mixes food, games in Lake Worth

A soulful new tapas spot has officially opened on Lake Worth’s up-andcoming Lucerne Avenue. It serves an eclectic menu of small plates, plus wine and local beers.

But Three of Hearts aims to be more than a place for a quick bite or sip. It is also a space for playing board games. In fact, the menu lists 22 games — everything from Rummikub to Jenga to Scrabble to Clue — available for playing.

In a way, the blended gastro bar and game room concept is a reflection of the woman who owns it. Robin Popelsky, a former events director at such New York boutique hotels as The Standard and The Bowery, created Three of Hearts as a tribute to her younger sister, who died of cancer last year.

Popelsky had long dreamed of opening a restaurant. Her sister’s death gave her a sense of urgency to do so.

“There was a shift in me,” Popelsky wrote in a blog post introducing her new restaurant. “…I realized how short and how precious life is and that I can’t keep putting the dream on hold. So I broke up with NYC and came to Florida to open my shop and be with the rest of the family.”

The board-games element, designed to bring people together, is a throwback to Popelsky’s childhood. She and her two sisters would play board games with their parents at the family table on Friday nights.

At her new restaurant, Popelsky will keep that tradition alive alongside her niece (and “master mixologist”), Denise Barcenas, and nephew (and chef ), John Whitmore. As one of three sisters, Popelsky has always been fascinated with the number 3. That her new venture involves a trio of relatives is not only fitting, it helped inspire the restaurant’s name.

On the menu: meat and cheese boards, sourdough and brioche sliders, mac and cheese, grilled cheese “fingers,” potato skewers and salads. Dishes, which

include vegetarian options, are priced between $3 and $24.

There’s a small Sunday brunch menu as well, featuring egg ravioli, French toast bites and eggs Benedict variations. (Plus, unlimited mimosas are offered at Sunday brunch for $15.)

On the cocktail menu, seasonal sangrias are offered in addition to wine and beer-based drinks. Currently,

there’s a white sangria infused with honey and sage notes, and a clovescented red sangria.

Three of Hearts is located in the breezy space that sits next to Social House, the co-working space that has fostered a community of creative souls and indie businesses in Lake Worth and West Palm Beach.

At Three of Hearts bar and game room, bartender Denise Barcenas creates beer and wine-based cocktails such as the “Black Magic.” It’s a mix of port wine, nitro stout and coffee, served with chocolate ice cubes and garnished with cocoa nibs.