Menu items worth checking
from local restaurants

The Plate: Bimini Coconut Shrimp
The Place: Lantana Jack’s, 308 N. Dixie Highway, Lantana. Phone: 847-4158
The Price: $9.95
The Skinny: Think coconut shrimp, and think rich and over-battered.
But come to Lantana Jack’s and think again.
This starter could be an entrée for someone with a small appetite.
It consists of eight medium shrimp lightly coated in coconut then quick-fried until tender.
That coconut was flaky and light, and the spicy orange marmalade served on the side offered a delightful counterpoint to the shrimp and the coconut.
Also worth checking: any of the burgers on the menu.
— Scott Simmons

A seagull rides the wind as champion surfer Kelly Slater braves the waves generated by Hurricane Sandy near Boynton Inlet. Photo by James Knill

By Thom Smith

     As Hurricane Sandy blew past, she didn’t seem like such a big deal. A little flooding here, a flattened seawall there. New Age musician Yanni lost his pool and lots of turtle nests were lost. Mother Nature doesn’t play favorites. Compared to past storms, however, damage was minimal.
    To Peter Mendia of West Palm Beach, whose life is surfing, Oct. 28 was the “day of days.”
    Mendia was hardly alone. The swell attracted Shea Lopez from Daytona, legendary Cocoa board builder Matt Kechele and his prize pupil, Kelly Slater, a world champ 11 times, to waves so big, so fast and so powerful that they used jet skis to launch them at Boynton Inlet and at Pump House in Palm Beach.
    Sandy plodded up the coast, and like every other storm, its siren song lured thousands of surfers and beachniks to the shore to marvel at its power. Little did they know just how powerful it would become, although it never did grow larger than Category 2. As I wrapped up my column for The Coastal Star’s November issue, it came ashore five miles south of Atlantic City with peak winds barely 90 miles an hour. A day later it was a rainy trough soaking Pennsylvania.
    Only 90 miles an hour. A few days later, my phone rang. It was FEMA, summoning me to my second deployment as a DAE (disaster assistance employee). I had two days to pack, put my affairs in order and head to New Jersey. For six weeks, as a writer in the Planning and Products division, I would work on press releases, how-to pamphlets, flood insurance fact sheets, and dozens of other documents that provide information to homeowners, businesses, government officials and FEMA staffers.  
    Even before the storm made landfall, FEMA was staging personnel and supplies. Within two weeks, headquarters had been set up in what was once a 350,000-square-foot Bell Labs facility in Lincroft, a hamlet in Monmouth County, only a few miles from the Jersey Shore. In less than a week, trucks laden with desks, tables, chairs, even toilet paper and towels were ready to go. The building was completely rewired for computers and telephones. Satellite receivers were erected in the parking lot. And in a matter of days, more than 2,000 FEMA workers — some permanent employees, some temps like me — were doing our part to help the people of New Jersey dig out, shore up and get on with their lives.
    FEMA maintains a contingent of more than 5,000 on-call employees around the nation who make themselves available for the temporary work. Usually, the work is regional: Californians handle their own mudslides and wildfires; Missourians respond to floods in the heartland. But Sandy’s damage was so extensive that DAEs were called in from everywhere.
My little group included two former Los Angeles Times writers, a newspaper writer from Lakeland, Fla., who had been embedded with troops in Iraq, a freelance writer who travels the globe, an advertising executive from Denver, linguists from Poland and Puerto Rico, a marketing consultant from North Carolina and a grandmother from Oregon. Many are retired federal employees who know the drill.
    One brand-new logistics officer was an Air Force retiree who had been a navigator on hurricane hunter planes after graduating from the Air Force Academy. She was from Iowa.
    Initial work week: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week, with the 14th day off. Then it was cut to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., six days a week. Some work a few weeks and rotate out; others remain for months. The pay is decent, but not great. More important is the opportunity to help.
    Funny thing about Sandy: We all know about the roller coaster in the surf and the neighborhood burned out by ruptured gas lines, but in many areas you’d never know a storm blew through. A few trees down here, a damaged roof there. But just as with Andrew and Katrina, the rebuilding will take years.  
    It’s good to be home, but if the phone rings, I’ll be on the next flight out.
                                       ***
    What I would have given to take a train into the Big Apple on Dec. 4. Angelo Elia, the king of South Florida’s Italian cuisine, including D’Angelo Trattoria in Delray and Casa D’Angelo in Boca, cooked a meal at the James Beard House. His six-course, country-inspired Italian Christmas featured elk tartar with white alba truffle shavings, pheasant and faro soup, and baby octopus in a San Marzano tomato sauce with appropriate wines, including Jankara, a vermentino from his own winery in Sardinia.
    The menu was developed specifically for the Beard dinner, but occasionally he offers risotto carnaroli with taleggio and seasonal alba white truffle shavings as an “off-menu” special, possibly even at his newest restaurant, expected to open this spring at Addison Place on Jog Road in Delray Beach.
                                       ***
    Bam! No sooner had Angelo returned to warmer climes than another hot chef hit town. Emeril Lagasse was on a taping mission for his new Cooking Channel series Emeril’s Florida, which will feature a healthy number of Palm Beach County restaurants.
    “I think he enjoyed himself,” said Mark DeAtley, general manager at 50 Ocean and Boston’s on the Beach in Delray. 50 Ocean will be featured Feb. 17. The March 10 show will include 32 East in Delray, Buccan in Palm Beach, Swank Farms in Loxahatchee, Quantum House in West Palm Beach and Guanabanas in Jupiter, and the March 17 show, “Big Night Out,” stops at The Breakers’ new HMF bar.
                                       ***
Guests at the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach expect to be treated like princes and presidents, several of whom have spent a night or two there. But to Matt McGhee, chef de cuisine at the resort’s signature restaurant, Angle, an occasional surprise is good for the spirit.
McGhee — who spent the summer in New York brushing up on the latest culinary trends, coping in his last few days with Hurricane Sandy — strives to create a memorable dining experience for every guest. This might mean making selections directly from the menu, or winging it with a “spontaneous chef” table, created not only from the menu but also from special ingredients provided by local growers, with dish inspirations coming from just-caught seafood, from the rich Ritz-Carlton archives, or from his own mischievous mind.

Chef Matt McGhee greets patrons at Angle, the restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton in Manalapan. Thom Smith/The Coastal Star

Guests are seated at a dramatic onyx and amber table positioned in the center of the room —  literally becoming the center of attention — as McGhee personally confers with each to determine his or her likes and dislikes. He adjusts the six courses accordingly, and confers with the sommelier so each is accompanied by the appropriate wine.
If you don’t like beets, he won’t bring you a salad of heirloom beets, Loxahatchee goat cheese, passion fruit, red watercress and pistachios, but instead possibly grilled Floridian hearts of palm, green papaya, red kaiware and smoked pineapple vinaigrette.
Not keen on black tiger shrimp: How about Osetra caviar tacos instead? Other choices include krobuta pork belly, wood-grilled octopus, wild boar tenderloin or just plain Masami American Wagyu (Kobe-style) beef, flaming (literally) crème brûlée and carrot cake bread pudding with caramel brittle ice cream and ginger agave.
Sneakiest of all: butternut squash cappuccino. No coffee. No dairy cream. Yes butternut squash, pureed, spice faro and a little cocoa topped with popcorn crema.  
Dinner is $140, wine $60. Reservations (533-6000), obviously, are a must. You wouldn’t want to do it on Matt’s day off.
                                       ***
    She’s not the little girl we once knew. In 2001, Boca’s Morgan Pressel created quite a stir when she qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open as a 12-year-old. On Jan. 19, Pressel, now 24, took another giant step at The Breakers when she married longtime boyfriend Andy Bush, a golf tournament manager for Octagon, a sports marketing firm. Bush, from Michigan, previously worked for Jack Nicklaus’ Golden Bear International.
                                       ***
    Over the decades, Lake Worth Beach has suffered its share of storm damage, but in recent years the problem had been neglect. But that’s all changed thanks to the city’s revitalization of the previously muddled conglomeration of shops and restaurants into the new casino.
    Celebratory action begins Feb. 16 with a “Dance Through the Decades” homecoming dance sponsored by the city’s Centennial Committee. Guests are asked to dress in prom attire from their favorite decade and dance to the Ted Knight Big Band. Tickets are $75 and proceeds will help pay for the new casino clock (578-9910).
    The new beach center will be officially launched with a grand opening weekend March 1 and 2. Festivities begin at 7 p.m. March 1 with a casino ribbon-cutting, followed by fireworks and a Roaring ’20s speakeasy party ($50 a ticket, for the clock fund) with live band, vintage autos and mock gambling.
    On March 2, the beach will be grandly opened with a 1920s theme, special entertainment, free admission to the pier and goodies such as popcorn and cotton candy for only a quarter.  
                        ***              
    The spirit still flickers at the Lake Worth Playhouse. Half a century ago, bad knees forced a promising football player to leave Florida State for what was then Palm Beach Junior College. He ran into a drama teacher named Watson B. Duncan Jr., who also had a hand in the playhouse. The player had one more flashy move — a radical leap of faith onto boards of the old playhouse stage.
    Surprisingly it worked out for Burt Reynolds, or Buddy, as he was known then. On Feb. 9, the playhouse will be transformed for one night only into a dinner theater as Burt returns for its diamond jubilee dinner-dance and silent auction. Tickets are $150 (586-6410).
                                       ***
After all this fuss about Parker, I hope it’s decent. But with Jason Statham and J Lo in the leads, Nick Nolte in support and Taylor Hackford directing, the credits are impressive.  Of course, it doesn’t hurt that a lot of the movie was shot in Palm Beach County, because Hackford wanted to be true to the book, Flashfire, which Donald E. Westlake wrote under the pseudonym Richard Stark and based under the palms.
The Palm Beach Film Institute went all out with a red carpet preview on Jan. 18 with Hackford and Statham in attendance. They didn’t make another special screening a week later at Cinemark Palace 20 in Boca Raton, but plenty of fuss was made by two other stars. You can’t get much more glamorous than One Thousand Ocean, LXR’s luxury oceanfront condo and the adjacent Boca Raton Resort & Club, both of which served as locations during the shoot.  
                              ***        

Metro Taxi of Palm Beach County has added a Toyota Prius to its fleet. The company plans to buy more hybrids. Photo provided

It’s not just police departments that have had to adjust to the demise of the Crown Victoria, Ford’s largest sedan, which went out of production in 2011. Taxicab companies, which have used the Crown Vics as a mainstay of their fleet for decades, are also scrambling to find suitable replacements — and in Palm Beach County, one cab company is exchanging the gas-guzzling Ford for a fuel- efficient hybrid.
Last month, Delray Beach-based Metro Taxi of Palm Beach County added a Toyota Prius to its fleet, a move that the owners say makes Metro the first cab company in the county to use a hybrid taxi. Soon Metro Taxi’s fleet of about 30 cabs could include more hybrids, says Arielle Richardson, whose father, Brock Rosayn, founded the company about 25 years ago.
“We’re already on the hunt for a second one,” she said.
 Across the country, a growing number of taxi companies are switching to hybrids as they replace the Crown Victoria. Richardson says that the fuel savings, along with the reduced environmental impact, help offset that initial higher cost.
                                       ***
    When the Super Bowl is over, I can’t help but wonder how one football player, known for his passion and intensity on the field and the sidelines, will adjust to retirement in Highland Beach.
    Yes, Highland Beach. For those who don’t know, Ray Lewis, the heart and soul of the Baltimore Ravens and former University of Miami All-America, owns an oceanfront house in the little beach town.
    He bought the 6,788-square-foot estate with six balconied bedrooms in 2004 for $5.2 million but got no takers when he put it up for sale in 2010 for just under $11 million. Lewis is retiring after 17 years in the NFL, all with Baltimore, because he wants to watch his son play football at UM.
    Ray Lewis III is a running back — weighs less than 190 pounds — but at Lake Mary Prep in Central Florida, he gained more than 9,000 yards and scored 89 touchdowns.
    Incidentally, other celebs who have lived in Highland Beach include Mariah Carey, Oprah Winfrey and race driver Jeff Gordon.
    No matter who lives there, Highland Beach will never be hot. But the celebrity temperature in Delray Beach and Boca Raton keeps rising. Holiday action offered a little bit for everyone — glamour, celebrity, comedy.
    Just after Christmas, Atlantic Avenue was abuzz because “that woman” was in town. That woman being TV bombshell Sofia Vergara of Modern Family, who was enjoying a break from the show with her main squeeze, Delray’s own Nick Loeb. Among other delights, they lunched at Burger Fi and stopped for dinner at Buddah Sky Bar.


Thom Smith is a freelance writer. Contact him at thomsmith@ymail.com.

Delray Beach resident Maggie Cacace looks at the paintings by Val Grant at Val Grant Studio in Delray Beach. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Lucy Lazarony
    
Do you love visual art?  Take a walk around downtown Delray Beach.
    Five dynamic new art galleries have opened their doors since November.
    Walk into Lois Brezinski Artworks, 533 E. Atlantic Ave., near the Colony Hotel, and experience a beach lover’s paradise.
    Paintings, prints, greeting cards, jewelry boxes, coasters, mouse pads, hand-painted glassware and rugs and mailboxes featuring sea grapes, coconuts, palm trees, inviting beaches and breathtaking underwater scenes line the gallery.  
    The settings of these tropical scenes are of Delray Beach, where Brezinski has lived since 1998, and of Grand Cayman, where she lived for eight years before moving to Delray.
    It was in Grand Cayman that Brezinski, a textile artist, first felt inspired to pick up a paintbrush.
    “I had never really painted before until I moved to the Caribbean,” Brezinski says. “The colors, the tropical light, the color of the water, the foliage — it totally blew me away as an artist.”
    At Inge Behrens’ CIB Art Galley, 181 NE Second Ave., in Pineapple Grove, the emphasis is on flowers, Behrens’ favorite subject to paint.
    “Flowers are beautiful and I like to put people in a happy mood with my art,” says Behrens, who was born in Germany and lived in San Francisco before moving to Boca Raton in March 2011.  
    Her oil paintings are vivid, dazzling close-ups of an array of flowers ranging from joyful tulips to tropical birds of paradise to vibrant red poppies in the Tuscan countryside.
    “I only like to paint what I really enjoy,” Behrens says. “And I’m still very much drawn to flowers.”
    A summer trip to Cambodia and the temples of Angkor Wat inspired Behrens to paint a series of large, smiling Buddhas.
    “It’s the feeling you get there. It’s so calm,” Brehens says.
    The Buddhas that Brehens paints have feminine qualities.
    “They have a feminine expression that’s true,” Brehens says. “It’s kind of a softness.”
    Not far from CIB Art Gallery, you will find the new home of the Addison Gallery at the corner of Second Avenue and Second Street in Pineapple Grove, where the Beached Boat used to be.
    According to owner Patricia Bowe, the gallery spotlights contemporary artworks by regional, national and international artists.  Local artists featured include painters John Schuyler, Chris Kennedy, Madeline Denaro and Tatyana and Vadim Klevenskiy.
    The gallery, which was established in 1993, moved from its Boca Raton location to Pineapple Grove in February and held its grand opening celebration on Jan. 25.
    Right next door is Val Grant Studio, showcasing the artwork of artist and photographer Val Grant. Grant recently moved to Delray Beach from Kennebunkport, Maine.
    Her photography includes what she calls “wavestracts,” images of foam reflecting the ocean’s sensual, translucent qualities that she photographs on beaches in the Turks and Caicos Islands and on Delray Beach.  
    With her “rockstracts” photos, Grant enlarges vibrant images of Maine coastal rocks until they look very much like abstract paintings.
    She says her watercolor and oil paintings reflect personal experiences or impressions from dialogues with others. Next to each painting is a small, typewritten explanation of the inspiration behind the painting.
    The latest addition to Artists’ Alley is the Amy Reshefsky Gallery, which is featured within the Linda White Gallery at 354 NE Fourth St., Studio C.
    Reshefsky’s abstract acrylic paintings and colorful, mixed-media works with glass are full of whimsy and humor.
    Her subjects — funky overstuffed chairs, abstract flowers and colorful characters with heart-shaped faces — all come from her imagination.
    “When it comes to creating something, I have no idea how it’s going to turn out. Every piece is a discovery,” Reshefsky says. “I just love the colors and seeing what’s going to
happen.”                                   

Members of United States Submarine Veterans, South Florida Base, present a plaque of appreciation to Jaimin Stilley, manager of Snappers Seafood and Wine Bar in early November. The group meets at 11 a.m. on the second Saturday of each month and encourages other submarine veterans to join. Snappers — 398 N. Congress Ave., Boynton Beach — provides its facility for these monthly meetings. For more information, contact Bob Chambers at 687-5624 or rcent@comcast.net. Photo provided

Butts, Bobby Dean age 84 of Fenton died Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at Avalon Hospice.  Funeral service will be held 1 pm, Saturday January 26 at Tyrone Memory Gardens Mausoleum, 10260 White Lake Rd. Fenton, MI.  Family will receive visitors from 1-4 and 6-9 pm Friday, January 25 and from 11 until time of service Saturday at the mausoleum.  Pastor Gerald K. Sims officiating. Burial in Oakwood Cemetery.

ABOVE: Briny Breezes Mayor Roger Bennett, father of the bride, officiates at the wedding of Jo Bennett and Jay Kelley.

LEFT: The bride and groom take a golf cart tour of Briny Breezes as ring bearer Quinn Frakt rides along. More than 100 friends and family members attended. The couple lives in Dayton, Ohio. Photos provided

More than 150 supporters, along with an army of tiny ‘workers,’ celebrated the ground-breaking of the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County’s new Literacy Center for Education, Training and Outreach. To kick off the construction, a group of little ones from the Family Literacy Program in Belle Glade donned construction hats, tools in hand, and helped build a miniature model of the new facility. Photo: Brenda Medore (front row, fifth from left) bought the naming rights for the center, to be called the Brenda and C.P. Medore Campus. Photo provided

The Jim Moran Foundation honored Donna Marie Goray with a $50,000 award for volunteerism and advocacy of providing educational opportunities for children of migrant families in Palm Beach County. The award will support the charity of Goray’s choice: the Farmworker Children’s Council. She also received a bronze sculpture. ‘Donna is an inspiring example of leading with commitment and heart,’ said Jan Moran, chairwoman and president of the foundation. ‘I know my husband would want to recognize her for making a real difference in the lives of those children who have been impacted by her unconditional love, encouragement and guidance.’ Photo: Jan Moran (right) presents Goray with a $50,000 check for the Farmworker Children’s Council. Photo provided

Inspiration, love and hope filled the air at the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America’s Take Steps Walk, as more than 500 walked to support the services, support groups and education programs provided by the organization. The event raised more than $72,000 to fund research toward finding a cure for digestive diseases. Photo: Event Chairwoman Wendy Greenhut (left), with Harleigh Tow, the 2012 honored hero. Photo provided

Lang Real Estate celebrated its new location on Atlantic Avenue with a celebration and ribbon cutting. Photo: (from left) Karen Granger, Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce; Delray Beach Vice Mayor Tom Carney; Bill Issacson, co-owner, Lang Realty; and Scott Agran, co-owner / president, Lang Realty. Photo provided

Gulf Stream School parents, students, teachers and faculty members joined for an afternoon of sportsmanship and learning at the ‘Do the Right Thing’ golf outing. The friendly competition reinforced the school’s mission of empowering students to succeed in their efforts and celebrate their accomplishments. Photo: Kathleen, Will and Pilar Macomber. Photo provided

 By Tim O’Meilia

A 20-year Manalapan resident has filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, claiming that the town’s police force engages in racial profiling.
    In a Dec. 27 two-page letter to FDLE’s top official, Kersen de Jong said the police chief and an officer had both told him in separate conversations that 1,400 traffic stops made by Manalapan officers in 2011 were designed to keep potential troublemakers out of town.
    “My sense is I don’t seek any money. What I want to see done is to improve the system and stop this nonsense,” de Jong said. He also submitted 37 pages of research and emails he has compiled since April.
    Manalapan’s Police Chief  Carmen Mattox did not respond to a Dec. 31 request for comment, but Town Manager Linda Stumpf said she spoke with an FDLE representative early Dec. 31 and was told that no complaint had been made.
    “As far as the town is concerned, no complaint has been filed,” she said. She said she would respond if a complaint is filed.
    An FDLE spokesman could not confirm Dec. 31 that the complaint had been received. The documents were scheduled for delivery that day.
    In his complaint, de Jong said he met with Mattox Sept. 28 to discuss the traffic stops. He quoted Mattox as saying, “I want to know who is in town and I want those people out of town as quick as possible.”
    de Jong’s complaint said he spoke with Police Officer William Shepherd Nov. 7. He quoted Shepherd as saying, “Policy has always been to stop as many cars as possible … and sometimes being ordered to stop all cars after sunset … you know, we need to keep the riffraff out … when blacks congregate you know something is coming down … since the Lantana Bridge was closed we have much less traffic, and on riffraff coming from Lantana, and less stops … When the Lantana Bridge opens up again (2013) we have to start stopping as many cars as possible so word gets out to riffraff in Lantana: Do not drive into Manalapan.”
In the past few months, de Jong has circulated several emails to commissioners, town staff and residents making similar allegations. He met with town officials Dec. 5 and was advised to make a written complaint to FDLE since the town has no internal affairs division. de Jong declined to meet with FDLE or FBI officials when he was contacted by them at Mattox’ request. Mattox and Shepherd have both denied the statements attributed to them.
    “I haven’t seen the actual complaint, but I’ve seen some of his emails that weren’t actually factual,” said Mayor Basil Diamond. He noted that Mattox and Shepherd denied making the statements.  
    de Jong also asked the FDLE to look into several other issues if the agency decides it has jurisdiction. He contends:
• The town mislabeled police log incidents as “criminal events” to inflate the town crime statistics and mislead townspeople into supporting a change to the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office.
• The town has not met requirements in documenting its anti-profiling and anti-discrimination efforts and training.
• Mattox is not qualified to be chief since he lacks a four-year degree. Stumpf said town policy does not require a four-year degree, but a combination of study and experience.
• The recently filled lieutenant’s position was not posted for qualified town officers.
• He was misled about Shepherd’s employment.
     De Jong is a disability rights advocate and president of the Netherlands American Trust Inc., which supports youth education programs. Before he retired in 1999, he was managing director of the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce in the U.S.          

Feb. 7: Delight in the decadence of all things indulgent, including chocolate, fine wine, sparkling jewelry and other temptations, to benefit the Junior League of Boca Raton. Time is 5:30-9:30 pm. Cost is $40-$75. Call 870-9083 or visit www.jlbr.org. Front, from left: Stephanie Economos and Johanna Tibavisky; Back, from left: Co-Chairwoman Melissa Roberts, Laura Nowadly and Co-Chairwoman Jennifer Yuil. Photo provided

Feb. 2: The annual Building Hope gala raises money that empowers citizens of Third World countries by providing safe and secure shelter for them and their families. The Food for the Poor event returns with an extravagant night of dining, dancing and live-auction bidding. Time is 6:30 pm. Cost is $250. For information, call (888) 404-4248 or visit www.foodforthepoor.org/boca.

From left: Becky Carlsson, Kara Seelye, Allison Venditti and LaMae Klos walk with hundreds of new homeowners in Olivier, Haiti, who waved branches and signs while they danced and sang to greet members of the Building Hope Gala committee. Photo by Benjamin Rusnak

The library groundbreaking on Southeast Fourth Avenue in 1949.

By Ron Hayes

    On April 11, 1913, the Ladies Improvement Association of Delray gathered in their clubhouse at 419 E. Atlantic Ave.
    The 40 ladies brought 40 books.
    A library was born.
    And a century flew by.
    Today, those 40 books have grown into a collection of 174,784 items — books and magazines, CDs, DVDs — and Delray Beach is celebrating the first 100 years of a library that would make its founding mothers proud, if they could have imagined it.
    “We kicked off the celebration on April 11, 2012, because 99 is the new 100,” jokes Kimberley Trombly-Burmeister, the library’s development director. “We wanted to maximize the opportunity and truly embrace the whole year with a community-wide celebration.”
    This year, its $100-per-person Birthday Bash on April 11 will be followed two days later by a free Community Day celebration with balloons, a dog parade and a children’s storyteller.

The old Delray Beach Library in the late 1940s.

    But no story that storyteller tells could match the true story of the library’s service to the community.
    “We’re a womb-to-tomb institution,” says director of community relations Bonnie Stelzer. “Pregnant women come in and we serve them with books about childbirth, and then when their babies are born, we serve the babies.”     
    Louise Weir Glover knows this well.
    Her grandmother, Athella Grace Weir, came to town from Bryn Mawr, Pa., in 1932.
    Grace Weir used the library, and so did her son, Mahlon Slane Weir.
    When Mahlon grew up, he married Joan Battin, and they used the library, too.
    “The library has always been a beacon of light for our Weir family,” Joan Battin Weir wrote in a recent memoir.
    Then Mahlon and Joan had Louise, John Mahlon and Melinda, who loved the library.
    “I remember getting my first library card,” says Glover, a financial adviser with Merrill-Lynch Wealth Management. “I felt so important and grown up. At that time, the library had special evening story times. My parents would have us get in our pajamas, grab our favorite stuffed animal and blanket, and we would all walk to the old library on Fourth Avenue and listen to Mrs. Hunter read to us.”
    Dr. Lynda Hunter, the children’s librarian, is still there, and Glover’s son, Slane, also heard her stories when he was a toddler. Now he’s a mature 9-year-old, checking out Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson & The Olympians series.
    Lots of books. Lots of memories. Lots of history.
    By the time Grace Weir arrived in 1932, the library had grown from a shelf in the Ladies Improvement Association to a room in Town Hall.

Supporters sold quilts and other handmade items to raise money for the library in 1930.  Photos courtesy of the Delray Beach Public Library Archives

    In 1939, the library incorporated as the nonprofit Delray Beach Public Library Association, a uniquely funded institution with its own board and budget.
    “Every year, we go to the City Commission and ask for money,” Trombly-Burmeister explains. “Winter Park is the only other library in the state with this arrangement.”
    Last year, about 71 percent of the library’s $2 million budget came from the city, 15 percent from the Community Redevelopment Agency and 3 percent from the state. The remaining 11 percent was raised through fundraisers, as is its entire capital endowment.
    In 1913, library users paid a 50-cent fee. Today, the library is free, and any resident of Florida can get a card.
    By 1950, when the library finally got its own building at 29 SE Fourth Ave., the collection had grown to 15,528 items.
    Computers arrived in 1986 and public Internet access 12 years later.
    And the ladies of the Ladies Improvement Association?
    Their descendants are still here.
    In 1924, they became the Woman’s Club of Delray Beach. Its members still volunteer at the library, and this year Joann Haros, the president, is a centennial co-chair, along with Linda Gunn.
    ‘It’s so friendly and relaxed,” Haros says. “You can concentrate. You can relax. I don’t know if people are aware of how many children use it for the computer labs. Not everyone can afford a computer.”  
    In 2006, the library left its 56-year-old site on Southeast Fourth Avenue for a modern incarnation at 100 W. Atlantic Ave.
    The club room in the Ladies Improvement Association was 25 square feet. The new library is 46,826 square feet.   
    “It’s clubs, art exhibits, cooking classes, a geography club,” says Trombly-Burmeister.
    Movie nights and job-search services, Lifelong Learning classes and free computer access.
    “We’re the living room of the community,” says Alan Kornblau, the library’s director. “Our long-range plan only goes to 2018, so it’s hard to forecast the future. But we do know kids are being born, and will continue to be born. The digital world is changing the way books on CD and DVDs are going to be delivered, but I guarantee we will be providing those services somehow.”     

Members of the Southern Dance Theatre perform the Nutcracker Suite in the lobby of the Delray Beach Public Library during a holiday fundraising reception. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Correction
A photo in the January edition misidentified dancers at the Delray Beach Public Library. The name of the group is The Dancer’s Edge Company of Southern Dance Theatre.

Coming events
Friday, Feb. 1 — “Laugh with the Library.” Comedian Tom Cottters entertains at the Delray Beach Marriott.Tickets $150.
Thursday, Feb. 28 — Deadline for Centennial Young Adult Creative Writing Contest.
Saturday, March 9 — “Literary Picnic in the Park.” Choose a book and have your team dress as characters from it. Tickets $250 per 12-member team.
Thursday, April 11 — “Centennial Birthday Bash.”  Tickets $100.
Saturday, April 13 — Centennial Community Day Celebration. Free.
For more information, call 266-0775 or visit www.delraylibrary.org           

Grand Opening celebration: Style Bar Day Spa, Palm Beach – Dec. 13

Keira Glynn of Hypoluxo Island was one of dozens of patrons treated to a portrait during the grand opening of the Style Bar, which moved from the Hamptons and is now in the Palm Beach Executive Center near the Lake Worth Casino. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jan Norris

It’s still officially “under construction” and plans are to be finished in February, but the Lake Worth Casino and Beach Complex already has tenants open for business.
    Mama Mia’s on the Beach, a pizzeria serving pies, salads, calzones and other dishes, offers both dine-in and take-out service. It’s open daily for lunch and dinner.
    Mulligan’s Beach House Bar & Grill opened in October. The anchor restaurant, part of a chain with others in Jensen Beach, Stuart, Vero Beach and Sebastian, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. There’s an emphasis on seafood, but pasta and steaks, bar foods and sandwiches also are on the menu with beer and wine and a full bar with specialty rum drinks and sangrias.
    Lake Worth Beach Tee Shirt Company and Kilwin’s, an ice cream-chocolate shop, should be open this month. Benny’s on the Beach is using the time during construction for renovations of its own. It’s set to be completed by February.
    The 3,000-square-foot ballroom already is taking reservations for events — weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, concerts, exhibitions, seminars and so on. The room is equipped with a stage, chairs, tables and a full kitchen. It accommodates 280 seated diners or 400 people seated theater style. Call 533-7395.
    Terri Neil has been hired as the sales and marketing director, and event manager for the ballroom and casino complex. She also will handle booking for the north side beach area where an area for weddings on the shore has been added in the beach improvement project. That area, along with new restrooms, is set to open in February.
    The entire complex and casino building is set to have grand opening festivities March 1, according to Neil.
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    Rumors apparently are true: The Fresh Market will come to Delray Beach. The grocery store will be at the southeast corner of Federal Highway and Linton Boulevard, and the lease negotiations still have the details trickling. No opening date has been announced.
    Fresh Market news seems to effectively quash the rumor of a Trader Joe’s coming to the same area. The Greensboro, N.C.-based grocery chain has 128 other stores scattered around the states primarily east of the Mississippi. There are 33 already in Florida.
    About 100 jobs will come with the market, officials say.
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    The dining scene is growing again. Gary Rack, of Rack’s Downtown in Boca’s Mizner Park, is opening his newest concept, Rack’s Fish House and Oyster Bar, in the old VFW hall in Delray Beach. It’s scheduled to open this month.
    Sustainable “ocean to table” seafood will be a hallmark of the New England-style fish house, with retro cocktails that are trending again. The steam kettles will be reminiscent of the Grand Central Station Oyster Bar, and décor will be a contemporary twist on nautical design. Look for hand-painted brick walls and a zinc bar and expect something unusual in lighting; chandeliers at his other restaurants are notably quirky.
    Menu items include Ipswich clams, oysters Rockefeller, oyster and fish pan roasts, po’ boys and a live raw bar.
    Rack’s Fish House & Oyster Bar is just off Atlantic Avenue and Southeast Second Avenue.
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    Lindsay Autry, chef about town who competed on Bravo’s Top Chef Texas, and who helped Michelle Bernstein open MB’s at the Omphoy in Palm Beach, has been named executive chef of the Sundy House.
    The botanical garden restaurant set in the historic mayor’s home in downtown Delray Beach will get a makeover, Autry said. She’s already replaced napery color schemes and dishware; a kitchen makeover may be coming, including a theater kitchen with other updates.
    The menu will be eclectic. Autry blends her Southern roots with Mediterranean in a contemporary style.
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    Yet another gourmet burger chain is here: Smashburger, one of the fastest-growing chains in the U.S., opened in Boynton Beach. The chain is known for the Angus beef burgers formed, seasoned and “smashed” on the 400-degree grill. “Smashfries” are seasoned in rosemary and olive oil with sea salt.
    Unique to the group is a menu offering regional favorites as well as traditional burgers, other sandwiches, salads and Haagen-Dazs shakes.
    Powers that be decided Florida wants Cuban-style burgers, and created the Miami Burger for the menu here: grilled Spanish chorizo, frita potatoes, aged Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and spicy chipotle mayo on a Cuban roll.
    Smashburger is at 1729 S. Federal Highway (at Sunshine Square), Boynton Beach, open for lunch and dinner.
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   A Neil Simon play is first billing at the new theater opening in Boynton Beach downtown. Stage Left Theatre, a nonprofit, comes from principals from the Royal Playhouse in West Palm Beach, run by Peter Pagliao.
    I Ought to Be in Pictures will run Feb. 8-17 at the 98-seat theater south of Boynton’s City Hall at 145 SE Second Ave.
    The Cultural Council of Palm Beach County helped Pagliao, working on the theater as a nonprofit venture, secure the abandoned building. In a statement, Council President Rena Blades said, “We’re thrilled to see Stage Left Theatre come to Boynton Beach. It’s a great addition to the city and the downtown cultural corridor.”
    Boynton’s Community Redevelopment Association also played a role in bringing the playhouse to the area that houses the Avenue of the Arts, the Children’s Schoolhouse Museum and a scattering of restaurants and stores.
    City Council approved an  18-month lease in November; the building refurbishment also was approved.
    A full youth program as well as workshops and summer plays are planned. Rehearsals began this month for the Neil Simon play — the only play announced at presstime.
    Volunteers are needed at the theater for the upcoming season. Call 301-5404.
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   A green squeaky snake is the comfort toy of the world’s Top Dog. That would be London (formally known as Jaset’s Satisfaction). The black standard poodle competed in December at the Eukanuba World Challenge in Orlando, and beat dogs from 155 other countries to win Best of Show.
    Owners Jamie Danburg and Michele Molnar of Boca Raton were with London at the event that netted them the $10,000 purse. This was London’s 89th Best of Show award, Danburg said. “It’s an amazing feat for any one dog.”
    Off stage, the poodle is “just like your pet,” he said. “He likes squeaky toys, he plays Frisbee, likes to swim in the lake. He just gets dressed up once a week or so.”
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    Get your swing ready! Duffers can get in on the 13th annual Allianz Golf Championship Feb.  4-10 at The Old Course at Broken Sound Country Club in Boca Raton.
    Along with 2012 Allianz winner Corey Pavin, expect past winners Tom Lehman and Bernhard Langer, and top PGA players Mark Calcavecchia, Fred Couples, Fuzzy Zoeller, Tom Watson and Fred Funk, who will play for a piece of the $1.8 million purse in this first of the season full-field tournament. This is the seventh year for the tournament in Boca Raton.
    Oenophiles can get in on the action as well, with Grapes on the Green Golf and Wine Experience. It’s a chance to mingle with the golfers near the 18th green on Feb. 9.
Live entertainment and an auction are part of the after-game event that will benefit the Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
    From last year’s event, the hospital received $50,000 from the Boca Raton Champions Golf Charities, organizer of the tournament.
    It’s big money for the area, too, according to Ryan Dillon, BRCGC director, who said $15 million came into the area from the 65,000 spectators and others attending the tournament.
    Tickets for the Grapes on the Green are $85, with other ticket packages available that include hotel stays and tournament passes. Admission for the tournament is $20 for adults. Information and schedules are available at  allianzchampionship.com.
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    The Arts Garage kicks off 2013 with legends — namely Bob Margolin, one of the last members of Muddy Waters’ band, a trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He’ll perform Jan. 19. Randy Brecker, a big name and Grammy winner in blues and jazz, appears Jan. 26.
    The Theatre at Arts Garage stages its second production, the black comedy Gloucester Blue, by playwright Israel Horovitz.  
    Also midmonth, the student band The Grease Monkeys, of the Performing Arts Academy, will perform at an open house for the academy. The Arts Garage Guild also will hold an open house. See artsgarage.org, or call 450-6357.
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    Cabaret artist Bruce Linser will appear at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in downtown Lake Worth at “Cabaret for a Sunday Afternoon.”
    He will perform Jan. 13, bringing a program of Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart and other Broadway classics. The parish hall will be set up club-like with table service featuring wine, punch and hors d’oeuvres. Tickets are $20 for adults. For more information, call the church at 582-6609.
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Anne and Norman Jacobsen of Boca Raton have given a $1 million gift to name the Jewish Family Services’ food pantry. The Jacobsen Family Food Pantry is in a new 2,600-square-foot warehouse on Congress Avenue in Delray Beach. It serves more than 550 people with bi-monthly food packages.

Jan Norris writes about Food and Florida on her blog, jannorris.com. Email her at jan@jannorris.com.
    Thom Smith is on assignment working for FEMA in the Northeast in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. He hopes to return to Around Town soon.

Maculeuse St. Amie, left, thanks siblings Tori and Colin Wheat for their donation of Colin’s old bicycle, which will go to St. Amie’s grandson.  Photo provided

By Emily J. Minor
    
It’s nice being a grandma, especially this time of year. And it’s especially nice when your grandson is sweet and kind, like Colin Wheat, who is all of age 5.
    “I was just so moved by it,” says Peggy Martin, aka “Gammy,” who lives in Delray Beach. “It was so sweet.”
    Rewind, if you will, to the beginning of December when Colin, who has a big sister, Tori,  7, was about to celebrate his birthday. Doting grandparents Martin and her husband, Joe, got their grandson a new bike, even though the old one was practically as good as new.
    “He walked in and he saw it and he said, ‘Oh, is that mine?’” she remembers.
    And indeed it was, new horn and all.
    But it wasn’t too long until Colin had an idea, and it was an idea prompted by the life lessons he’s already been taught. “They have been introduced to the volunteer aspects of life,” says Martin, who is heavily involved with a charity called Women’s Circle, which trains illiterate and unskilled women so they’re self-sufficient. “It’s also very much instilled in them by their parents.”
    The old bike, it was decided by a certain birthday boy, should be given to someone who might otherwise be without.
    Gammy knew just the place: Women’s Circle.
    So she packed up the grandkids and she headed over to the offices in Boynton Beach, at which time one of those lovely Reader Digest conversations ensued.
    In the car, Colin was chatting with his sister — and he said: “Are they going to give me something?”
    Martin, who was driving, was silent for a moment, and it was a good thing. Because big sister Tori did not miss a beat.
    “She said, ‘Yes, Colin. They’re going to give you something. They’re going to give you happiness.’ ”
    And Gammy just about cried. (Well, actually, maybe she did, just a little.)
    And so there they were. The little boy wasn’t there, but his caretaker was. And Maculeuse St. Amie thanked Colin and thanked his sister and thanked Gammy.
    Colin was shy from all the attention, but Tori stepped up to the plate, chatting up a storm. Tori and Colin are the children of Christina and Troy Wheat, also of Delray Beach. Christina is Peggy and Joe’s daughter, and she teaches at Gulf Stream School, which the children attend.
    And on the way home, the bike now headed to a young, unsuspecting owner, Colin was quiet. So Gammy stormed in.
    “I told him how wonderful he was and how giving he was and how his heart has to be very happy because he made someone else happy,” she said.
    Happy, indeed. A sweet little stranger, two loving parents, and a very special woman named Gammy.               

For information about the Women’s Circle, call 244-7627, or visit womenscircle.org. The organization is a 501(c) charity.

Laugh with the Library co-chairs Heidi Sargeant and Becky Walsh. Photo provided

By Lucy Lazarony

Just how funny is a Laugh with the Library charity event benefiting the Delray Beach Public Library?
    One audience member banged his head on the table. Another spit out his drink all over a friend. And at the end of a night of comedy, some folks were holding their jaws, after laughing so long and so hard.
    As co-chairs of the event for the past seven years, Heidi Sargeant of Delray Beach and Becky Walsh of Gulf Stream have seen it all.  
    And sometimes they are part of the jokes flying around the comedy club they create at the Delray Beach Marriott.
    “You say, ‘Wait a second, did they just insult me?’ ”  Sargeant says with a laugh.
    It’s all part of the fun of the night, with the proceeds benefiting the children and teen programs at the Delray Beach Public Library.
    “We wanted it to be a night of fun. The ticket price is $150, everything included. Sit back have fun, no pressure,” Sargeant says.
    Audience members can wear what they want.
All the fancy black-tie clothes can be left at home.   
    “You can wear jeans,” Walsh says. “The husbands love it because they don’t have to dress up.”
    Listening to Sargeant and Walsh talk about Laugh with the Library is like watching a comedy duo perform: They finish each other sentences and laugh at each other’s jokes.
    “It’s all the years of doing this together,” Walsh says.
    Sargeant adds, “We are very hands-on. We do everything from putting the event together to putting stamps on the envelopes.”
    Comedians who have performed at Laugh with the Library over the years include Bobby Collins, who performed for two years in a row, Dom Irrera, Rocky LaPorte, Eddie Brill and Sebastian Maniscalco.  
    Walsh recommended Bobby Collins for the first Laugh with the Library event after seeing him perform in New Hampshire.  And it was during Collins’ second year of performing at Laugh with the Library that the night of comedy just wouldn’t end.
    “The second year that Bobby performed, no one wanted to leave the room. The buzz in the room was so great. People just lingered and Bobby was holding court and people were just listening. It continued on to the hotel bar,” Sargeant remembers.
    This year’s comedian is Tom Cotter, the first comedian to reach the finals of America’s Got Talent.
    Walsh and Sargeant saw Cotter perform early on in the America’s Got Talent competition and reached out to him. Cotter has a high-energy, rapid-fire style of comedy.
    “We try to find comedians on the rise. And we just thought this guy is so talented … we ought to take a chance on him,” Sargeant says.
    West Palm Beach news anchor Suzanne Boyd of CBS 12 will emcee this year’s  event, which will be held at the Delray Beach Marriott on Feb. 1. Last year’s Laugh with the Library show raised more than $40,000.
    Sargeant and Walsh both love books and reading and contributing to the children and teen programs at the Delray Beach Public Library. They both also serve as board members for the library.  
    “It only takes one book to unlock a love of reading,” Sargeant says.            

If You Go
What: Laugh with the Library: Chapter Seven, a night of comedy, cocktails and supper by the bite, benefiting children and teen programs at the Delray Beach Public Library
Where: Delray Beach Marriott
When: Friday, Feb. 1
Performer: Tom Cotter
Tickets: $150
For more information: Call 266-0775
To register online: Visit www.delraylibrary.org.             

By Tim Pallesen

    A citizens group has sued Delray Beach saying its density approval for Atlantic Plaza II violates the vision for Delray to always be “a village by the sea.”

Gulf Stream School parents, students, teachers and faculty members joined for an afternoon of sportsmanship and learning at the ‘Do the Right Thing’ parent-child golf outing. The friendly competition reinforced the school’s mission of empowering students to succeed in their efforts and celebrate their accomplishments. Photo: (from left) Charles, Kimberly and Rainer Radtke, with Assistant Head of School Cathy Abrams. Photo provided