Deck 84 is finally a reality, and Burt Rapoport’s new restaurant on the Intracoastal in Delray Beach appears to be a hit. After a soft opening in mid-November, the veteran restaurateur held two opening parties Nov. 18 and 19 and went public a day later.
The biggest feature, of course, is the water access. With 150 feet of dock space, Deck 84 can handle anything from Jet Skis to mega yachts. Anglers can clean their catch at a dockside table and the staff will prepare it with sides, salad and drink for $9.
The décor is simple. Seating is ample inside and out, with banquettes, lots of bar space and a soon-to-be-added ground-level patio out back.
That may not go over too well with some Deck 84 neighbors who already have expressed concerns to the city about noise and about patrons and staff parking where they shouldn’t, blocking driveways and generally making life unpleasant.
“It was the biggest opening ever for one of my restaurants, which is great,” Rapoport said, “but all the guests plus all the employees really caused some problems. We want to be good neighbors. That’s why we’re not having any music at night.”
To solve the parking problems, Rapoport has arranged for additional parking at a nearby private lot and has contacted the city about improving signage in the area around Deck 84, so guests know where they can and cannot park.
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More live music for Delray. Pineapple Groove opened quietly in late November, a couple nights here and there to work out the kinks, but if things go as planned, the new club by the tracks will be rockin’ by early December. “We’ve got great sound and a great concept. We’ll have a wide variety of music — blues, classic rock, even some jazz,” co-owner Randy Grinter said.
The building, just north of Atlantic and east of the FEC tracks, originally a vegetable packing house and more recently a warehouse for Hand’s Office and Art Supply, was City Limits until April 2009. To Grinter, who’s been involved in several South Florida live music clubs and Club Ovation in Boynton Beach, and Miami-based partners Mitch and Richard Clarvit, it was the opportunity of a lifetime.
“It’s got great sound and it’s a place where people can do a lot of things,” Grinter said. “Club owners always wish they could do it like this.”
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With visions of cheesecake dancing in her head, Taylor Morgan, host of South Florida Dines radio show and founder of SouthFloridaDines.com, envisioned a calendar, racier than a triple chocolate mousse — a ladle here, a toque there — of South Florida’s hottest chefs. So nudity was out, but Morgan got her calendar, with her chefs — properly dressed for the kitchen — and at $19.95 at featured restaurants, bookstores and www.myhotechefs.com, it’s selling like hotcakes.
Why? Because it includes recipes and cooking tips plus $25-off certificates redeemable at each of the 12 chefs’ restaurants and 10 percent of the proceeds will go to the Big Heart Brigade, which prepares and delivers meals to needy South Floridians every Thanksgiving.
Not surprising, most of the hotties were local: Allen Susser, Taste, and Bruce Feingold, Dada, in Delray Beach; Dudley Bell Rich III, Carmen’s at the Top of the Bridge, Boca Raton; David Hagan, City Cellar, West Palm Beach; Jayme Franklin, Couco Pazzo, Lake Worth; Zach Bell, Cafe Boulud, West Palm Beach; Charlie Soo, Talay Thai Cuisine, Palm Beach Gardens.
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Another longtime food fixture in Boca was Tom Wright, whose literally had ’em waiting in line for barbecue and soul food for three decades. Tom’s Place started in a flat-roofed blockhouse at the corner of Dixie and Glades and later moved to a brand new building on North Federal. When Tom died nearly five years ago, the restaurant went with him, but the operation had always been a family affair, and family members never gave up hope. Son Tom Jr. tried and failed to revive the concept in West Palm Beach, in a building formerly occupied by Blue Front Bar-B-Q. Now two other offspring hope they have the Wright stuff.
Kenny Wright and his sister, Belinda Johnson, are running Tom’s Place right next to the FEC tracks on Boynton Beach Boulevard in Boynton Beach.
You won’t find much signage; just follow the aroma to the “mobile unit” — a step van in the parking lot — or to the adjacent small dining room at the Green Market Cafe. They’re open Tuesday through Saturday. (561-843-7487).
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Up in Palm Beach, Ristorante Amici was a fixture for two decades and proprietor Maurizio Ciminella was one of the area’s most popular restaurateurs. A few years ago, Ciminella and his partners added Forte on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach. Reviews were uniformly good, but bad times hit downtown and Forte was morto.
Ciminella, however, never says die. A few years ago, he began selling his own brand of sopressata, Italian-style sausage, so he decided why not market it in his own market. Just so happens, one was available in Palm Beach — Market Salamander. Sheila Johnson, a co-founder of BET cable network, had paid $2 million for Herbert’s Lafayette Market at 155 N. County Road in 2004 and poured another $2 million into renovations before opening in early 2007. Never caught on.
Ciminella and partner Bob Cuillo cut a deal and Amici Market opened Nov. 30.
“We have a little bit of everything,” Ciminella said, showing off his 300-bottle wine cellar, self-serve espresso/cappuccino/latte/hot chocolate machine, gourmet kitchen for pizza and other take-out, fresh bakery, produce, seafood counter, even cereal and packaged pudding. “And I’m competitive. I’m priced below Publix.”
Cranking out the pizza and other delights will be Johnny Contreras, his former chef at Amici.
And most important for folks to the south: “We deliver,” Ciminella said. “We have lots of customers in Manalapan, and lots of our restaurant customers came from Boca. Now we will go to them!”
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Ah, the sweet life has been so good on J Street for Cindy White and Jay Simpson that they needed more room for their Dolce Vita wine bar. Just like that, something fell into their laps, and it wasn’t pinot noir. When Soma Center, the yoga and vegan center at 609 Lake Ave., was evicted, Cindy and Jay jumped at the opportunity and will open Dec. 11. The new space includes an outdoor patio, and will permit an expanded menu that includes draft beers, tapas and, to attract the former clientele, organic dishes.
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Celebrating its 25th season, Miami City Ballet made its first of several visits to the Kravis Center Nov. 19-21. Why a Miami troupe in the Palm Beaches? Because a disproportionate amount of its patronage is up here compared to Dade and Broward counties. To get a greater feel for the program, a busload of supporters and donors rolled to South Beach recently to tour the company’s headquarters, take in a rehearsal and lunch with Founding Artistic Director and CEO Edward Villella.Among the group, Nancy Hart of Palm Beach Gardens and her daughter, Lisa Leder of Boca Raton, especially wanted to get the inside scoop as they’re chairing The Gala, A Prelude to Romeo & Juliet Feb. 18 at the Flagler Museum. (Tickets $500, 561-674-9978.)
They saw firsthand that dancers who seem to float so effortlessly on stage pay a price for defying gravity. To make the point, Villella held up three fingers to represent his hip replacements. “And I may have to have a knee done, too,” he said.
The wear and tear is so great that the staff includes trainers and therapists who help dancers work out kinks and treat injuries in a special therapy room and gym.
Thom Smith is a freelance writer. He can be reached at thomsmith@ymail.com
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