By Thom Smith
He’s ba-a-a-ck on Atlantic Avenue, and Glen Manfra can’t wait for the birth of his new baby — that will be Spoonfed. Actually, he’s already in the nursery with a foster child … Pop Up …, a moderately priced mixed bill of popular dishes with Italian overtones. The Pop Up baby itself is a fill-in for the failed Atlantic Ocean Club, and sometime in mid-August, it will go out with the bathwater.
Manfra will shed no tears.
Spoonfed has an early September due date, and Manfra, who’s nurtured more than a few culinary offspring in the last 25 years, wants it to be his pride and joy.
Some history: Last winter, Larry Lipnick, a Washington, D.C., real estate investor, acquired the three-story space on the northwest side of the FEC tracks at Atlantic Avenue and opened Atlantic Ocean Club on the ground floor and Buddha Sky Bar upstairs. After four months and lots of staff turmoil, he shuttered the Ocean Club, although the Sky Bar, with its sushi-fusion menu, seems to be holding its own through the slower summer.
Rather than leave a dark space on the ground floor, Lipnick hooked up with Manfra, who’d been working in Anguilla but yearned to return to Florida. The Long Island native, who trained in Manhattan, first came to Palm Beach in 1989 to open Bice. Then he and some of the Bice gang hooked up with the heavy-hitting investment team of Revlon boss Ron Perelman and Howard Gittis first to open Amici and then Galaxy Grille in Palm Beach, Lido Mare on Singer Island and Savannahs on Long Island.
Manfra made his first stop in Delray in 2001, cheffing at Sopra, David Manero’s first venture on Atlantic. Manero went on to open Vic & Angelo’s and The Office, both a meatball toss away from Pop Up/Spoonfed, but he and Manfra parted ways.
Prior to the Anguilla gig, Manfra had done some personal cheffing in Palm Beach and on some yachts. Lipnick’s offer couldn’t have been better timed.
“It was beautiful,” Manfra said of Anguilla,” but it’s a long way off and I’ve got a family up here. I love Delray. It’s much younger than Palm Beach, much more fashion oriented; definitely a lot of style going on and it’s very eclectic. There’s not a lot of Atlantic Avenues around.”
Pop Up has allowed Manfra a trial run for new menu items and products from new purveyors.
“The summer is when I can experiment,” he said. “Then when we open Spoonfed, I know what I’m playing with.”
One of his toys has ties to childhood: his grandmother’s croissant soufflé cooked in a cast iron skillet and soaked in a crème brûlée, with fresh fruit on the side. He’ll keep his favorite Italian recipes and the homemade pasta, and he’ll add some dishes he discovered in the islands and even toss in a few favorites from Miami Beach delis such as The Rascal House.
His playground will break new ground — open 365 days a year, not only for lunch and dinner but also breakfast.
“I can’t wait to do breakfast on the avenue,” he said. “Just like John G’s. Four-egg omelets, almond-crusted French toast, carafes of coffee on the table. German puffed pancakes. Fresh fruit on side of the plate.
“Hash browns, blintzes, old Yiddish dishes — I’m trying to pull every breakfast I know, from everywhere I’ve been.
“I just wish Delray would let me stay open 24 hours, “but the city has a shutdown at 2 a.m.
“Maybe down the road. I’d love to be the first.”
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Now that the women’s World Cup is over, soccer fans are turning their attention to Boca Raton for a few games, at least. magicJack, Boca’s surprise, last-minute franchise in Women’s Professional Soccer, features seven members of the women’s national team, including player and newly named head coach Abby Wambach and goalkeeper Hope Solo (no relation to Han Solo).
magicJack’s new owner is as controversial as his players are talented. Palm Beacher Dan Borislow bought the Washington Freedom, moved to Boca and renamed it magicJack for the internet telephone device that made him millions. He’s often seen tooling around Palm Beach on his $30,000 Can-Am Spyder RT, a three-wheeled motorcycle. He’s also a fan, and even played the game.
Only three regular season home games remain, all of which will be played at FAU’s soccer stadium.
New Jersey’s Sky Blue Soccer comes to town Aug. 6, led by U.S. National Team player Heather O’Reilly and Swedish player of the year Therese Sjögran. Four days later, it’s the Western New York Flash with four-time world player of the year Marta and Satellite Beach’s own Ashlyn Harris. Expect the largest crowd ever to watch a soccer game in Palm Beach County. magicJack will close out the regular season Aug. 14 against league-leading Philadelphia Independence. For ticket info, go to www.ticketmaster.com.
***While soccer is packing in the crowds at FAU, football season isn’t far away, which raises some questions:
No. 1: How will the Owls do this year? A: Could be dicey. Head coach and Ocean Ridge resident Howard Schnellenberger says the quarterback is key and hopes to pick one no later than 10 days before the Sept. 3 opener at University of Florida. If they survive the Swamp, they get Michigan State a week later and Auburn two weeks after that.
No. 2: Asked if he had the energy for his 11th season at age 77, Schnellenberger, FAU’s first and only head coach, said, “If I didn’t, I’d already be gone.” Athletic Director Craig Angelos says he won’t make a decision until the season is over.
No. 3: How’s the stadium doing? Still ahead of schedule and under budget, school officials boast.
As for specs, it seats 30,000 in the grandstand, 24 suites, 26 loge boxes, more than 1,000 open-air premier club seats and more than 4,000 priority club seats. Suite, loge and premier club seat holders can relax in an air-conditioned, 8,000-square-foot premier club or a covered, 16,000-square-foot outdoor priority club. By the way, premium seats (not just for fat-cat boosters) are wider.
The student-and-band-only section is in the south end zone. Student tickets are free.
Elsewhere, most season tickets are $135 and $150. That covers the entire east stands, north end zone and the west stands to the 5-yard-line at the north end. A seat on the 50 can be had for $385.A seat in Section 205 Row Z will set a die-hard Owl fan back $1,480 while one in Loge 306 C will go for $9,560.
But then, this is Boca.
First home game is Oct. 15 against Western Kentucky. The stadium also will play a big role in FAU’s 50th anniversary celebration Oct. 29. Meanwhile, Fanfest on Aug. 20 should offer more answers.
***
Frying the knot. Ritz-Carlton Chef Ryan Artim has handled a few weddings in his day, but none more significant than his own in mid-July. Artim and Jill Klein, a music director, actually let the gang at Breakers West handle the wedding feast, but for the rehearsal dinner he relied on home cooking, literally.
The menu: Gulf shrimp cocktail with tomato horseradish sauce; Romaine lettuce salad with avocados, tomatoes, cucumbers and balsamic basil vinaigrette; steamed middleneck clams with drawn butter; papaya marinated skirt steak with horseradish cream and chimichurri; roasted chicken with homemade barbecue glaze, herb roasted potatoes, green beans with applewood-smoked bacon; seasonal fruit; warm chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies, peach and blueberry cobbler.
For wines, they chose home state productions: Clover Hill Winery from Pennsylvania and Firelands Winery from Ohio, including a toast with Firelands’ Raspberry Riesling Champagne.
Not surprisingly, Artim ran short of time, but help was close by — his dad, Edward Artim Sr., his groomsman, Georg Hoehn, executive chef at Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City, Jill’s family friend Cindy Rich and her aunt Jean Ross, who sliced the peaches.
“Thanks to the help of our family and friends, we were able to prepare a delicious and memorable rehearsal dinner,” Artim said before heading somewhere to the south for the honeymoon.
***
Since Nick Morfogen arrived 15 years ago, 32 East has ranked as one of the best restaurants in the Southeast. But he’s not the only family member in the business.
This month brother Stratis, a veteran of the New York and more recently Miami restaurant scene with partner Philippe Chow, will open Philippe in Boca Raton. The casual version of Chow’s Manhattan showcase will take over the former III Forks site on East Palmetto Park Road.
Morfogen has some big investors who could make for a star-studded opening: Alonzo Mourning, ex-Miami Heat, Jerome Bettis, ex-Pittsburgh Steelers and still-active hoop stars Chauncey Billups, New York Knicks, and Al Harrington, Denver Nuggets.
Chow is one of two dozen chefs from Boca to Palm Beach participating in the March of Dimes’ Sixth Annual Signature Chefs Auction, Sept. 9 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. Exquisite wines and spirits, sumptuous samplings from Signature Chefs, and auction dining packages. Call 684-0102.
***
Heading north. As we reported earlier, Angelo Elia, owner of Casas d’Angelo in Fort Lauderdale, Nassau and Boca, had been looking for months for the right spot to bring the Angelo name to Delray. He finally found it just south of Atlantic on Seventh Avenue — the old Carolina’s Coal Fired Pizza space. He hopes to have D’Angelo Trattoria open by summer’s end, with a gelato shop to follow soon after.
***
As of Monday, Aug. 1, Boston’s on the Beach is closed. That means Red Sox fans will have to watch the pennant race elsewhere, but if all goes according to plans, Boston sports fans should be able to resume their routine in early November.
Owner Ocean Properties has seized the opportunity offered by the late summer doldrums to make major renovations to the popular beachside watering hole.
“The whole place is already gutted,” Manager Mark DeAtley said two days into the project. “Downstairs will still be like the Boston’s of old, but upstairs will be completely redone, similar to our restaurant in Sunset Key.”
Gone is the Bermuda Inn immediately to the south, but it will be replaced by a new tiki bar and lots more parking, DeAtley said. The company also is using the time to give Boston’s extensive collection of sports memorabilia “some much-needed TLC.”
“We’re just preparing for the next 30 years,” DeAtley said.
When John G’s announced that the restaurant would move to the space formerly occupied by Callaro’s in Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar, Callaro’s kept its name alive by offering a limited takeout menu from its sibling Riggins Crabhouse in Lantana. Owners are looking for a new space in Lake Worth. They found three, but one has already sold. The only hold up for the other two is bank approval, so we could see a new Callaro’s by New Year’s.
Thom Smith is a freelance writer. Email him at thomsmith@ymail.com.
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