IMAG_NE Installation
Sanborn Square, Boca Raton - Oct. 18
Tim Irwin poses on stilts behind Boca residents Eric Rosenberg, holding Darla, a small French bulldog, and his friend Allie Weprin with her Boxer, Sheba, who sit for a photo within the interactive art piece IMAG_NE by Australian artist Emma Anna during Meet Me at the Promenade. Making its debut in the United States in Boca Raton through Nov. 30, the installation operates as a blank canvas, inviting the audience to physically interact with the work to complete the word. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Thom Smith
Maybe it’s Boynton Beach’s time. For years it has played second or even third fiddle to Delray Beach and Boca Raton, and even Lantana, which boasts its own little “restaurant row” — but good things are starting to happen.
With residential occupancy above 94 percent, Las Ventanas, the residential-commercial complex at the corner of Woolbright Road and Federal Highway, is attracting a younger residential crowd. Just what entrepreneurs such as Clint Reed and Sean Iglehart needed for their super-cool Sweetwater Bar and Grill on the ground floor. But as happened a few blocks north with The Backyard, its reputation quickly spread, attracting patrons from places as distant as Miami and Jupiter.
Of course, not all ventures are winners. A few storefronts away, Bad Ragaz Hall & Biergarten didn’t last, despite its stylish décor and beer taps at each table. And its successor Lucertola was gone almost as quickly as it opened. Word on the street has Reed and Iglehart taking over the space for a second venture. Stay tuned.
Las Ventanas isn’t the only big dent in the Boynton skyline. Casa Costa, the twin-tower 393-unit condo just north of Ocean Boulevard on Federal Highway, is 80 percent sold, and construction should begin next spring on 500 Ocean, a 341-unit condo-commercial complex on the southwest corner of Ocean and Federal. Getting in on the ground — before the floor is even built — restaurant broker Tom Prakas, a major player in the Boca-Delray restaurant scene, wants to develop two nearby historic buildings: the Oscar Magnuson House and the Ruth Jones Cottage, formerly home to The Little House restaurant.
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Event-wise, Boynton is coming to life, with February promising to be very hot.
Outdoor displays are already being installed for the 2015 International Kinetic Art Exhibition and Symposium, a celebration of art in motion, with presentations, artist receptions and live entertainment, Feb. 6-8. Open air artists will work on projects around the city Nov. 8, Dec. 18 and Feb. 6 and 7. Much of the activity will take place around the Town Square, another hot redevelopment site. The 17-acre site includes several buildings — City Hall, the Police Department and the old high school. Officials are considering proposals for restoration.
Built in 1913, the Boynton School holds lots of memories for residents present and past. The folks at the Schoolhouse Children’s Museum & Learning Center hope those former students have some old memorabilia — yearbooks, photos, even report cards — that can be displayed at the first Reunion Bash Feb. 28 at the museum.
Barbara Barlage is chairing and Nainie and Curtis Weaver, who attended the school as children, will serve as honorary chairpersons for the event, which will include free daytime activities for children and an evening gala ($75) for big kids (adults) featuring old-time games, “school pictures,” food and libations, live music, silent auction and door prizes. (Info at 742-6780.)
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Boynton also is becoming “beer town.” By year’s end, Coppertop Brewing Company should be pouring growlers in the warehouse district north of Quantum Way and west of I-95. Brewmaster is Matthew Cox, formerly at Big Bear Brewery in Coral Springs; Al Lettera, previously tied to SweetWater Brewing Company in Atlanta, is handling the business side. Offerings will include an amber German-style lager, a potent IPA featuring Tomahawk hops and a Belgian Wit brewed with barley, wheat and oats.
The 10,000-square-foot warehouse and adjacent 2,000-square-foot tasting room at 151 Commerce Road are just a keg’s roll from Due South brewery, which just celebrated its third Oktoberfest. In two years, Due South brewmaster Mike Halker already has popped a few corks, claiming three golds, five silver and four bronze medals at the Best Florida Beer Competition.
Witches Brew Happy Hour Fundraiser
Tim Finnegan’s Irish Pub, Delray Beach - Oct. 24
Witches of Delray prepare to embark on a seven-mile Halloween Witch Ride — wearing costumes and riding decorated bicycles to raise money for the Achievement Centers for Children and Families in Delray Beach. Photo: Andie DeVoe, Alpha Witch, is surrounded by fellow witches waving and casting spells on passing cars. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
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You can enjoy not only wine and delicious seafood but arts and crafts and entertainment at Delray Beach’s third annual Wine & Seafood Festival Nov. 8 and 9. No charge to stroll, but it’s pay-as-you-go for food, drink and the various tastings and seminars. (www.dbwineandseafood.com).
A week later, the party slides down to Florida Atlantic University for three days of the fifth annual Boca Raton Wine & Food Festival. A vineyard party and gala VIP Dinner Under the Stars on Nov. 14, the Grand Tasting on Nov. 15 and a Craft Brew Battle on Nov. 16. Unlike Delray, all events are ticketed, but the prices include all food and beverages. (bocaratonwineand foodfestival.com)
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Chris Evert left international competition 25 years ago, but she never left tennis. She remains one of the best TV analysts in the business; most days she’s at her tennis academy in west Boca, challenging young hopefuls — “racquet back, eye on the ball” — and she continues to back programs that fight drug abuse and child neglect and support children and families in Florida.
The Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic opens Nov. 21, with “Tennis with Chrissie and Friends,” a pro-am at the Boca Raton Resort & Club ($2,500), featuring stars from the worlds of entertainment and tennis who will compete Nov. 22 and 23 at Delray Beach Tennis Center ($20 general admission) and attend the gala Nov. 22 at the Resort ($750).
New faces this year include morning TV hosts Gayle King and Rob Marciano, comedian Dennis Miller, actor Timothy Olyphant and Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. Among the returnees: media types Jon Lovitz, Alan Thicke, Maeve Quinlan, Kevin McKidd, Gavin Rossdale, David Cook, Hoda Kotb and Brian Kilmeade, and tennis stars Martina Navratilova, Patrick McEnroe, Vince Spadea, Brenda Schultz McCarthy, Darren Cahill, Rennae Stubbs, Brad Gilbert, Cliff Drysdale and Lisa Raymond. (www.chrisevert.org)
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The folks who run Eau Palm Beach haven’t had the easiest of times since they decided to go it alone and kicked out Ritz-Carlton management two summers ago. Without the Ritz cachet and its international booking benefits, occupancy dropped dramatically, but the hotel’s owner, Britannia Pacific Properties, has stayed the course, while offering more customized but less formal service. Eau, they insist, is looking at the long run.
Long run, indeed. Next month more than 3,000 runners are expected to answer the gun for the newly named Eau Palm Beach Marathon and Run Fest. The resort will offer special travel packages for visiting competitors, even though the race will come nowhere near it.
The 26-mile 285-yard event will start on Flagler Drive at Banyan Boulevard in downtown West Palm Beach, head north almost to the Port of Palm Beach, then double back south almost to Lantana and return to the finish at Clematis Street. All flat.
Too bad: The Lake Worth Bridge would have provided a nice Palm Beach equivalent to Boston’s “Heartbreak Hill.”
Eau’s resurgence will depend upon a combination of visitor and local support. Two early November events at the resort fit the niche perfectly.
On Nov. 1 it’s the 20th anniversary gala for the Palm Beach International Film Festival. Skeptics who doubted the festival’s success underestimated the work of a dedicated corps of volunteers, plus the impact of the gala’s honorees, George Elmore (Hardrives) and Executive Director Randi Emerman.
On Nov. 5 at Eau, Discover the Palm Beaches will present Providencia Award to the entity that has contributed most to local tourism in the past year. Nominees are Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative, the Honda Classic golf tournament and the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium.
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Speaking of resort hotels, The Omphoy has new management, and soon will boast a new look and a new name. Owner Jeff Greene, who’s been buying up property faster than Donald Trump, has hired Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants out of San Francisco to run the resort. Malcolm’s restaurant, a Groupon regular, will give way to a new concept and the spa will be expanded.
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Delray Beach is a Providencia nominee largely because of Atlantic Avenue’s ability to reinvent itself. The latest example is the transformation of Delux, a popular club catering to a young, late-night crowd, into Honey, more mature and sophisticated.
Honey is the latest project from Rodney Mayo, Scott Frielich and the gang at Sub-Culture Restaurant Group and will offer a cocktail menu developed by Angela Dugan, proclaimed 2014 “best bartender” by the New York Times, bites from 32 East exec chef Nick Morfogen and a more contemporary approach to club music with a pool of South Florida DJs and headliners.
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SoHo has come to Delray, in this case an abbreviation for the newest concept from Dennis Max. Max’s Social House has set up shop in the old Ceviche/Falcon House site on northbound Federal a block north of Atlantic, with local, organic and affordable fare, high-tech cocktails, craft beers and global wines.
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Though some exterior walls are not solid, Burt Rapoport remains optimistic his new Mediterranean-flavored Apiero in the Delray Marketplace will be ready in December. Though it’s next door to Burt and Max’s, his joint venture with Dennis Max, Rapoport believes it’s actually a complement, not a competitor. If it catches on, it won’t be the last.
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Now that Tiger Woods has announced plans to open a restaurant in Jupiter, South County needs a jock-restaurateur. Could it be Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza? The California-based chain plans to fire up ovens at Boca’s Fifth Avenue Shops in December, offering build-your-own pies in less than three minutes — the pizza version of the three-second rule.
However, don’t expect one of the principal investors to attend the grand opening. During November and December, the appointment book for LeBron James, who had a stake in another “hot” South Florida enterprise, shows him in Cleveland, Toronto, Charlotte, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Memphis, Minneapolis, Detroit and Milwaukee. But he and the Cavaliers don’t visit Miami until Feb. 11. Let’s hope the pizza’s decent.
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Also new to Boca, high-tech Yoko-San provides touch-screen tablets at each table to order from 200 Asian-fusion, French and Italian dishes, watch video games and even check out what others are ordering. Open for lunch and dinner at 99 SE Mizner Blvd.
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In Mizner Park, Jazziz offers top entertainment — The Rippingtons, Nov. 8, 9; John Oates, Nov. 11-12; Elaine Elias, Nov. 18, 19; Nestor Torres, Nov. 25; and Dec. 2-3: Lee Ritenour and Dave Grusin.
The management team headed by Jazziz magazine founder and CEO Michael Fagien continues to run the bars, but they’ve gone upbeat by putting kitchen and restaurant under the control of Barton G, the Miami-based entrepreneur, restaurateur and event planner who runs the Versace estate in Miami Beach.
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Could the next Ariana Grande be lurking in the wings at The Wick? No doubt such dreams are being entertained by producers of “Live at The Wick,” a Nov. 21 competition with cash and prizes for local talent hosted by illusionist Gary Goodman. The Wick will come alive with Leslie Uggams as Mame, Dec. 4-28.
More entertainment:
The Colony Hotel Royal Room (Palm Beach): piano wizard Copeland Davis (Nov. 8, 15, 22), songstress Avery Sommers (Nov. 29, Dec. 1).
Songwriters Circle with Marie Nofsinger, Amy Carol Webb and Rod MacDonald at the Stonzek Theater in Lake Worth, Nov. 7 (296-9382).
Mizner Park Amphitheatre: Nickelodeon hotties Fresh Beat Band, Nov. 7; Matisyahu, Nov. 8; free Veterans Day concert with Florida Wind Symphony, Nov. 11; O.A.R. with special guest Andy Grammer, Nov. 15; Bandorama with FAU’s Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, Chamber Ensembles and The Marching Owls, Nov. 23 (393-7700).
Thom Smith is a freelance writer. Contact him at thomsmith@ymail.com
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