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.
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