Around Town: FAU looks beyond scandals

By Thom Smith

    So much for the bad news at FAU. Since Dennis Crudele took over as interim president after Mary Jane Saunders’ embarrassing debacle that peaked with the plan to name the stadium for the prisons-for-profit company GEO International, all the vibes from campus have been positive.
7960463088?profile=originalFirst, of course, was the elevation of Crudele, former senior vice president for financial affairs. Then came word that the stadium might be in the running for a postseason bowl game, a new Interstate 95 interchange would be built at Spanish River Boulevard and, most recently, that the university intends to build a hotel and conference center on campus.
    The still unnamed bowl game will be an ESPN product that will debut in December 2014. It will match a team from Conference USA, of which FAU is a member, against an opponent from the American Athletic Conference, Mountain West or Mid-American.
    Athletic Director Pat Chun says he envisions the game as a 3½-hour informercial for the school, but hopes FAU won’t be playing in it … because he hopes the Owls will be playing in a bigger bowl game.
    Of course, the next task is local support. FAU is still considered a commuter school. Its alumni are not yet as passionate as those from University of Florida and Florida State. Compared with Seminole war chants and Gator chomps, FAU “hoots” aren’t quite as abundant or dramatic.
    Stadium and campus access certainly will be improved by the new interchange. The $77 million project has been approved by the Florida Department of Transportation and will include widening of I-95 from Glades Road to Congress Avenue and redesign of the Yamato Road interchange. City officials and developers are certainly enthusiastic, as it likely will spur interest in 78 acres of scrub northeast of the interchange. The land is owned by Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
    Students and football fans, however, will have to be patient: While design work has begun and construction is expected to begin early next year, the project is expected to take three years.  
    As for the hotel, school officials on Aug. 19 unveiled plans for a 200-room hotel and conference center. The price tag: $45 million. FAU would provide the land, but it would be built and paid for by a private developer. In addition to providing rooms for prospective students and visitors, the facility would provide on-the-job training for business and hospitality management majors and space for academic conferences and symposiums. At 200 rooms, it would be the third-largest hotel in between Federal Highway and the turnpike. First choice for a location would be in the southeast corner of the campus along Glades Road.  Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!
                                 7960463878?profile=originalThe Giragos family, owners of John G’s (l-r): Wendy Yarbrough, Jay, Tess, John and Keith Giragos.  2003 family photo provided


    When the popular restaurant John G’s opened 40 years ago, owner John Giragos had no idea it would become a community staple, said his daughter, Wendy Yarbrough, who now runs the restaurant with her brothers Jay and Keith. “He just wanted to create a place where someone could get a good meal.”
    That was 40 years ago, and to celebrate John G’s anniversary on Sept. 21, owners and waitstaff invite everyone to drop by. Customers who bring in old photos of themselves at the restaurant will be entered into drawings for giveaways of gift certificates, T-shirts, hats and more (images will be accepted up to Sept. 15).
    And when diners buy John G’s breakfast special, The Big One (one egg, one piece of bacon, one piece of toast, and a cup of coffee) or the lunch special (40-cent Detroit Sliders), John G’s will match their price and make a donation to the Hospice of Palm Beach County Foundation. John G’s is in Plaza del Mar at 264 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan. For information, call 585-9860.
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    Instead of titles such as “executive chef” or “chef d’cuisine,” some restaurants should consider “chef du jour,” at least at Malcolm’s just up the beach at The Omphoy. In April 2011, big-bucks Palm Beach investor Jeff Greene bought the resort and brought in celebrity chef Michelle Bernstein to run the food side. She stayed 10 months and passed the mantle to her protégé and Top Chef finalist Lindsay Autry. Complaining about Greene’s meddling in the kitchen, Autry left early in 2012 and then turned up 10 months later at The Sundy House in Delray. She was replaced at The Omphoy in mid-spring by Michael Wurster, who had tons of New York experience, but barely a year later, he’s headed back to The City. … Next!
    A little farther north, Rick Mace has checked in as executive chef at Café Boulud at The Brazilian Court. He replaces Jim Leiken, who checked out after two years to spend more time with his family that includes toddler twins. Mace arrives from RT Lodge, a boutique hotel in Maryville, Tenn. As with Leiken, he’s a veteran of Daniel Boulud’s system, having served as executive sous chef at Boulud’s db Brasserie at The Wynn Resort Las Vegas.
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    Call it a cross-track merger … of  Lantana eateries the Grumpy Grouper and Lantana Jack’s. The Grumpy Grouper is gone from the small strip center just west of the railroad tracks in Lantana. But if you look across Federal Highway, you’ll discover that Lantana Jack’s is gone, too, replaced by Jack’s Grumpy Grouper.
    After nearly 18 years in business, Grouper owners Rick and Mary Smith were holding on, but two years of reduced traffic attributed to the rebuilding of the Ocean Avenue Bridge had taken a toll. Rather than risk closing down for good, they proposed a merger to Lantana Jack’s Kevin Walters, David Thall and Charles Skidmore. Along with dozens of other businesses in Lantana, including the Publix near I-95, Jack’s, too, was feeling the pinch. So it was a no-brainer, Walters said.
    Same folks in the kitchen, most of the serving staff, best recipes from both. And with its opening expected in early November, there’s a light at the end of the bridge.
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    In other restaurant news, a new branch of Sloan’s Ice Cream, complete with toy trains and now-you-see-through-now-you-don’t glass in the restrooms, is coming to Delray Beach. It’ll take over the old Theo’s at 111-b E. Atlantic.
    Ellis Cooley is the new chef at 3rd and 3rd. He came to the Palm Beaches from Cleveland, where he was named best new chef of 2010.
    Though the name remains, Angelo Elia is no longer involved with D’Angelo Trattoria on Southeast Seventh Avenue. The legendary South Florida restaurateur is not leaving Delray Beach; he’s just moving west to open D’Angelo Pizza ▪ Wine Bar ▪ Tapas in The Shoppes at Addison Place on Jog Road. Contemporary yet authentic Tuscan cuisine, but at price levels to suit any diner. Look for a late October or early November opening.
    Eleven restaurants will offer up tasty treats at this year’s Tastemakers of Boca Raton in Mizner Park, Sept. 24 and 25. A $30 ticket includes one tasting and beverage at each restaurant, plus ticket buyers can take advantage of special dining offers at each restaurant through Oct. 31.
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    The sandhills are alive … with the sound of music. The legendary Steely Dan brings its “Mood Swings” tour to the amphitheater at Mizner Park on Sept. 12, and six days later the kids’ll get New York pop band fun., and Canadian duo Tegan and Sara.
    Even the Boca Library is hosting concerts. Its Sunday Music Matinee Series, hosted by the library’s “Friends,” will feature cross-genre Brazilian guitarist Cezar Santana on Sept 8. Even better, it’s free.
    A few miles north, Delray’s Arts Garage is proving that jazz can draw crowds. Jazz pianist Kenny Drew Jr., winner of the Great American Jazz Piano Competition in Jacksonville, pulls up a stool Sept. 6, and N’awlins Jazz & Blues Voodoo Night with Leslie Blackshear Smith follows on Friday the 13th, with percussionist Sammy Figueroa Sept. 14, Latin jazz keyboard wizard Kiki Sanchez Sept. 20 and sax man Uri Gurvich on Sept. 28.
    Later in the fall and winter, look for Nicole Henry (Oct. 11), Jonathan Kreisberg (Oct. 12), Downbeat Award-winning sax man Troy Roberts (Oct. 26), piano man Billy Stritch (Nov. 29), Dr. Lonnie Smith (Dec. 21), Randy Brecker (Jan. 25), Dick Hyman (Feb. 22) and more to come.
    If blues is/are your color, Lake Worth’s Bamboo Room launches its season of weekly headliners Sept. 27 with The Georgia Satellites. If it has strings, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder John McEuen can play it. Catch him Oct. 19. Before the Grateful Dead was formed, many of its members played in New Riders of the Purple Sage. The Riders, unlike the Dead, are still at it (Nov. 2). Hammer Heads should be out in force Dec. 7 for another legendary picker, Pat Travers.
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    Across the bridge, Lake Worth has that new pavilion at the beach, so why not use it? Local artists are invited to design a poster for the first Arts & Crafts Festival, set for Nov. 23 and 24, which will feature nearly 100 arts and crafts vendors. The pottery, ceramics, raku, glass, wood, paintings, photography, mixed media, jewelry and who knows what else will be perfect for holiday shopping.
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On the tube …
    So far so good for Boca’s Alexandra Agro, who hopes to become America’s Next Top Model. The FAU marketing major has no modeling experience, but she’s already survived several elimination rounds on the show that for the first time includes male contestants.
    Born in Lauderdale and raised in Palm City, Agro, who turns 22 in October, wants to be a businesswoman like her idol and the show’s producer,  Tyra Banks.
    In early August, Boca teens Brandon and Savannah Hudson were voted off America’s Got Talent, but hardly bummed, they’re heading west to seek fame and fortune in California. They’ve already played the House of Blues in L.A. and are weighing some recording offers.
    Boynton Beach real estate agent Amanda Zuckerman is having an interesting run on Big Brother. One TV blogger calls Big Brother 15 “pretty much Amanda Zuckerman’s Variety Hour,” but she’s also been accused of having one of her frequently exposed legs up on the other cast members because she’s friends with the show’s producer, Allison Grodner. Watermark Realty, a subsidiary of Prudential Florida, reportedly had the state “pull” her real estate license because of inactivity. She’s also made a few untoward remarks on camera that could be perceived as ethnically insensitive or worse. Stay tuned.
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   7960464069?profile=original The Marlins whetted his appetite, then John Henry bought the Red Sox and they won their first World Series titles in nearly a century. Next up, with an eye on regaining its traditional dominance in England’s Premiere League, Henry, who still owns a sprawling $7.5 million home in northwest Boca, bought the Liverpool Football Club. Seventeen months later, the Reds won the league championship. But the latest news may be the most ambitious, the most shocking and the most baffling. He recently bought the Boston Globe … for a comic-book price — $70 million.
The Globe was among the nation’s most respected and influential newspapers, but like many others in this crazy cyber age, it’s losing money faster than a Big Papi home run leaves Fenway Park. We can only wonder what Henry has in mind, but with Amazon Wunderkind Jeff Bezos buying The Washington Post, we can also wonder whether they have some new ideas that will wean readers from news “papers” to news “pods” and “tabs.”
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The Wick Theatre debuts Sept. 19 in the old Caldwell Theatre building in Boca with The Sound of Music. The cast includes former Channel 12 news anchor Alan Gerstel.
                                 
Thom Smith is a freelance writer. Contact him at thomsmith@ymail.com.
                                                        
Christine Davis contributed to this column.

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