Stiletto Race: Fashion Week, Delray Beach – Jan. 23
The third annual Vince Canning Stiletto Race took place along Southeast Fourth Avenue in downtown Delray Beach, with registration proceeds going to the Achievement Centers for Children and Families.
ABOVE: Mark Denkler of Vince Canning Shoes wows the judges with his ‘Sexy Strut.’
BELOW: Amanda Denkler, left, of Delray Beach, and Ashley Michaels are neck and neck in the ‘Women’s 75 Meter Dash.’ Denkler won the first-place trophy. Photos by Tim Stepien/ The Coastal Star
By Thom Smith
Forse Lantana dovrebbe cambiare Ocean Avenue in Italiano Avenue. Translation: Maybe Lantana should change Ocean Avenue to Italian Avenue
All of a sudden, after almost four years of vacancy, two restaurant sites on Ocean Avenue are again in business, and both are Italian.
If all goes according to plan, Henry Olmino, no stranger to ristoranti, will open Mario’s Ocean Ave in early February. Olmino, taking over what was Suite 225, will offer typical Italian fare as well as pizza and a bar. On the south side, Paesano, an Italian steakhouse, opened in mid-January. They join Pizzeria Oceano on the north side, which specializes in gourmet personal pizzas accompanied by salads and small side plates.
Olmino is no stranger to South Florida. Way back in 1973, he opened Mario the Baker in Sunrise. He moved north with Mario’s of Boca in ’85 then hit hot Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale with Mario’s Italian Restaurant. Later came Henry’s Brick Oven Pizza in West Palm Beach, but it closed a couple of years ago.
Paesano’s Facebook page recalls an Italy of the 1950s when life was easy and fun, amore was plentiful and the food was great. “We’re doing a traditional Italian, mostly Tuscan menu, using only the top ingredients,” owner Fiorenzo Trunzo said. “Everything will be fresh daily. We’ll use ingredients from local farms and only black angus beef.
“In the ’50s, everything was still natural, no chemical additives. That’s what we want here.”
In the restaurant business since he was 14, Trunzo will oversee the Lantana site as well as his signature Dal Toro restaurants in Miami Beach, Aruba, Curacao and Las Vegas. In a unique arrangement, the desert Dal Toro, located in the Palazzo hotel, teamed with Lamborghini to create an all-Italian experience of shopping, dining and motoring.
On occasion, Trunzo gets behind the wheel of a 500-plus horsepower Gallardo, but, he adds, “our company car is a Ferrari.” Ciao.
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The time is almost right, says Pizzeria Oceano boss Dak Kerprich, who hopes to have an offspring of his Lantana wood-fired brick oven gourmet pie shop open in Delray Beach this spring. A site is being eyed at Northeast Third Avenue and Second Street, pending city approval. This baby, to be called Swell Pizza, will be even less glamourous than the Ocean Avenue site’s half-dozen inside counter stools and equally limited, umbrellaed outside tables. Pizza and salads only, with the same locally harvested organic and freshly caught ingredients, but take-out and delivery only.
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Max’s Social House has finally opened in mid-January in the old Falcon House site on Federal Highway in Delray Beach. Creator Dennis Max has designed “Soho” as a crafty establishment with craft cocktails and beer and finely crafted menu items including house-made pickles and a Kobe-tyle hot dog, bahn mi style with sriracha aioli, crispy onions and jalapeño.
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Santos American Buffet has opened a new location at 3400 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton, in the former Gary Woo’s location. The menu combines traditional Japanese sushi dishes and modern American cuisine. Brunch on Saturdays and Sundays, served from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., features organic eggs and all-you-can-drink $7 mimosas. Call 923-9378.
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Surfing is at once both kinetic and artistic. Anyone who’s seen the peripatetic Palm Beach County Surfing History Project that just wrapped up a run at the Delray Beach Historical Society can appreciate the dynamic interaction of physics and individual expression as well as its historical importance to the Palm Beaches. So there is much excitement surrounding the project’s plans to open its Surfing Museum at 255 NE Sixth Ave. in Delray Beach. The museum will house photos and artifacts in a 3,500 square foot gallery leased to the project by Ocean Ridge resident Matt Gracey, a local surfer since the 1960s. The collection represents 110 years of surfing in Florida. A gallery store is included in the museum plans with high-quality, ocean-related photography and art. Visit surfhistoryproject.org.
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Circe (a Southern slang term for a gift or something special) and SWAG have added a touch of Louisville to Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach.
The boutique at 401 E. Atlantic Ave. (next to Fresh Produce) offers unique women’s contemporary fashions and southern men’s casual clothing, as well as furniture and home accessories.
A grand opening event is planned for 6-9 p.m. Feb. 12. For more information call 270-7933, or visit circeswag.com.
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Somethin’s Coming.
For those who may have missed it, the ninth annual Festival of the Arts BOCA is only a month away. The festival opens at 7:30 p.m. March 6, at Mizner Park Amphitheater with a special screening of the Oscar-winning classic West Side Story. In an unusual twist, the original lyrics and dialog will be accompanied by a live score provided by the festival orchestra conducted by Jayce Ogren. Prior to the screening, Jamie Bernstein, daughter of composer Leonard Bernstein, will offer insights into the movie and its influence on modern culture.
The music bill includes banjoists Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn (March 7); flutist James Galway, pianist Conrad Tao and violinist Arnaud Sussman with the festival orchestra, Constantine Kitsopoulos, conducting (March 13); and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City performing a program of contemporary music plus Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with members of the Master Chorale of South Florida and the Festival Orchestra.
Girl Rising is a documentary that examines the lives of nine young women as they try to escape the barriers to education and freedom raised by forced marriage, domestic slavery, sex trafficking, gender violence and discrimination, and poor health care. (Cultural Arts Center, 3 p.m. March 7)
International Stars of Ballet: American Ballet Theater, Boston Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Washington Ballet dancers (Amphitheater, 7 p.m. March 8).
Last but not least, men and women of letters:
“Let Me Be Frank With You”: Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Ford (4 p.m. March 8).
“The Cancer Puzzle”: Physician, researcher, Pulitzer winner Siddhartha Mukherjee (7 p.m. March 9).
“Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better”: Technology expert Clive Thompson (7 p.m. March 10).
“That Used To Be Us”: Journalist and Pulitzer winner Thomas Friedman (7 p.m. March 11).
“Saving Paradise”: Journalist and author Michael Grunwald (7 p.m. March 12).
“Love and Politics”: Pulitzer winner, journalist and author Lucinda Franks (4 p.m. March 14).
“Alex’s Wake”: Broadcaster and author Martin Goldsmith (4 p.m. March 15). See festivaloftheartsboca.org.
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His nickname, “Steady Rollin’,” is appropriate. In the spirit of peripatetic blues singers such as Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, Bob Margolin is back on the road, going where the music takes him. After bouncing from Memphis to Atlanta in recent weeks, he’ll visit Arts Garage on Feb. 7 then play two dates in Iowa, one in Kansas City, two in Saskatoon this winter, then head back 2,000 miles to Tallahassee, and on and on.
Just hitting his prime at 66, Margolin heads an impressive blues lineup at the Garage. Johnny Rawls, whose Red Cadillac won the Living Blues Award critics poll in 2013 for best soul blues album and outstanding blues singer, plays Feb. 13. A day later, Berkelee-trained singer and sax player Vanessa Coulter offers a blues Valentine and Danny Brooks, billed as the Texassippi Soul Man, offers at blend of country, gospel, roots and R&B on Feb. 21.
A week later, ardent supporters of Arts Garage will gather for the third annual Grunge & Glamour evening of art, food and friends with a healthy dose of West Coast jump blues and swing bolstered by body guitars, reverb tanks, upright basses, harmonicas, pianos and organs from Toots Lorraine and The Traffic. Produced by the Arts Garage Guild, the event raises money for the Garage’s programming and educational initiatives. Tickets are $100 each, $550 for a table of six. Sponsorships are welcome. (artsgarage.org)
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Dana Leong’s musical skills are hardly typical. A multi-instrumentalist known for his jazz, pop and classical work with trombone and cello, he has collaborated, produced and performed with the likes of Ray Charles, Wynton Marsalis, Kanye West and Yoko Ono.
The Plumosa School of the Arts Foundation believes Leong’s versatility is ideal for inspiring the school’s students to develop their talents. He and his trio will headline the foundation’s “Shooting for the Stars,” concert at the school auditorium Feb. 20. For tickets, $35 to $75 (VIP), go to plumosafoundation.org.
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On the large-scale party scene, it’s garlic in Delray Beach or grapes in Boca Raton. The 16th Delray Beach Garlic Fest kicks off Feb. 6. Besides all things garlic, the party includes spicy music at Old School Square with the saucy brass of Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue on Feb.7. Providing lead-in at 6 p.m. for Shorty will be longtime local favorite Fabulous Fleetwoods. Details at dbgarlicfest.com.
At Broken Sound in Boca, the first week of the month is taken over by the ninth annual Allianz Championhip, with a 54-hole tournament featuring 81 Champions Tour veterans and a full schedule of golf and social events, including Grapes on the Green, Feb. 7. For $70, guests join the competing golfers for dinner prepared by Oceans 234, The Flaming Greek, Kanpai Sushi, Potions in Motion and Amazing Chocolates and wines from David Frost.
The 2014 event provided an estimated $15 million economic impact on the region, a sizable chunk going to 19 charities and service organizations, including Boca Raton Regional Hospital; allianzchampionship.com.
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Buoyed by the arrival almost a year ago of new president John Kelly, the Owls of Florida Atlantic University are “soaring to new heights,” and on March 21 will celebrate his first year at the FAU Foundation’s annual gala —not in a hotel ballroom, but at the FAU stadium … on three levels of suites, club rooms and outdoor areas, with a gourmet meal, live entertainment, a silent auction and fireworks.
Kelly and wife Carolyn chose to forgo a formal inauguration and instead inaugurated the new Kelly Family Scholarship Fund with a personal donation. Net proceeds from the gala also will go to the fund and they are urging other supporters to contribute as well. See faugala.info.
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On the anniversary of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, Lynn University held its annual Knights Unite Day of Caring to continue the work of the 14 members of the Lynn family who were in Haiti that day. The 12 students and two faculty members traveled there on a January term course, “Journey of Hope.” Eight members returned home safely. As part of the Knights Unite Day of Caring, the Lynn University community has packaged more than 140,000 meals for children in Haitian orphanages.
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Here and there:
It’s only rock ’n’ roll. With some free time on his hands before opening his 2015 tour at Miami’s American Airlines Arena, Billy Joel spent much of it “hanging out” between Lake Worth and Delray Beach. Rumors had the Piano Man looking for a home in Palm Beach or Manalapan. That would make sense, as he was believed to be staying at Eau Palm Beach, which in its incarnation as a Ritz-Carlton offered solitude for the Rolling Stones and The Who.
Joel previously owned an 8,800-square-foot pad on La Gorce Island in Biscayne Bay, which also has been home to Ricky Martin, Cher, Lil Wayne and Shakira. He sold it a year and a half ago for $13.75 million, only $175,000 more than he paid for it in 2006.
He did stop by Old Key Lime House to dine at the bar and checked out Delray’s Atlantic Avenue, even posing for photos with passersby.
Emmy winner Linda Evans speaks Feb. 26 at the Reflections of Hope Luncheon for Jewish Family Services (852-5013 or ralesjfs.org) at Boca West and author, TV show host and Hollywood resident Brad Meltzer headlines the 29th annual dinner dance for the Jewish Association for Retarded Children March 8 (558-2572 or jarcfl.org).
Reach Thom Smith at thomsmith@ymail.com.
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