Serena and Venus Williams contend with the breezes on the
patio of Apt. 401, the $6.5 million condo Venus decorated at
One Thousand Ocean in Boca Raton. Thom Smith/The Coastal Star
By Thom Smith
When her tennis game is on, few players want to be across the net from Venus Williams. Just ask last year’s Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova after her loss at Key Biscayne on March 23, or Aleksandra Wozniak, who had match point two days later and couldn’t convert, and then Ana Ivanovic, who took the first set and then could win only four more games.
Not bad for someone who was diagnosed last year with Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disorder similar to lupus that causes fatigue and joint pain. Everyone knows Venus is a fighter.
She took time off from tennis, adopted a vegan diet and began a drug regimen to determine which are effective. She has her sights set on qualifying for the Olympics in London. She’ll turn 32 in June and she knows her competitive days are numbered, so Venus is focusing more and more on her life away from tennis.
Just as she and sister Serena demolished barriers on the court, she aims to break artistic barriers with V Starr, her design firm in Jupiter. She’s done work for pro athletes who live in South Florida; model homes residences in Delray Beach and Palm Beach Gardens; a Miami hotel; the athletic center at Howard University in Washington and even the set for Tavis Smiley’s PBS show. Nevertheless, it was all been relatively low key, until last month’s grand slam introduction at One Thousand Ocean, luxury 52-unit condo on Boca Raton Resort & Club property on the north side of Boca Inlet.
To push the 12 unsold units, LXR President of Development Jamie Telchin threw a twilight party where residents and prospective tenants could mingle in an unfinished penthouse and also check out Unit 401, Venus’ contribution to the seascape: 4,971 interior square feet, another 1,289 on the terrace, four bedrooms, 4½ baths and $6.45 million with Venus’ furnishings, $5.95 million without.
For Venus, who studied at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, design is organic and a matter of trust. “V Starr is me, and nothing happens that isn’t my style,” she said. “And my style is that you can’t do something just because you want to. You have to have reason; it has to be functional; it has to be beautiful.”
While she had to start at the bottom, just as she did in tennis, Williams concedes she had some advantages in the design game because of her name. But when it comes to signing contracts, customers want to see something concrete.
“Because of my high profile, people say OK we’ll talk to her, but that doesn’t mean they’ll let me do the job,” Williams said. “But once they meet me and my team and really see the picture, they realize this is really serious design, that we can do the job.”
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The Boca party never stops; it just moves. Head to Monument Piazza at Royal Palm Place from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on April 18 for the 3rd Annual Fine Wines and Canines.
Dogs are welcome to compete or to chill and for $25 their owners can sample wines and the fare from restaurants including Anatolia, Biergarten, Café Auribeau, Caruso’s, Chops, Estia Greek Taverna, The Funky Biscuit, Fusionarie, Jake’s Stone Crab, Kin Noodle Bar, Lemongrass, Raffaele, Spicy Ginger, Super Dave’s Diner, The Spaniard, Tucci’s and Yakitori. Proceeds go to PROPEL (People Reaching Out to Provide Education and Leadership), which provides educational and vocational assistance for underprivileged communities.
The party will move back to Mizner Park in early June with the opening of a Yard House restaurant in the space vacated by the cartoon museum and the iPic Theatres just across the alley. A California concept that’s already found its way to Palm Beach Gardens, the Yard House takes its name from the British-born “yard of beer” glasses, and offers yards of draft taps, a lively American fusion menu and lots of rock ’n’ roll on the jukebox, lots of TV screens, crazy artwork and an extensive community support program.
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Across the promenade, the space once occupied by Robb & Stucky will become Lord & Taylor, but not until sometime next year. Out west, just east of Town Center, it’s John Belleme’s turn to work a miracle. On the Glades Road site previously occupied by the Rascal House and more recently Copper Canyon, Belleme will work his kitchen magic with Stephane’s, a Euro-style brasserie offering, including eight mussel recipes.
Stephane’s marks a homecoming of sorts for the peripatetic Belleme, who worked his magic at Maxaluna in the late ’80s, then moved to Wilt Chamberlain’s, Zemi, Henry’s and, most recently, Umi Fish Bar and Grill in Palm Beach Gardens.
Helping in the cellar will be Virginia Philip, of Virginia Philip Wine Shop & Academy in West Palm Beach, who has been master sommelier at The Breakers for a decade and was a semifinalist this year for the James Beard Award in the “outstanding wine and spirits professional” category.
Stephane is Stephane Lang-Willar, a Frenchman who ran Leon de Bruxelles, a chain of restaurants in France and Belgium. So with the mussels — shades of La Grand-Place — he’ll offer a large menu, with diverse prices and food choices, a raw bar and prix-fixe lunch.
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Meanwhile, at the north end of Boca, the party continues at Caldwell Theatre Company, even as Artistic Director Clive Cholerton and his brain trust work on a salvation. The Caldwell owes Legacy Bank nearly $6 million on two mortgages. The bank filed for foreclosure, and now the theater’s finances will be controlled by a court-appointed receiver, Scott Brenner of Fort Lauderdale-based Brenner Real Estate Group. Brenner specializes in turning around troubled businesses, and as long as he remains in charge, Legacy will not close it down. Both sides want it to work, so Caldwell can continue and the bank can recover its investment.
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Curiouser and curiouser. Of course, Alice has nothing on David Manero, whose restaurant wonderland in Delray Beach has turned into a nightmare. Oh sure, the restaurants he ran — Vic & Angelo’s, The Office and Burger Fi — seem to be doing fine, but David is nowhere in sight. The Atlantic Avenue rumor mill has been working overtime with claims that his partners had him banned from the premises and that the FBI wanted him for illegalities — not so, said spokespeople in the West Palm and Miami offices.
Manero did acknowledge an “ugly” split in published reports that said his partner John Rosatti was running the restaurants. Nevertheless, he told Bill Citara of Boca Raton magazine that he’s working on several new concepts, including a Neapolitan pizzeria.
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Boca’s in the middle of its food festivals — food for thought, body and soul.
First came the boffo Festival of the Arts with Gershwin by Patti Austin and Tony DeSare, Rachmaninoff by Valentina Lisitsa, insight on presidents past, present and future from Doris Kearns Goodwin. Then the Boca Bacchanal offered three days of wine and food with vintner dinners, the Bacchus Bash at the Boca Raton Resort & Club and finally the Grand Tasting at Mizner Park, all to benefit the Boca Raton Historical Society.
It was a party that would have tickled Addison Mizner. Eight chefs and vintners teamed for the soirees — all sold out at $300 per — in private homes scattered throughout Boca. Typical of the evening, Debbie and Al Benjamin welcomed two dozen guests to their oceanside home in Highland Beach, where Kevin Garcia of Cesca in New York teamed with Masi from Veneto for some dolce vita. After cocktails beside the infinity pool, guests dined to music from a jazz band at rose-bedecked tables while Masi’s Tony Apolstolakis told charming stories about each new pour.
Next night, the chefs and vintners assembled for the Bash ($250) at the Boca Resort to provide tastings, after which the estimated 250 guests dove into silent and live auctions for luxury cruises, trips to Italy, France and Argentina, wine lots including rare “big bottles” and coveted collector items. Resort Chef Andrew Roenbeck and his staff then presented the feast de resistance, followed by dancing into the wee hours.
Those still standing on Sunday mingled under the tent at Mizner Park with hoi polloi, about 1,400 total ($85), for the Grand Tasting — 26 chefs, 140 different wines, a marketplace, a DJ and lots of smiles.
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Even though Boca’s Yvonne Boice is chairman of the Palm Beach International Film Festival, don’t look for much action down here. The festival opens April 12 at Muvico Parisian in CityPlace with a screening of Robot & Frank, a Sundance entry starring Frank Langella. It wraps April 19 at Cobb Theatres in Downtown at the Gardens with a screening of Sassy Pants (Haley Joel Osment and Anna Gunn).
A lifetime achievement award will be presented to actress June Lockhart at Silver Screen Bash at The Lake Pavilion on the Waterfront in West Palm Beach on April 15. Lockhart, who became a cult figure as Maureen Robinson in Lost in Space, is 86 and still acting. She co-stars in the comedy Zombie Hamlet, which will premiere at PBIFF.
Short films will be screened at the Lake Worth Playhouse’s Stonzek Theatre on April 13, 14 and 15, and at Delray’s Debilzan Gallery on April 15. Several documentaries are set for Mizner Park’s Cultural Arts Center: Money and Medicine and Genius on Hold (April 13); Lunch Hour, Free China: The Courage To Believe, True Gods Have Bones (Los Dioses De Verdad Tienen Huesos), Crocodile in the Yangtze and Happy You’re Alive (April 14); My Mother’s Idea, a student film showcase, John Portman: A Life of Building, Violins in Wartime, Follow Me and a local film showcase (April 15). Tickets are $10, $60 for the opening night party, $40 for the closer.
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At the corner of Linton Boulevard and Federal Highway in southern Delray something new — and fresh — may be on the horizon. According to merchants in the mall now anchored by Carrabbas, Las Vegas Cuban Restaurant, Panera Bread and SeaView Optical, a complete revamp is planned with the addition of a 20,000-square-foot Fresh Market. Merchants say they’ve been notified of the plans, but mall management referred our call to the owners in Alabama, and neither would comment or confirm.
Showcase of Homes: Royal Palm Yacht & County Club, Boca Raton
Eileen Callan, Cliff Mays, Valerie Newman and Tom Callan
check out one of the dozens of homes presented by Royal Palm
Properties during the Showcase of Homes event in Boca Raton in early March.
Kurtis Boggs/Coastal Star
Thom Smith is a freelance writer. Write him at thomsmith@ymail.com.
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