Dozens of restaurants are participating in the Flavor South Florida and Downtown Delray promotional events. Some of those eateries include Gary Rack’s Farmhouse Kitchen, top, and Avalon Beach House, below. Photos provided
September is a great month to be a diner in South Florida.
Two promotions have lists of restaurants offering dining deals at noted places. Diners are encouraged to get out of their ruts and explore the food scene throughout Palm Beach County: Try a new restaurant, cuisine or location and save a few bucks at the same time.
The Downtown Delray Beach Restaurant Month is in its 11th year and offers up deals at 50 participating restaurants.
Flavor South Florida, a program encompassing Palm Beach and Martin counties, promotes deals at more than 100 restaurants, specialty shops and quick-serve spots.
Both programs run the month of September, a down-time in South Florida for the hospitality industry.
Tourism is at a low, kids are back to school, and traveling and dining out aren’t a priority, so hotels and restaurants put marketing into high gear.
To get diners into seats, and to entice them to try a new-to-them restaurant, then get them back later, owners offer special menus for a set price.
Flavor South Florida created the format 20 years ago. Restaurants have a prix fixe menu, typically three courses, representing selections from the main menu. Choices range from $44 to $66 for a three-course dinner, $30 to $50 for a three-course lunch, and include old and new restaurants in the area.
The Downtown Delray program mimics the Flavor program, offering an exclusive menu, typically three courses with a few choices on each, for a set price.
Exclusive specials designed just for diners coming in during the promotion range from multicourse prix fixe lunches or dinners, to happy hour menus, and sweets from treat shops. There are cooking class deals in the mix as well.
Participating restaurants in Downtown Delray Beach represent Mediterranean cuisine (Amar Mediterranean Bistro, La Cigale), steaks (Bourbon Steak), Italian (Gabriella’s Modern Italian, Elisabetta’s Ristorante and Campi Italian), American (Gary Rack’s Farmhouse Kitchen, The Office), Mexican (Papa’s Tapas, El Camino), Asian (Le Colonial, Hawkers Asian Street Food, KaPow Noodle Bar), pizza (Death by Pizza, Windy City Pizza, Rose’s Daughter), coffee shops, ice cream parlors and dozens more.
A free Downtown Delray Restaurant Month mobile pass, available at DowntownDelrayBeach.com/RestaurantMonth, shows diners all the menus and deals available. Points can be earned and prizes, usually gift cards, can be won on the site as well. No app download is necessary.
For Flavor Palm Beach, the new mod American Man Ray from the Subculture group in Lake Worth Beach is on the list, and is one of the less expensive.
Barcelona Wine Bar, the new hot spot in Sundy Village in Delray Beach, offers a selection of three tapas from its large list, plus a dessert for its prix fixe.
Old favorites such as Avalon Beach House in Delray Beach, Driftwood in Boynton Beach, and Florie’s in the Four Seasons also are here. Oceano Kitchen, in Lake Worth Beach, is a James Beard Award nominee, noted for its creative dishes.
All the information about Flavor South Florida, with restaurant lists that can be filtered for cuisine and location, is at Flavorsouthflorida.com.
Here are some tips to take full advantage of the specials:
• Check out the restaurants, cuisines and menus online before you go. Be aware of limitations on menus; many will not offer substitutions on these special menus. Many are dinner-only menus; lunch is listed separately if available.
• Reservations for the deal menus are almost a must. We say almost because the restaurants will book limited numbers of tables for Restaurant Month or Flavor diners per service. This is most important on weekend nights. Both websites offer reservation links.
• Without a reservation, as a walk-in, you will need to ask for the Downtown Delray Restaurant Month or Flavor Palm Beach menu; it’s not guaranteed.
• Restaurants do not combine their specials menu with any other deals. All offer their regular menus, however.
• A prix fixe menu is for one diner only. Tax, tip and alcohol are not included. Most restaurants offer wine or a special cocktail for an additional price.
John G’s expanding
John G’s in Manalapan, a longtime favorite of locals, is cooking up franchise opportunities in South Florida.
An institution in Palm Beach County since 1973, now in Manalapan, the restaurant was sold in May, and new owners are offering franchise opportunities.
One is already in the works. The first new location will be in Port St. Lucie, with a projected opening in early September, according to General Manager Napoleon Barone.
He would not name the precise location “until all is settled.”
But it’s a pre-existing spot, ready to go.
The restaurant in Plaza Del Mar was sold by the original Giragos family in 2019 to Doris and Laurent Di Meglio.
The Boca Raton couple are restaurateurs who made minimal changes to the menu. Their biggest switch was accepting credit cards.
In March, the couple sold the nautical-themed cafe, famous for its breakfasts and fish and chips, to a Canadian businessman, Barone said.
The owners are listed as The Sikellis Group LLC, with Charalambos Sikellis and Nexhmije Hoxha its authorized members, according to Florida Division of Corporation records. Online reports show the Sikellis family have been involved in restaurant franchises in Quebec.
Future John G's locations could include Boynton Beach and Boca Raton, Barone said.
Plans are for at least nine John G’s to be in South Florida in the next five years, he said.
“We’re planning to come south from Port St. Lucie — Jupiter, West Palm Beach, Boca, maybe even into Miami.”
The restaurant has strong ties to Palm Beach County, having served countless meals in its original spot at the casino building fronting the Lake Worth Beach pier.
It’s nostalgic for many diners who remember the long lines around the building on weekends, and trays of chocolate-covered fruits served by founder John Giragos as patrons stood in the hot sun.
There were no reservations: Tourists, celebrities and locals put their names on the list and waited together for a seat. Fresh roses were on every table. Longtime servers knew many guests by name and their favorite food orders. It was a family affair, as well, with John’s daughter Wendy Yarbrough handling front-of-house duties, and sons Jay and Keith cooking.
Best sellers off the menu included the cinnamon-nut French toast, and the fish and chips served with a unique tartar sauce, slaw and a corn fritter. On Fridays, the seafood chowder was in big demand.
For years, a takeout window for the restaurant at the beachfront sold bags of sliders, the two-piece “petite” order of fish and chips and a fritter, and soup containers of gazpacho.
At this time, there are no plans for out-of-state franchises, despite some interest in putting one in New York, his native home, Barone said.
“We’re not set up for that yet.”
Man Ray in Lake Worth
The mod new restaurant Man Ray opened at 522 Lucerne Ave. in Lake Worth Beach — the former C.W.S. bar — in August.
It’s from the Subculture Group, the same one behind Dada in Delray Beach and Tryst in Boca Raton.
Billed as “retro-American” with an “artistic wink,” the menu is a mix of old and modern takes on casual foods.
What’s different is the origin of each dish listed alongside on the menu.
There’s Barb’s Cheese Ball, from Cheshire, Massachusetts — a mix of goat cheese, almonds and cherries served with good old Ritz crackers.
The beer-grilled chicken wings are from Decatur, Alabama, served with a white barbecue sauce typical of the Cotton State.
A Faroe Island cedar plank salmon, served with huckleberry-miso, asparagus teriyaki, and furikake granola, comes from Seattle.
French dip is from Los Angeles, the “Out & In Style Smashed Burger” is from Baldwin Park, California.
No sign of Florida on the menu, but Man Ray, the artist, was unconventional, too.
Man Ray, 522 Lucerne Ave., Lake Worth Beach. Phone 561-335-3329; sub-culture.org. Open 5-11 p.m. daily.
Pigsty BBQ reopens
We wrote about Pigsty BBQ in Boynton Beach closing last month, but they recently announced a reopening, in partnership with The Bungalow.
Pigsty will be serving their menu at the indoor/outdoor bar at 511 N. Fourth St. in Boynton Beach where live music is a draw.
Tom and Nicole Rhodemyer, owners of the barbecue spot that closed after a decade on Boynton Beach Boulevard described the joint venture as a “win-win relationship,” giving them an outlet to serve their popular ’cue without a prohibitive overhead.
They'll have the smoker on site, serving many of the popular items from the restaurant, along with sides and specials. The menu is being tweaked, they wrote on their website.
For a month, Pigsty will operate during The Bungalow’s hours, Wednesday-Thursday, 4-11 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, noon to midnight, and Sunday noon to 11 p.m., but plan to open for lunch daily after they are settled in.
Jan Norris is a food writer who can be reached at nativefla@gmail.com.
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