By Thom Smith
Rock ’n’ roll legend Dion stopped by for The Dillengers’ last gig there a couple of weeks ago; “Elvis” closed it May 24. After 17 years along the tracks in Delray Beach, the venerable Elwood’s has closed. But don’t despair, the new owners, two Pittsburgh restaurateurs, intend to fix it up and reopen — with Elvis (retired Delray cop Scott Ringersen, a Thursday night regular for years).
Even without Elwood’s, fans of Atlantic Avenue still have plenty of choices this summer. Il Bacio opened in April, half a block south of Atlantic on Southeast Second Avenue in the original City Limits spot.
Il Bacio is Italian for “The Kiss,” and new owner Steve Pellegrino and his family hope it will be the kiss of life. A restaurant, bar and night club, Il Bacio offers a tapas menu, served up, both indoors and out, by Peter Masiello, formerly at Ristorante Bova in Boca. There’s a huge courtyard and stage — ideal for open-air dancing to a DJ and small live acts.
Il Bacio is located at 29 SE Second Ave. in Delray. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Phone 561-865-7785.La Cigale won’t serve lunch this summer, but manager Francis Taboul is still welcoming his loyal patrons at dinner seven nights a week. If they want lunch they can take a short drive to his new Atlantique Café in Atlantic Plaza, next to the Intracoastal. Taboul has taken over the site formerly occupied by The Market and converted it to a French-American café and pastry shop.
Open from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m, the café serves breakfast all day and a grillful of lunch items, including daily specials ranging from jumbo hot dogs with kraut and pomme frites ($6.25) to pan-seared black grouper, scampi-style, with mashed potatoes and corn ($12.95).
A pastry chef from France will handle the baking as soon as his visa clears, and as at La Cigale, everything is fresh. “I can’t cut corners,” Taboul said, “I can only cut prices.”
Too noisy in Lake Worth? Apparently some residents who live on either side of Lake and Lucerne avenues believe life just off the main drags is unbearable and they’ve called upon the City Council for relief. The result: The council is considering a noise ordinance that would set a maximum level of 85 ear-damaging decibels from 6 p.m. until 3 a.m. and 65 decibels the rest of the time. Council action is weeks away.
Some area artists, however, hope the new Clay Glass Metal Stone will make some noise — the positive kind. The new artist cooperative at 605 Lake Ave. is open from noon to 8 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays and features ceramics, fused glass, metal work, jewelry, stone sculpture and mixed media by local artists. Look for artist receptions during Evenings on the Avenues from 6-10 p.m. on the first and third Fridays of each month. Phone (588-8344).
First came Whole Foods and Publix Green Markets, then the economy tanked. Too much pressure for small gourmet markets. Even one of the richest women in the country, Sheila Johnson, knew when to throw in the towel, closing her spectacular Market Salamander in Palm Beach. Is it for the summer or forever?
Let’s talk bread — not that soft, fluffy, pre-sliced white stuff but the crusty, textured, dark kind with the homey aroma. In previous summers, Jouko (pronounced yo-ko) Vaskivuo has closed his tiny Palm Beach Bakery and Cafe at 206 E. Ocean in Lantana (585-0222). Not this year. If you love Finnish multi-grain or ruis limppu (that’s Finnish for rye bread), he’s baking it, fresh every day, come heatstroke or hurricane.
Haste makes waste. Plus it’s summer, so the builders of the Omphoy Ocean Resort want to make sure everything is “right” before “the season.” So the opening of the first luxury hotel to rise along the beach since the Ritz-Carlton 18 years ago has been pushed back: The previously expected June opening for the 134-room hotel is now set for July. When you’re Ceebraid Signal, which also owns The Brazilian Court, and you spend $42 million to buy the former Palm Beach Hilton and another $55 million to fix it up, you can’t play around.
Can’t help but be excited, though, because dinner — as well as breakfast, lunch and catering — will be overseen by one of the nation’s hottest chefs, Miami-based Michelle Bernstein. The arrangement is similar to The Brazilian Court’s with Daniel Boulud.
Thom Smith is a freelance writer, who also dabbles in public relations. A journalist for more than 40 years, he was a sports writer for the Miami Herald, also worked for the Aloha Daily News in Hawaii and for 34 years was a writer and columnist with The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at thomsmith@ymail.com.
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