General Manager Josh Busby pours a glass of wine at Preface Wine, new to Pineapple Grove in Delray Beach, which offers about 3,000 bottles on its shelves. Once 4 p.m. arrives, the shelves recede and the shop turns into a 28-seat wine bar. Photo provided
By Jan Norris
A new wine shop that converts into a wine bar at night has opened in Delray Beach’s Pineapple Grove.
Owner Jonathan Frutkin, a lawyer and wine collector, opened Preface Wine in September for “people who love wine but don’t love feeling tested by it.”
He believes wine should be fun, not intimidating, and the shop is intended to serve those who would like to learn as they shop and sip.
“No product is more confusing than wine,” he said. “But wine shopping can be very fun if you have a way to be guided through it.”
While his personal collection tends toward the French, the shop features both domestic and international wines.
At the shop, about 3,000 bottles are on shelves arranged by “stacks” as in a library. From them, customers can browse, then choose a wine to drink on-site or take home. Labels that can be scanned describe the wines from both well-known estates and small producers.
At 4 p.m., the lights dim a little, shelves push back into the walls, and 700 or so are left around the room that now has 28 seats at tables built into the shelves. An eight-seat owner’s table is the setting for special events.
Tasting flights are served daily with charcuterie or an appropriate food.
“These are fun, and unexpected too,” Frutkin said. “With our Champagne flight, called the Bubble Society, we served popcorn with a light cheese, and chicken fingers. On a dessert wine flight we serve a churros and caramel dip.”
The focus of educating a wine consumer extends to the business community that Frutkin says has a social gap, owing to the pandemic and time that people spent online instead of out with friends.
“The younger people are great at AI — really great. But they’re slow at social skills,” he said, particularly the professionals who close deals in a social setting.
For that reason, he said, he created the Preface Primer, a class where law firms and corporation leaders can sign up younger workers for the course in basic wine knowledge for business occasions.
Since the pandemic and the fall-off of dining out, there has been a slight uptick in social dining, he said.
“People miss the social interaction. This is a space to hang out and share stories — and drink wine.”
A special digital sommelier service in the store catalogs wines that customers have liked, and produces lists of wines to try along similar lines. Called JJ, the technology learns with each tasting. Also featured is the Preface Wine Club, and members can use JJ’s service at restaurants or other wine shops and stores.
Frutkin’s wine following comes from his online presence with YouTube videos, Wine with Jon. He’s kept up with the trends that include lighter reds and a growing alcohol-free society.
Non-alcoholic wines also are offered that Frutkin chose after tasting “a lot of bad wine.”
Preface is offering club membership where those enrolled get a curated six-bottle case of wines bimonthly, and can choose bottles tiered as approachable, to premium, to limited-production bottles.
Top tiers of the club also get a concierge service, early access to wine events at Preface, and wine education sessions.
Events at the owner’s table, such as the grand opening’s “Wine & Baseball: Starting Lineup” tasting before the World Series, with six guided pours and elevated baseball foods, or the “Rock & Roll Hall of Pours,” are meant to be educational as well as casual, unpretentious gatherings.
All events are open to the over-21 public.
Preface Wine, 279 NE Second Ave., Delray Beach. Open Sunday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Phone 561-930-9463; preface.wine.
***
Captain Clay and Sons Seafood Market is blowing out 20 candles on its anniversary cake. Or maybe they’ll celebrate with stone crabs that just arrived in markets for season.
The Clay Brand family is native to Florida, where they own commercial boats that fish mostly local waters. They sell their daily catch in their shop on North Federal Highway in Delray Beach — their 2-year-old location. They’ve operated a seafood store in the city since opening in 2006.
The shop has become a favorite for seafood lovers who buy “day-boat” catches that sell out quickly or enjoy a house-prepared fish dip that has an almost cult-like following.
Shoppers can go right to the source for recipes: Clay Brand the elder, who still fishes and books chartered trips, works behind the counter and is known as a gourmet cook. He can provide his favorite recipes for any species he’s selling that day.
His son Reed Brand, 32, has brought the fish store into the digital world, and as “Reed the Fishmonger” shoots videos for their webpage, TikTok and YouTube, with tips on buying and preparing all types of seafood. He also has educational clips about commercial and recreational fishing and ocean conservation.
As season gears up, it’s all about the stone crabs. A bountiful start is noted, and the claws are in the store at prices relatively the same as last year, from $28.99 a pound for mediums, to $78 for jumbos.
Captain Clay and Sons Seafood Market, 1319 N. Federal Highway, Ste. 1, Delray Beach. Phone 561-266-2068; online, captainclayseafood.com. Open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
***
At Thanksgiving, food banks and organizations put out the call for extra volunteers and donors.
At Feeding South Florida, the area’s largest food distribution program that supports other feeding programs, the annual campaign culminates at Thanksgiving.
More than 9,000 families will get turkeys, sides and desserts for a full meal at Thanksgiving during its “Share Food. Share Joy” campaign.
Donations are taken for a gift to a family for a turkey, $30; a turkey and sides, $50; or four turkeys for four families for $100.
To participate, go online to feedingsouthflorida.org/annual-events.
The annual Meals on Wheels of the Palm Beaches campaign, Pie It Forward, runs until Nov. 24.
Donors can order a pie online through Nov. 18, choosing from apple, pumpkin, pecan or Key lime, and pick it up Nov. 24, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
South County pie pickup is curbside at the Old School Square parking garage entrance. Other pickup options are in West Palm Beach, Jupiter, Hobe Sound and Belle Glade.
The nonprofit expects to sell 4,000 pies before Thanksgiving at $30 each. There are limited quantities, and once a flavor has sold out, it is pulled from the website.
Those who want to give without getting a pie can buy a “virtual” pie. Corporate buyers and selling teams are welcome, and there are opportunities to hand out pies, or ongoing opportunities to deliver meals.
All money goes to the nonprofit Meals on Wheels program, which delivers hot meals to homebound older adults.
For more information or to order a pie, go to mowpbpie.org.
In brief
Bissinger’s, a handcrafted chocolatier, has opened in Boca’s Mizner Park. Another branch of the chain making Old World European chocolates is in Palm Beach. Its French pedigree is said to date to Napoleon and King Ludwig of Bavaria. Karl Bissinger brought the family recipes to Cincinnati in the 1800s, and they are now in nine retail stores, including in Tampa and Sarasota. ...
Park Tavern in Delray Beach closed last month after a 15-year run on Atlantic Avenue. It follows the closure of Cut 432, a steakhouse on the Avenue also owned by Modern Restaurant Group. MRG also owns El Camino, a Mexican concept with branches in Delray Beach, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, which remain open. No reason was given by management for the closure, but a non-renewed lease may have played a role, as it has for many restaurants that closed in the past year.
Jan Norris is a food writer who can be reached at nativefla@gmail.com.
Comments