Food Editor: I’ll miss this neighborhood gem, but there’s ‘joy’ in its closing, plus pasta deals
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Before you decide to ignore National Pasta Day, which is Monday (Oct. 17), you may want to know about a few local restaurant specials running that day.
Sibling restaurants Louie Bossi’s and Elisabetta’s are making a kicky capellini with calamari, angel hair pasta that’s tossed with San Marzano tomatoes, Calabrian chili and calamari ($27).
Louie Bossi’s is at 100 Palmetto Park Rd., Boca Raton. Elisabetta’s has a location in downtown Delray Beach at 32 E. Atlantic Ave. and one in downtown West Palm Beach at 185 Banyan Blvd.
All Lynora’s restaurant locations are offering half-priced pasta dishes all day Monday. The family-owned mini-chain lists more than 12 types of pasta on its menu including cavatelli with sausage and broccoli rabe, fettuccine Bolognese, short rib ravioli and pasticcio.
Monday is also Lynora’s day for discounts on three “M” items – meaning $3 meatballs, $10 Margherita pizzas and $7 martinis.
Lynora’s: To find a location, visit Lynoras.com.
Tavern Pi in Abacoa will give you a free bag of make-at-home pasta when you buy a prepared pasta dish. The pizzeria has a rotation of ready-to-cook pasta options (usually $6 per pound) that include stroganoff egg noodles and spaghetti.
Tavern Pi is at 1209 Main St., Jupiter, in downtown Abacoa.
Au revoir to (another) local favorite
It was a neighborhood gem in every sense, a cozy, welcoming restaurant with a menu that was accessible enough -- and unique enough -- to keep folks coming back, a spot loyal customers claimed as their own.
Nonna Maria, the “Italian with a French twist” restaurant that had been a North Palm Beach mainstay since the mid-1990s, has permanently closed.
Its husband-and-wife owners, Francois Arsouze and Judy O’Reilly, recently announced what their loyal customers have feared for months: They’ve sold the restaurant.
“After nearly twenty years, we feel the time has come to focus on ‘The Golden Years,’” read the announcement posted on Nonna Maria’s website. “We would like to offer our sincerest thanks and deepest gratitude for all your support over the years.”
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Nonna Maria's closing is the second shuttering of a mainstay local restaurant within the past week. A few days ago, Pizza Girls called it quits after 23 years.
The Nonna Maria owners, who took over the restaurant on Northlake Boulevard in 2003 from its original owners, went on to say: “Nonna Maria was everything to us because of you. We wish you all health and happiness.”
They described their announcement as one made “with great joy and great sadness.”
The joy part: They have moved to France, according to posts on Judy’s Facebook page.
The sadness: Leaving a most special restaurant, where the menu reflected Chef Francois’ French heritage and love of Italian food.
I still remember my first visit to the neighborhood gem in 2011, the “welcome” dish of marinated olives, the thick wedges of homemade bread, the salad so lavishly topped with bleu cheese, the Francese-style yellowtail snapper so buttery and bright, the tender short ribs in a Chianti reduction served over dreamy risotto.
What I remember most was the evident love its regular customers had for the place. One of them bid the owners goodbye with a phrase all restaurant folks love to hear: “Wonderful as always!”
There’s joy in that memory as well. Wishing Judy and Francois the best of the Golden Years!
Fiesta Latina
The final drumroll for Hispanic Heritage Month, which ends Saturday, arrived Tuesday to the rhythm of Tito Puente’s quick-fire beats. Did you shimmy at your desk like I did when you heard the timbalero’s “Ran Kan Kan” on, of all things, Google Doodle? How fun was it to watch the site’s celebration of the late Nuyorican mambo master’s contributions, illustrated by Puerto Rican artist Carlos Aponte?
On the topic of lively celebrations, West Palm Beach’s Latin Quarter, the nonprofit civic group active in the city’s Latino populations, is having its yearly festival Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be Latin American bites, a parade, live music, show horses, family activities, dominos, soccer and various vendors.
“Kids and adults alike can enjoy plenty of games, local foods, community artists, music and much more,” says Dina Rubio, who is Latin Quarter president and the longtime owner of West Palm’s Don Ramon.
The parade starts the day on Bunker Road and travels north on South Dixie Highway to the main festival site at Phipps Park (4715 S. Dixie Hwy). There’s more info at LatinQuarterWPB.org.
Critic’s choice: Six Latin food restaurants I love in Palm Beach County
Speaking of street parties...
Taste of the Square
Home to a batch of new and newish restaurants, The Square plaza is the setting for a walk-about tasting event next Thursday night. Consider it one-stop shopping for dish samples from a dozen of the plaza’s restaurants and a pop-up bar on the lawn.
Participating restaurants for “Taste of the Square” include the three-month-old El Camino taquería, City Pizza, Planta vegan eatery, BurgerFi, the year-old True Food Kitchen, Angie’s Epicurean, Sweetgreen salad spot, Il Bellagio, Taquería Bonitas, Sloan’s ice cream shop, the new Salty Donut and Galley restaurant at the nearby Hilton West Palm Beach.
The details: Taste of the Square happens Thursday, Oct. 20, from 6 to 9 p.m. (VIP access at 5:30 p.m.) General Admission tickets are $35 in advance, $45 at the door. VIP tickets are $55. Here’s the ticket link. The event benefits the Promise Fund of Florida, which offers breast and cervical cancer screenings, logistics and support.
Speaking of good bites…
Craving a stacked Cuban sandwich, some legit Spanish tapas or maybe some masterpiece mofongo? Check out my new “critic’s choice” list of some of my favorite local Latino bites.
One more good bite
Get out your mallets and mustard sauce, stone crab lovers. Florida's favorite claw season arrives tomorrow. We'll have a roundup soon on where to find them in Palm Beach County. Meantime, here's a story by my Palm Beach Daily News colleague M.M. Cloutier about stone crab anticipation on Palm Beach island.
More from Liz Balmaseda:
Dine on the farm: Best outdoor dinners in Palm Beach County
'Best Donut Shop in America' features Latin food specials in West Palm for Hispanic Heritage Month
Chinese takeout: What's driving the wave of new Chinese-inspired restaurants?
Back to life: Food Network celebrity chef returns to his PB County roots
In Boca Raton, these Bad Bunny cookies have heart eyes for you
Liz Balmaseda is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Cuban-American journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network. She oversees our daily food coverage. Follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Post on Food Facebook. She can be reached by email at lbalmaseda@pbpost.com. Support local journalism by subscribing to The Palm Beach Post.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Italian restaurant closes in North Palm Beach; Pasta Day dining deals
