Food Editor: Thanksgiving pies, restaurant picks, Oprah-approved charcuterie, doughnuts to love

Liz Balmaseda, Palm Beach Post
·5 min read
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Executive pastry chef Jennifer Woo of the Charlie and Joe's at Love Street restaurants in Jupiter slices a Dutch apple pie, one of the Thanksgiving creations she is making for Pie It Forward.
Executive pastry chef Jennifer Woo of the Charlie and Joe's at Love Street restaurants in Jupiter slices a Dutch apple pie, one of the Thanksgiving creations she is making for Pie It Forward.
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With this rare, late-season storm behind us, I’d say we’re ready for some breezy food and dining news. Let’s start with dessert. How about some Thanksgiving pie?

The popular “Pie It Forward” sale started more than a week ago and is accepting gourmet pie orders through Nov. 17. If you’re new to the area or to the concept, here’s what’s to know.

The pie-makers. The Thanksgiving pies are made by top local chefs, restaurants and country clubs such as Buccan, Café Boulud, Aioli and Charlie and Joe’s at Love Street restaurants, where rising-star executive pastry chef Jennifer Woo is making some decadent pies, and other establishments.

Pie prices. They run from $30 for pumpkin, pecan and apple pies to $35 for key lime pies. Pie sales benefit Meals on Wheels of the Palm Beaches, which supports homebound seniors. (One $30 pie pays for a week of hot meals, according to the Pie It Forward website.)

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Executive pastry chef Jennifer Woo of Jupiter displays a Dutch apple pie like those she'll make for the Pie It Forward Thanksgiving sale to benefit the Meals on Wheels program.
Executive pastry chef Jennifer Woo of Jupiter displays a Dutch apple pie like those she'll make for the Pie It Forward Thanksgiving sale to benefit the Meals on Wheels program.

How to order and pick up. They can be made online via MOWPBPie.org. You can pick up your dessert on Nov. 22 at the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach and Duffy’s Sports Grill in Delray Beach (1750 S. Federal Hwy).

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A promising, new chef in the kitchen

At Brick and Barrel Pub, yuca croquetas are stuffed with braised oxtail.
At Brick and Barrel Pub, yuca croquetas are stuffed with braised oxtail.

The Brick and Barrel Pub in Jupiter’s Abacoa district has a tempting new menu to know about. This is thanks to a promising new chef de cuisine in the kitchen. He is Jeanick De La Haye, a creative chef who hails from Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast capital, Puerto Limón.

His collaboration with executive chef Thomas Op’t Holt already has produced an exciting new menu for the popular pub.

The menu offers a nice mix of mainstream pub grub (13-minute Scotch egg, classic sliders), comfort plates (beef stroganoff with mafaldine egg noodles, smoked bone-in short rib platter, fish-and-chips) and Latin American and Caribbean flavors (lomo saltado, yuca croquetas stuffed with braised oxtail and served with salsa criolla, jerk wings and island curry shrimp).

Jeanick De La Haye is Brick and Barrel Pub's new chef de cuisine in Jupiter's Abacoa district.
Jeanick De La Haye is Brick and Barrel Pub's new chef de cuisine in Jupiter's Abacoa district.

“I think you’ll find a really interesting pairing of Jeanick’s island roots and Thomas’ eclectic background,” Brick and Barrel owner David Schroeder told me via email. “I’m really excited to see what these guys do moving forward.”

De La Haye’s soulful, refined culinary style is influenced by his time working in the kitchen at the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, where world-acclaimed chef Mauro Colagreco has a fine-dining restaurant, Florie’s. (Yes, that’s De La Haye in the kitchen with Colagreco on Instagram.)

De La Haye describes the essence of food as “a moment and an experience.”

“Food is emotional. Food is love,” he said in a restaurant statement. “Food is so much more than a meal.”

  • Brick and Barrel is at 1153 Town Center Dr. in Abacoa, Jupiter, 561-623-0916

My Thanksgiving restaurant picks

Spicy tahini branzino is on the Thanksgiving menu at Amar Mediterranean Bistro in Delray Beach.
Spicy tahini branzino is on the Thanksgiving menu at Amar Mediterranean Bistro in Delray Beach.

In this week’s Thanksgiving dining roundup, I pared down what is often an unwieldy stack of restaurant options into a cut-to-the-chase mini-guide: six local places where I’d like to have a holiday feast.

The list goes from Palm Beach chic (Daniel Boulud’s lovely café) to Southern-inspired (Lindsay Autry’s twin holiday buffets) to Mediterranean-spiced (Amar’s three-course Thanksgiving Day menu).

I would add a seventh option to the list: The Thanksgiving Day menu at Okeechobee Steakhouse. As one might expect from a 75-year-old steakhouse, the holiday menu screams “classic”.

The traditional menu includes roast turkey with stuffing and gravy, mashed potatoes or yams, green beans, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. It costs $44.99 per adult, $22.99 per child age 12 and younger.

  • Okeechobee Steakhouse is at 2854 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach, 561-683-5151, OkeeSteakhouse.com

Oprah-approved Palm Beach charcuterie board

Boarderie's Ciccetti cheese and charcuterie board is shipped as ready-to-serve in an acacia wood tray.
Boarderie's Ciccetti cheese and charcuterie board is shipped as ready-to-serve in an acacia wood tray.

One of the country’s top influencers has given a Riviera Beach-based cheese and charcuterie board a thumbs up. Boarderie, which ships overnight nationally, earned a spot on Oprah’s Favorite Things list for 2022.

Here’s a story I wrote about the company’s founders and their viral cheese-board enterprises earlier this year!

Who needs a doughnut?

The Movember special at The Salty Donut.
The Movember special at The Salty Donut.

Speaking of treats, did you miss National Doughnut Day on Saturday (Nov. 5)? No worries if you did. There’s sure to be a hot-and-fresh doughnut somewhere near you as we speak. Here’s my updated list of local favorites.

If you’re looking for another holiday-related reason to splurge on sweet, fried dough, you might want to know about the new specialty treat at The Salty Donut in West Palm Beach, the Bourbon Caramel Mustache Donut. It celebrates November’s Movember movement, which supports men’s health.

It's a mustache-shaped brioche doughnut that’s filled with bourbon-caramel cheesecake, covered with a cocoa glaze and sprinkled with crushed shortbread cookies. The doughnut, which costs $4.95 and benefits Movember charities, will be offered at the shop until Nov. 20.

  • The Salty Donut is at 460 S. Rosemary Ave., at The Square, West Palm Beach, 561-933-1522

Read recent columns by Liz Balmaseda

Liz Balmaseda is The Palm Beach Post's food critic.
Liz Balmaseda is The Palm Beach Post's food critic.

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Liz Balmaseda is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network. She oversees The Post's daily food and dining coverage. Follow her on Instagram and Post on Food Facebook. She can be reached by email at lbalmaseda@pbpost.com. 

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Best Thanksgiving pies, restaurants plus Oprah's local 'Favorite'