News for foodies: Have a doughnut. Do dinner and a show. Follow the rainbow to good eats.
Have a doughnut. Do dinner and a show. Follow the rainbow to good eats.
When I think of restaurants with heartbeats, I think of places driven by family and good friends and great love stories. A few come to mind now in the early days of Pride Month, when we celebrate the contributions of America’s LGBTQ+ communities.
I can think of various LGBTQ+-owned restaurants that are not only driven by great love stories but good cooking as well. They are worthy of our attention year-round. If you haven’t visited them, catch them when they glow proudly in June.
Table 26
Behold the stylish, welcoming restaurant built by Ozzie Medeiros and Eddie Schmidt. Their love story spans 27 years. It powers Table 26’s focus on hospitality. The married couple has kept that focus a consistent one at the restaurant they opened in 2012.
What to try there this summer: Go for the T26 Signature Cheeseburger by executive chef Martha Encarnacion. It’s beautifully stacked and the smoked pepper aioli adds a dreamy touch.
Table 26: 1700 S. Dixie Hwy, West Palm Beach, 561-855-2660
Pizza Girls
Partners in all things life and hand-tossed pizza, Phoebe Reckseit and Jennifer Morales have been together since 1991. Together, they created one of the county’s most iconic pizzerias, first in downtown West Palm Beach, later in Palm Beach Gardens.
They’ve kept the flame alive even after closing the long-standing Clematis Street location in August 2020. These days, their Pizza Girls story is told in a Gardens strip plaza, where a mural reflects their adventures and dreams. “The rest is herstory,” it proclaims.
What to try there this summer: Pizza, of course! If you’re sharing with a group (or want leftovers), try the 16-inch, square Sicilian pie with your choice of toppings. The dough is proofed for 24 hours and twice-baked to achieve a crisp-bottom, fluffy pizza.
Pizza Girls: 10965 N. Military Trail. (in the Garden Square Shoppes by PGA Boulevard), Palm Beach Gardens, 561-812-2400
Chunkay
Welcome to Riviera Beach’s home for Trinidadian roti and doubles, an eatery and takeout shop that’s owned and operated by chef Wendy Tilkaran and her wife/business partner Evita Thomas. They first opened the shop in late 2020 but moved it to its present location in May 2021.
A former cop with the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, Wendy followed her love and their shared culinary passion to South Florida in the spring of 2019. It turned out to be a lucky decision not only for her and Evita, but also for those of us who love authentic Trinidadian soul cooking in Palm Beach County.
What to try there this summer: The rotis! Chef Wendy fills the soft, grilled, hand-clapped flatbreads with curried meats and veggies. Pair them with aromatic Trini-style sorrel juice for the full Chunkay experience.
Chunkay: 8344 Garden Road, Riviera Beach, 561-473-3710
Malakor Thai Café
Artist Billy Manthy and chef Noopy Areerak opened this charming Thai restaurant 11 years ago. It has been a go-to, neighborhood favorite in Northwood Village ever since.
The married couple continues to draw inspiration from their travels in Thailand, where they remarried earlier this year in a traditional Thai ceremony.
What to try there this summer: The Malakor Salad. It combines freshly shredded green papaya, peanuts, tomatoes, green beans, garlic, chili, lime juice and palm sugar and tops it with tempura shrimp. It’s the restaurant’s star dish, in my book. Then again, Malakor means papaya in Thai.
Malakor Thai Café: 425 25th St. in Northwood Village, West Palm Beach, 561-762-9070
Happy National Donut Day
Look away, keto devotees. Today, National Donut Day, is all about fried dough that’s loaded with sugar. For those who do indulge, here’s a couple of related bits to know about today.
For the traditionalists: You can get a free Dunkin’ doughnut today when you buy a drink.
For the adventurous: Go the doughnuts-and-beer route at Copperpoint Brewing Company. The Boynton Beach brewery has created four doughnut-inspired beers to pair from freshly made doughnuts from the TMI comfort-food truck. The pairing adventure goes from 4 to 10 p.m. tonight.
Also, here are some expected and unexpected places to find decadent local doughnuts, plus news of The Salty Donut's upcoming pop-ups at The Square.
In El Camino news...
Delray Beach’s popular El Camino taquería has announced grand opening weekend dates for its new downtown West Palm Beach location at The Square plaza: July 1 through 4.
El Camino will serve lunch, dinner, weekend brunch and two kinds of daily happy hours (late afternoon and late-night).
Expect a complete transformation of the former Brother Jimmy’s second-floor space. It’s the biggest El Camino location so far. (The brand has locations in Delray and Fort Lauderdale and one on the horizon in Boca Raton.)
El Camino co-founder Brian Albe told me recently the space was “gutted to the studs” to make way for the vibrant taquería.
“We’re super excited that downtown West Palm is growing so quickly,” he told me. “We see this as a good opportunity for us to grow. It's the natural next step for us.”
El Camino: Opens July 1 at The Square, 700 S. Rosemary Ave., West Palm Beach
Dinner and a Show
Headed to the Tito Puente Jr. show at the Arts Garage in Delray Beach tonight or Saturday night? The Latin jazz star takes inspiration from his late great father, the legendary timbalero Tito Puente, and works hard to keep the bandleader’s memory alive. Like his papa, Tito Jr.’s music will make you want to mambo. (You can buy tickets here for either show.)
Fuel up for the electric performance with some delicious bar snacks at Papa’s Tapas, which is within walking distance. The full menu is tempting, but I prefer to order an array of tapas for sharing: croquetas, empanadas, mini “Cubanito” sandwiches, maybe a batch of tostones. And I love the legit, house-made sangria for pairing with the bites.
What does a Spanish restaurant have to do with a Puerto Rican music star? The menu at Papa’s Tapas has plenty of Caribbean flavor. Papa may be from Spain, but Mama hails from the Dominican Republic.
Papa’s Tapas: 259 NE 2nd Ave. in Pineapple Grove, Delray Beach, 561-266-0599
Arts Garage: 94 NE 2nd Ave. in Pineapple Grove, Delray Beach, 561-450-6357
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Have a delicious weekend!
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Newsletter: Have a donut. Do dinner and a show. Follow the rainbow.
