At the Table newsletter: Dessert for dinner. Oyster Day bites. Plus, low-country eats.
Oyster Day bites. Dessert for dinner. And a Carolina low-country boil.
This seems to be the week for quick, non-fussy bites. At least it is in my corner of the world. I’ve been living on improvised lunch salads of crisp veggies scattered with almonds, apples and chickpeas, easy stir-fry dishes at dinner, arroz con pollo inspired by Italian market rotisserie chicken and the broth I made with its bones. Oh, and earlier this week I had some tasty pork tamales at a friend’s house, and was reminded that tamales not only freeze well, they’re affordable, simple to heat up and decadent.
As for the dining news on my figurative plate, there are quick bites to be found there as well. Welcome to this week’s smorgasbord.
Oyster Day: Here’s where to slurp it up
Happy National Oyster Day today to those who can’t get enough of oysters, whether they are raw on the half-shell, char-grilled, Rockefeller-ed out or battered and fried in a po’ boy. These spots are celebrating the day.
Stage Kitchen – Palm Beach Gardens’ favorite Indian-inspired restaurant is pouring $10 glasses of Pommery Champagne when you order raw or grilled oysters today. Stage serves its raw oysters with a truffle, turmeric and yuzu mignonette. As for the grilled oysters, they’re cooked with chorizo butter, crusted with herbed panko crumbs and served with grilled lemon.
2000 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens, 561-408-3685
Fern Street Wine Bar – This artsy wine bar and restaurant in downtown West Palm extends its BOGO-oyster happy hour tonight. Find the special on the mural-splashed patio terrace from 5 to 10 p.m.
501 Fern St., Suite 104, West Palm Beach, 561-629-4006
Corvina – The upscale, seafood-loving restaurant in south county offers oysters with classic cocktail sauce as well as ginger mignonette. A half-dozen charbroiled oysters cost $21. Served raw on the half-shell, they’re $22.
110 Plaza Real South, Boca Raton, 561-206-0066
Lucky Shuck Oyster Bar – How many raw oysters can you swallow in 90 seconds? Jupiter’s Lucky Shuck restaurant – part of the Charlie and Joe’s at Love Street dining complex – is hosting such a contest at 6:30 p.m. tonight.
Each of the 12 contestants starts with a tray of 36 oysters. If they finish before the allotted time, they’ll get an additional 12. First-place winner gets $200 cash and a $150 gift card to any of the four eateries at the Love Street complex. Sign-up for the oyster-eating contest opens at 5:30 p.m. Contest entry costs $20, and the money raised will support the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum. And, yes, you can season your oysters before the chow-down.
If you’d rather consume your oysters at leisure, Lucky Shuck serves them with a dazzling view of the Jupiter Lighthouse. A daily selection of East Coast oysters is offered at market price, with various mignonette and sauce options (including passion fruit-cucumber, freshly prepared horseradish and Creole rémoulade). There are hot, creative options as well, from grilled to roasted with tasso to fried and served with bourbon maple pork belly. Cooked oysters are priced at $18 for a half-dozen.
1116 Love St., Jupiter, 561-532-3331
Speaking of seafood…
How about a low-country boil by a North Carolina-native chef? Come on over, says Chef Lindsay Autry at The Regional Kitchen in West Palm Beach. Autry’s putting on a family-style feast next Wednesday night (Aug. 10) at her Southern-inspired restaurant.
Her low-country boil rendition ($32 per person, plus tax and tip) combines Florida clams, sweet corn, Key West pink shrimp, house-smoked sausage and potatoes in an Old Bay-scented broth. She serves it with drawn butter and cocktail sauce. Add a slice of Autry’s popular Atlantic Beach Pie (lemon curd, sea-salt cracker crust and whipped cream) for $9. Dinner service starts at 5:30 p.m.
651 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach, 561-557-6460
Just desserts!
What happens when two sweets-loving bakers team up for a pop-up dinner? They put on a five-course dessert feast. Local indie bakers Anna Ross (of Anna Bakes) and Caroline McGinley (of La Gringuita cookies) just announced their collaborative dinner, which takes place on Thursday, Aug. 25, at Palm Beach Meats’ pop-up space and costs $85 per person.
The menu reads like a sweet-tooth’s daydream. Dinner starts with homemade rosemary crackers with Brie, walnut-cranberry sauce and oatmeal cookie crumble. It continues with a lavender and white chocolate pot de crème, lemon zested shortbread and edible flowers. Then comes the “Summer Cheesecake,” a guava-swirled confection with mascarpone whipped cream on a graham cracker crust. The next course is an horchata-spiced peanut custard with candied peanuts and peanut butter gelato. The sweet finale is a s’mores tres leches with torched meringue and Belgian chocolate ganache.
At the event, sommelier Brett Hart will offer a full slate of wine pairings ($60). For those who wish to pair their dessert dinner with non-alcoholic sips, the pastry chefs will offer a selection of infused milks ($35) by Okeechobee’s Sutton Milk dairy farm.
The Aug. 25 dinner goes from 7 to 9 p.m. at 4812 S. Dixie Hwy, West Palm Beach. To purchase a ticket, visit AnnaBakesFl.com/shop.
More quick bites
Dining deals – The Palm Beaches Restaurant Month kicked off Monday. Tons of menus to browse on the promotional campaign’s online pages.
Carnivore collab – Call them the dynamic duo of Antique Row. Chefs Rick Mace (Tropical Smokehouse) and Clay Carnes (Cholo Soy) proved this week they are quite the headliners. Shortly after announcing their upcoming, collaborative pig roast, the Aug. 19 event at Tropical Smokehouse sold out at 100 tickets. You can credit the menu – pitmaster Mace’s Florida-inspired whole hog ‘cue with Southern fixings and Carnes’ Ecuadorian-style cookout classics. Or credit the nice price ($25 dinner, $10 beer pitchers from Copperpoint Brewery). But I think it was the local star-power. These chefs mastered careers in fine dining before pivoting to their own indie restaurants, where they cook from the heart. In the process, they’ve built neighborhood gems. Stay tuned for more possible collaborations.
Have a delicious weekend!
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Newsletter: Dessert for dinner, Oyster Day bites, and a low-country boil
