At the Table newsletter: Mardi Gras flavors, fun coming right up
Mardi Gras flavors and fun coming right up
Mardi Gras arrives Tuesday in all its purple-green-and-gold splendor, and you’ll find echoes of it 800 miles from Bourbon Street -- in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. That’s where Voodoo Bayou’s Fat Tuesday party will kick off at noon with live music from blues band JP Soars and the Red Hots, who are on till 4 p.m.
On the Mardi Gras menu: $9 Hurricane cocktails and other jazzy sips and a live crawfish boil ($15.95 per pound until supplies last). In truth, the restaurant’s regular menu is a tasty homage to New Orleans, so if you prefer gumbo or jambalaya, go for it.
Evening festivities include a live performance by Mister Trombone Wayne & the MTE Band and photo booth fun. For reservations, call 561-888-6703.
Voodoo Bayou: 11701 Lake Victoria Gardens Ave., at Downtown Palm Beach Gardens plaza, VoodooBayou.com
More Fat Tuesday-ing
At Lucky Shuck on the Jupiter Inlet, the New Orleans-themed flavors will be extended beyond Fat Tuesday and through March 13, rum-soaked Hurricanes ($13) and all.
The celebratory dishes: An all-out Louisiana crawfish boil swimming with Key West pink shrimp, Prince Edward Island mussels and andouille sausage ($54), and a spiny lobster jambalaya ($42) with dirty rice and Creole sauce. (The seafood-centric, waterfront eatery also offers a crawfish gumbo, at $10, and a crispy Cajun shrimp po’boy, at $19, on its regular menu.) For dessert, there's a fun king cake rendition by Jenniffer Woo, Lucky Shuck's executive pastry chef. She crowns the mini cake with festive swirls and sprinkles and adorns it with the traditional Mardi Gras baby.
Lucky Shuck: In the Charlie and Joe’s at Love Street complex, 1116 Love St., Jupiter, 561-532-3331, LuckyShuckJupiter.com
On the king cake topic: If you’d like to make your own, check out our tutorial and recipe story here.
Good bites on PGA Boulevard
You don’t have to be a golf fan to feel the rush of the Honda Classic. And I mean rush as in the rush-hour-like traffic crawling through Palm Beach Gardens this week. The buzzy tournament, which kicked off at the PGA National Resort Monday and runs through Sunday, brings to mind the perennial dining-beat question: Where to go for a bite or drink on PGA Boulevard? I did my best to answer that question in this year’s PGA corridor dining guide.
The Honda Classic may not be fully to blame for the area’s traffic. Season is still in full swing. Just last Tuesday – Tuesday! – I watched an early dinner crowd fill the dining room and patio at chef Pushkar Marathe’s Stage Kitchen on the eastern edge of PGA Boulevard. The kitchen bustled and servers darted about between tables at a Saturday-night pace.
Last week, I saw a similar bustle at the new Cactus Grille in northern Palm Beach Gardens, where tables seem to fill up quickly. It was a Wednesday night. All promising signs, I hope, that the local dining world is springing back to life.
SoBe returns at full capacity
Speaking of traffic and buzz, the South Beach Wine and Food Festival kicked off last night in Miami Beach. After last year’s delayed start at dramatically reduced capacity, the 21-year-old fest, which runs through Sunday, returned at full speed. Events this year include a special tribute to Food Network celebrity chef Guy Fieri, particularly for his pandemic-era support of restaurants and their workers.
A delegation of gifted Palm Beach County chefs are headed to the fest as well. Taking part in the sold-out “Best of the Best” event at the Fontainebleau resort tonight (Friday) are chefs Lindsay Autry (The Regional), Clay Conley (Buccan), Pushkar Marathe (Stage) and Jeremy Ford (The Butcher’s Club at PGA National).
Unlike in recent years, there will be no SoBe events in Palm Beach County this year. But festival director Lee Schrager tells me the fest will return to the 561 next year, “for sure next year.”
Race is on for the ‘Oscars of food’
Speaking of gifted chefs with restaurants in Palm Beach County, two of those mentioned above got some great news this week from the James Beard Foundation. Clay Conley and Jeremy Ford made the semifinals list for a coveted James Beard Award for best chef in the South. Congrats to both!
Have a delicious weekend!
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Newsletter: Mardi Gras flavors, fun coming right up
