At the Table newsletter: Make Mexican tortillas. Have a rooftop drink. Try karaoke after your omakase. Sip soup for the soul.
Make Mexican tortillas. Have a rooftop drink. Try karaoke after your omakase. Sip soup for the soul.
¡Hola, hola! Happy Hispanic Heritage Month to you. The month, which kicked off Thursday and runs through Oct. 15, celebrates the contributions and diverse cultures of families with roots in the Spanish-speaking world.
Not as simple to describe as a Taco Tuesday special. But, yes, some of our most inviting Latino stories involve food.
In Delray Beach, chef Aurora García Ramos reconnects to her Mexican roots each time she grinds alkalized corn for rustic tortillas on the granite metate (mealing stone) she inherited from her grandmother. You may have sampled Aurora’s authentic tamales at the Saturday Delray Beach GreenMarket, which returns for season in October. Born and raised in Puebla state, she’s as much a chef as she is a teacher of Mexico’s complex food traditions.
If you’d like to learn how to make some of her traditional recipes, you may be interested in the hands-on class she’s teaching tomorrow morning (Sept. 17) in downtown Lake Worth Beach. She’ll show you how to make corn tortillas and tacos dorados (crispy tacos).
The outdoor class will go from 10 a.m. to noon at the Tiger Territory Urban Forest, 706 8th Ave. N. Class tickets, which cost $25 and include “all you can eat” bites, can be reserved online at this link.
Soul soup Saturday
The beloved “Empty Bowls” event will make a rare visit to north county Saturday (Sept. 17, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.), thanks to a partnership between the Downtown Palm Beach Gardens plaza and the Palm Beach County Food Bank, which benefits from the ticket sales.
If you’ve never been to an Empty Bowls event, think of it as a buffet-style lineup of tasty soups made by local restaurants and chefs. Saturday’s soup-makers include chefs from The Breakers Palm Beach, Jupiter’s Lucky Shuck, The Cooper and Café Chardonnay on PGA Boulevard, and Downtown PBG plaza mates Avocado Cantina and Yard House, among others.
The one-bowl ticket ($30 for one ticket, $85 for three tickets) buys you unlimited samples of soup, Old School Bakery bread, a take-home ceramic bowl to fill with a cup of your choice of soup, a bottle of water and a cookie baked by Prosecco Café. A VIP ticket ($50) buys you all the above, plus gourmet appetizers, a choice of drink (boozy included) and access to a VIP area.
If you’d like to reserve tickets, you can do so at this link. The event check-in will be set up at the plaza’s southern end, between Voodoo Bayou and Yard House restaurants.
The Downtown Palm Beach Gardens plaza is at 11701 Lake Victoria Gardens Ave.
Speaking of that plaza…
Brewing soon in the Gardens
The West Palm Beach-founded Subculture Coffee will bring its caffeinated love to the Downtown Palm Beach Gardens plaza. It will make its debut next door to Voodoo Bayou, near Whole Foods. It is the fourth location for the small family of coffee shops owned by restaurateur Rodney Mayo.
The newly announced opening date for the new Gardens spot is Sept. 28.
Subculture Coffee at Downtown Palm Beach Gardens: 11701 Lake Victoria Gardens Ave.
Speaking of concepts by Rodney Mayo…
Kapow’s big, new digs
It may not be news that Kapow Noodle Bar is having a debut today at Mizner Park in Boca Raton. The Southeast Asian-inspired pub, part of the Rodney Mayo-led Sub-Culture Group, has been a plaza tenant since 2011.
What is news, however, is that Kapow has moved into a big, new space that allows for twice as many customers as its former home. What to do with all that square footage (5,175 square feet)? Add three private karaoke rooms, an indoor-outdoor bar, an omakase counter for a Japanese-style “chef’s choice” dining experience, plus expanded al fresco seating.
Also expanded is Kapow’s menu. New dishes include grilled oysters with kimchi butter, Korean Wagyu beef tartare, spicy red oil dumplings, king prawn banh mi, carrot dumplings with bamboo shoots and Cantonese ginger-scallion lobster. Popular dishes like Kapow’s Peking duck are still on the menu.
The new menu items are a response to a market that’s become more sophisticated in its tastes, says Mayo.
“For over a decade, Kapow built a cult-like following with a truly great menu. But during that time, diner's palates have grown along with their desire and openness to try more authentic Asian flavors,” Mayo said in a news release. “We will add new ingredients and apply them differently so that the flavors really pop.”
Also coming to Mizner Park...
Mayo and his partners have other plans for the plaza. The group hopes to open Penelope, a New Orleans-inspired restaurant, in the former Kapow space early next year. In the fall of next year, they have plans to open Shaker and Pie, an Italian trattoria, in the former Dubliner space.
Kapow Boca Raton is at 402 Plaza Real in Mizner Park, 561-567-8828, KapowNoodleBar.com
World’s best rooftop bars?
A U.K.-based signage company recently ranked 200 of the “world’s best rooftop” bars, basing its findings on a mix of social media shares and a few other factors. Long story short, Mandoe Media’s shortlist includes a Jacksonville rooftop bar called Hoptinger Bier Garden and Sausage House.
Located a couple of blocks from the St. Johns River, the bar landed at the No. 9 spot for overall best rooftop bar, sharing the top-10 list with bars in cities that include Barcelona, Bangkok and Istanbul. And Hoptinger topped the list of the most affordable rooftop bars in the world.
The list reminded me of our own batch of rooftop bars and the splendid views they offer. You can check out our list here.
Have a delicious weekend!
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Newsletter: Make tortillas. Have rooftop drinks. Try omakase. Sip soup!
