Liz BalmasedaPalm Beach Post
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If you’re in the mood to stroll and nosh outdoors, drink in hand, let me tell you about two local culinary events happening Saturday. One is a local-favorite festival that’s perhaps the most dog-friendly culinary event in the county. The other is a new street fair that honors the nuances of Asian cultures.
Both events offer multiple chef stations, interesting bites and opportunities to learn about different cuisines.
Also this week, downtown West Palm Beach’s favorite French bistro celebrates a big birthday and another local favorite adds booze to the menu for the first time in nearly 50 years.
Let’s start our noshing in Jupiter.
A food fest that loves Jupiter’s dog beach
Expect a nice range of bites and drinks from more than 40 local restaurants at the annual Friends of Jupiter Beach Food and Wine Festival Saturday afternoon. The fest, which benefits Jupiter’s dog-friendly beach, returns to the Plaza Down Under, a covered area on Jupiter’s Riverwalk.
What’s to eat? Bites from local favorites such as Coolinary and The Parched Pig, Café Chardonnay, Lynora’s, Lewis Steakhouse, Mood vegan restaurant, the new Jupiter Grill, Seminole Reef Grill and other hot spots.
VIP ticket-holders get access to a drink bar by Brick and Barrel pub, tastings by Little Moir’s Food Shack and food-and-wine pairings by The Cooper and The Vine Post.
When and where: Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Plaza Down Under (Riverwalk), under the Indiantown Road bridge in Jupiter. It’s just south of Harbourside Place, off U.S. Hwy 1. (Here’s the Google map.)
Tickets: $65 for general admission, $115 for VIP area. Tickets are sold online at FriendsofJupiterBeach.org.
Asian Street Fair in West Palm Beach
When wagyu expert Eric San Pedro opened Palm Beach Meats in the summer of 2021, one of his goals was to find a way to tap into his Filipino heritage via culinary events. This weekend, he’ll broaden that scope at the wagyu market and pop-up venue.
To celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, San Pedro has invited a group of fellow Asian-American chefs to make dishes representing their cultures.
Headlining Palm Beach Meats’ Asian Street Fair is Nicole Ponseca, Filipina restaurateur, author and James Beard Award finalist. She will team up with Palm Beach Meats executive chef Emerson Frisbie to make Filipino-inspired wagyu sisig tacos with a modern twist.
They will be joined by:
Vietnamese siblings Manh and Thanh Trac of the family-run Yen’s Kitchen in suburban Lake Worth. They will offer a lotus root salad with pickled daikon, fresh herbs, sweet chili sauce and a choice of pork or shrimp.
Myanmar-born catering chef May Aungthet of Ahmay’s Cuisine will honor her native cuisine with her dish. She’ll make Burmese crispy mashed potato cutlets stuffed with curried wagyu and caramelized onions.
Japanese chef Takeshi Kamioka of Fort Lauderdale’s Kaminari Ramen food truck will bring one of his childhood-favorite bites — pork gyoza.
And bringing the flavors of Cambodia will be Sotharith “Bee” Chhim, who will prepare Cambodian beef satay with papaya-carrot salad.
More about Yen's Kitchen: Vietnamese restaurant tells family’s immigrant story
Add to that sake flights and live performances by Chinese and Polynesian cultural groups. And a range of Asian crafts, snacks and other goods will be for sale at the market.
When and where: Saturday from 4 to 9 p.m. at Palm Beach Meats, 4812 S. Dixie Hwy, West Palm Beach, 561-623-7471.
Tickets: $60, sold online at Eventbrite.com ($70.48 with fees).
Big birthday for Pistache
Perched on Clematis Street within steps of the downtown West Palm Beach waterfront, Pistache restaurant has had a front row view to a rapidly changing city since 2008. On Wednesday, May 24, downtown’s favorite French bistro celebrates its 15th birthday by bringing back its legacy chefs for a rare collaboration.
The evening brings together Pistache’s founding chef Julien Gremaud (now of Avocado Grill, Avocado Cantina and the upcoming Pink Steak), the bistro’s longtime chef Isaac Cerny and its current chef de cuisine Mike Burgio.
The night’s special a la carte menu will feature Gremaud’s yellowfin tuna carpaccio appetizer with seared foie gras, hazelnuts and pomme allumettes ($29) and his lobster risotto with fennel confit, tarragon and fava beans ($52).
Cerny, who worked at Pistache from 2011 to 2021, will offer a blue crab-stuffed mezzelune appetizer with sweet corn, bell pepper, roasted poblano and lemon gremolata ($29) and a Provençal-style, herb-crusted lamb main plate ($54).
Burgio, who joined the bistro in 2021, is making a crispy pork belly and smoked grits appetizer with caramelized fennel, vanilla poached peach and agrodolce sauce ($24) as well as a cocoa-braised short rib main dish with chestnut puree, salsify and summer truffle ($60). Adding to the festivities will be local-star DJ Adam Lipson.
Dinner will be served from 5:30 p.m. Reservations are strongly suggested and can be made online at PistacheWPB.com or by calling 561-833-5090.
Pistache: 101 N. Clematis St., West Palm Beach, 561-833-5090
Last call for bagels
Delray Beach’s Brighton Beach Bagel and Bakery announced its closing via social media last week. If you’re a fan of the bagel shop, your last day to visit is Saturday, May 20.
According to the announcement, the closing is “due to circ*mstances out of [management’s] control”.
“We are eternally grateful for the incredible 7 years we have spent together in this space. We want to thank our loyal guests who have always supported our business and have truly become part of our lives,” read the Facebook post. “Please come by for a hug and a shmear if you’re in town.”
The eatery’s “Brighton Seafood Nights” component, held Tuesday through Saturday from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., may be coming to a location near the bagel shop, according to a subsequent announcement.
Brighton Beach Bagel and Bakery: 14587 S. Military Tr., Delray Beach, 561-270-3771
Boozy news from John G’s
The owners of John G’s Restaurant, the iconic breakfast-and-lunch spot founded nearly 50 years ago, made a historic menu change at the start of May: They added beer and wine.
“This is the first time in 49 years that we can offer these options, and we're excited to provide an even more complete experience to our customers,” the restaurant’s owners announced via social media.
The Manalapan restaurant, which moved from its original location at the Lake Worth Beach Casino building to its present space in 2011, was sold to new owners (along with the original recipes) in 2019.
In addition to beer and wine, the new, focused drinks menu lists various mimosas such as lychee, cranberry and orange juice mimosas ($8.95 and $9.95 a glass). The small selection of wines and Champagne includes wines by the glass and bottle.
John G’s Restaurant: 264 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan, 561-585-9860
Did you miss the week's top food stories?
Here ya go!
A music-loving restaurant goes from former CityPlace to ‘CityPlace of the West’
These restaurant deals can be yours, but there's a catch. You have to be nice.
This popular Jupiter café is about to open another location in the Gardens.
Remember that traffic-stopping fried chicken chain? It's opening a new location.
This new waterfront restaurant just opened in Jupiter.
Now that you're caught up, have a delicious weekend!
Liz Balmaseda
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Liz Balmasedais a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist forThe Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network. She covers the local food and diningbeat. Follow heronInstagramandPost on Food Facebook. She can be reached by email atlbalmaseda@pbpost.com.
