Best food news: New restaurants. Curry classes. Favorite summer bite.

When I think of the dishes I’ve enjoyed most this summer, the zippy flavors of a particular mint-cilantro dipping sauce come to mind. This vibrant green dip accompanied a fish pakora appetizer I enjoyed at chef Pushkar Marathe’s Ela Curry Kitchen restaurant on a recent night.

Large cubes of marinated local fish (mahi mahi that night) are dipped in a rice-chickpea-flour batter and flash fried. They’re served as an appetizer with lime and the green sauce ($17). They’re shareable, gluten-free and the perfect little bite.

The spice-building techniques Marathe employs in his dishes at his Palm Beach Gardens restaurants, Ela and Stage Kitchen, speak to his travels across his native India and his love for South Florida-grown ingredients. I’ve always wanted to replicate some of those flavors at home — but where does one even start? One way:

Take a cooking class at Ela restaurant in Palm Beach Gardens

Marathe, one of the five Palm Beach County chefs to earn a spot on this year’s semifinals list for a James Beard Award, led a kitchen-counter cooking class at Ela in June. (In attendance was foodie celebrity and Palm Beach resident Daphne Oz, who shared her class experiences with her 829K Instagram followers.)

Marathe will host two other classes in August, at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday the 13th and Monday the 14th.

The demonstration-style classes offer a front-row view of the chef’s cooking process. They also include a three-course lunch with pairings, recipes and other “take-away goodies”, as the class description says. Classes cost $200 per person, including tax and tip. To reserve a spot, visit Ela’s reservations page on OpenTable.com.

Ela Curry Kitchen: 4650 Donald Ross Rd., Palm Beach Gardens, 561-345-2196

Palm Beach County chefs headed to the Big Apple

New York City is about to get a taste of Palm Beach County. Five of the county’s finest chefs will headline a series of dining events later this month at the James Beard Foundation’s Platform venue on the Hudson River.

The “Taste of The Palm Beaches” series, presented by the county’s Discover The Palm Beaches tourism-marketing entity, kicks off July 27 with a dinner by Jeremy Ford, the Michelin-starred chef whose Butcher’s Club steakhouse is at PGA National. The following night, it’s Pushkar Marathe’s turn to cook dinner inspired by his Stage and Ela restaurants.

At lunch on July 29, chef Tim Lipman offers a taste of his Coolinary restaurant. That night, chef Clay Conley showcases a Buccan-inspired menu at dinner. And at midday on July 30, chef Lindsay Autry of The Regional makes a Southern-style brunch.

In a press statement, Discover The Palm Beaches president and CEO Jorge Pesquera described the chefs as “an important ingredient of our tourism economy” and “a calling card” to attract new visitors to the county.

Tickets for those events, which range in price from $95 to $200, are sold online at PlatformbyJBF.org/events. Menus for each event are posted as well. The Platform event space, which showcases star and rising-star chefs from across the country, is at Pier 57.

Speaking of Discover The Palm Beaches…

Farewell, Palm Beaches Restaurant Month

After a two-year run, the county’s tourism arm has called off its Palm Beaches Restaurant Month promotion this year. The program, which included summer dining deals, prix-fixe menus and other specials at local restaurants, began as a two-week promotion in August 2021. It expanded to a full month last year, enlisting more than 130 participating restaurants.

Discover The Palm Beaches also sunset its Spatober promotion, which offered spa discounts during October. The agency says it will support the county's culinary scene in other ways.

Heather Andrews, assistant vice president for community engagement at the tourism-marketing office, says “new and innovative programs” — such as the upcoming chef appearances at the James Beard Foundation’s Platform in New York — will be a new focus.

The Palm Beaches Restaurant Month is not to be confused with Flavor Palm Beach, the more established, county-wide dining program. That promotion will return Sept. 1 and run through Sept. 30. I'll have more details once the participating restaurants and their menu deals have been finalized.

New restaurants in Palm Beach County to know about

There’s a batch of restaurant openings to put on your GPS. Let’s catch up!

◾ New York’s storied Gallaghers Steakhouse, founded in 1927, will open a location in Boca Raton in the coming days. Here is the story I wrote about the new outpost.

◾ New Haven’s pioneering Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, founded in 1925, recently opened a Delray Beach location. You can read all about it in this week’s story.

◾ There’s a new Tex-Mex restaurant on the Delray Beach waterfront. Here’s the story my colleague Eddie Ritz wrote about Del Fuego.

◾ There’s a new halal-Mex taquería opening today in Wellington. My colleague Valentina Palm wrote about the best friends who brought the fast-casual restaurant to life. Here’s Valentina's story.

In chain restaurant news…

Pei Wei Asian Kitchen just opened a location at the Mainstreet at Midtown plaza in Palm Beach Gardens. The national fast-casual brand, once part of the PF Chang’s restaurant family, made its Gardens debut in the former Anzo space at the plaza. The chain also has outposts in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach. The new Pei Wei is at 4747 PGA Blvd.

While we’re on PGA Boulevard, here’s our most recent dining-corridor guide for Palm Beach Gardens’ main drag.

Goodbye Grub: Lake Worth Beach’s Cana Bar & Grill has closed after just six months in business. Eddie Ritz tells us why the Caribbean-themed restaurant, which was two years in the making, shut its doors.

Happy Bastille Day!

If there’s any day of the year to take an imaginary trip to Paris, it’s today, Bastille Day. France’s fête nationale marks the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison in the early months of the French Revolution. A local favorite spot for toasting to the occasion is Pistache, downtown West Palm Beach’s favorite French bistro.

In years past, the restaurant’s revelry would spill into the streets. Things are more subdued these days, though there will be live music this weekend. Pistache also is offering Bastille Day weekend a la carte specials through Sunday.

Holiday menu highlights: coq au vin ($42), bouillabaisse ($46), lamb shank for two ($78), branzino for two (market price) and summer truffle pasta with porcini cream ($32).

I wrote about the Bastille Day options at Palm Beach hot spot La Goulue and Boca Raton bistro Chez Marie in last week’s column. You can read about those specials here.

Pistache: 101 N. Clematis St., West Palm Beach, 561-833-5090, PistacheWPB.com

Have a delicious weekend!

Liz Balmaseda

Hungry for more restaurant news?

Here's how to stay up-to-date with your local dining scene: follow our food & dining writer, Liz Balmaseda on Twitter @LizBalmaseda, Instagram at @silkpalm or sign up for our free weekly foodie newsletter, At the Table.

Read recent columns by Liz Balmaseda

◾ Summer food happenings to put on your radar

◾ A Caprese salad to love and other cool treats

◾ NY restaurants arrive — again. Prix-fixe perks. Saturday brunching.

◾ Finding authentic Mexican food in Palm Beach County

◾ A porchetta sandwich that spirits you to Italy

◾ The joy of new treats at old neighborhood favorites

◾ From ribs to rotis, Black-owned restaurant favorites to savor

◾ Meet the 'Oscars of Food’ contenders in the 561.

Liz Balmaseda is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network. She covers the local food and dining beat. Follow her on Instagram and on Threads @Silkpalm and Post on Food Facebook. She can be reached by email at lbalmaseda@pbpost.com. 

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Best food: New restaurants in Palm Beach Gardens, Boca, Delray pizza