Best restaurants: Steakhouse scene expands. Mofongo magic. Final days of dining deals.
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Who else is eager to say farewell to summer and its bouts of swelter? Fall comes Saturday, and I’ll take that as a reason to hope for something that resembles crisp air. We’ll see. What we do know is that the new month ushers in the local harvest season, which means green markets, farm dinners and fresh reasons to eat your veggies.
Foodie events pop up on the calendar. The restaurant scene takes on renewed energy. And on our best fall days, the al fresco views are lovely enough to distract those who wish for reddish autumn leaves.
There’s plenty that’s cooking in the early days of fall across Palm Beach County. Here are a few places and events to check out.
The growing steakhouse scene
Meat Market’s debut. A spacious, new Meat Market steakhouse opens soon in Boca Raton, and it promises to bring a “sexy Halston vibe” to the Midtown area. This week, I wrote all about the new restaurant, which is related to Meat Market Palm Beach. Here’s this week’s story!
The steakhouse is taking dinner reservations for its early October opening. Meat Market Boca is at 2000 NW 19th St.
Gallaghers’ great, new lunch. A half-mile north of Meat Market Boca is the 3-month-old Gallaghers Steakhouse, an outpost of New York’s legendary Gallaghers. Now settled into its Boca digs, the steakhouse just added lunch service to its daily hours.
There’s a well-varied, a la carte menu offering everything from Porterhouse steaks to prime rib sandwiches to grilled salmon salads. But the three-course lunch special is the way to go: you get a choice of appetizer, main course and dessert for $34 per person. So one could have a steakhouse-level wedge salad, sliced filet mignon with roasted potatoes and mushrooms in red wine sauce, plus New York-style cheesecake for less than $35.
Reservations can be made via OpenTable.com. Gallaghers is at 2006 NW Executive Center Circle in Boca Raton.
ICYMI. West Palm Beach’s iconic Okeechobee Steakhouse was recently named among the “most legendary” steakhouses in the South by Southern Living magazine. Check out our story here!
Mofongo!
Saturday is the day to celebrate Puerto Rico’s favorite green-plantain mash. Sept. 24 is National Mofongo Day, which always brings me joy. Not that I need a holiday reason to dive into a mound of earthy, chicharrón-studded mofongo. But I do love that it gets its own day on the food calendar, all thanks to Miami star chef José Mendín (Pubbelly Sushi), who founded the holiday in 2021.
Where to mofongo? Here are my two local favorite spots.
La Cosinita Latina — Find authentic Puerto Rican dishes at this cozy Palm Springs restaurant, where owner Max Lucena offers at least 10 varieties of mofongo. I love the mofongo with large, creole-sauced shrimp.
The mofongo here is also Guy Fieri-approved. Earlier this year, La Cosinita was one of four local restaurants visited by his Food Network “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” series. La Cosinita is at 2480 S. Congress Ave., Palm Springs, 561-345-2382.
La Casa del Mofongo — Earlier this year, I had a terrific mofongo lunch at this Dominican-owned, strip-plaza restaurant, which offers about two dozen, dramatically presented mofongo dishes. I loved the mofongo served with chicharrón de pollo, deep-fried, bone-in chicken chunks. La Casa del Mofongo is at 6108 S. Dixie Hwy, West Palm Beach, 561-557-5367.
Final week for Flavor, Delray deals
You still have a few days to snap up the prix-fixe deals offered by Flavor Palm Beach and Downtown Delray Restaurant Month. Both dining promotions end Sept. 30.
Here are five fancy places to find Flavor Palm Beach menus.
Here are eight good dinner deals to enjoy during Delray’s Restaurant Month.
Have a delicious weekend!
Liz Balmaseda
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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 restaurants: New steakhouse in Boca. Guy Fieri-approved mofongo.
