Best restaurants: Stone crabs arrive. Steakhouse hires top chef. Southern spot closes.
Consider today’s dining column a surf-and-turf. We’ve got stone crabs. We’ve got steakhouse news. We’ve got a rooftop bar serving both seafood and meats on its expanded menu. And there's a meaty, most memorable bite at a favorite restaurant that soon will close.
Let’s start by cracking some claws.
Stone crab season is here
Florida’s claw-harvesting season is less than a week old, and some local seafood markets and restaurants are stocked with fresh, meaty stone crabs.
Here are a few top seafood markets selling claws of various sizes.
If you prefer to enjoy your stone crabs served at a restaurant, here are a couple of options to put on your list.
Riggins Crabhouse in Lantana may be known for its Maryland-style seafood but the restaurant loves its Florida stone crabs as well.
“Check out our stone crab claws, with their sweet, mild flavor and unmatched tenderness!” reads a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page.
The claws, sold at daily market prices, are served on ice with mustard sauce for dipping.
◾ Riggins Crabhouse is at 607 Ridge Rd. in Lantana (561-586-3000).
1000 North restaurant in Jupiter will offer a selection of stone crabs on their new, seasonal menu, which launches Oct. 26.
You can order them by the piece as well as on any of the three dazzling seafood towers at the waterfront restaurant that’s partly owned by NBA superstar Michael Jordan. The towers boast anywhere from six to 24 oysters, four to 16 shrimp, a half Maine lobster to two lobsters and jumbo lump crab. The seafood towers and stone crabs are sold at daily market prices.
◾ 1000 North is at 1000 U.S. Hwy 1 in Jupiter (561-570-1000).
Baciami Italiano in Boynton Beach does an all-you-can-eat stone crab dinner on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
◾ Baciami is at 1415 Federal Hwy in Boynton Beach (561-810-5538).
Upcoming steakhouse in West Palm Beach: Pink Steak hires a chef
Chef/restaurateur Julien Gremaud (Avocado Grill, Avocado Cantina) has brought in a top local chef to lead the kitchen at his upcoming Pink Steak in West Palm Beach.
Gremaud tapped veteran chef Aaron Black for the job at the steakhouse he describes as a “playful” restaurant that will offer a healthier, less manly version of the traditional steakhouse model.
Black most recently worked as executive chef at Tequesta’s Josco Garden. His outstanding menu overhaul there was part of a renovation of the neighborhood restaurant’s concept and brand. He and his kitchen crew left the restaurant in early summer. (The restaurant has since closed, although its website says the closure is temporary. Stay tuned.)
Gremaud and Black go way back. They worked together at Pistache in downtown West Palm Beach when Gremaud was executive chef at the French bistro and Black was a sous chef. Later, when Gremaud served as opening chef for PB Catch seafood restaurant in Palm Beach, Black held a chef position there as well. He became that restaurant’s top chef after Gremaud left in 2013 to plan the opening of Avocado Grill.
“It’s really cool to reunite with him to see how much we’ve evolved during the past years,” Gremaud told me. “He’s an experienced chef with a lot of wisdom. People love working for him. He’s a gentle chef but he’s passionate.”
Gremaud hopes to open Pink Steak anywhere from late November to mid-December. In the meantime, Black will be based at Avocado Cantina in Palm Beach Gardens, working on Pink Steak menu development.
“I think we’ll be a great team,” said Gremaud.
◾ Pink Steak will be located at 2777 S. Dixie Hwy, just south of Belvedere Road, at The Shops at The Press in West Palm Beach.
Jupiter waterfront rooftop bar gets fancy
The Jupiter Inlet’s version of a rooftop bar, Topside, has dramatically expanded its menu at the Charlie and Joe’s at Love Street complex. The small-plates bar, which sits atop Beacon fine-dining restaurant, now offers Beacon’s full menu.
That means you can enjoy Beacon’s signature lobster bucatini, filet mignon, ahi tuna stack and other fancy dishes at Topside. That includes desserts by star pastry chef Jenniffer Woo.
Also new: Topside at the Beacon rolled out an a la carte Sunday brunch.
The 50-seat bar, which offers some of the best views of the Jupiter Lighthouse and its surrounding waters, is part of Love Street’s three-restaurant complex co-owned by football icon and area resident Joe Namath. Charlie and Joe’s at Love Street opened in February 2021.
Topside’s new expanded dinner menu by Beacon is served Wednesday through Sunday starting at 4:30 p.m. But fans of Topside’s small-plates menu can still order the bar’s original dishes.
As for Topside’s Sunday brunch, which is served from noon to 3 p.m., expect a decadent menu (hello, challah French toast with cinnamon-maple sugar) and half-price bottles of Champagne paired with orange, pineapple and cranberry juice flights.
◾ Topside is at Charlie and Joe’s at Love Street, 1116 Love St., Jupiter (561-532-3280).
The Regional’s final weekend
Last week, I reported the sad news that one of West Palm Beach’s centerpiece restaurants, The Regional, would soon close. Chef Lindsay Autry’s modern Southern restaurant, nationally acclaimed, will have its final dinner service Saturday night (Oct. 21).
I dined at the restaurant just days before Autry and business partner Thierry Beaud announced its closing. I was headed to the Kravis Center that night to see a Latin jazz concert and stopped in for a pre-show dinner. It would be one of the most memorable meals I’ve had this year.
I had planned to order Florida red snapper, which Autry serves with caramelized fennel, local tomatoes, sunflower seed risotto and grilled artichoke caponata, but I went for something more decadent, the Kurobuta pork loin Milanese, one of Autry’s personal favorite dishes.
She gives it a panko-Parmesan crust and tops it with a popping salad of shaved fennel, tender kale, thin slices of Honeycrisp apples, tossed in a Dijonnaise that’s sweetened with local honey.
When a chef loves a dish as much as Autry loves this one, you know it must be something special. And it is. It’s a soulful dish that not only feels good but elevates your palate. It’s outstanding in its flavor contrasts and integrity of elements. The salad doesn’t diminish the pork’s crispy texture and the pork doesn’t outshine the greens. It’s one perfect bite after another.
Just like this dish, The Regional has been built upon a chef’s passion for fine foods that feel good and elevate your taste buds’ expectations.
◾ The Regional will be open Friday, Oct. 20, and Saturday, Oct. 21, through the end of dinner service. The restaurant is at 651 Okeechobee Blvd. in West Palm Beach (561-557-6460).
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: Top stone crabs, The Regional closes; new steakhouse
