Restaurant review: New American menu with Southern drawl features fresh, local ingredients

Lucie Regensdorf
·3 min read

For no particular reason, it had been a while since I had dined at District Table & Bar in Stuart. Then recently, while making plans for dinner with our friends, we remembered this great spot and made reservations.

We parked in the back and walked around past a circle of orange Adirondack chairs surrounding a fire pit. A pour-painted pig greets you near the door, where several tables with black slat-back chairs beckon you to al fresco dining.

District Table & Bar is in what was a bank building. The large open space has an industrial/glam vibe with wood-tone floors, lots of twinkly lights and brick walls. One large wall highlights black and white art and sconces above a long, tufted leather banquette. White-topped tables are set simply with grey and white linen napkins.

All things food: New restaurants, reviews, inspections & best bets

At District Table & Bar in Hobe Sound, the large, open dining area overlooking the open kitchen has an industrial-glam vibe.
At District Table & Bar in Hobe Sound, the large, open dining area overlooking the open kitchen has an industrial-glam vibe.

One of the first things you notice in the space is the large bar, where instead of making withdrawals or deposits, you can imbibe on your favorite adult beverage while chatting with the bank tellers — I mean bartenders.

The hostess smiled and ushered us into the old gray brick bank vault. We wondered if we were being hidden from view, but satisfied ourselves that we were all dressed appropriately and found that we liked it there. It was somewhat dark, but wall sconces were turned up at our request and there is a double glass door that opens into a small courtyard which made the space even more interesting. It was definitely quieter in the vault than in the main dining area. We noticed there were no safe deposit boxes or stashes of gold bullion, but we were handed a menu.

The menu is inventive, fun, locally sourced and seasonally driven. The expertise of our waiter, Matt, helped us choose two snacks. Belle Glade street corn ($9) was fresh sweet corn, off the cob and prepared with crumbled Cotija cheese, aioli, pickled chili and lime. It was outstanding. Chicken Liver Buttah ($14) had slices of paté served with turmeric toast, pickled onions and sweet peppers. The glorious paté was light, fluffy and literally melted in our mouths.

One of us ordered blue crab lo mein ($32), which was described on the menu as having lobster, mushrooms, baby bok choy and crispy fried shallots. Whether the dish contained crab or lobster seemed irrelevant to my friend. She was mesmerized by the flavors. Although typically a lively conversationalist, she was reduced to saying only, “This is so good” over and over.

At District Table & Bar in Hobe Sound,
At District Table & Bar in Hobe Sound,

Another friend selected yellowfin tuna ($38), which was a beautiful piece of tender tuna crusted in peppercorns and served on a potato terrine with a creamy, herby vichyssoise sauce. He loved it.

My husband chose Prime Teres Major ($42), which is a fancy name for a very tender, robust flavored cut of beef. It is best cooked hot and fast to medium rare, and his superb steak was perfect and covered in a large mound of truffle fries with a side of creamed spinach. The dish had lots of impressive flavors.

My dinner was Sweet Tea Fried Chicken ($24). Meaty chicken pieces were marinated for 24 hours in sweet tea and then 24 hours in buttermilk, breaded and fried to golden. The whole plate was filled with comforting flavors from the chicken to the giant buttermilk biscuit and jam, mac & cheese, and tangy pickles.

Desserts include lemon tiramisu, chocolate lava cake and Grand Marnier souffle.

District Table & Bar is a local treasure of culturally diverse, fresh, organic and local products prepared creatively and deliciously.

District Table & Bar

Lucie Regensdorf dines anonymously at the expense of TCPalm for #WhatToDoIn772. Contact her at Lucie@theloveofcooking.com

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Restaurant review: District Table in Hobe Sound is casual gourmet