Reef Road: "We Don't Suck Anymore"
Categories: Openings/Closings, Restaurant News
If you ever went to the old Reef Road Restaurant and Rum Bar and thought it, well... sucked, Tarik Solomon is here to tell you it no longer inhales the fat one.
Solomon and partner Alexander Tomasso, two nightclub operators who split their time between ventures in Rhode Island and South Florida, purchased the Caribbean-esque Clematis Street bar-restaurant from local night-life mogul Cleve Mash and immediately set about upgrading the food, cocktails, and service.
To rework the menu, they turned to chef, Russell Chaney, former personal chef and sous chef at Bistro Spagnuolo in Palm Beach. Focusing on local seafood and produce, his menu includes everything from New England staples like clam cakes and lobster roll to perennial bar favorites like wings and spinach dip to entrées like honey-glazed salmon with mango-jicama salsa, have-it-your-way catch of the day, and a roster of eight-ounce burgers made from ground chuck, brisket, and short rib.
A mixological cocktail menu featuring 118 rums came courtesy of Jess Hiller, who runs the bar program at swank Mondrian South Beach, while Solomon went to work on service, which, as they say, had some "issues."
As for informing the ravenous food media hordes about the changes via a news release headlined "Reef Road Restaurant and Rum Bar: We Don't Suck Anymore!", Solomon said it was a bit of "guerrilla marketing" born out of "frustration" in trying to change the restaurant's reputation.
On the other hand, he noted: "It gets the point across."
Uh, yeah.
Solomon and partner Alexander Tomasso, two nightclub operators who split their time between ventures in Rhode Island and South Florida, purchased the Caribbean-esque Clematis Street bar-restaurant from local night-life mogul Cleve Mash and immediately set about upgrading the food, cocktails, and service.
To rework the menu, they turned to chef, Russell Chaney, former personal chef and sous chef at Bistro Spagnuolo in Palm Beach. Focusing on local seafood and produce, his menu includes everything from New England staples like clam cakes and lobster roll to perennial bar favorites like wings and spinach dip to entrées like honey-glazed salmon with mango-jicama salsa, have-it-your-way catch of the day, and a roster of eight-ounce burgers made from ground chuck, brisket, and short rib.
A mixological cocktail menu featuring 118 rums came courtesy of Jess Hiller, who runs the bar program at swank Mondrian South Beach, while Solomon went to work on service, which, as they say, had some "issues."
As for informing the ravenous food media hordes about the changes via a news release headlined "Reef Road Restaurant and Rum Bar: We Don't Suck Anymore!", Solomon said it was a bit of "guerrilla marketing" born out of "frustration" in trying to change the restaurant's reputation.
On the other hand, he noted: "It gets the point across."
Uh, yeah.
Location Info
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Reef Road Rum Bar - CLOSED
223 Clematis St., West Palm Beach, FL
Category: Music
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