Can Delray Sustain More New Restaurants?

A sibling to Rack's Eatery + Tavern will open on Second Avenue in Delray.

​On Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach, Park Tavern opened to fanfare last month. The crowds show it, with diners reporting long waits on weekends in particular. The cachet behind the restaurateurs of Cut 432 helped fan enthusiasm. Chef Anthony Pizzo, Brandon Belluscio, and Brian Albe said they took a page from New York's Gramercy Tavern as they articulated the restaurant's concept. The recently renovated Worthing Park also inspired the restaurant's name.

The park seeded more than just one new restaurant. Positioned as the next-door tombstone, a sign announces the coming arrival of Salt the Restaurant, a sushi bar and steak house slated to open in the next couple of months, said a contractor from Andrioff Construction. And across the street, Gary Rack of Table 42 Kitchen + Wine Bar, Racks Italian Bistro and Market will open his newest restaurant at 5 SE Second Ave. by late summer of this year, confirms management at Table 42.

Around the corner, a New Yorker announces its impending arrival. From the Hamptons comes 75 Main, a "New American" spot that touts the comings and goings of the likes of Jonah Hill and Dina Lohan, Lindsay's mother.  When Clean Plate Charlie peeked in, the space remains empty for now, with permits on display.

And in the slip next door to the Office on NE Second Avenue, a meatball shop cocoons, as it transforms from an empty space to a little restaurant. As of Wednesday night, owners will continue with the requisite City Council meetings and permitting process. "It's going to be like the Meatball Shop in New York," says the contractor when I asked him about it.

Yet farther down the street, a recent debut is shuttered at noon, despite that it launched in October as a three-meal-a-day, seven-day-a-week affair. SpoonFed's menu had been conceived by executive chef Glen Manfra, who has since departed. A spokesperson for AMG Restaurants confirms a new executive chef has not been named.

In the meantime, the restaurant in the same building as SpoonFed, Buddha Sky Bar, charts expansion. "We're renovating space on the second floor," said a manager. The renovated space will debut under a new name with the same menu as the sushi restaurant. In two to three weeks, he said, they'll hammer out the renovation timeline.

Until then, keep your eye on this space for updates. And consider this corner of Atlantic Avenue at Second Avenue the nexus of Delray's restaurant renaissance.

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