Palm Beach dining: Retaurants' signature dishes spring from creativity, convenience

There’s more than meets the eye — or taste buds — when it comes to restaurant dishes in Palm Beach.

A story often lies behind many dishes, whether it’s related to a time-worn recipe, a long-ago chef’s inspiration or even a coincidence.

Consider the popular blue crab nachos at The Breakers’ oceanfront Seafood Bar: One of the dish’s chief components — cheddar-cheese grits — “originated accidentally a few years ago,” The Breakers’ executive chef of restaurants, Anthony Sicignano, told the Daily News.

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Sicignano was dining out “at another luxury hotel” when he noticed the cheese sauce in a dish he ordered had broken (lost its smooth, emulsified texture).

The texture of the broken sauce “inspired the idea” for using cheese grits in a dish that has become “a best-seller” at the Seafood Bar.

In addition to cheddar-cheese grits, the blue crab nachos ($40) at the Seafood Bar also feature house-made salsa.

At Renato’s, menus have evolved over the years, but ravioli alla Caprese has been a mainstay since the late Renato Desiderio founded the restaurant in 1987.

Not only did his late brother Luigi, affectionately known as Gino, offer familial support and culinary talents with the launch of Renato’s, he shared a special ravioli recipe.

“In the early years of the restaurant, the ravioli alla Caprese were made by Uncle Gino and we continue to make them the same way he did,” Jose Duran, Renato’s managing partner, said.

The dish — $28 at lunch and $32 at dinner — features mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil.

Guests at Café Boulud can look forward to a complimentary basket of Madeleines after dinner — a gesture that has been important to renowned restaurateur-chef Daniel Boulud for years.

“I first served Madeleines at restaurant Daniel (in New York) shortly after opening it in 1993,” he said. “Since then, I have served Madeleines at all of my restaurants at the end of the meal as a symbolic gesture of love and appreciation.”

Elsewhere on the island, chicken tamales at Almond come thanks to a recipe from a prep cook at the restaurant, according to co-owner Eric Lemonides.

He said Eloina Reyes brought in a sample of her tamales that she makes for her family and the dish “blew us away.”

“The team knew immediately that they (the tamales) must be on the menu. Eloina has been with us since the doors opened in Palm Beach and it would be hard to imagine the place without her.

The chicken tamales ($25) often are served at brunch with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce.

At Swifty’s at The Colony, various dishes on the menu were inspired by fare served at Mortimer’s, a long-gone New York society bistro. One of those dishes is a best-seller: crab cakes with creamed spinach.

The recipe for the crab cakes, which “are in the Maryland style,” began with a former Mortimer’s chef using a recipe from a can of Old Bay Seasoning mix, said Swifty’s founder Robert Caravaggi.

The crab cakes at Swifty’s ($40 for two at lunch; $40 for two at dinner and $55 for three at dinner) “are still basically the same recipe, but with adjustments,” Caravaggi said.

Meanwhile, the Dover sole at Café L’Europe pays homage to the late, beloved Palm Beach chef-restaurateur Jean-Pierre Leverrier, who died in 2018.

Café L’Europe’s head chefs Alain Krauss and Benoit Delos both worked for years with Leverrier at his Chez Jean-Pierre restaurant, which closed after a 30-year run in 2020.

“Dover sole was one of Jean-Pierre’s best dishes,” Krauss said.

Dover sole at Café L’Europe is $85 and prepared in the Chez Jean-Pierre style. It’s served with sauteed spinach, thyme-and-honey-accented carrots and rice pilaf.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Signature dishes at island restaurants often are inspired