One thing you gotta say about Dak Kerprich, he’s not afraid to roll the dice with his restaurants. Actually, you gotta say two things: He makes damn fine pizza.
He does not, however, continue to make pizza at the thimble-sized spot on Lantana’s East Ocean Avenue that earned recognition as the best (or at least one of the best) purveyor of pizza pies in the state. Rolling the dice on turning out his own uncompromising style of pizza at a out-of-the-way location with only a handful of indoor seats, a cash-only policy and have-it-my-way (or else) culinary ethos made Pizzeria Oceano a local mecca for pizza fanatics.
But Kerprich has other ideas and rolled the dice again, just recently banishing pizza from the (former) Oceano and turning it into fresh-local-sustainable Caribbean eatery called Jerk O. It’s still tiny, cash-only and as unique as its chef-owner, but now it’s dishing up plates like blacked red shrimp with sweet pepper gravy and coconut grits and wahoo with curried salt and hot & sour honey.
If that’s not enough, Kerprich has doubled down on pizza too, opening Swell Pizza (309 NE 2nd Ave., 561/292-2020) in Delray’s Pineapple Grove district, several blocks off bustling Atlantic Avenue. The pies here are a little different than those at Oceano, the result of extensive experimentation with dough and a focus on healthy pies made with organic ingredients.
The menu is pretty basic. Three pies, either large or smaller, two reds and one white, with a roster of add-ons that lets you customize your pie to your individual taste. The “Basic” pizza, for example, comes with tomato sauce, mozzarella, provolone, pecorino and basil, but can be jazzed up with everything from arugula to salame Calabrese. It’s not cheap, and it’s take-out and delivery only but if you’re hungry for Kerprich’s pies. . . well, you know what to do.
