Several years after a now you see it, now you don’t restaurant in CityPlace, the midscale pub chain Bar Louie will be back in West Palm Beach. This time, though, it’s going onto sizzling-hot Clematis Street, the Atlantic Avenue of the north, taking over the 200 block space once home to Café Mediterraneo. The WPB Louie is expected to open next month, and will be the second SoFla location, joining an older sibling in Boynton Beach’s Renaissance Commons complex.
More proof that it’s a burger-burger-burger world and we’re just eating in it. . . Behemoth national burger chain Five Guys is also getting ready to debut on Clematis Street, in a little sidewalk fast food complex in the 300 block that also housesUncle Louie G’sice cream and a new cheesesteak purveyor calledCheesesteak Factory.I wonder how long it will take the attorneys at CheeseCAKE Factory to climb all over that one.
Just to tease you a little. . . Clay Conley’s new Japanese/sushi eatery in Palm Beach—Imoto—is now open. If you missed it, the supremely talented chef-owner of next door Buccan just earned a “Best Chef South” nomination from the James Beard Foundation. And coming in mid-April to—you guessed it, Clematis Street—is a hip new Asian joint called Fuku.Keep watching this space for more details on both.
In the Up in Smoke Department. . . Say goodbye to the Smokehouse Grille & Wingery in West Boca, which lasted less than a year at its Yamato Road digs after closing its Federal Highway location to make way for the move. Despite good intentions and expensive custom-made barbecue equipment, Smokehouse just couldn’t turn out very good or very consistent ‘cue. In fact, the entire local barbecue scene is pretty pallid. If I need a fix, I guess I’ll have to swing up to Memphis, where the best ‘cue on the planet is at the Bar-B-Q Shop. (The dry-rub ribs are the Pork of the Gods.)
