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April 2010
CARMINE'S COAL FIRED PIZZA, 4575 Military Trail (Bermudiiana Plaza on the corner of University Pl.), Jupiter, 340-3930. No reservations. Inexpensive-moderate. Too soon to rate.
Quite frankly I don't think it's going to make a damn bit of difference whether I describe Carmine's two new ventures as great or godawful, they're still going to do an explosive business.
Either the man's got a peerless gut or he is secretly convening focus groups in the back of one of his restaurants. But leave it to him to give the public what it wants with a better sense of timing than a marathon runner.
When he opened his gourmet shop at least 15 years ago, it was the first store in the area to sell high end produce, an eclectic choice of prepared food, prime quality meat and fish and epicurean grocery items like creme fraiche, smoked fish, and little known deli choices. Up until then you had to travel to Palm Beach for high end luxury foods.
He followed that with the Ocean Grill, one of the first restaurants in north county to serve sushi (as well as a variety of other seafood). Another huge success. Then he conceived Trattoria, an upscale Italian bistro next to his market. Again, he hit the jackpot. The only flub in his amazing career was his sale of the market to the Cracker Barrel chain which, in an amazingly short time, botched his well oiled operation. So what did Carmine do? He bought it back from them (for far less money than he got from Cracker Barrel when he sold it) and all was well in "gourmet land" again.
He had an other crisis a few years later when he and his wife built a steak house where Noche now stands. Not a great idea, it turned out. Too many steakhouses had opened that year in the area so he flipped it into a clone of the Ritz Carlton and hired the chef away from the hotel's Manalapan site. I thought it was a special kind of restaurant then but apparently the food was too precious and too expensive for north PalmBeachers. That didn't last long either and so he went another route-he turned it into a dance club after 10 p.m. (a solid home run right from the beginning) and attempted a Latin fusion menu during the dinner hour with lots of tapas and other small dishes. One more time, the natives weren't buying it. I remember his words at that time when I asked him what he was going to do next. "I'm going to make this place work if it kills me." And sure enough, he did. He changed direction again. Out went the empanadas and cerviche and in came a traditional but expensive menu.
But here's the rub. He cut his high prices in half on everything in the place, including wine and liquor, and suddenly you couldn't get a table after 6 p.m. It also coincided with the beginning of the recession along with the housing meltdown. And dinner bargains were "in." As I said before, timing is everything.
With that as an introduction, let's get on to Carmine's vast Coal Fired Pizza emporium.
If you think you can only get pizza, forget it. The menu is almost as colossal as the space. Want pasta? It's here with no less than nine choices of noodles (including whole wheat) and 12 different sauces. That's not counting his 17 pasta and risotto specials. The most expensive dishes (3) on the menu are $19.95. Most of the pastas are $9.95. Can't beat that.
We don't want to forget the veal, chicken and fish entrees that also are priced so they won't lighten anybody's wallet. There's also panini, flatbreads, salads and, of course, the coal fired pizza
I tried the chicken picatta ($14.95) , a decent sized portion served with no vegetables (they're extra) that was more than satisfactory. The steamed, mixed squash, broccoli, beans and carrots that I ordered, served in a soup bowl, were enough for a whole meal ($1.95). A hot antipasto ($9) had all the ingredients you would expect and was nicely done. The only real miss on our first visit was a small size pizza topped with mushrooms ($7.95 plus an extra 75 cents for each topping) that my husband chose was spongy with a crust that was far too thick and doughy. He was right. In all honesty, two other friends, who were there the next night, raved about their pies. Since our first visit took place the first week the restaurant opened, we're putting the pizza decision on hold until the fall Spotlight is published.
On the same night as the pizza fiasco, the service was abominable, but two weeks later everything was brought out promptly and our waitress couldn't have been more confident and efficient. Again, that's why we're not rating either of these two new eateries just yet. Every new restaurant should have at least a couple of months leeway till they've had time to fix the glitches, establish a routine, and get their act together (sorry, you'll have to wait until next season for Spotlight's stars).
Carmine serves his own bottled and labeled wine ($5)- a house drink that's better than most.
Our advice: Get on line now-if you want to navigate this massive menu packed with exceptional values. The reason-because it's going to take you that long until you are seated and get to order from it.
• • •
CG BURGERS, 4575 Military Trail (next door to his pizza restaurant), Jupiter, 340-3940. No reservations. Inexpensive. Too early to rate.
Here's the story. You order from a menu that you pick up at an oversized counter but the food is delivered to your table. The rub, though-trying to find a booth or table to sit at. Think of getting a seat on the New York subway system at rush hour-that's the closest analogy that I can think of.
I met a friend for lunch at noon at CG during one of Florida's famous thunderstorms where the rain was so heavy it was coming at me sideways, in sheets. First problem-finding a parking spot (there aren't a lot of spaces). Second problem-finding a booth because the place was so crowded that it was" every man for himself." Fortunately, my friend had arrived a little early and there she sat guarding the space she had snagged with her life. Only one of us placed our order so we didn't lose the table. All of this in a blinding rain storm.
She ordered a burger with grilled mushrooms and onions ($4.50). I decided on a California burger with avocado, sprouts and tomato ($5.50). Both were brought out promptly along with a side of delicious, crispy, homemade, fried sweet potatoes ($2.50). Granted the burgers were small-six oz-but they were made from prime meat, the most expensive and best rated beef you can buy. Another bonanza? Maybe.
There was just one serious complication- for me, anyway-all the burgers are served medium. I, and a lot of other people I know, only will eat them rare or medium rare.
When I spoke to Carmine about this, he told me it was too complicated to prepare them any other way. If I wanted a rare burger, he explained, I had to order the nine oz. size ($7) which my husband did on our second visit. It came out perfectly done on a decent bun, but it was really the hand cut french fries that he lusted after.
I am a sucker for prime rib-good quality prime rib-and that's what I selected on a second trip to CG. Again, the meat was top notch but the one slice that sat on a rectangular bun ($7) didn't even cover the surface of the roll. I asked for a second slice and was told "no." Come on Carmine-add another slice and raise the price a couple of bucks.
My next try is going to be the Kobe burger ($7)-the Rolls Royce of prime beef. At $50 a pound in butcher shops, this has to be either a miniscule patty or something resembling this marbleized delicacy.
By all means try the "all you can eat" salad bar ($5). There are all kinds of goodies, many organic, that you don't usually find on these displays-hearts of palm, artichokes, a variety of lettuces, beets, olives and on and on.
You can also purchase wine here, bringing it back from the counter to the table yourself. For the same $5 you can get a glass of Carmine's house variety.
CG's dimensions are much smaller than its pizza neighbor so plan accordingly. Try a late lunch or a very early or very late dinner.
Maybe Dr. Oz won't be happy with the cholesterol laden menu but, on the other hand, all the people waiting on line even in the worst weather seem to fixated on the low prices and superior quality of the food.
In other words, it's "damn the torpedos,"we're going to eat here.
• • •
Addendum: Are you a born and bred New Englander? Or, if not, a lover of the kind of native Maine or Massachusetts crustaceans that make a trip to Nantucket or Olgunquit so special? Then you've got to try Lola's on Northlake Blvd. (next to Joseph's Market) . We've only been there once but the restaurant's authentic lobster roll ($18) is divine. Overflowing with sweet chunks of Maine lobster, just a tad mayonnaise, and served on a traditional toasted, side-cut roll, you'll swear you're having lunch overlooking Portland's harbor. Ditto for the fried belly clam rolls. Brought out hot, fresh and full of wedges of Back Bays's best with homemade fries, our two Bostonian companions swore they were back in Beantown. The prices are right in the ballpark too-Fenway that is.