Brace for a spree of national food holidays this weekend, each one doing its best to tempt us with restaurant specials. Saturday belongs to Chicken Wing Day and Lasagna Day. Sunday is Cheesecake Day. And Avocado Day arrives Monday. My calendar is confused and hungry all at once.
Once those late-July deals are gone, August greets us with a noteworthy summer menu at one of the most popular restaurants in north county. I’ll get to that terrific prix fixe in a moment.
Let’s start with this weekend’s food holidays.
Whether we go for spicy or mild, fried or roasted, sauce or no sauce, most of us have favorite, go-to wings. My colleague Eddie Ritz is all about the Buffalo-sauced wings at a local comfort food spot. I prefer the fire-roasted wings at a neighborhood pizzeria.
You can read about our favorites in this week’s “best wings” story, where you’ll also find weekend deals from local favorite restaurants. Chicken Wing day is celebrated each year on July 29.
Lynora’s, the hip West Palm-based family of restaurants that began as a homage to an Italian mother’s great cooking, is a fine place to satisfy your Italian comfort-food cravings any time of the year. On Saturday, National Lasagna Day, Lynora’s locations want to indulge your layered-pasta whims by offering a less-than-half-price deal on their much loved crepe lasagna (pasticcio).
The delicate, house-made crepes are layered with Bolognese sauce, béchamel and fresh mozzarella. Regularly priced at $24.95, the dish will be priced at $12 Saturday at all locations, except for the hybrid Lynora’s Kitchen market café on South Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach.
Lynora’s has restaurants in Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Boca Raton and the original on Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach. For more information, visit Lynoras.com.
To mark National Cheesecake Day, Cheesecake Factory restaurants will roll out a new flavor called Cookie Dough Lover’s Cheesecake with Pecans.
You can try it — or any other cheesecake flavor — for half-price if you dine at the restaurant Monday or Tuesday and if you join Cheesecake Factory’s new loyalty program, Cheesecake Rewards, before Sunday, according to the national chain. If you join before Labor Day (Sept. 4), you’re entitled to a free “welcome slice” when you buy any other menu item, says the Cheesecake Factory website. The free slice offer kicks in the day after new members sign up, it said.
Grimaldi’s Pizzeria will toast to Cheesecake Day Sunday by offering their Grimaldi’s Rewards members a chance to vote on a new cheesecake flavor they’d like to see on the menu. Flavors in the running, all created by Grimaldi’s corporate chef Hector Godinez, are churro, vanilla bean, Almond Joy, butterscotch and espresso.
Monday is the day to slice an avocado, enjoy it simply dressed, mashed, fried or however you prefer. I love it halved, topped with slivered onions and drizzled with good olive oil and a splash of lime or vinegar. Like deconstructed guacamole.
One of my favorite dishes at West Palm Beach’s Avocado Grill, which offers four avocado-focused dishes on the small plates menu, is the Whole Avocado Vinaigrette ($11). Chef Julien Gremaud lavishes a good avocado with sherry vinaigrette and flaky Maldon salt.
Gremaud also offers a whole avocado dish at his Avocado Cantina in Palm Beach Gardens. He dresses the dish ($8) with cilantro-lime vinaigrette, queso fresco and pico de gallo. There’s also a scrumptious avocado toast dish ($13) on that restaurant’s weekend brunch menu: grilled sourdough bread is spread with guacamole and topped with sliced avocado, poached egg and queso fresco.
Meanwhile on Clematis Street, another Mexican-inspired restaurant is offering an Avocado Day deal. Bodega Taquería y Tequila will give you free guacamole and chips on Monday when you order on the Bodega app and spend more than $30. Visit Bodega’s website for more details about the restaurant’s app.
Here’s the prix fixe menu I mentioned earlier. It’s offered at Jupiter’s wildly popular Blackbird, the Chinese-American-inspired spot that’s been hopping since its October debut.
Blackbird’s new three-course summer menu, $39 per person, is available all night Sundays through Thursdays (4 to 10 p.m.) starting Aug. 1 (Tuesday). Executive chef/partner Tim Nickey is generous with the summer menu options. You can choose from seven appetizer options, seven entree options and two dessert options to create your three-course dinner.
Appetizer highlights include a pretty Singapore chopped salad that’s decorated with flowers, fried dumplings stuffed with short rib and bone marrow, and wonton soup.
Entrees include sweet and sour pork, Gabby’s Orange Chicken, shrimp fried rice and other dishes.
For dessert, options include a toasted coconut sundae that’s topped with caramelized peanuts, toasted coconut, a sesame tuile, miso caramel and palm-sugar whipped cream.
What gives this menu additional sparkle is Blackbird itself. The lively vibe, good service and Nickey’s modernized, often dramatic dishes make it worth a visit. It’s not always easy to find a table, as reservations are accepted only for parties of eight or larger, but it’s worth the wait.
Blackbird: 1511 N. Old Dixie Hwy (just west of U.S. 1 and north of A1A) in Jupiter; 561-589-7505
Could the best pizza at Messi’s soccer matches come from Delray Beach?
Okeechobee Steakhouse owner fires up new BBQ ventures in unique locations.
A favorite local sandwich shop brings a spinoff to West Palm Beach.
Have a delicious weekend!
Liz Balmaseda
◾ All-day brunch café. Farmhouse BBQ. Pizza for a sports star.
◾ New restaurants. Curry classes. Favorite summer bite.
◾ NY restaurants arrive — again. Prix-fixe perks. Saturday brunching.
◾ Finding authentic Mexican food in Palm Beach County
◾ A porchetta sandwich that spirits you to Italy
◾ The joy of new treats at old neighborhood favorites
◾ From ribs to rotis, Black-owned restaurant favorites to savor
◾ Meet the ‘Oscars of Food’ contenders in the 561.
Liz Balmaseda is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network. She covers the local food and dining beat. Follow her on Instagram and on Threads @Silkpalm and Post on Food Facebook. She can be reached by email at lbalmaseda@pbpost.com.