All posts by wellingtonINSIDER

Feature Stories

Wellington Win Just The Start For Charlotte Ostrov

Wellington Win Just The Start For Charlotte Ostrov

2016 Wellington Idol Charlotte Ostrov Has Her Sights Set On Broadway

Story and Photos by Julie Unger

Until you’re standing next to her, it is easy to forget that 2016 Wellington Idol Charlotte Ostrov is just 14 years old. Her stage presence and personality are those of a seasoned performer.

As she finishes up eighth grade at the Bak Middle School of the Arts, her artistic adventures are only just beginning.

“I’ve been taking singing [lessons] for four years,” Ostrov said, noting that she has studied with Lynn Pernezny and Adriana Zabala.

Their teaching, along with Ostrov’s current training, have paid off. She wowed the judges when singing “I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Misérables in the recent Wellington Idol finals and was told to get an agent.

Like many, she would often sing in the car and shower — “badly, I was never good,” she said. Then, her father, Robert, introduced her to musical theater.

“I just fell in love with it,” Ostrov said. “I’ve been doing it ever since, and it’s still my goal to be on Broadway.”

Though that may be a steep climb, Ostrov seems to have a better shot than most.

“I want to be famous, and I have since I was a baby,” she said. “I wanted to be a director in Hollywood, but that was not for me.”

But Ostrov didn’t let that discourage her; she took a step back and refocused.

“As I started training, I said, ‘I want to be on Broadway. How do I get there?’ I started taking singing, acting and dancing lessons. I wasn’t that bad at it, so I started to pursue it from there, when I realized it was something I enjoyed, something I can do and something that is appreciated,” Ostrov said. “I also love going to the theater. It’s a great experience. It can be educational, uplifting and inspiring. The theater is a magical place.”

While she can’t pick her favorite show, Ostrov was able to come up her top five: Les Misérables, The Lion King, Hamilton, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and Fiddler on the Roof.

Ostrov has had parts in many school productions, and also at the Wellington Children’s Theater. She has performed in Les Misérables, And The World Goes ’Round, Maids on Broadway, The Jungle Book, Cinderella and Annie.

When it came time to choose her song for the finals of Wellington Idol, a conversation with her mother, Kathleen, helped her pick.

“Les Mis was the first legit musical I saw, and that’s what made me fall in love with theater. However, most pieces in Les Mis are really, really overdone. It wasn’t really something that I practice a lot,” Ostrov said. “I don’t sing Les Mis a lot anymore, but my mother loves ‘I Dreamed A Dream,’ and she loves the way I sing it.”

And with that, her winning song earned her this year’s Wellington Idol grand prize.

“Winning this competition, I am not kidding, is a dream come true for this girl,” her mother said. “This is what she wants to do. She wants to sing, she wants to perform. She was made to be up there performing.”

Ostrov, who will be singing at many official Wellington events during the next year, has already sung at Wellington’s 20th anniversary celebration and is looking forward to singing the national anthem at Memorial Day and Fourth of July observances.

For a local girl — Ostrov moved to Wellington from New York when she was 4 years old, attending Temple Beth Torah and the Little Place for preschool, then Wellington Elementary School and Bak — the Wellington Idol victory is a recognition that means a lot.

“I’m really grateful for the opportunities that they’re giving me,” she said. “I like to be involved in the community.”

As she advances in her career, Ostrov would like to try more professional theater, and wants to sing publicly as much as possible. She focuses on musical theater, is a soprano, and her voice can be described as operatic.

Any ceremony or event that needs a singer, Kathleen said, her daughter would be happy to lend her talents.

“Book me!” Ostrov interjected, as only an excited teenager could.

Friends and family are in her corner, cheering her on every step of the way.

“My family is so supportive, and my grandparents are my biggest fans. My grandmother screamed when I told her I won,” she said, also thanking her sister Hannah and friend Jakob Littell.

Kathleen is thrilled for her daughter’s early success.

“I’m very proud of her, and I think that whether it turns out that she has a life on the stage or not, it doesn’t matter because she’s fulfilling her dream right now. She’s succeeding at it,” she said.

When Ostrov isn’t practicing, she enjoys listening to music, learning about history and reading plays. “I’m reading The Crucible right now,” she said.

This summer, she is working on securing an internship, focusing on local government and an off-Broadway program in New York City.

In the late summer, on Aug. 30, the Ostrov family will also find out whether her father, a lawyer, is elected as a circuit court judge for Palm Beach County.

Either way, Ostrov is dreaming big, ready to conquer the world and Broadway. In April, she secured the next step: a spot in the freshmen class at the Dreyfoos School of the Arts.

“I’m going to keep singing, so you can expect to hear more from Charlotte Ostrov in the future if you live locally, and hopefully in other countries, you’ll hear about me, too,” she said.

To contact Charlotte Ostrov and inquire about bookings, visit www.twitter.com/charostrov or www.facebook.com/charlotte.ostrov.

Facebookpinterestmail
Feature Stories, Wellington Table - Signature Dish

May 2016 Wellington Table

table

Wellington Table

Signature Dish: Try The Paleo Bowl (Or Build Your Own Creation) At Bolay

Story and Photos by Julie Unger

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be boring, bland and tasteless. Curating a fast, fresh and bold way of eating, Bolay is an innovative build-you-own-bowl restaurant with creative, satisfying and nutritious offerings. They’re so good, you’ll forget it is good for you.

“What we have done is put the consumer in the driver’s seat,” explained Outback Steakhouse co-founder Tim Gannon, who created the Bolay concept with his son Chris. “He comes in and says, ‘Wow, look at all this food. Now, here’s how I want to put it together.’ Enabling a consumer in customization is critical, which gives us endless variety and creativity. We’ve taken it from the hands of the chef, creating something unbelievable, to the hands of the consumer, letting them create. That is the engaging part of this enterprise.”

The concept is simple. You choose the size bowl you want. Then, you choose your base, or bases. With options like a marinated kale and currant salad, Peruvian quinoa, forbidden black rice, aromatic basmati rice and gluten-free cilantro noodles, there are plenty of flavorful and delicious choices to set the theme.

Atop the base are unique vegetables, such as smoky cauliflower, paleo sprouts, maple-roasted butternut squash, balsamic mushrooms and broccoli with a ginger orange glaze. Following the vegetables are proteins such as sesame tofu, Ponzu tuna, barbeque chicken, lemon chicken, pork tenderloin and Caribbean spiced steak.

Adding another layer of flavor are the sauce offerings and additional add-ons. Spicy Thai sauce, cilantro pesto and carrot ginger sauce, along with minted tomatoes, goat cheese crumble, parmesan and an Asian herb mix help to create an endless array of possibilities.

Chef Martin Oswald, a former protégé of Wolfgang Puck, helped create the Paleo Bowl, and the Bolay team created the other two signature bowls, the Aspen Bowl and the Thai Bowl.

The Paleo Bowl features kale, a nutritional powerhouse, with quinoa, mushrooms, sprouts, barbeque chicken, Caribbean steak and a carrot ginger sauce.

Everything at Bolay is 100 percent gluten-free. The only dairy is in the cheese topping offered, and instead of sugar in their desserts, they use agave. The restaurant doesn’t use fryers and utilizes small amounts of coconut and olive oil for flavor.

Everything at Bolay is about putting together nutrition and flavor, Tim explained.

Chris, who won the U.S. Open Polo Championship at age 16 on Outback’s team, has studied trends, and realized that when people go out to eat there is an innate curiosity as to how others eat. With the trend of eating healthier, people want fresh, clean food quickly, he explained. “We’re trying to grab all of those things by being fresh, clean and quick,” Chris said.

The high-protein forbidden black rice, Chris explained, is seasoned with ginger, cilantro and kafir lime leaf. There’s a variety of flavor in every bite. “Our restaurant has 20 sauces that we make every day,” he said. “Each item has its own marinate and its own sauce, and with that comes incredible flavors.”

Tim is bringing what he learned about flavor at Outback to Bolay, without the heavy calories.

“Here, we want to bring all that flavor that you love at Outback, and we want to infuse it with healthy ingredients,” he explained. “We’re that place that you want to go in, eat great, have great flavor, but walk out and go hit the tennis court, ride horses or exercise. That’s how much energy you’ll have.”

Bolay opened in late February in the new Buckingham Plaza on State Road 7. It has already been active in the community. They were at the Wellington Chamber of Commerce’s ColorFest 5K and Nic Roldan’s Sunset Polo & White Party at the Wanderers Club benefitting Brooke USA, as well as other community functions.

“The beauty of this concept is that it has got endless possibilities for creativity and change,” Chris said. “We’re really going to listen to what the guests like. That’s the most important part — not what we think, but what the guest wants.”

To wash down the fresh bowls, be it cultivated or designed by the guest, Bolay offers cold-pressed juice, infused teas, and craft beer and wine.

Bolay isn’t trying to be a health food restaurant, Chris explained, but rather a restaurant with bold flavors and incredible food that just happens to be healthy and good for you.

Bolay is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. For more information, visit www.eatbolay.com or call (561) 899-0111.

Facebookpinterestmail
Feature Stories, Wellington Health

April 2016 Wellington Health

Health

Wellington Health

Veterinarian Dr. Kathleen Spillane Treats Animals In Need Around The Clock

Story by Jason Stromberg

Photo by Abner Pedraza (?)

Dr. Kathleen Spillane isn’t always sure what issue your pet may have when it first arrives at the Palms West Veterinary Hospital, but after a quick diagnosis, she is ready to take care of it.

The veterinarian has treated a lot of pets needing emergency medical care, and there hasn’t yet been one that she’s shied away from.

“I’d say 98 percent of the pets that we treat here at the hospital are cats and dogs,” said Spillane, 30. “We’ve had a guinea pig with a runny nose and hamsters that need their toenails trimmed. Those are the pocket pets we’ve tended to, but the majority of the pets we treat are cats and dogs.”

Open 24/7/365, Palms West Veterinary Hospital is family-owned by Dr. Ira Grossman. Spillane is one of several veterinarians on board who can be at the hospital at the crack of dawn, or there late at night, even overnight.

“We arrive in the morning, and the doctor who was on overnight tells us about the cases that are in the hospital that morning,” Spillane said. “If there is any follow-up that needs to be done, we tend to that immediately. The more common emergency patients arrive at night.”

Spillane, who graduated from veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania in 2012, has been working at Palms West Veterinary Hospital for almost two years, and she loves what she does.

“I’m very thorough and understanding,” Spillane said. “This career gives me an opportunity to keep on learning for the rest of my life. I like the fact that when I’m helping these pets, I’m also helping their owners.”

Seeing animals that are in need of immediate medical attention can be overwhelming and emotional at times. The toughest part is the euthanasia process. “We get a lot of compliments here for getting people through that process,” Spillane said. “We make it as comfortable as we can for the animal, and that makes it comfortable for the owner.”

If a scheduled anesthetic procedure, a surgery or a teeth cleaning needs to be done, the pet gets dropped off at the hospital and is tended to immediately. Sometimes there are more dramatic situations where a dog arrives in a comatose state.

“You have to talk to the owner and ask, ‘Why has this happened?’” Spillane said. “The dog could be paralyzed, it could be having a seizure, or it could be severely dehydrated from a heat stroke, or a gastrointestinal upset. We make sure to get your sick dog some intravenous fluids and get it as hydrated as possible.”

There are also common cat emergencies, such as when a male cat cannot urinate. Toxins can build up in the cat, and it’s being poisoned from inside, Spillane explained.

“We feel the bladder, and if it’s hard, if the cat is awake, that can be painful. We have to give the cat a catheter through the urethra and into the bladder. They need IV fluids to flush out their system,” Spillane said.

It’s not an easy job, but it’s a rewarding one for Spillane when things are successfully taken care of. No matter what the problem is, each veterinarian does his or her best to stabilize each animal. At least one doctor and one technician are present from 8 p.m. until 8 a.m., the emergency hours. Normal hours are from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, when two or three doctors are available.

Grossman, 63, oversees the entire practice. He runs the family-owned business with his son Glen, co-business manager with his fiancé Melissa, and Grossman’s wife, Marta, who works on Saturdays. Grossman’s two other children, Neil and Andi, are currently in veterinary school.

Grossman speaks highly of Spillane. “She’s my protégé,” he said. “She’s a great vet who performs internal medicine, surgery and critical care here. She does an excellent job and has great compassion for animals.”

For Spillane, there’s rarely a dull moment at the hospital. “I like the variety here,” she said. “You never know what’s going to walk through the door.”

Palms West Veterinary Hospital is located at 556 Folsom Road in Loxahatchee Groves. To learn more, call (561) 798-2780 or visit www.palmswestveterinary.com.

Facebookpinterestmail
Feature Stories, Wellington Real Estate

April 2016 Wellington Real estate

RealEstate

Wellington Real estate

Equestrian Background Gives Realtor Francis Hoet An Edge

Story by Matthew Auerbach

Photo by Abner Pedraza

When two of your main interests are real estate and all things equestrian, is it any wonder that you wind up in Wellington? For Francis Hoet, a Realtor with Illustrated Properties Real Estate, the community was a natural destination, considering the life she led before arriving in South Florida.

“I have double nationality, Belgian and Venezuelan, and received my bachelor’s degree in education in Caracas, Venezuela,” Hoet recalled. “My passion for real estate stems from my family. We have a long history in the real estate business in Latin America, Europe and the U.S, both as investors and owners of real estate brokerage firms. I began riding and showing in the jumper ring in 1991 in Caracas, where I met my husband, Cesar Hirsch, who is an FEI international equestrian judge and owner of Equis Boutique. We first came to Wellington in 1999, enjoyed spending several months a year here, and finally decided to move to Wellington with our horses during the winter season in 2009.”

Hoet and her husband have four children, ages 17, 16, 11 and 6. Hoet’s fluency in English, Spanish and French enables her to connect buyers with sellers all over the world. Since many of her clients are foreign equestrians who visit Wellington year after year, she specializes in sales and rentals of equestrian properties.

“I also have local clients who want to offer their properties for sale or rent during the season, so I make sure to help them stage their properties appropriately to meet the standards of the discerning buyers or tenants,” she said.

Hoet remains an avid equestrian fan, which she said helps her in providing insight and experience when it comes to the needs of her buyers. “I travel to several horse shows in the U.S. and other countries, which allows me to market properties among the equestrian community,” she said.

Being associated with Illustrated Properties allows Hoet to serve her customers fully, whether they are buying, selling or renting.

“I believe in giving the highest level of customer service to my clients, evaluating each client’s unique needs and finding them their ideal property,” she said. “Illustrated Properties Real Estate is affiliated with Christie’s, Luxury International Portfolio and Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, a network of the world’s finest real estate firms. Working with these companies allows me to maximize the exposure of a property not only locally, but at an international level.”

Hoet sees Wellington as a destination unlike any other.

“Wellington is a very special and unique town because of its diversity,” she said. “Thousands of visitors from all over the world come to Wellington each year, which has a positive impact in our local economy. Wellington also offers an array of communities to suit every taste, such as for the equestrian enthusiast, the aviator and the golfer, among many others.”

As far as the local real estate market, Hoet is pleased with its current state and upbeat and optimistic regarding its future.

“The Wellington real estate market started strong this year,” she said. “We have more buyers looking to invest in Wellington or to relocate, attracted by this family-oriented town and by its expansive equestrian venues and facilities for polo, jumping, hunters and dressage. Buyers feel confident investing in Wellington, and it is going to be a good year for the Wellington real estate market.”

Illustrated Properties Real Estate is located at 11924 W. Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 18, in Wellington. To reach Hoet, call (561) 729-8518 or visit www.wellingtonproperties.com.

Facebookpinterestmail
Feature Stories, Wellington Table - Signature Dish

April 2016 Wellington Table

Table

Wellington Table

Zuppa Di Pesce At Giuseppe’s Italian Ristorante

Story and Photos by Julie Unger

Authentic, homemade Italian cooking is an art, and Giuseppe’s Italian Ristorante has been bringing its familiar meals to Wellington since 2007. The restaurant now has two locations, both offering the same delicious dishes that the community has enjoyed over the past decade.

Owner Joe Cooper chose Zuppa Di Pesce as the restaurant’s signature dish. “It’s our flagship entrée,” he explained. “It covers all of the seafood that we sell, and it’s an iconic Sicilian dish.”

Everything made at Giuseppe’s is fresh and made to order, Cooper said.

“We make everything to order,” he said. “It may take a few more minutes, but you know the old saying, everything worth waiting for is worthwhile waiting. Good things come to those who wait. That’s our motto.”

Zuppa Di Pesce at Giuseppe’s comes with jumbo shrimp, calamari, clams and mussels sautéed with garlic, basil and olive oil in a marinara wine sauce, served over linguine.

“It usually means fish soup,” Chef Joseph Marchese said. “It was a traditional dish back in the old days. People used to come into port — because Sicily was a port town — and basically, they would take all of the leftovers, throw it into a pot and make a soup out of it, and it became fish soup.”

This would be a typical meal in Sicily, but here in Wellington, Giuseppe’s does things a little differently, while keeping the authentic flair.

The meal is one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes, Marchese said, and should be one of the signature dishes at any good Italian restaurant. “The seafood combination just tastes good,” he said, pointing out that other pastas besides linguine can be used.

Other entrée favorites include Pasta Giuseppe, Veal Saltimbocca, Chicken Margherita, Spaghetti alla Carbonara, Fettuccini alla Panna and Fettuccini Florentina.

“They’re all dishes I’ve made and added to our menu,” Marchese said. “Many of them are traditional, and some of them I’ve put my own little twist on.”

For example, when making Pasta Giuseppe, Marchese added ingredients together to find something that worked well.

“We have some traditional entrées. Zuppa Di Pesce is very traditional, and Veal Saltimbocca is very traditional,” he said.

For the most part, food at Giuseppe’s is traditional Italian, “how grandma used to make it.”

An example would be with the Chicken Parmigiana.

“I don’t use breadcrumbs,” Marchese said. “I use egg batter. For the most part, I try sticking to the traditional. I make all the tomato sauces, all the marinara sauces, here. Everything is made to order.”

If you order Fettuccini Alfredo, he’ll makes an individual batch of the sauce for the dish.

“I like to make people happy,” Marchese said. “I like to see their reaction when they taste something, and they have a smile on their face, and they enjoy the food they’re eating. It makes me happy to make them happy when it comes to food. A lot of my customers know me and want me to cook for them. They like the cooking, they like the atmosphere and they like the familiarity.”

Having a relationship with customers is important to Marchese, who has been a chef for more than 25 years. He was with the Forest Hill Blvd. location before it even became Giuseppe’s, starting in 2003. When the ownership changed, and the restaurant became Giuseppe’s, Marchese worked to revamp the menu and has been there ever since.

The diverse menu, featuring appetizers, salads, soups, pasta, baked pasta, Italian dishes, specialty dishes, chicken, veal, steak and seafood, as well as pizza, sandwiches and desserts, offers great food in a comfortable, cozy atmosphere.

If you can’t visit grandma’s for some homemade Italian cooking, you can always visit “Big Joe’s.”

Giuseppe’s Italian Ristorante is open seven days a week. The Wellington Town Square location, at 11924 W. Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 33, is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 10 p.m. on Sundays. To reach the Town Square Giuseppe’s, call (561) 790-3780.

The Courtyard Shops location, at 13860 Wellington Trace, Suite 36, is open from noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Sunday. To reach the Courtyard Shops Giuseppe’s, call (561) 841-6488.

Giuseppe’s Italian Ristorante also offers delivery within Wellington, dine-in, take-out and even catering for events of all sizes.  For more information, visit www.giuseppesitalianristorante.com.

Facebookpinterestmail
Feature Stories, Wellington Health

March 2016 Wellington Health

Health_botton

Wellington Health

Dr. Jonathan Chung Specializes In A Gentle Approach To Chiropractic

Story by Ron Bukley

Photo by Abner Pedraza

Dr. Jonathan Chung of Keystone Chiropractic was drawn to his specialty in college when his friend’s father treated him for sports injuries.

“I had plans on going into sports medicine, and one of my best friends at the time was going into chiropractic because his father was a chiropractor,” Chung said. “I had been an athlete all my life.”

A Florida native, Chung grew up in Davie playing baseball. He graduated from Nova High School.

“When I was in college, I started learning more about chiropractic,” he recalled. “Chiropractic is all about the body’s natural ability to heal itself. It’s more about eliminating obstructions to the body’s ability to heal, using natural methods to promote healing within the body. I started getting adjusted by my friend’s father, and some of these aches and pains from playing sports started to go away.”

People come to Chung for a variety of ailments, but he is known for difficult-to-treat illnesses such as vertigo, chronic migraines and jaw pain.

“We also take care of a lot of people after a concussion,” he said. “Quite a few people come in to me for that, especially Wellington equestrians who fall off a horse. We also take care of people with low back pain, neck pain and shoulder pain from sports.”

A central theme in his treatment is atlas displacement, the way the head is sits on top of the neck.

“If there’s an abnormal sitting of the head on the neck, it can create a lot of these other symptoms,” Chung said. “By correcting that bad positon, we can restore function to the nervous system, improve circulation to the head and neck, and improve the joints’ ability to move, which has beneficial effects on the brain and nervous system overall.”

Chung employs a gentle, noninvasive procedure developed by the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association (NUCCA) to treat patients.

“There’s no twisting or popping or cracking associated with it,” he said. “It’s a technique focused on the neck, and it’s how we form a structural correction of the upper neck.”

This provides the necessary correction without harsher movements often associated with chiropractic.

“What most people feel is a series of gentle pressures against the top of the neck,” Chung said. “Hours later or days later they’ll actually start to feel the effects of the adjustment.”

Chung is one of only 300 doctors in the country who utilize the NUCCA procedure. He received his degree from the Life University in Atlanta.

A core philosophy of chiropractic is that a healthy human body is always trying to be as healthy as possible, he said, explaining that a lot of people think of a fever as a sickness.

“The fever, when we look at the core of it, is actually a mechanism in the human body to help get rid of viruses, to stop infections or slow them down. That is actually part of the healing process. Even though it doesn’t feel good, it is a part of what helps us get better and fight off illness. In chiropractic, we recognize this ability as part of the healing process. We’re here to try and promote the body’s own natural healing ability.”

Chung’s office offers classes to teach people how to strengthen their spine using exercise and corrective movements. They treat all ages, including infants and seniors.

“We have a state-of-the-art X-ray that allows us to measure the head and neck positon down to fractions of a millimeter,” he said. “Everything we do is objective and based in science, so not only will someone feel the difference from the type of work that we do, but they’ll be able to see the difference from when we first take an X-ray.”

Chung truly enjoys what he does for patients.

“It’s not just making someone feel better,” he said. “It’s knowing that we’re leaving the person in a physically better state than they were when they came in.”

Keystone Chiropractic is located at 420 State Road 7, Suite 170, near the Toys ‘R’ Us store. To learn more, call (561) 331-3162 or visit www.chiropractorcarewellington.com.

Facebookpinterestmail
Feature Stories, Wellington Real Estate

March 2016 Real Estate

Real Estate_button

Wellington Real estate

Realtor Jermaine Bell Specializes In Home Transformations

Story by Matthew Auerbach

Photo by Abner Pedraza

Ask a hundred real estate professionals the one thing they love more than anything else about the business they’re in, and you’ll most probably get a hundred different answers. For Jermaine Bell of Century 21 WC Realty in Wellington, it’s the chance to turn an ugly duckling into a swan.

“I really enjoy home transformations,” he said. “I love working on homes that most people are scared to step foot into and making them absolute gems.”

Bell grew up in Kingston, Jamaica. He left the island at age 16 and finished up his high school years at Plantation High School. After attending Florida Atlantic University for two years, he began his new life in real estate. He has been a licensed, full-time Realtor since 2004. Bell lives in Wellington with his wife and daughter.

Bell’s area of expertise is residential real estate, which he has concentrated on for more than a decade. His interest goes beyond putting the right buyer in the right home.

“I love helping my clients generate income, whether that be through flipping a property or rental income,” he said.

Bell knows that his experience as a Realtor comes into play with every potential deal. He doesn’t underestimate the effect of the human factor in these dealings, either.

“I think I not only offer expertise in my craft, but a personal relationship with my clients where they all feel that I genuinely have their best interests at heart,” Bell said. “They also know that I would never make suggestions or ask of them things I wouldn’t do myself. I think based upon that, a respect factor is developed that goes a long way in building a fruitful relationship. One of my strengths is being able to adapt to an ever-changing market.”

Riding the ups and downs of a sometimes volatile real estate market is part of the job. There’s something to be said for stability as well, which is Bell’s up-to-the-minute assessment of real estate in the Wellington community.

“The current state of real estate in our area is extremely solid,” Bell said. “Values are on the steady rise, which is great for current homeowners. The demand for the area is still strong and shows no signs of slowing down, in my opinion.”

Bell very much enjoys living and working in Wellington, the place that he and his family call home.

“Wellington is an area that offers such a wide variety of things to so many different people,” he said. “The different economic and social demographics make it a very unique environment. From the different parks and recreation, multicultural events to the various equestrian activities or landing a plane in your back yard, it has a little of everything.”

Century 21 WC Realty is located in the original Wellington Mall at 12794 W. Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 29, in Wellington. To reach Jermaine Bell, call (561) 201-9219.

Facebookpinterestmail
Feature Stories, Wellington Table - Signature Dish

March 2016 Wellington Table

Table_button

Wellington Table

Signature Dish: Tres-Filet At Suri West

Story and Photos by Julie Unger

The owners of Suri Tapas Bar in downtown Lake Worth have opened a western outpost right here in Wellington. Suri West opened last November at the intersection of South Shore and Greenview Shores boulevards.

Owners Matthew Barger and John and Maureen Pata are thrilled with the new location, which features the same atmosphere, food, owners and even music as the popular original location.

Tantalizing taste buds is Suri West’s signature dish: Tres-Filet. It features three petit prime filet mignons, each prepared differently. One is Oscar style, the next features compound truffle butter, and the third is prepared with seared foie gras.

Set on a light bed of vegetables and baby arugula, the three petit filets are flavorful masterpieces. The dish allows guests to have a specialty sampling that provides an array of flavors, helping to find a favorite. Often, the dish is shared.

“It’s one of our most popular dishes because it’s the three filet minions,” Maureen Pata said.

Chef Mario Foglyano is particular about all of the dishes, including the Tres-Filet.

The filet Oscar includes jumbo lump crab meat and fresh asparagus, finished with hollandaise sauce. The compound truffle butter featured in the second filet is made in house of black winter truffles with a white truffle essence. Finally foie gras, the fatty liver of a duck, is seared and placed atop the third filet.

The combination of all three on one plate makes the meal special, Foglyano explained.

“You can go to your standard steakhouse and get a steak, but you can’t get it three different ways,” he said. “We appreciate the fact that you can get it three different ways; each person can get a bite.”

The filets are prime Harris Ranch beef tenderloin, and the meal is a Suri standard.

“It’s a favorite,” Foglyano said, noting that the restaurant is well-known for the popular dish.

Though the Suri locations are in South Florida, during the winter season, the menu features traditional fall and winter foods, such as acorn squash, walnuts, cranberries and more.

The menu is organized by salads and starters, then house-made flatbreads, meals for one, meals for two and vegetable sides. An extensive drink list with cocktails and martinis, reserve wines and delicious desserts round out a meal with picturesque views.

“The menu changes seasonally,” Barger said. “We try to work with local ingredients when we can. We try to work with the seasons.”

The Winter 2016 menu features the Suri Seasonal Salad with baby spinach, fried goat cheese, cranberries, candied pecans and maple balsamic vinaigrette. The Crab and Corn Chowda, a northern-style thick lump crab chowder, includes pancetta, fire-roasted corn and rustic vegetables. The Poached Pear and Caramelized Onion Flatbread shows off the flavors of Bosc pear poached in cabernet caramelized sweet Vidalia onion ricotta with brie cheese.

The Pulpo Espana meal features grilled Spanish octopus with fingerling potatoes, heirloom cherry tomatoes and arugula, tossed in a white wine garlic butter. Vegetarian options are also available, including the Vegetarian Spinach Lasagna, with burrata mozzarella, ricotta, grilled seasonable vegetables, spicy marinara sauce and spinach lasagna.

New Zealand lamb chops, wild salmon, Peruvian potato-crusted Chilean sea bass, lobster and Murray Farms organic airline chicken breast are integrated into many of Suri’s offerings. Brussels sprouts, acorn squash, truffle parm fries, Szechuan beans and more offer a variety of elegant vegetables to accompany the meal.

The Happy Endings menu, an array of delicious desserts, offer a sweet treat while relaxing with a glass of wine in the outdoor lounge area that includes a fire pit area. Desserts feature an ice cream sandwich, key lime cheesecake, s’mores, turtle cake, chocolate Baileys cake, the BTS cake — a chocolate layer cake with chocolate mousse and a bittersweet chocolate ganache — and more.

There are many venues that work hand in hand with the catering side of the restaurant, Suri Loft, that are available for parties of all types and sizes. Take-out is available, and reservations are preferred, especially on the weekends.

Suri West, located at 13410 South Shore Blvd. in Wellington, is open Monday through Sunday from 4 p.m. to midnight. For more information, visit www.surirestaurant.com or call (561) 795-0080.

Facebookpinterestmail