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.

Wellington Table

Signature Dish: Surf & Turf At Jordan’s Steak Bistro

Story and Photos by Julie Unger

Jordan’s Steak Bistro in the Pointe at Wellington Green is a great place to enjoy a delectable steak in a chic, upscale atmosphere. But the menu at this popular Wellington restaurant makes is so much more than a steakhouse, and one way to taste the diversity is through its signature Surf & Turf entrée.

Owner Jordan Naftal explained that the Surf & Turf special is a combination of three of the restaurant’s top menu items.

“It’s a Creekstone all-natural, 10-ounce filet served Oscar style. The filet will be sitting on asparagus. It has jumbo lump crab meat on top, with béarnaise sauce and three stuffed shrimp. They’re large shrimp served with little crab cakes, and a boat of crab mashed potatoes,” Naftal said. “For the crab mashed potatoes, we take jumbo lump crab and add it to the mashed potatoes and top that with lobster cream sauce.”

The crab cakes, a crowd favorite, hail from the original Jordan’s Steakhouse in Maryland, Naftal noted. Chef Dean Batlas created the crab cakes, which became an immediate staple.

“It’s jumbo lump crab with a little bit of imperial sauce and panko. They’re killer. Anyone from Maryland who knows crab cakes loves them,” Naftal said.

The steak filet is all-natural; the jumbo lump crab is a crowd pleaser; and the crab mashed potatoes are a unique sensation. “I’ve never seen that anywhere else,” he said.

The dish was put together with the three ingredients as a special, and it has been a hit ever since — and the meal has quickly become a crowd favorite.

“No one has ever been unhappy with that dish,” Naftal said, explaining that such a phenomenon is extremely rare within the restaurant industry. “That makes it pretty special.”

The menu at Jordan’s ranges from prime steaks and fresh seafood to free-range chicken. There are large and small plates, along with vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options. Wine bottles line one wall, offering plenty of options for the perfect pairing.

“We try to be as current as possible, and people, more and more, want to know, not only with food, but when you’re selling wine, what the climate was,” Naftal said. “They discuss different vintages, locations and grape varietals. With food, they want to know where it is from, if it is fresh, if it is organic, if it is natural. It’s exciting for us, because that is what we do.”

Other favorites at Jordan’s include tuna from Honolulu. It is a sushi-grade tuna that is used for the Tuna Tartare and the Broiled Tuna. The amazing Grilled Caesar, with a romaine heart put right on the broiler, includes an authentic Caesar dressing taught to Naftal by his father. It is drizzled with the dressing, pignoli nuts, local baby heirloom tomatoes and shaved asiago cheese.

The menu also includes Jordan’s USDA Prime Burger, the 18 oz. Prime Jackman Wagyu Ranch Cowboy Steak and Blackened Scottish Salmon. Vegetarian options include the Vegetarian Burger, Quinoa Salad and Vegan Curried Quinoa Stuffed Red Pepper.

If you’re not pairing with wine, try one of the craft cocktails, such as the Basil Martini. To end your meal, Jordan’s offers a variety of homemade desserts, such as the Chocolate Pâté and the Espresso Martini.

Every Friday, Jordan’s offers a free wine tasting event from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Learning about various wines and pairings in a relaxed atmosphere is a sweet and savory treat — perfect as a precursor to a great meal to start the weekend right.

The restaurant, Naftal explained, is called a bistro rather than a steakhouse to keep a less formal atmosphere.

“We don’t want people to feel like they have to come in and have a four-course meal every time they come,” he said. “We want them to be able to come four times a week if they want. We have small plates; we have nice salads. They can come here for full meals and have the signature dish we just presented, or they can come in and have a salad and a glass of wine. There’s a lot of flexibility.”

Jordan’s Steak Bistro is located at 10140 W. Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 170, in the Pointe at Wellington Green. It is open Sunday through Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m., and 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Reservations are suggested, especially during the winter season. The restaurant offers delivery through Delivery Dudes, as well as catering for special occasions. For more information, call (561) 793-9394 or visit www.jordanssteakbistro.com.

Wellington Table

Story and Photos by Julie Unger

The Seahorse Fashion Cuisine is an oceanic aficionado’s dream come true. Soothing music, ocean-themed décor and a beautiful tank with brightly colored fish greet guests as they arrive for a truly fine dining experience.

Chef John Sarmiento, who recently revamped the restaurant’s menu for its third season, took us on a voyage to the sea as we learned about the restaurant’s new signature dish — Whole Roasted Branzino. “The Branzino comes in from Greece,” Sarmiento said.

The tender fish is butterflied, grilled, then plated with baby artichokes, sliced heirloom tomatoes, black olive chimichurri and grilled lemon.

“Our heirloom tomatoes are local,” Sarmiento said. “They’re from a farmhouse in western Palm Beach County. We get them at the peak of the season.”

Quality ingredients, fresh, local and unique, make all of the difference when making something seemingly simple transform into a complex medley of flavors and textures.

“Just from the best fish, to the best artichokes, to the local tomatoes, and last but not least, the homemade black olive chimichurri,” Sarmiento explained. “It’s a combination of flavors here with the nice, fresh tomatoes and the local artichokes, then you get this nice boost of cilantro, parsley and black olives, combining it all together.”

The black olive chimichurri is made with cilantro, parsley, garlic shallots, lemon juice, red vinegar, salt, pepper and chopped black olives. “It gives a real bright, fresh wow to the plate,” he said.

The plate is decorated with a balsamic reduction made in-house, which complements the light, refreshing dish.

“It’s the combination of all of the fresh, local ingredients, using the best of the best,” he said. “When you get good tomatoes, you need to make sure you complement them with excellent sea salt, fantastic balsamic vinegar and then artichokes. Anybody can get canned artichokes. We get them in fresh, we cook them daily. We blanch them to perfection, then toss them in a marinade before they’re grilled. Every ingredient, you enhance its own flavors, and then you complement it with a little minor ingredient, and it makes the whole plate shine on its own.”

To top the dish, Sarmiento sprinkles fresh-grown sprouts, such as baby Russian kale, to add another layer of complexity and flavor to the dish.

An expanded wine selection is also available during season. Every few weeks, the menu changes, offering a fresh, new experience for Seahorse patrons.

Manager and partner Luu Lam has received positive feedback on the new menu. “We wanted to change the whole concept of it. We wanted to do smaller portions so everyone could try a little bit of everything, especially a party of two or a party of four,” Lam said. “They could come in, order three, four or five items, so they could get a sense of what the appetizers and the small plates are.”

The Seahorse’s menu is diverse, offering seafood, meat and chicken, as well as vegetarian offerings, which is good for larger parties where some may not like seafood.

Utilized in the menu are specialty foods such as parmigiana reggiano and miso, foods that are classified as umami — one of the five basic tastes. It features all new entrees, dinners, desserts and appetizers. The menu features a tapas theme, with small plates that are perfect for ordering rounds of plates with drinks.

Previously, the menu focused on seafood. Now, more meats, proteins and salads are available. Menu highlights include the Lobster and Avocado Cocktail, Mediterranean Quinoa Salad, Truffled Snapper, Aji Amarillo, Skirt Steak and Grilled Lobster, the Curry Bowl, Blackened Free Range Chicken and a two-pound Maine Lobster.

The ‘wow’ factor of the restaurant — from the food to the service to the décor — are some of the things that make the Seahorse special. Lam calls it a “hidden gem.”

“When they come into the Seahorse, they are not going out to eat, they are dining out,” Lam said. “From the point where they walk into the door to the time that they leave, that’s what we want them to enjoy.”

The Seahorse is available for private parties and offers off-site catering, as well as delivery through Delivery Dudes and Cravy.

The Seahorse Fashion Cuisine — part of the Fashion Cuisine family of restaurants — is located at 10660 W. Forest Hill Blvd. in Wellington and is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. from Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Sunday brunch is served from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information and reservations, call (561) 791-1616.