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.
