January 16th, 2010
An Appointment at…The Office…Delray’s Newest…Florida…Restaurant…Review…
“One of the nicest things about life, is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright could not have said it better.
Friday, in Delray Beach, lunch was on my mind and my target was the newly opened The Office. Yes, they just opened a week ago. Right on Atlantic Ave. and close to its sister restaurant, Vic & Angelos, which I reviewed on September 29th. You can read that review by clicking on the month of September on the left hand side of this blog and scroll down.
The exact address of The Office is 201 East Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach, FL 33444. Tel. 561-276-3600. Website is www.theofficedelray.com and the e-mail address is info@theofficedelray.com.
The Office is a Gastropub. But what is this concept? A Gastropub’s main concern is quality food. It is a combination of pub and gastronomy. Gastronomy being the study of the relationship between culture and food. Sometimes the concept of a restaurant in a pub brings criticism because it removes the character of traditional pubs, which are mainly drinking establishments.
That been said, I want to tell you that today was a truly beautiful day. It has been so chilly in South Florida that everyone was eating outside, walking and just enjoying the warm breeze.
All the restaurants on the Avenue were crowded. Aren’t we supposed to be in a recession? Really, I could not get over it.
I think you would like The Office. It is a very open restaurant and it does have a library kind of feel when you come in. Wood panels and books are part of the decor. Interesting were the postal boxes; I am not sure if they were for decoration or if they kept the silverware in them. A large bar is one of the main attractions. You can access the bar from the sidewalk, as well. Well thought out.
There is outdoor seating, but the only available table was inside. Tables were near one another, but I did not mind that.
Craig was our waiter and he was very good. Ask for him if you visit the restaurant. He was prompt, friendly and anticipated what we wanted.
The silverware was inside a business envelope. The menu was presented in a very large manila envelope. On the front, the list of everything you can eat was posted. The rest; alcoholic beverages.
I have to mention that they do have one of Delaware’s own Dog Fish Head; 60 Minute, IPA and the other beer that caught my attention was from Frederick, Maryland; Flying Dog Old Scratch.
The menu is divided as follows:
Office Supplies are the starters. Go Green are salads. Al Desco are burgers (a specialty of the house), Outlook are specials of the week, the Bottom Line are the entrees and Action Items are the Sides. For each type of alcoholic beverage you will also find a catchy name.
The menu also mentions that there will be no substitutions, no cry babies and no kidding. It also mentions to alert the serving staff of any food allergies. Well, of course, we did and Craig was so nice to go to the kitchen and ask the Chef if what my husband wanted to order had gluten. He wanted the Truffled Organic Deviled Eggs. No gluten on those and they were so delicious. I think next time I might have them with the Horiatiki Salad I had. This salad had heirloom tomato, cucumber, red pepper, red onion, taggiata olives, goat’s milk feta cheese and red wine vinaigrette. I think they would pair perfectly.
For lunch I had the Prime Office Cheese Burger. It was a very generous size burger with butter lettuce, tomato, red onions, pickles, The Office Sauce and aged cheddar. Perfectly cooked and nicely presented. I thought it was a little salty, though. It came with the thinnest shoestring fries; very crispy, just like they should be. My son had the CEO Burger and it was named appropriately so; sweet onion, tomato confit, gorgonzola, gruyere, arugula and bacon. Is your mouth watering yet?
Glancing around the restaurant, you could watch a diverse group of people. I wondered about their stories. Are they here on vacation? Or, are they locals or natives? Is Delray Beach everything they expected this Village by the Sea to be?
The Office runs like clockwork; the owners seasoned restauranteurs, having many restaurants around the country. So, check out their website because you will find the menus and other interesting information.
And once again, just like James Beard has stated “Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” Indeed it is.
Note: Info. on Gastropub was taken from http://wikipedia.org/wiki/public_house. The first picture is on the middle of The Office’s menu. I loved the way it showed.
See you around…maybe back at The Office…
Tags: Delaware Beaches, Delray Beach, drinks, Florida, Full Bar, Gluten free awareness, lunch and dinner, Restaurant, Restaurants, review, Reviews
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Went to The Office for lunch and had a very different experience. Food was nicely presented but very average and expensive. Service was slow and inexperienced. With all the wonderful places in Delray don’t plan to go back.
That’s too bad that your experience was not as good as mine. I really enjoyed my meal. You noticed that I did put that there was a little too much salt on the hamburger, though. Delray has so many restaurants and it is so great that we all have many choices, as well. Try Jimmy’s Bistro on 9 South Swinton Ave. Not discovered yet but very good. I wrote a post about his restaurant back in November and just went back this week and had a very good meal. I really appreciated your comment on my blog. It is good to hear all kinds of views. See you soon, I hope.
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