DELRAY Magazine Jan/Feb 2026

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U N I Q U E B O U T I Q U E J E W E L R Y . C O M

CONTENTS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

10 Editor’s Letter

In this time of fresh starts, consider resolutions that might last a lifetime— instead of the temporary satisfaction of a good beach bod.

BY CHRISTIANA LILLY

13 Hot List 36

An Arts Garage fundraiser has Downtown Delray in stitches, Old World Italian cuisine comes to Pineapple Grove, and courts are in session at the Delray Beach Open. Plus, get in the Groove for a great daiquiri, and enjoy a laid-back New Year’s concert at the Morikami.

Even on a Naples beach getaway in which one plan after another falls by the wayside, there’s nothing like a rapturous West Coast sunset to lift one’s spirits.

BY JOHN THOMASON

Catch orchid fever at the Morikami, dive into an actor’s process at an Arts Garage solo play, and immerse yourself in ribbons of color at Cornell Art Museum. Plus, talk like a pirate at this year’s South Florida Fair, visit “Bohemia” with Palm Beach Opera, experience West African dance at the Kravis, and more A&E highlights.

61 Dining Guide

BY JOHN THOMASON

AND TYLER CHILDRESS

24 Style

71 Out & About

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARINA MASK

29 Home

Nuance has its place, but for a room to shine, homeowners sometimes must boldly go. Top designers share insights on how to employ dramatic patterns and eye-catching color to your living spaces.

BY CHRISTIE GALEANO - DEMOTT

COVER PHOTO BY BEATRICE GIL

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From iguanas and pythons to lionfish and cane toads, Florida’s invasive species are decimating native wildlife with impunity. Our intrepid editor tags along with the hunters and preservationists working to cull the predators.

46 There Goes the Sun

Forget wicker baskets and paper plates.

Stage a romantic picnic with these fashionable serving trays, bowls, cutlery and décor from local retailers.

DELRAY BEACH MAGAZINE

36 On the Hunt

16 Try This

20 Top 5/Calendar

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BY JOHN THOMASON

BY TYLER CHILDRESS

BY TYLER CHILDRESS

61

Meet a conservationist turned Arts Warehouse sculptor with a flair for fantasy, and a local dentist who cocreated a solution for delinquent teeth brushers.

BY TYLER CHILDRESS

In his first experience with sound therapy, our web editor is pickin’ up Good Vibrations.

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32 Up Close

Our review-driven dining guide showcases great restaurants in Delray and beyond—including fresh takes on a downtown purveyor of dependable pan-Asian street food and a chef-driven powerhouse in Midtown Boca.

BY CHRISTIE GALEANO - DEMOTT

In this issue’s social pages, the Morikami lit up its lake to honor departed loved ones, JARC Florida raised more than fifty grand at a Delray fundraiser, and Lilly lovers sported their floral finest at a Palm Beach retreat.

BY TYLER CHILDRESS

80 Community Connection

An Elders Table member and political activist shares why unifying Palm Beach County and lifting up marginalized communities are issues worth fighting for.

BY RICH POLLACK

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

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Group Editor-in-Chief Christiana Lilly Managing Editor John Thomason Web Editor Tyler Childress Editor Emeritus Marie Speed Senior Art Director Lori Pierino Production Manager Rafael Quiñones Graphic Designer James Karpinen Photographers Michael Connor, Carina Mask Contributing Writers Christie Galeano-DeMott, Margie Kaye (promotional writing), Rich Pollack Director of Advertising and Marketing Nicole Ruth

2 great locations: downtown and the beach

Director of Circulation and Sales Support Bruce Klein, Jr. Account Executives Karen Kintner, Jenna Russo, Skyler Ruth Special Projects Manager Gail Eagle Customer Services/Video Editor David Shuff 561/997-8683 (ph) • 561/997-8909 (fax) 1000 Clint Moore Road, Suite 103 Boca Raton, FL 33487 bocamag.com christiana@bocamag.com (editorial) publishers of Boca Raton magazine Delray Beach magazine 1926 Worth Avenue magazine Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce Annual

525 East Atlantic Avenue, Delray Beach 561-276-4123 800-552-2363 thecolonyhotel.com 6

DELRAY BEACH MAGAZINE

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Delray Beach magazine is published five times a year by JES Media. The entire contents of Delray Beach magazine are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without the expressed written consent of the publisher.

Delray Beach magazine accepts no responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts and/or photographs and assumes no liability for products or services advertised herein. Delray Beach magazine reserves the right to edit, rewrite or refuse material and is not responsible for products. Please refer to corporate masthead.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

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SERVICES DIRECTORY Delray Beach magazine is published five times a year, with bi-monthly issues in-season and combined issues in the summertime. If you have any questions or comments regarding our magazine, call us at 561/997-8683. We’d love to hear from you.

[ COPY PURCHASING AND DISTRIBUTION ] For any changes or questions regarding purchasing back issues, or inquire about distribution points, ask for our subscriptions department at 877/553-5363.

[ ADVERTISING RESOURCES ]

Take advantage of Delray Beach’s prime advertising space—put your ad dollars to work in our award-winning publication. For more information, contact our sales department (nicole@bocamag.com).

[ CUSTOM PUBLISHING ] Create a magazine tailored to fit the needs and character of your business/organization. Ideal for promotions, special events, introduction of new services and/or locations, etc. Contact Christiana Lilly (christiana@bocamag.com).

[ STORY QUERIES/WEB QUERIES ]

Delray Beach magazine values the concerns and interests of our readers. Story queries for the print version of Delray Beach should be submitted by email to Christiana Lilly (christiana@bocamag.com) or John Thomason (john. thomason@bocamag.com). Submit information/queries regarding our website to tyler@bocamag.com. We try to respond to all queries, but due to the large volume that we receive, this may not be possible.

[ LETTERS ] Your thoughts and comments are important to us. All letters to the editor may be edited for style, grammar and length. We reserve the right to withhold any letters deemed inappropriate for publication. Send letters to Christiana Lilly (christiana@bocamag.com).

[ CALENDAR ] Where to go, what to do and see in Delray Beach. Please submit information regarding fundraisers, art openings, plays, readings, concerts, dance or other performances to managing editor John Thomason (john.thomason@bocamag.com). Deadline for entries in an upcoming calendar section is three months before publication (e.g., to list an event in March/April, submit info by December 20).

[ DINING GUIDE ] Our independent reviews of restaurants in Delray Beach.

A fine, reliable resource for residents and tourists. For more information, contact Christie Galeano-DeMott (christie@bocamag.com).

[ OUT & ABOUT ] A photo collage of social gatherings and events in Delray Beach. All photos submitted should be clearly identified and accompanied by a brief description of the event (who, what, where, when). Email images to Tyler Childress at tyler@bocamag.com.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

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DELRAY BEACH MAGAZINE

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Florida Magazine Association 2025 CHARLIE AWARDS Charlie award (first place)

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2024 CHARLIE AWARDS Charlie award (first place)

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best overall magazine best overall writing best custom publication (1926) best feature best department best column best photo essay/series best advertorial story or section

Silver award best feature best public service coverage best cover photo best use of photography best custom publication (Worth Avenue)

Bronze award best overall design best department best public service coverage best advertorial story or section

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

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Changing My Why

CARINA MASK

[ EDITOR’S LETTER ] B Y C H R I S T I A N A L I L L Y

RESOLUTIONS MAY NOT CHANGE, BUT THE GOALS DO

D

uring every workout at my gym, we do stretches together as a class after a brutal 15-minute warm-up. Our muscles are warmed up, and we’re preparing for rounds of kickboxing at our bags.

I remember looking at the woman next to me, somewhere in her 60s, easily dropping into the splits. My mouth hung open, in awe of her flexibility. She must have been a dancer, I thought to myself, or maybe a gymnast.

Perhaps she goes to yoga nine times a week and has turned into a human Gumby. I told her as much, and other women around her complimented her and wished they, too, could do the splits.

“I couldn’t do the splits before,” she said nonchalantly. “It doesn’t matter how old you are; if you stretch every day, you’ll be able to do this in a year.”

There was no dramatic backstory about being a Rockette or competing in the Olympics. She didn’t need a history of flexibility to be able to do the splits in her 60s.

She can do them because she decided she wanted to and worked toward it.

Every New Year, we are optimistic in our goals of how we’ll change over the next 365 days. We’ll focus more on our mental health, be more patient with our children, work toward a promotion, learn a new language or, most commonly, promise to go to the gym. For the longest time, the goal of going to the gym—whether it was yoga or kickboxing or Pilates—was to be bikini ready. I wanted a flat stomach, tight arms and toned legs. It was all the artificial, skin-deep stuff. As I get older, though, my priorities have changed. I’m inspired by the women in my class who have the aches and pains of aging, injury or postpartum but still come to class, adjusting their workouts to better suit them and their abilities (I have a fun new pain in my arch and heel, so I get it).

While the lean body is a nice side effect, I think about what my body will be like when I’m 60, 70, 80. I want to be able to get out of a chair by myself. I want to be able to walk down the street during travels with my husband. I want to be able to lift boxes delivered to my front door. I want to be the crazy aunt who still hits the dance floor at weddings.

I’m realistic that one day my body will not be able to do the things it used to be able to do, and that’s OK. As one of the coaches tells us at the end of the workout, thank your body for what it has done for you.

It’s about taking care of myself not for vanity, but for longevity.

With this issue being the very first of 2026, you’ll find inspiring and fun stories of people in the community. New ventures, dining destinations and out-of-the-box healing modalities fill the pages of our first issue of 2026. May it inspire you to explore your hometown.

AMERICANS’ TOP RESOLUTIONS FOR 2026 1. EXERCISE MORE 2. SAVE MORE MONEY 3. EAT HEALTHIER 5. SPEND MORE TIME WITH FAMILY/FRIENDS 6. LOSE WEIGHT 7. DO MORE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT 8. IMPROVE JOB PERFORMANCE 9. REDUCE JOB STRESS 10. SPEND LESS TIME ON SOCIAL MEDIA SOURCE: STATISTA

Welcome to 2026,

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eader in Financial Advice and Planning

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For Certified Financial Planner ™ Elizabeth Bennett, managing money is more than a career—it’s a passion, and its roots are personal. Bennett’s father died when she was 7, and her widowed mother became so overwhelmed with financial burdens that she had declared bankruptcy by the time Elizabeth turned 18. Bennett went on to earn a B.S. in Accounting from Penn State University so that she would not fall into similar financial hardship.

Now, as head of Intercoastal Wealth Planning in Boca Raton, she shares her insights from nearly 35 years in finance with a wide range of clients, designing custom plans to steer them toward financial freedom and independence. These include widows and divorcees, soonto-be retirees, and others undergoing major life changes.

Bennett is familiar with the mistakes that amateur investors often make without the advice of a professional fiduciary— such as playing the stock market ineffectively. Bennett is an expert at reversing these habits, and excels at providing solutions for her clients during times of market volatility.

“I pride myself on building a client’s portfolio based on what their risk tolerance is,” she says. “We always start with a financial plan. I need to understand who you are and what your goals are, and where you are today, so I can help you get to where you want to go.”

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HOT LIST NEWS AND NOTES FROM DELRAY BEACH

Delray Beach Open

A Very Delray New Year

The New Year ushers in new restaurants, returning tennis pros, a way to sew your support for the arts, and more.

BY TYLER CHILDRESS

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

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[ HOT LIST ]

OPEN UP

Local tennis superstar Taylor Fritz will make his way back to the Delray Beach Open this year to potentially make history as the tournament’s first three-peat victor. Returning Feb. 13-22, the tournament will gather top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) players who will duke it out on the hard courts in front of a packed house of more than 60,000 attendees. Also returning this year are a slew of foodie events throughout the Open, including the Delray Beach Open Food & Wine Series, which will offer bites from more than 40 of South Florida’s top restaurants, and a new event, Serve & Savor, which will present an Italian-themed grand tasting ahead of the semifinal matches. 201 W. Atlantic Ave.; delraybeachopen.com/en

ANDREW PATRON

Taylor Fritz at the 2024 Delray Beach Open

Delray Witches’ Ride

Seafood pasta from Segreto Italia

Shh … It’s a Segreto

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DDA

Pineapple Grove welcomes another Italian concept with the debut of Segreto Italia. Segreto takes its inspiration from Old World Italian culinary traditions and adds a modern twist to create dishes that are simple yet novel. Its interior boasts a similar philosophy, creating a vibe that is elegant, refined and intimate. The pasta is made in-house, and the meats and seafood are carefully curated from local suppliers to ensure the highest quality. Start the meal with hand-rolled meatballs in a bright San Marzano sauce or the fried calamari and zucchini with red pepper aioli, then spring for a decadent lasagna di manzo, layered with braised short ribs, rich béchamel and mozzarella. Visit during happy hour from 5 to 6:30 p.m. for $8 cocktails, $4 Italian beers and discounted light bites. 301 N.E. Third Ave.; 561/774-2660; segretodelray.com

Delray Beach Festival of the Arts

Delray Beach Festival of the Arts

Delray Beach’s annual celebration of the arts returns for its 37th year from Jan. 10-11. Touted as one of the best art festivals in the country by Sunshine Artist magazine, the festival displays works by both up-and-coming and established artists across the mediums of glass, photography, painting, mixed media, fiber, jewelry and more in a vast outdoor gallery. The festival grounds stretch from Swinton Avenue all the way down to Northwest Fifth Avenue, and attendees can look forward to food trucks, live entertainment and more.

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MORIKAMI MUSEUM AND JAPANESE GARDENS

SEW SUPPORT

A koto performance at the Morikami

New Year’s at the Morikami

The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens’ New Year’s celebration may seem a bit tame compared to the usual glittered affairs, but for the introvert, it’s a welcome change of pace.

On Jan. 4, the Morikami will host a Koto New Year Concert, with performances by Morikami students. The koto, the national instrument of Japan, is a finger-plucked 13-stringed instrument that produces a soothing sound similar to a harp. Admission is $5 with paid museum admission, so you can take a stroll of the Morikami’s lush gardens or brush up on your Japanese history ahead of the 12:30 p.m. performance. For more information, visit morikami.org/event/koto-new-year-concert.

BY THE NUMBERS

60,500+

the number of attendees at the 2024 Delray Beach open—a record-setting attendance.

40+

how many vendors set up shop at the Delray Beach Open Food & Wine Series

13

the number of Italian restaurants in Downtown Delray Beach (excluding pizza shops)

$32,448

fundraising goal of Stitches by the Sea

Jan. 9

National Quitter’s Day—the second Friday in January when people typically abandon their New Year’s resolutions

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Since Gov. Ron DeSantis’ historic veto of arts funding for the 2024-2025 budget, local arts and cultural organizations have had to scramble to cover the losses. Arts Garage alone lost more than $70,000 in expected funds, but fortunately the Delray Beach community has stepped in to assist. At the family-owned Stitches by the Sea, chip in to support the local arts with a $10 donation that will get you 10 stitches on a needlepoint work depicting Downtown Delray Beach. The canvas, which will be composed of 30,000 stitches, will be auctioned off when finished, with the funds being donated to Arts Garage. As of writing, Stitches by the Sea had brought in more than $8,000 in donations, with a goal of reaching $32,448. While you’re there, peruse Stitches’ eclectic collection of vibrant threads and start your own needlepoint—a hobby dubbed by Stitches as “yoga for the mind.” 710 E. Atlantic Ave.; 561/865-5775; stitchesbythesea.us

Stitches by the Sea’s needlepoint depiction of Downtown Delray

AFTER DARK:

Daiquiris

Get your dose of Southern comfort (with all the fixins) at Groove’s Kitchen & Daiquiris, now open in Delray Beach.

With a soul-inspired menu, DJs spinning tunes on weekends, signature frozen cocktails, and a 2,700-square-foot patio for dancing and live performances, Groove’s checks all the boxes for a Saturday night out.

Buttermilk-fried catfish and grits share the dinner menu with braised oxtail and jerk lamb chops, while the cocktail menu boasts frozen delights like the Brass & Mango, loaded with ripe mango blended with cognac, fresh citrus and island Tropical libations from Groove’s spices. The soulful vibes extend through the day, too, with gospel brunches on Sundays featuring decadent courses and live gospel performances.

404 W. Atlantic Ave.; 561/265-5599; groovesdelray.com

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Sounds Good

CARINA MASK

[ TRY THIS ] B Y T Y L E R C H I L D R E S S

Kathleen Haden

RESET YOUR INTERNAL FREQUENCIES WITH A SESSION AT GOOD VIBRATIONS MUSIC CO.

A

s a neophyte to the world of sound therapy, the extent of my knowledge on the practical application of frequencies is the proverbial opera singer shattering a glass using the pitch of her voice. But as Good Vibrations Music Co. Founder Kathleen Haden explains, there’s much more to sound than what you hear.

“Every organ and system of the body works on a different frequency,” says Haden. “[Sound therapy] is learning about how to bring the body into a state of optimal health using frequencies to balance out your body.”

I approached my visit to Good Vibrations Music Co. as scientifically as a person with a degree in the humanities could manage. I refrained from doing any prior research that might bias my results and entered with an open mind. After a brief screening by Haden to determine what issues I hoped to address with the session (stress, mainly), she explained the importance of internal harmony, and how fragile it is.

“Environment, disease, thoughts, words, actions can all change frequencies,” explains Haden, likening the body’s internal rhythms to a symphony. “Say you have everyone on stage, and they’re starting to play, and the first violinist loses her sheet music. … Pretty soon that symphony is out of harmony, because they’re not in sync anymore.”

As for the therapy itself, the session consists of lying on a table that vibrates in tune with music played through a speaker—music created by Haden’s musician husband. They have tracks designed to support just about any malady, from broken bones and depression to post-traumatic stress disorder and seasonal flu. But these aren’t just ordinary tunes.

“We align our tuning, when he records, to 432 hertz,” says Haden, a figure that features prominently in holistic wellness and is believed to be

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the basic frequency of the universe. “You can’t keep rhythm to it, and what it does is it trains your brain to shut down from the alpha-beta state to the theta-delta state.”

To create full immersion, the therapy also includes wearing a sound pillow and headphones to listen to the music. As for what music without rhythm or tune sounds like, imagine soft synthesizers and lilting flutes with an ambient, serene quality.

After I applied the eye pillow and headphones and settled in, it wasn’t long before I felt myself carried away by the music. I had an internal sense of alignment with the vibrations from the table that created a feeling of floating through a waking dream. At one point I began to see shapes dancing behind my eyelids, and I remembered something Haden had said during the screening that I had found odd—that her husband could “play” a circle or triangle. By the end of the session I felt almost fully disembodied, and when Haden removed the headphones it was like surfacing from a vast, gentle sea.

I opted for the 30-minute session but highly recommend going for a full 45 minutes because of just how quickly the time passes in that altered state of consciousness. I asked Haden which track she had selected for me, and she said “relaxation.”

While I can’t speak to the efficacy of Good Vibrations Music Co.’s tracks for myriad health issues, I can say that if you visit looking for some muchneeded zen, you won’t leave disappointed.

Good Vibrations Music Co.; 100 N.E. Sixth St., Boynton Beach; goodvibrationsmusicco.com

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

11/21/25 10:32 AM

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Noninvasive Treatment Stops Essential Tremor in Its Tracks Imagine pouring yourself a cup of hot coffee with shaky hands, attempting to shave or even signing your own name. For the estimated 10 million Americans who suffer from essential tremor (ET), many daily tasks are impossible ― and sometimes downright dangerous.

Thanks to physicians at Marcus Neuroscience Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, part of Baptist Health, many patients with ET who have not responded to medications can now take advantage of a new noninvasive treatment.

High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is an incisionless, painless outpatient procedure that sends more than 1,000 beams of ultrasound through the skull to target and destroy lesions that are disrupting the brain’s normal circuits. The treatment is done in one session. The benefits of HIFU over traditional surgery include little to no risk of infection, no hospitalization, no general anesthesia and no invasive burr holes into the skull or implants.

“Essential tremor is a miscommunication between different parts of the brain,” explains Timothy Miller, M.D., a neurosurgeon and director of functional neurosurgery at Marcus Neuroscience Institute. “With HIFU, sound waves destroy the cells causing the tremor. Results are immediate, improving the quality of life for our patients right away.”

while many people believe it’s a typical sign of aging and that there’s nothing that can be done to help, doctors say they are wrong on both counts.

“ET is more common as we age, but it can occur at any age,” Dr. Miller says. “ET also progressively worsens over time, but treatment can diminish or eliminate the tremor.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved HIFU for essential tremor in 2016 and just recently approved its use in patients who suffer from tremors on both sides of their body, meaning that it can be performed twice ― separately for each side of the body.

Before the procedure, the patient’s head is shaved and they are asked to draw a spiral. They are moved into an MRI machine, where a frame holds their head in place. Throughout the procedure, experts are at the patient’s side, checking that things are proceeding well. Patients may be asked to move a certain way and repeat the drawing exercise to see the tremor’s improvement in real time.

ET is a progressive neurological condition that most often affects the hands. Some people also experience uncontrolled shaking of the head, their voice or their legs. The cause of the movement disorder is unknown, but upwards of half of all patients report that they had a parent with the condition.

HIFU is a life-changing option for those whose lives have been disrupted by a debilitating disorder,” Dr. Miller says. “It’s a win for our patients.”

While it’s not life-threatening, ET is often extremely disabling. It is also commonly misdiagnosed, and

For more information on HIFU for essential tremor, call 561-955-4438 or visit BaptistHealth.net/HIFU.

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[ CALENDAR ] B Y J O H N T H O M A S O N

TOP 5 January/February 2026 Davion Tynarious Brown

“Strictly Murder”

Orchid Weekend

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“STRICTLY MURDER”

ORCHID WEEKEND

WHEN: Jan. 11, 7 p.m.

WHERE: Arts Garage, 94 N.E. Second Ave., Delray Beach COST: $35 CONTACT: 561/450-6357, artsgarage.org From his first onstage appearance as Travis, the son of protagonist Walter Younger, in a 2003 production of “A Raisin in the Sun,” Davion Tynarious Brown has been involved in myriad aspects of the dramatic life for more than 20 years—as an actor, director, writer, choreographer and theatre educator. His roles, more than 40 deep, have ranged from Bob Cratchit in “A Christmas Carol” to Guildenstern in “Hamlet.” That’s a lot of experience to inform his autobiographical two-character show “WHY: An Actor Preparing,” a meta play, set in a studio apartment, that captures the process of his craft, warts and all. The show’s title conjures Constantin Stanislavski’s “An Actor Prepares,” one of the seminal texts on acting of the 20th century, and Brown’s play updates its ideas for the 21st. Brown explores the fears and anxieties of performing, the vagaries and complexities of the theatre industry, and the eternal balance between family life and creative life, while serving as a clarion call—vital, given our ongoing crisis in cultural funding—to the importance of the arts in our lives.

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WHEN: Jan. 30-Feb. 22 WHERE: Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 N.W. Ninth St., Delray Beach COST: $45 CONTACT: 561/272-1281, delraybeachplayhouse.com As plays go, “The Mousetrap” still gets all the attention, but not every genteel British murder mystery sprung from the mind of Agatha Christie. Brian Clemens, an English screenwriter and television producer who claimed to have been related to Mark Twain, penned his share of lurid tales for the stage and screen, many of which pivot on that perennial genre trope, the discovery of a corpse. His works include “An Honourable Murder,” “Murder Weapon” and the jovially titled “Anybody for Murder?”

Premiering in 2006, “Strictly Murder” is Clemens’ penultimate play, a tale of cons and double-cons set in 1939 France just before the outbreak of World War II. An English couple, Peter and Suzy, are enjoying a life of ease in their Provence country house until a revelation of Peter’s real identity upsets their idyllic reprieve.

He may even be a killer on the run, suddenly in the crosshairs of a determined Scotland Yard detective. These are only the opening moves in this mysterious cat-and-mouse game, which, in one critic’s appraisal, “grips you by the throat from start to finish.”

WHEN: Feb. 7-8, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

WHERE: Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, 4000 Morikami Park Road, Delray Beach COST: Included with $10-$16 museum admission CONTACT: 561/495-0233, morikami.org Orchid fever spread through the ranks of horticulturists and plant lovers long before Susan Orlean published her landmark 1998 book “The Orchid Thief.” Historians place the flower’s obsessive appeal back to Victorian England, when an ornithologist from London brought a batch home from a trip to Rio de Janeiro. In 1939, one Norman McDonald, in his book “The Orchid Hunters,” compared the passion for orchids to “taking cocaine. … It’s a sort of madness.” Luckily for us, some of the world’s most desirous and exotic orchids don’t require desperate lengths to acquire, as a dozen or so vendors from throughout the state will offer locals their finest orchids during the height of blooming season. The Morikami’s Orchid Weekend also features bonsai, art and jewelry vendors and lectures on orchid cultivation, and is geared to orchid experts and novices alike.

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READ THIS

Joan Crawford: A Woman’s Face Scott Eyman, a renowned film historian based in West Palm Beach, has just published his 18th book, “Joan Crawford: A Woman’s Face.” Eyman is an expert on the Golden Age of Hollywood, and his biographies, of such titans as John Wayne, Cary Grant and Mary Pickford, are recognized as the definitive accounts of their subjects, offering newly unearthed insights into the private lives of these public figures. Read the book, then see Eyman discuss it Feb. 17 at the Kravis Center in a “Lunch and Learn” conversation with artist Steven Caras.

WATCH THIS

“Mini Totem” by Dorothy Gillespie

“Kim’s Convenience”

[2 ]

[1 ]

“DOROTHY GILLESPIE: COLOR IN MOTION”

“KIM’S CONVENIENCE”

WHEN: Now-March 15 WHERE: Cornell Art Museum, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach COST: Free, with donations welcomed CONTACT: 561/654-2220, delrayoldschoolsquare.com/cornell Artist Dorothy Gillespie once said, “I love color.

It goes back to the things I saw as a child—a Christmas tree, a ball bouncing, a kite.” That enthusiasm for the color spectrum in all its vividness would inform the work for which she’s most known: enamel-covered aluminum sculptures, many designed for public spaces, that suggest a sense of motion. A realist artist in her early years, Gillespie eventually found her voice in abstraction, creating motley assemblages that resemble ribbons and double helixes, starbursts and fireworks and confetti—optically cofounding metal sculptures that appear as crinkly as paper. She designed commissions for venues such as the Lincoln Center in Manhattan, the Epcot Center in Orlando, and the Delta Terminal here at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. Gillespie became a champion of the arts in South Florida, ultimately dying as a nonagenarian in Coral Gables in 2012, and leaving a legacy of colorfully kinetic art that takes center stage in this Cornell Art Museum retrospective.

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WHEN: Feb. 25-March 8 WHERE: Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach COST: $40.25-$74.75 CONTACT: 561/832-7469, kravis.org Before it became a hit Netflix series for five seasons, “Kim’s Convenience” confined its heartfelt combination of charms and pathos only to the stage. Actor and playwright Ins Choi debuted his play of the same name at the 2011 Toronto Fringe Festival, a logical premiere for a show set in a Korean-owned convenience store in that city’s Regent Park neighborhood.

Drawing from his own background as one of countless Korean immigrants to Toronto in the 1980s, Choi conceived of a sundry shop not unlike Kim’s Grocer, the real-life establishment that employed him. Its operators, Mr. and Mrs. Kim, face pressures of gentrification and the looming development of a nearby Walmart as existential threats to the business, while dealing with more urgent drama closer to home—such as the Kims’ estranged son Jung, who may have stolen the family’s savings, and their daughter Janet, a naturalized Canadian with little interest in taking over the family business. This revival tours the Kravis in the wake of its TV adaptation’s critically acclaimed run.

Members Only: Palm Beach This Netflix reality series, which premiered in December, may well feature some familiar faces.

Following a group of women who live among the county’s gilded enclaves, “Members Only” explores the shifting power dynamics in Florida’s wealthiest county. The Palm Beach County Film & Television Commission coordinated some 68 filming permits across Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach and Boca Raton.

You may recognize locations such as Mizner Park, CityPlace and The Ben hotel.

LISTEN TO THIS

Culture Under Fire Arts Garage President and CEO Marjorie Waldo has a new title to add to her business card: podcast host.

Provocatively titled “Culture Under Fire,” her series features biweekly conversations with local advocates, leaders and artists, all trumpeting the importance of the arts. As Waldo describes in the introduction to her first episode, “Lighting the Match,” the arts “do way more than just give you a good time on a Friday night.” Listen to the series wherever you find your podcasts.

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[ CALENDAR ] B Y J O H N T H O M A S O N

January/February 2026 Now-Jan. 14:

Now-Feb. 1:

Now-March 1:

Now-April 4:

“From Primitive to Surreal” by Gustavo Novoa at Cornell Art Museum, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach; free with $5 suggested donation; downtowndelraybeach. com. Collected by presidents, first ladies, diplomats and royalty, the paintings of Chilean artist Novoa feature lush and imaginative nature-scapes of animals gathering in unusual formations, creating a hyperreal environment of flourishing flora and fauna.

“Edgar Degas, the Private Impressionist” at Society of the Four Arts, 102 Four Arts Plaza, Palm Beach; $10; 561/655-7227, fourarts. org. This showcase for the late 19th century artist underlines Degas’ singularity in the art culture of his time. Focusing on works on paper, its 24 drawings, 23 prints, eight photographs and one sculpture reveal artworks Degas created mainly for himself and close friends, with no intention to sell or display them.

“Anastasia Samoylova: Atlantic Coast” at Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach; $15-$18 museum admission; 561/832-5196, norton.org. Miamibased photographer Anastasia Samoylova retraces Berenice Abbott’s 1954 photo essay from the entire length of U.S. 1, expanding upon her inspiration’s unvarnished portraits of the country’s myriad places, cultures and denizens.

“Light as Air: The Buoyant Sculptures of Mariko Kusumoto” at Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, 4000 Morikami Park Road, Delray Beach; $10-$16 museum admission; 561/4950233, morikami.org. With its kaleidoscope of colors and shapes, the fiber art of Japanese artist Kusumoto aims to fill the spectator with discovery, surprise and wonder. Her Morikami exhibition will include a unique site-specific installation that will utilize all dimensions of the gallery space.

“Why Me” by Gustavo Novoa

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South Florida Fair

“Self Portrait”

by Edgar Degas

“Covered Car”

by Anastasia Samoylova

“Ethereal Garden”

by Mariko Kusumoto

Jan. 16-Feb. 1:

Jan. 23-25:

Jan. 29:

Feb. 5:

South Florida Fair at South Florida Fairgrounds, 9067 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach; $12-$30; 561/790-5225, southfloridafair.com.

Centered on a theme of “Party With the Pirates,” this year’s fair features events for swashbucklers young and old, plus daily parades, five stages of music and entertainment, carnival rides and games, an agriculture and livestock program, and more.

Palm Beach Opera: “La Bohème” at Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; 7:30 p.m.

Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun.; $28.75-$253; 561/832-7469, kravis.org. Still the ultimate artistic expression of the trials and tribulations of starving artists, Giacomo Puccini’s romantic and shattering portrayal of creative friends and lovers in Bohemian 19th century Paris remains one of the most beloved operas worldwide.

“Les Ballets Africains” at Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; 7:30 p.m.; $40.26-$87.76; 561/832-7469, kravis.org. Founded in 1948, Les Ballets Africains is the national dance company of Guinea, serving for generations as a cultural ambassador for the West African nation. Live music from ancient tribal instruments combines with exuberant rhythmic dance and elaborate apparel, as the performers explore their culture and homeland through their art.

“Give ‘em Hell, Harry!” at Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 N.W. Ninth St., Delray Beach; 1 p.m.; $59; 561/272-1281, delraybeachplayhouse.com.

Samuel Gallu’s crackling one-man play charts the life and times of President Harry Truman, from his childhood to his pivotal Missouri judgeship to his monumental two terms as president. Actor Clifton Truman Daniel, Truman’s grandson, plays the title character, marking the first time a president has been portrayed by a direct descendent.

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

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Jan. 10-11:

Jan. 12:

Jan. 13-25:

Jan. 15:

Downtown Delray Beach Festival of the Arts at 104 W. Atlantic Avenue in downtown Delray Beach; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; free; 561/7466615, artfestival.com. Hundreds of artists will line the Avenue at this 37th-annual winter tradition, in which painting, photography, glass art, mixed media, jewelry and fiber art will be exhibited and sold in an outdoor gallery spanning from Old School Square west to Northwest Fifth Avenue.

Herb Alpert at Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; 7:30 p.m.; $40.26$115.01; 561/832-7469, kravis.org.

Ninety years young, this Latin jazz trumpeter released the very first album on A&M Records, “The Lonely Bull,” and has continued to refine his immersive, easy listening, multicultural sound over seven decades. Backed by longtime band the Tijuana Brass, he’ll share photos, videos and art in this multimedia concert.

“Good Jew” at Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 N.W. Ninth St., Delray Beach; various show times; $69; 561/272-1281, delraybeachplayhouse.com. This touring one-man show stars Frank Blocker as real-life Holocaust survivor Henryk Altman. It’s set in his den in St. Louis in 1986 as he recalls the extraordinary lengths required to escape the Warsaw Ghetto, join the resistance, and rebuild his life in America.

Kevin James: Eat the Frog Tour at Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; 8 p.m.; $45.43-$299.01; 561/832-7469, kravis.org. The Emmy-nominated “King of Queens” and “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” star—slimmer than he used to be, having shed some 60 pounds for a recent role—returns to his standup roots on the heels of his third successful comedy special, the linguistically triggering “Irregardless.”

PICASA

Blues Beatles

Herb Alpert

Suzanne O. Davis of “Tapestry”

Kevin James

Feb. 8:

Feb. 13:

Feb. 23:

Feb. 27-28:

LP and the Vinyl: Blues to Beatles to Bowie at Arts Garage, 94 N.E. Second Ave., Delray Beach; 2 p.m.; $50-$55; 561/450-6357, artsgarage. org. LP and the Vinyl consists of pianist Danny Green’s jazz trio fronted by soul singer Leonard Patton, who pool their genrehopping skills across a jazzy, funky exploration of 50 years of western music, including originals and reimagined covers of Quincy Jones, Tears for Fears, Stevie Wonder, Oasis and many more.

Isle of Klezbos at Arts Garage, 94 N.E. Second Ave., Delray Beach; 8 p.m.; $55-$60; 561/450-6357, artsgarage.org. As this sextet’s moniker suggests, its musicians are New York City lesbians of Jewish descent, and they play a distinctively danceable blend of klezmer fusion. Formed in 1998 by drummer and film archivist Eve Sicular, Isle of Klezbos have enough serious chops to transcend the lighthearted whimsy of their name.

“Tapestry: The Carole King Songbook” at Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 N.W. Ninth St., Delray Beach; 2 p.m.; $59; 561/2721281, delraybeachplayhouse.com.

Tribute artist Suzanne O. Davis recreates the music and atmosphere of a 1970s Carole King concert, performing King’s landmark album “Tapestry” along with selections from the prolific Goffin & King Songbook, which included hits for the Beatles, James Taylor, Aretha Franklin and more.

Blues Beatles at Arts Garage, 94 N.E. Second Ave., Delray Beach; 8 p.m.; $55-$60; 561/450-6357, artsgarage.org. This unorthodox tribute band from Brazil is unafraid to transform many sacred cows of the Beatles’ catalog—“Yesterday” is a slow-burning but undeniable blues scorcher, and “Eleanor Rigby” is all but unrecognizable in parts—adding its genre-bending testament to the Fab Four’s pliable melodies and international appeal.

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[ STYLE ]

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Date Night

ORDER IN FOR A ROMANTIC PICNIC AT HOME PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARINA MASK Small wood heart dish, $14, large wood heart tray, $12, enamel and wood tray, $149, capiz shell bowl, $60, candlesticks, $65 each, throw, $98, all from Iron and Oak Home; Stemless flute, $15 each, octagonal tray, $1,559, both from Clive Daniel Home; Tic-tac-toe board, $188, 5-piece flatware set, $85, napkin rings, $144 for set of four, napkins, $24 each, beaded heart dish with spoon, $50, crocodile heart dish with spoon, $40, small blue salad bowl, $16, blue plate, $22; all from Curated Home JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

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[ STYLE ]

Wine glasses, $16 each, leopard print tray, $130, leopard print dessert plate, $295 set of four, canape plate, $195 set of four, cheetah print plate, $113, napkin, $75 set of two, Michael Aram marble cheese board, $185, Versace wine bucket, $550, black Lucite tray, $363; all from Clive Daniel Home; Placemat, $26, heart napkin ring, $20, 5-piece flatware, $100, cracker tray, $34, cheese knife, $75 set of three, 3-bowl snack set w/tray (not shown), $130, gray and white throw, $456; all from Curated Home; Small brass heart, $14; from Iron and Oak Home

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CLIVE DANIEL, 1351 N.W. Boca Raton Blvd., Boca Raton; 561/440-4663, clivedaniel.com CURATED HOME, 14859 Lyons Road, Delray Beach; 561/270-2152; curateyourhome.com STYLING/ART DIRECTOR: LORI PIERINO

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IRON AND OAK HOME, 47 S.E. Fifth Ave., Delray Beach; 561/908-2447, ironandoakhome.com, @ironandoakhome

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Designer Spotlight

W

ith 28 years of experience in custom storage solutions, Keri Castagna continues to bring passion and precision to every project. As a design consultant for California Closets, the leading brand in the industry, she thrives on the collaborative process—where creativity, function and investment come together seamlessly to bring clients’ dreams to life.

be used and what the client envisions. Using the company’s proprietary CAD software, Keri helps clients visualize their custom designs in real time. From current styles in door and drawer fronts, combined with finish selections intentionally curated for this market, clients can see exactly how their choices will look once installed, turning their ideas into a tangible preview of the finished project.

“I still get excited every time I sit down with a new client,” she says. “It’s about understanding how they live and what matters most in their daily routines. The right design should make their life easier while reflecting their personal style.”

“Balancing beauty, practicality and investment value is where California Closets’ expertise truly shines,” explains Anette Jordan, VP of Operations. “Whether transforming a cluttered closet, optimizing a home office or reimagining a garage, our goal remains to craft spaces that enhance everyday living and bring lasting satisfaction. After nearly three decades, Keri’s enthusiasm remains as strong as ever—proof that great design never goes out of style.”

Keri’s approach blends deep product knowledge with a genuine appreciation for aesthetics. Each project begins with a thoughtful conversation about how the space will

Keri Castagna Design Consultant

California Closets 302 S. Federal Highway Boca Raton, FL

954-946-2218 Calclosets.com

BRANDED CONTENT

HOME

DESIGN INSPIRATION TO BRING HOME

Show Stopper

Talented design pros share insider tips for working with patterns and designs, helping your home feel vibrant yet balanced.

BY CHRISTIE GALEANO-DEMOTT

CARMEL BRANTLEY

Designer Jackie Armour wanted something dramatic to ground the Gucci wallcovering, so she selected a geometric floor tile. She added a counter-mounted mirror later on.

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[ HOME ]

We’re Seeing a Pattern Here

P

lain and predictable? Not anymore. In the hands of talented designers and their enthusiastic clients, homes are breaking free with bold patterns, lively prints and a fearless mix that makes every space feel like a personal statement of style.

A SPECTRUM OF PATTERN

Designer Lori Morris aimed to reflect her client’s fabulously stylish personality in the elegant lounge she designed for his Boca Raton vacation home. Morris transformed his office—a prime space off the foyer—into a sexy, romantic room perfect for evening cocktails paired with piano tunes. She balanced deep jewel tones with black lacquer cabinetry and used the archway’s detailed moldings to add timeless architectural detail and dimension.

This was the case when designer Jackie Armour’s client fell in love with Gucci wallpaper featuring a crane (see lead photo); Armour made it a focal point in the Palm Beach Gardens home. “I’ve never met a pattern or color I didn’t like.

It’s always fun to take a small space and do something really dynamic and create a wow factor,” she says. The stunning heron-and-dragonfly design serves as a striking work of art that requires little else, prompting Armour to complement it subtly with a custom vanity.

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TIP: MIND THE

PALETTE. “Let every print borrow at least one color from another element so the eye registers continuity.”

- Margarita Bravo

ABOVE: “When pattern and texture collaborate, a bedroom transcends decoration and becomes an experience—exactly what this guest suite was always meant to be,” Margarita Bravo says. BELOW: In this office reimagined by Lori Morris, the wood floor’s multicolored green palette is a complementary backdrop, while the geometrical Art Deco-inspired pattern creates interest and adds to the room’s personality.

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PEACE AND QUIET

In a bedroom where everyone longs for tranquility, patterns can feel overwhelming for some—unless you know how to use them effectively.

Designer Margarita Bravo layers patterns and weaves in textures to create a space that reveals itself gradually. To satisfy her clients who wanted a guest suite that felt collected rather than overly decorated, she enveloped the room in a whimsical flora and fauna scene and anchored it with a cracked-stone geometric area rug. She then echoed the rich raspberry from the wallcovering onto the tweed headboard and added white bedding and a linen lampshade as visual breathers to prevent the patterns from competing.

TIP: THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO

STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE. “Use a powder bath to try a bold

color and pattern.”

JESSICA KLEWICKI GLYNN

- Lori Morris

TIP: ENJOY THE PROCESS. Benjamin Moore’s Pink Peach cabinet color adds cheerful vibrancy to this space designed by Michael Cohen.

“Have fun with it! If it makes you happy, do it!”

- Michael Cohen of Marc-Michaels Interior Design

NO ROOM LEFT BEHIND

Main living spaces shouldn’t have all the fun. Designer Michael Cohen of MarcMichaels Interior Design imagined a colorful laundry room for this Palm Beach home; his client wanted one of her two laundry rooms to be feminine and pink. To evoke a Palm Beach vibe, Cohen chose a tropical-fruit-patterned wallcovering to complement the colorful cabinets. But he didn’t stop there. Instead of relying solely on a light fixture, Cohen celebrated the ceiling by adding wallcovering to the overhead surface, its polka dot pattern coordinating with the walls and cabinets. “It was important that the ceiling still had a feeling of lightness. Bold patterns can sometimes make the room feel closed in, so the white background helped with that.”

BOLD BOUQUET

Morris’s powder bath bursts with endless flower power. The designer chose a textured, pleated wallcovering in an abstract floral motif to complement the custom mosaic floor. She finished the romantic color palette with the custom green-and-pink vanity to create a “delicious ice cream cone of a bathroom” that instantly puts a smile on your face.

Lori Morris believes there’s a misconception about pink. For her, it’s not childish or girly, but a neutral color she enjoys using in a variety of spaces.

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Here Be Dragons

FROM WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TO MYTHOLOGICAL ART, JESS BURBRIDGE FOLLOWS NATURE’S MUSE

J

ess Burbridge has had to learn that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In the years since the ceramic artist created her first dragon sculpture, she’s encountered a range of responses when visitors enter her studio in Delray’s Arts Warehouse. “Some people look at my dragons, and they’re like, ‘oh my gosh, do you have nightmares?’” Burbridge says, from her Boca Raton home. “And I’m like, ‘What? How do you look at that and think that that’s a nightmare?’ … To me, dragons are symbols of prosperity and good luck and strength.”

Fortunately for Burbridge, the skeptics seem to be in the minority. Commissioned dragon sculptures and the pieces in her “Elemental Dragons” series—kiln-fired busts of dragon heads inspired by nature elements—have fetched upwards of $7,000 from collectors who “get it.”

“They all have different personalities,” she says, noting that each dragon is totally unique, as opposed to modified from the same mold. On the surface of “Eden,” a serpent surrounds a quartz crystal at the mythical beast’s third eye, while flowers and mushrooms bloom around it; the sculpture truly evokes its Biblical name. In “Naidara,” an homage to naiads, or mythi-

and wildlife conservation. “I did a summer volunteering in Uganda with a British organization, and we basically just traveled around by Overland Truck—photographers, graphic designers, anthropologists, videographers, web designers—and we went from sanctuary to sanctuary and just said, ‘What do you need?’ And we camped every night, and worked all of our laptops from a generator in the forest. And it was an amazing experience.”

In the first decade of her career, Burbridge worked for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International and the Jane Goodall Institute, among other nonprofits. As director of marketing and communications for the Gorilla Doctors, she brought awareness to an organization that provides life-saving medical care for endangered gorillas in countries such as Rwanda.

Despite its history of genocide, Burbridge found Rwanda “very safe. I loved living there. And I would hop across the border to Congo a lot to document our work with the Grauer’s gorillas, which are not as well researched as the mountain gorillas that Fossey studied, because of the civil unrest in the area. But I loved hopping across the border into Congo, because Rwanda is very reserved, and Congo is just, like, party time. I would

“Sometimes I have an idea for a dragon. And then, as I’m sculpting it, it takes on a mind of its own and becomes something else. I just sort of improvise.” cal water nymphs, barnacles and other marine dwellers cling to the dragon’s scaly surface, its colors a coastal palette of oceanic blues and whites.

“Sometimes I’ll have an idea for a dragon, and then, as I’m sculpting it, it takes on a mind of its own and becomes something else,” she says. “I just sort of improvise. I don’t really sketch anything out beforehand. My husband is an improvisational musician. [Bassist Oteil Burbridge is a member of Dead & Company, the current iteration of the Grateful Dead, and his resume includes stints with Tedeschi Trucks Band and the Allman Brothers Band.— Ed.] He’s improvising music; I improvise my sculptures. I feel inspired by some idea, and then I kind of see how it all unfolds.”

The same could be said for much of Burbridge’s professional life. Born in Winston-Salem, N.C., she described herself as an “artsy kid” who kindled her passion for ceramics in high school. But her early career hinged on the nexus of photography and great ape conservation.

While earning her BFA in Photography from Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, class of 2006—the college didn’t have a ceramics major at the time—Burbridge dove deep into the work of Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, and even considered transferring to a Biological Anthropology degree track. Instead, she improvised, combining photojournalism

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get marriage proposals in every city.” It was in Rwanda, circa 2011, that she first read George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” book series and developed her passion for dragons—and all things fantasy. By the time she gave birth to the first of her two children, she was ready to leave her conservation work in Africa. In 2016, she moved to Boca Raton, and in 2020 she re-embraced ceramics as a pandemic pastime and never looked back.

“The bug bit me again,” she says. “I ended up moving houses so I could have a studio space. And then I outgrew that space and moved into my studio space at Arts Warehouse, and started the residency there.”

In her capacious second-floor studio, glazes in a rainbow of colors line shelves; sculptures in various stages of completion dot the workstations; and a merch table offers pins, stickers and totes emblazoned with images of Burbridge’s Elemental Dragons and phrases such as “Let the Magic Flow.”

After five years of letting her artistic magic flow toward dragons, Burbridge says the series may be nearing its end. But like any great improviser, she’s leaving plenty of room for inspiration to strike.

“I think I’m feeling pulled towards doing more biophilic, nature-inspired sculptures,” she says. “I love to garden. I love nature. It’s not a big shocker. I think that’s where it’s headed. We’ll see.”

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BEATRICE GIL

Jess Burbridge

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Brush with Greatness A BOYNTON BEACH COUPLE INVENTS A CUSTOMIZABLE TOOTHBRUSH TO IMPROVE CHILDREN’S DENTAL HEALTH

K

ids like to build. Whether it’s a LEGO set or a Magna-Tiles collection, creating a bespoke plaything from a scattering of loose materials is a rite of passage. For Zach Gelber, a pediatric dentist from Boynton Beach, his childhood love of construction toys helped inspire an invention he hopes will improve the oral health of countless budding tooth-brushers.

Last summer, Gelber and his business partners—his wife, Marissa, and a fellow-pediatric dentist, Dante Paolino, who lives in Connecticut—unveiled Build-a-Brush, a customizable toothbrush whose generic brush head can be extended with a number of interchangeable “bits” made from recycled, injection-molded plastic: a smiling red monster, a koala bear, a globe of the Earth, cartoon drawings of pizza slices. These bits snap together to form the

Association, more than 40% of children experience tooth decay by the time they reach kindergarten.

“Even with my own children [ages 3 and 5—Ed.], some nights they will put up a little bit of a struggle. But since we’ve had Build-a-Brush around—we’ve had prototypes for a couple of years now—it’s made a big difference for our kids. They tend to be really excited about it. Even if I go to the same one they built yesterday, my kids make me disassemble it because they want to build it again. It helps to make sure that it’s an activity, along with the actual action of brushing,” Zach says.

The Gelbers and Paolino brought their own ideas and skill sets to the creation of Build-a-Brush, which began, as Marissa says, “as a pipe dream in 2022. And then by the time we actually launched, it was June of 2025.

So it was a long time coming. We taught ourselves everything, from tariffs

bottom half of the toothbrush, whose users can switch them out as frequently as they wish.

Gelber’s eureka moment came not long after he completed his advanced training in pediatrics in 2018, some three years after graduating from dental school. “I would hear from parents all the time, ‘how do we get kids to really get excited about brushing?’” he recalls. “And I had to tell parents, every child is different in terms of what will work. But I felt a little spark when I would give kids the same toothbrush from Oral-B every six months, and they’d say, ‘Oh, it’s the same design as last time.’ And I thought, it would be really cool if they were able to pick what they wanted each time they [received] their toothbrush.

“I was a kid who loved playing with Legos growing up,” he adds. “I saw kids coming into my practice with Crocs. Crocs are all the rage with kids these days, and they have custom little pieces on them. Whether it was Super Mario or princesses, they were putting the little Jibbitz on their Crocs. I said, ‘it would be really cool to try to create a system like that for a toothbrush.’”

The motivation for the product is grounded in statistics. In a 2025 poll, more than one-third of parents reported that their children don’t regularly brush twice a day, which correlated with negative outcomes—tooth decay, cavities, stained teeth, gum concerns. According to the American Dental

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to injectable molds to every part of the intricacies of product development, which we just didn’t know about. So we’ve come a long way.”

Build-a-Brush starter kits retail for $29 and come with two brush heads, six interchangeable bits, and the spiral core that holds everything together. They are available in Adventure Awaits (targeted for boys) and Whimsical Wonder (designed with girls in mind) varieties. Users can supplement the designs with themed Expansion Packs of bits related to Monsters and Heroes, Arcade Invasion, Fairy Fantasy and Kawaii Koala.

The Gelbers hope to eventually release seasonal Expansion Packs.

The products, entirely self-funded by the inventors—they’re considering applying for “Shark Tank” in the future—are not yet in physical stores but can be purchased direct to consumer through Babsy (brushbabsy.com), the Gelbers’ pediatric health brand.

“We didn’t want this to only be a toothbrush company,” Zach says.

“Our goal is to be a source of dental information, home care information, dietary information.”

“It’s so rewarding for us to say we’re not just making a product that’s just another doll, another toy, another car,” Marissa says. “We’re making a product that is building healthy habits. What we’re doing matters to parents, and that’s all we can hope for.”

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“It’s so rewarding for us to say we’re not just making a product that’s just another doll, another toy, another car. ... What we’re doing matters to parents, and that’s all we can hope for.”

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Marissa, Zach, Arlo and Alessandra Gelber

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COURTSEY OF TOAD BUSTERS

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We join expert hunters in their pursuit of some of the state’s most notorious invasive species

By TYLER CHILDRESS rom alligator-eating snakes and venomous fish to poisonous toads and New Yorkers, Florida is the land of invasive species. Over the last century, creatures have swam, slithered, crawled—or, in many cases, been delivered—to the Sunshine State, wreaking untold havoc on our communities and native ecosystems. Many of these invasive species have no known natural predators, save for one: Us. To learn more about some of the state’s top offenders, we tagged along with expert hunters to see how wildlife specialists are getting a handle on Florida’s invasive species epidemic.

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Raising Cane he first rule of hunting cane toads, Austin Tilford says, is you’ve got to have a good eye.

As we walk around a posh West Boca neighborhood, lit only by the occasional street lamp and porch light, Tilford stops five feet from a grassy roundabout. He slowly approaches, stoops and scoops up a greenhouse frog, the size of a thumbnail. “My eyes are just tuned for looking for toads and frogs,” he says, and places the frog back in the grass.

Tilford has been hunting cane toads for six years for Toad Busters, a company that specializes in exactly what the name suggests. I joined Tilford on a nighttime hunt, when the cane toads are most active. “At nighttime they come out to feed and breed, and that’s when we put a hurting on them,” says Tilford.

Cane toads, also known as bufo toads, were introduced in South Florida to prey on another invasive species, the cane beetle, that was wreaking havoc on sugarcane fields in the early 20th century. “Beetles climb stalks, and these toads are very ground-oriented, so it was kind of a giant failure,” says Tilford. “Next thing you know, they were eating everything else other than the beetles.”

For pets, an encounter with a bufo toad can be deadly—the toxin it secretes when threatened can kill a full-size dog in as little as 15 minutes. These stakes make the hunting of cane toads all the more important to Tilford.

“Our pets are everything to us,” he says. “We treat them like family. So when a traumatic experience like that happens, most people aren’t ready for their dog to be convulsing, seizing, vomiting and foaming from the mouth.”

With nothing to prey upon them, cane toads also pose an existential threat to native wildlife. “A lot of these areas that the bufo toads have now claimed used to have quite a lot of native species,” explains Tilford. “The bufo toads over-compete them for food and breeding opportunities, and it kind of butts the native species.”

The toads, which Tilford says he has seen grow as large as dinner plates, prey on anything they can fit their mouths around. “I actually have caught bufo toads eating the craziest things,” Tilford says. “I caught one eating a chicken bone, with no meat on it. It was eating just the bone, and it was the size of the toad.”

The removal of bufo toads is fairly low-tech; Tilford carries a netted bag and spots them using a high-lumen flashlight. To pick them up, he wears gloves that prevent the transmission of bufotoxin, which in the most extreme cases can result in death in humans.

Our hunt took us through lush backyards and along ponds—prime areas for bufo toads to spawn. Tilford peered behind bushes, under dripping air condition units that the toads use to cool off, and near lights that attract insects that they prey upon. After about an hour with no sightings, it seemed we would be leaving empty-handed—a testament to Toad Busters’ mesh fencing installed on properties throughout the neighborhood to keep the toads out.

As we’re driving out of the neighborhood, Tilford is mid-sentence when he pulls the truck to a dead stop. He quickly retrieves a plastic bag and bolts out the door, stopping 10 feet away and scooping something off the road. I go out to inspect the quarry—a bufo toad the size of a palm. I touch its back through the plastic bag, rigid and cool in the night air.

To dispose of the cane toads, they are sprayed with a benzocaine solution that sedates them before being placed in a freezer, where their body temperature lowers until the toad is euthanized. It’s an unpleasant business, but a necessary one to restore ecological harmony.

“When we come out and we perform this service, we give these people peace of mind,” explains Tilford. “A lot of my clients, once the native species come back to the property, they’re extremely happy, and the bug populations fall, and they don’t have to worry about their dogs, and it kind of balances things out again.” toadbusters.com

“These toads are territorial. They’re not going to leave a good thing to go somewhere else unless there’s something better there. If they’ve got feeding, breeding and water, they’re happy.”

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COURTSEY OF TOAD BUSTERS

Austin Tilford and cane toads captured

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Who You Gonna Call? e go into some communities, and it’s like Jurassic Park,” says Steve Kavashansky, owner of Iguana Busters. But as we ride along the cart path of a local golf course, waving to the curious golfers as they gawk at the bright-green custom Iguana Busters cart gliding along, there’s not a single iguana to be seen.

“This is what happens when we’re too good at what we do,” jokes Kavashansky. “When we first started, it wouldn’t be uncommon for us to come in here and pull [up to] 70 iguanas out a day.”

Iguanas, like many of Florida’s invasive reptiles, came to the state through the exotic pet trade. Many also arrived as stowaways on cargo ships from South and Central America. No matter how they got here, Kavashansky says, “The point is that here we are today, and we’re just overrun with iguanas, especially the further south you go.”

Iguanas have been responsible for incalculable damage across South Florida, from $1.8 million to repair a West Palm Beach dam that they burrowed into in 2019 to an iguana that fell into equipment at a Lake Worth Beach power station in 2022 and left nearly 1,500 residents without electricity. In Miami-Dade, more than $400,000 is budgeted annually to remove the invasive species—a mission that gets more complicated the longer populations go unaddressed.

“If you have iguanas, and you leave the problem alone, one female can lay up to 80 eggs,” explains Kavashansky. “If you let the problem fester, do the math.”

With prime sunning areas, waterways and enticing plant life as a food source, the golf course makes the perfect home for iguanas. “It was just getting out of hand,” says Kavashansky. “They were burrowing, they were putting holes all over the place, they were eating the foliage, they were causing damage to the sand traps, and they also caused damage to plumbing they had on the driving range,” costing tens of thousands of dollars in repairs.

Today, he says we’ll be lucky to see five.

“Iguana mitigation techniques do work, but you have to stay with it,” explains Kavashansky, who uses all manner of tools to catch the resilient reptiles, including snare traps, scented oil lures and chemical repellants.

But by far the most useful tool is a Swedish-made air rifle that fires a .30-caliber round at 900 feet per second.

“If you look at the iguana, there’s a circle on the side of its head that’s actually a really good aiming point,” he says. “There’s other shots we take as well that can immediately incapacitate the iguana and put it down humanely.”

It’s being able to find that perfect shot that separates Kavashansky and his team—almost all former military, first responders and law enforcement—from the amateur iguana snatchers, like a hunter in Boca Raton in 2019 who mistook a pool cleaner for an iguana and shot him with a pellet gun. “We only take a shot if it’s safe,” says Kavashansky.

After nearly an hour on the golf course scanning treetops and sunny waterway embankments, we spot our first iguana of the day. It’s sunning itself on a berm 30 yards across a pond, just beyond the green of a hole.

With no nearby golfers or structures, Kavashansky shoulders his rifle and aims. The first shot whizzes past the iguana and kicks up a patch of grass, but a quick followup shot hits true, and the iguana buckles, then goes still. We ride over in the cart, and Kavashansky puts on gloves to

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Clockwise from above: Iguana Busters owner Steve Kavashansky, Kavashansky with an iguana, the Iguana Busters team, Kavashansky preparing to take a shot

“Although a number of communities could be taking initiatives to knock back the iguana population, if you have one community in the middle [that isn’t], it spreads out like a cancer.”

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collect the iguana in a trash bag, then we’re back on the cart path to hit the back nine.

The removal of iguanas, as with any invasive species, isn’t for the squeamish, and Kavashansky understands that it’s a controversial topic to some. “Not everybody is down with iguana removal and mitigation, I get it,” he says, adding that, “a lot of what our job is is public education” about the necessity of removing iguanas from our communities.

Kavashansky doesn’t expect there to ever be a day where there are no more iguanas. The goal, he says, is to control the current populations. To do that, though, requires vigilance and community involvement.

“We’re in this golf course community right now, and we’ve knocked it back,” says Kavashansky. “Let’s say you’re in a neighborhood right across the road and they’re not doing anything; the iguanas just walk right across the road and come back in. And that’s how we have the problem that we have in South Florida.” iguanabusters.com

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his is literally my nightmare, what we’re looking at here,” says Nate Sorenson, peering overboard the Lion Slayer into the murky brown waters of the Atlantic. “I’d rather have three knots of current than dirt water.”

Visibility is key when hunting lionfish, a personal mission Sorenson has pursued with an Ahab-like tenacity since 2017.

“Once I saw how many [lionfish] there were and [started] learning about them, [hunting them] became like a fixation.” In 2019, he founded the Lionfish Extermination Corp., a nonprofit focused on the removal of lionfish, funded through the sale of lionfish to local restaurants, donations and a social media presence that has racked up millions of views of underwater videos Sorenson makes while patrolling the reefs.

As yet another unintended ecological disaster created by the exotic pet trade, lionfish have been responsible for the degradation of South Florida reefs and the decline of native fish populations. “A reef depends on all of the fish on that reef to keep it healthy, and lionfish wipe out those fish,” says Sorenson.

On the day that I joined Sorenson and Lion Slayer co-Captain Alex Borsutzky in Boynton Beach, we patrolled the reef fingers—a less-than-scenic

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section of reef at a depth of 100 feet unfrequented by commercial and hobbyist divers. “Because people are hunting them on the main reef, we rarely ever go to the main reef,” says Sorenson. “It’s the prettiest spot, but we don’t want pretty; we want lionfish ... For us, to apprehend them before they come into that more admirable living space is the best policy.”

Borsutzky, unfazed by the opaque brown waters, takes the first dive.

Equipped with an elastic band-propelled pole spear and ZooKeeper—a cylindrical containment device for storing lionfish—he commences the hunt, searching the reef for the occasional cloud of minnows that serve as an allday buffet for lionfish.

“We’re looking for a lot of small fish that will attract the lionfish, and we’re also looking for a nice house,” explains Sorenson. “Lionfish love a posh apartment with a bunch of food in the fridge.”

Borsutzky spends nearly an hour scouring the reef, his only trace the occasional bubbles rising to the surface and a flag buoy attached to his harness below. Finally, he surfaces, and climbs aboard with a ZooKeeper half full of lionfish. A lionfish head still hangs on the tip of his pole spear.

The lionfish range in size from as small as a palm to as large as a platter, but all are equipped with the ultimate defense system—18 barbs that line the spine and fins that inject a neurotoxic venom that induces severe pain and, in some cases, paralysis, in would-be predators. Of his first brush with the venom, Borsutzky says, “I was in so much pain that if a doctor came over and said, ‘we need to amputate,’ I’d say, ‘take it.’”

These barbs make it impossible for any of our native sea life to prey upon them, allowing them to reign unchallenged over the reefs, eating more than 1 million fish during their roughly 15-year lifespan. Over the course of a year, they can spawn up to 2 million eggs, outbreeding native predators like grouper and snapper. While Sorenson estimates they’ve captured more than 50,000 since they’ve been in the hunt, he doesn’t believe total removal is possible.

“No matter what we do, [there’s no way] we’ll ever get rid of them, but at least we control it,” says Sorenson. “The only way for us to fail is for everyone to stop doing this.”

After stowing the haul of lionfish in an iced cooler, Sorenson steers the Lion Slayer for clearer waters to make his dive. We make our way north, following the reef, the water turning from a muddy brown to deep blue. Sorenson readies his oxygen tank and takes a dive, ZooKeeper and pole spear in hand. An hour later, he surfaces with a triumphant yell of “We did good.” Back onboard, he adds another ZooKeeper of lionfish to his quarry, tossing on the deck a beer can that he found littering the reef.

“Nothing is allowed on our boat except for lionfish and trash,” says Sorenson. A vegan for more than 20 years, Sorenson says, “I don’t want to cause any harm on my boat that is not lionfish-related.” While being vegan and hunting lionfish are two things seemingly at odds, Sorenson has a straightforward rationale. “That fish is a piece of trash that will poison the waters if you don’t remove it,” says Sorenson. “In a way, [hunting lionfish] is kind of like going vegetarian. Once you find out what’s going on, it’s hard to go back. It’s the same thing with lionfish. Once you find out how terrible this problem is, it’s almost like a sense of urgency that you just have to help.” IG: @lionfish.extermination.corp TikTok: @lionfishextermination

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Lion Slayers

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“A reef depends on all of the fish on that reef to keep it healthy, and lionfish wipe out those fish. Once all of these [fish] are wiped out, the reef will fail, because it can’t survive if there’s no fish on it.”

Clockwise from top right: Nate Sorenson and Alex Borsutzky, the day’s lionfish haul, Sorenson surfacing with captured lionfish, Sorenson emptying lionfish from the ZooKeeper

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Monster Hunt hat are we looking for?”

“I’ll show you,” says Donna Kalil, pulling a 5-foot bokken stick wrapped in python skin from the backseat of her truck. She walks 10 feet down the embankment of a levee and places the bokken in the tall brush. I see where she places it, and then it disappears completely, the snakeskin camouflaged in the brown and green sawgrass. “It’s a needle in a haystack,” she says.

We’re in the Everglades at a water treatment station that has no physical address to type into a GPS. Levees with gravel surfaces run alongside murky black waterways through the wetlands, where the sawgrass grows tall and thick as the humid air. I ask Kalil, a South Florida Water Management District contractor, how many pythons she estimates she’s caught. “1,052,” she answers. “I don’t have to estimate.”

Kalil has been hunting pythons for more than 20 years, after she saw a front-page Miami Herald article where a python burst in half trying to digest an alligator. “I knew there was a problem in the Everglades, and I wanted to help,” she says. In the past 20 years, she’s caught the most snakes during the Florida Python Challenge twice, and with a partner caught the largest python at one year’s event.

We’re on a daytime hunt, though Kalil prefers to hunt at night, when the python’s shiny skin reflects the lights shining from her truck stand, upon which she brings volunteers and fellow hunters to serve as spotters. “I can’t tell you how many snakes that I would have missed had I not had someone watching up top,” says Kalil.

It’s widely accepted that pythons were introduced to South Florida through the pet trade, and a python breeding facility destroyed during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 only exacerbated the problem. Kalil says there’s no way of knowing how many are out in the Everglades. “On a good day, I want to say 100,000, on a bad day, a couple hundred thousand.” She says she’s pulled more than 100 eggs from a single python.

Since Kalil’s been hunting python, she’s been bitten “too many times to count,” dragged through the water on the back of a 13-footer, and thrown “like a rag doll” by a python measuring 18 feet. “When you get up to 13 to 16 [feet], those are monster fights; those aren’t pythons anymore, those are monsters,” says Kalil. “It’s kind of like wrestling a fire hose that’s on full blast, and it’s greased.” But it’s not the size of a snake that worries her.

“When I get nervous is when I see the snake, and it’s right by the water, and it can get away,” she says. “I’m really worried that it’s going to get away.”

Once a python is sighted, a war of attrition begins to subdue the snake.

Whether it’s a three-footer or an 18-footer, the protocol is the same: Go for head.

“You do not want to get them around your neck,” explains Kalil. “Generally the snake doesn’t want to kill you, it just wants to get away. So it’s going to fight, it’s going to constrict; as long as you’re fighting it, that’s what it’s going to do.”

While holding the head, the goal is to keep the snake from coiling until it tires out. “Once they tire out, they have to either cool off or warm back up,” Kalil explains. “They’re like a noodle.”

Finding them is hard, and wrestling them requires technique and finesse, but it’s at the end of the day, when Kalil has her quarry bagged, that she faces the hardest part of the job.

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“Where there’s a will, there’s a way in nature, and there was definitely a will, and these animals are just so absolutely amazing that they took over.”

Clockwise from opposite page: Donna Kalil with captured pythons, Burmese pythons in the wild

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“I open the bag real slowly, take the head real carefully, and say, ‘I’m sorry for what I have to do, but you don’t belong,’” says Kalil, before euthanizing them with a captive bolt to the head. “You hope you get the perfect shot, and they feel nothing, lights out.”

Kalil sees the killing of pythons as a necessary evil to prevent further damage to the Everglades ecosystem, where the snakes have been responsible for an estimated 98% to 99% reduction in populations of mammals. After a long day riding along levees, scanning embankments, and walking through saw grass, we didn’t manage to find any pythons, but we did spot all manner of wildlife that are flourishing due to python mitigation efforts in the area. Passing two plump raccoons hopping along an embankment, Kalil says, “That’s why we do it.”

“I can just imagine what [a python]’s going to eat throughout its life, and so I’m saving a thousand lives by taking one life,” says Kalil. “When you do the math, that’s an easy call.”

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Sunset over the Naples Pier

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Third Street shopping district in Old Naples

There Goes the Sun EVEN WHEN PLANS GO AWRY, THERE’S NOTHING LIKE A GULF COAST SUNSET TO ANCHOR A NAPLES SOJOURN

I

BY JOHN THOMASON

t always comes back to the sunset. On the west coast of Florida, watching the yellow orb sink into the Gulf of Whatever You Want to Call It is a shared secular religion. When that golden hour comes, travelers and tourists drop everything they’re doing, cameras at the ready, and position themselves on balconies or beachfronts or boats or lakeside parks, on benches and in buildings intentionally placed to capture the event in all its glory.

And it never gets old.

And so, on our first night at the Naples Grande Beach Resort, on a lazy September evening, there was no question where we’d be as the 7:43 p.m. sunset approached—

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gazing at Gaia’s light show from the expansive balcony of our sixth-floor suite. It would be my wife and I’s second west coast sunset in a month’s time. Weeks before, we had found ourselves riding the 7 p.m. Gulf Coast Ferry from Anna Maria Island to Bradenton, where the sunset was so dramatic that our captain shut the motor off. We lingered in awe for 10 minutes, the boat bobbing in the Manatee River as we gawked at the ever-shifting abstract expressionist painting playing out behind the vessel, casting blades of yellow across a rich blanket of burnt orange.

Back at the Naples Grande, owing to dense cloud cover, the theatrics were muted this time, but the view

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remained spectacular. A sliver of sun, low on the horizon, just barely muscled its way through thick ribbons of white, while a flock of blackbirds in the far distance fluttered around a skyscraper like shaken pepper flakes. The sky, vast and immutable, merged with the Gulf in a solid block of baby blue, a Buddhist silence settling over the scene.

And then, just like that, there was no sun anymore, and the vacationer’s perennial “what do we do next?” restlessness took over. It was a question without an obvious answer. We would spend much of this two-day trip calling audibles and make-shifting solutions, our well-laid plans evidently as mercurial as the weather.

Last summer, the Naples Grande, a staple of upscale beachfront hospitality on the Gulf Coast, had hosted Tranquility Weekend, a wellness retreat with two days of guided yoga, breathwork, sound baths, energy healing, mindfulness workshops and more. A scheduling conflict prevented us from making the event, but we hoped to engineer our own wellness-and-nature-themed weekend a few months later by availing ourselves of the resort’s year-round offerings.

This proved more elusive than expected.

One of the resort’s amenities, a guided “ecokayaking” tour, was removed between the time of our reservation and the week of our visit.

Clam Pass Park, the beach park connecting the resort to the Gulf waters, hosts Guided Nature Walks, though none were scheduled during the time of our visit. And then the rains came, just in time to spoil an outdoor Zumba class and preventing us from reaching our pre-booked beach cabana.

We visited the beach anyway, sitting under umbrellas at Rhodes End, the Naples Grande’s chic-shack beachfront restaurant, staring at the persistent drizzle over a comforting frozen Baileys Piña Colada while hungry no-see-‘ums nibbled our ankles.

So we improvised—holding our own “yoga class” in our suite, ambient music piping from the in-room Bluetooth speaker—and shifted our focus, making the most of the getaway by exploring greater Naples, a kind of west coast mirror of the luxe parts of our county, from Boca to Palm Beach.

Named by 19th century promoters who believed that its famous bay “surpassed the bay in Naples, Italy,” the heart of Naples beats from its two downtown districts, Fifth Avenue South and Third Street South, which date back to the Jazz Age and retain its historic architecture and timewarped ambience. Like Palm Beach County, these regions a few blocks from each other house

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IF YOU GO

NAPLES GRANDE BEACH RESORT WHERE: 475 Seagate Drive, Naples CONTACT: 239/597-3232, naplesgrande.com Clockwise from above: “Circle of Friends” at Naples Botanical Garden, Kapnick Brazilian Garden, Naples Grande beachfront, Fifth Street courtyard, and a wrap from Rhode’s End

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restaurants like Bice and Vietnamese fusion staple Le Colonial—the Naples outpost still mandates a dress code for diners—along with countless touch points familiar to strollers of Worth Avenue: pocket parks, vias and arcades, arches covered in greenery, burbling fountains, whimsical or stately sculptures of cherubs or dogs or horses cast in bronze or wrought iron.

The foliage is immaculately maintained and flush with sparrows. Mizner and Fatio designs are everywhere. It feels like home.

We also carved out time to visit Naples Botanical Garden, a 170-acre garden with seven habitats ranging from Asian to Caribbean to Florida natives. Among its more than 1,000 species is a palm tree so rare that it is one of 25 known in the wild—mostly in Miami and Singapore. We learned this and much more riding the Garden Grounds Tour, a comfortably air-conditioned tram tour that shuttles visitors around the private parts of the gardens—including its impressive horticulture campus, where plants grow in a variety of conditions before they enhance the public space. The tram tours, launched a little more than a year ago, are the best way to discover the gardens’ conservation efforts and its mission to provide a “living museum” of plants from around the globe. Two out of every five plants in the wild are threatened with endangerment and, as our guide reminded us, “without plants, none of us would really be here.”

Don’t miss the Water Garden, which features a colorful mural, a waterfall and a lily pool that would leave Claude Monet speechless. Be sure to take a photo with “Circle of Friends” adjacent to the gift shop. The interactive bronze sculp-

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ture depicts animals from all seven continents holding hands, and invites visitors to join in the kumbaya for a memorable photo op.

Back at Naples Grande, not all of our naturecentered plans fell by the wayside. The elevated boardwalk to Clam Pass Park, which exits from the resort’s pools, is a brisk and picturesque hike to the beach, flanked by mangroves on both sides that provide plenty of shade; guests

can also opt for a free shuttle that transports beachgoers to and from the resort every 15 minutes. The pools themselves are a top resort amenity. A waterslide allows the young and young-at-heart to make a splash at the family pool, but we chose the more serene adults-only pool and piping-hot Jacuzzi whose embedded lights cast the bubbly water in shifting colors.

Naples is renowned for its dining scene, and the restaurants of Naples Grande and beyond did not disappoint. The resort offers three full-service restaurants. The aforementioned Rhodes End, by the beach, specializes in Mediterranean fare that is as fresh and creative as the space is unassuming; its signature salad, for instance, came with shaved chayote, a sweet and delightful South American addition to its mélange of tomatoes, avocado slices, carrots and Green Goddess dressing.

Flatbreads from Mantra, the resort’s lobbylevel bar and restaurant, are a perfect anytime snack, and can be enjoyed on a covered outdoor veranda. We recommend the Garden Flatbread, with a combination of veggies slathered with an irresistible pesto spread and avocado aioli. Minutes from the resort, Le Indya offers Indian fare of the highest order, surrounded by museumworthy artwork.

Finally, it was time for the final sunset from the Naples Grande balcony. The climate conditions hadn’t changed much from the previous night, the sun still peeking only slightly from an even thicker spread of clouds—until a purple haze worthy of Jimi Hendrix gathered over the coast in a pastel farewell. And we knew that despite the canceled plans and itinerary pivots, we were exactly where we were supposed to be.

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BY

ALFRED UHRY STARRING

DEBRA JO RUPP AND

RAY ANTHONY THOMAS

2025/26 SEASON SPONSORED BY DIANE PERLBERG

Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry · Feb 6 - Mar 1 The Crucible by Arthur Miller · Apr 3 - 19 Vineland Place by Steven Dietz · WORLD PREMIERE May 15 - 31

Don & Ann Brown Theatre 201 Clematis Street West Palm Beach, FL 33401 PalmBeachDramaworks.org

2026

Discover a food lovers’ paradise, laden with casual cafes to white table cloth steakhouses. Feast on sparawling festive brunches, twirl your favorite homemade pasta al dente or go vegan for a healthy change.

Turn the pages to explore select Dining Destinations where the foodie in you will find your happy place.

BRANDED CONTENT

*BEST of DINING DESTINATIONS DELRAY_COVER.indd 1

12/5/25 4:52 PM

CULINARY PHOTOGRAPHY: ROGUE CREATIVE / FOOD STYLING: SWEET DANI B

Falafel Pasta Salad

TRUE VEGAN The Best of Chef Rahein’s Vegan Cuisine WITH MORE THAN 13 YEARS OF VEGAN CULINARY EXPERIENCE, Chef Rahein launches his exciting new venture, True Vegan, where innovation meets flavor. His dedication to fresh, wholesome ingredients and masterful textures has made his food a standout choice for vegans and non-vegans alike.

“My food became popular in the Delray community because very few restaurants offered soy-, wheat- and gluten-free options,” Chef Rahein explains. “All our proteins are made in-house using whole, plant-based ingredients. Our ‘chicken’ is crafted from jackfruit, and our burgers feature chickpeas and dehydrated mushrooms.

We’re completely soy- and peanut-free, so there’s zero risk of crosscontamination.”

Chef Rahein’s signature vegan burger has taken first place at the Boca Burger Battle two years in a row, beating out even traditional burger spots. The True Vegan menu offers a wide array of dishes, from fresh, handcrafted pizzas and hearty pastas like mushroom Bolognese, spaghetti and meatballs, and vegan chicken parmesan, to comforting soups such as pasta fagioli and split pea. Guests can also enjoy wraps, shareable appetizers and indulgent desserts like softserve vegan ice cream and smoothies. Whether dining in or taking out, there’s something for everyone at True Vegan.

“True Vegan is about celebrating flavor and creativity through real, whole ingredients,” says Chef Rahein. “You don’t have to be vegan to enjoy vegan.”

123 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach 561-266-3399 • True-vegan.com

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Sausage Pizza & Margherita Pizza

Signature Mushroom Burger

“True Vegan is about celebrating flavor and creativity through real, whole ingredients.

You don’t have to be vegan to enjoy vegan.”

MICHAEL CONNOR PHOTOGRAPHY

CHEF RAHEIN

LYNORA’S The Best of Time Honored Italian Food Polpette Della Casa Housemade Meatballs

Margherita Pizza

Minestrone

Pollo Milanese

THIS YEAR MARKS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY since Maria and Raffaele Abbenante opened Lynora’s in a small Lake Worth pizza shop. Since childhood, their son Angelo has been by their side, absorbing every detail about their homemade Italian food and studying what it takes to run the family business to the high standards his parents instilled.

As a fourth-generation restaurateur and President of Lynora’s, Abbenante touches every part of the business—from what’s happening in the kitchen to how the brand continues to grow.

“I oversee everything, along with an incredible team who bring my visions to life every day. I work closely with our chefs and managers to make sure the food, service and atmosphere all reflect the integrity of our family tradition. Staying true to our roots, everything is still made from scratch using my mom’s and grandma’s original recipes from Italy,” he boasts.

Adding to the six Lynora’s destinations patrons frequent for their favorite Italian fare fix, locations in Delray and Melbourne are in the works along with their speakeasy concept, Stanza, coming soon next to the Alton Road location. Above the Clematis Street restaurant, Spazio has already become a nightlife favorite.

“For me, it’s about keeping the balance between honoring our legacy and continuing to grow,” he explains. “Over the years we’ve expanded and evolved, but the heart of Lynora’s hasn’t changed. It’s still about family, hospitality, and creating a place where people want to feel at home. Our guests love that Lynora’s always feels real.”

9560 Glades Rd. Suite 190, Boca Raton 561-235-5096 • Lynora’s.com

“For me, it’s about keeping the balance between honoring our legacy and continuing to grow.”

MICHAEL CONNOR PHOTOGRAPHY

ANGELO ABBENANTE President

MICHAEL CONNOR PHOTOGRAPHY

ZOE LANHAM Vice President Double Cut Pork Chop

Miso Glazed Chilean Sea Bass

the ADDISON Short Rib Bao Bun

The Best Milestone, Memory-Making Event Dining

AS A PREMIERE SOUTH FLORIDA WEDDING AND EVENT DESTINATION, guests of the Addison discover a culinary world as captivating as the ambiance of its iconic historical setting.

The Five Star Diamond Award-winning cuisine represents a mastery of international flavors. “Our Executive Chef Patrick Duffy has American roots and a beautiful creative technique. Executive Sous Chef Jose Hernandez adds his own unique flair to every plate. For over 18 years they have both provided this very robust experience in a catering environment,” says Vice President Zoe Lanham.

“A distinguishing feature at the Addison is that our wedding guests get to choose their food the night of the event from a reduced menu chosen by their host. The server asks for each selection preference and then

Crispy Lobster Wonton

freshly prepares every dish from scratch in about 40 to 50 minutes so that the plate is delivered with a la carte dining quality.”

Renowned for their multicultural menus including Indian recipes and Glatt Kosher ORB certified catering, the Addison’s signature dishes include Miso Glazed Chilean Sea Bass marinated for eight hours; Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes made without any breading, rivaling the most famous steakhouses’; and Double Cut Pork Chops with Apple Brandy Chutney.

“We make our own seasonings and marinades to add a distinctive flavor to our dishes,” Lanham shares.

From nuptial celebrations to private chef dinners, coveted holiday brunches, and any opportunity to dazzle guests with an unsurpassed, elegant dining extravaganza, the Addison delights with every dish.

2 E. Camino Real, Boca Raton 561-372-0568 • theaddisonofbocaraton.com

Bucatini with butter, Parmigiano and shaved white truffles.

Prime Angus Chatel Farms Ribeye

Figs & Spec with Camembert

Frittura Mista

NICHOLSON MUIR The Best Coastal Steakhouse Experience

JAMES MUIR Chef

MICHAEL CONNOR PHOTOGRAPHY

WHAT BEGAN AS A BOUTIQUE BUTCHER SHOP for locals seeking exceptional cuts and chef-driven prepared foods soon evolved into NICHOLSON MUIR—a high-end yet unassuming steakhouse that holds the distinction of a MICHELIN Guide 2025 Recommended restaurant.

Founded by Chef James Muir, a meat and asado specialist with more than a decade catering Argentine openfire feasts across the Hamptons and New York City, the restaurant blends Mediterranean influence, American seasonality and Argentine technique.

Guests may dine à la carte or explore two tasting journeys: the immersive 15-course Omakase or the nine-course “Not-SoPetit” experience. USDA Prime, Mishima American Wagyu, dry-aged selections, handmade pasta, raw preparations and small thoughtful plates shape a menu appealing to discerning surf and turf connoisseurs alike. Chef James curates his meat selections from various purveyors, sampling their quality with his own

offerings’ high standards. “I personally conduct my own taste tests daily for lunch, consuming over a pound of beef to find those worthy of our menu,” he boasts.

Nicholson Muir offers a 4–5 p.m.

Prix Fixe, a three-course dinner priced at $45 with an optional $15 wine supplement, providing options for an earlier, elegant “Pre-Theater” meal.

The menu constantly evolves, bringing back guest favorites and new ingredients.

The bar features 007-inspired Author Cocktails and a wine program emphasizing Argentine producers, European classics and limitedallocation bottlings.

Whether dining on the breezy terrace, indoors surrounded by towering windows with a view, or lounging with cocktails around the wood-burning fireplace, an evening spent at Nicholson Muir promises to be extraordinary.

480 E. Ocean Blvd., Boynton Beach 561-336-3977 • nicholsonmuir.com

Tripple Decker Turkey Club

Nova Sandwich

French Toast Bagels with Deli Style

BAGELS WITH DELI

MICHAEL CONNOR PHOTOGRAPHY

The Best Reinvention of the Traditional Bagel Experience

JC GAVILAN Head of Development

LONG BEFORE DOORS OPEN AT 7 A.M., the bakers at Bagels With Deli are already hard at work, preparing 14 varieties of fresh, scratch-made bagels, each crafted with old-world tradition. Alongside bagels, homemade bialys, flagels, muffins, rugelach and the iconic black and white cookies add to the tempting selection that emerges from the rotating oven each morning.

The menu features something for everyone, from hearty breakfast choices to signature corned beef, roast beef, pastrami and smoked fish. Guests can also enjoy made-to-order salads with freshly chopped produce, overstuffed wraps, power bowls and robust catering options for any occasion. Many of the recipes are cherished family traditions, passed down from generation to generation from Blooms Kosher Catering—the historic Detroit eatery that inspired the creation of the Bagels With Deli brand over 25 years ago—bringing guests the nostalgic dishes they love.

JC Gavilan, Head of Development at Bagels With Deli, shares, “We’re committed to honoring our founder’s family legacy while innovating and shaping spaces where guests enjoy delicious food and genuine hospitality.”

Since joining BWD’s original owner, Robert Bloom, in 2020, Gavilan has helped build on these core values to create welcoming restaurants where tradition, warmth and community come together.

“In collaboration with a talented design team, BWD has created upscale, contemporary bagel restaurants that appeal to both South Florida diners and New York bagel lovers. With four thriving locations in Boca, East and West Delray, and Palm Beach Gardens, the brand stays true to its founding promise: serving scratch-made favorites with love.”

561-948-1004 bagelswithdeli.com

BH-Delray Magazine_JANUARY 2026 v1.pdf

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25/11/2025

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Fresh Starts, Served Daily DELRAY COMMONS

5054 W ATLANTIC AVE, DELRAY BEACH, FL 33484

OPEN DAILY 7AM TO 2:30PM

Breakfast · Lunch · Cocktails · Catering

DINING GUIDE YOUR RESOURCE FOR GREATER DELRAY BEACH’S FINEST RESTAURANTS

STAFF PICK

Hawkers Asian Street Food HAWKERS ASIAN STREET FOOD DELIVERS AUTHENTIC PAN - ASIAN FARE IN A CHIC, LIVELY ATMOSPHERE

W

curry sauce accompaniment. Meanwhile, the twice-fried Korean hen I arrived at Hawkers Asian Street Food to pick up chicken wings, tossed in a spicy gojuchang sauce and topped with a takeout order for lunch, I realized I had made a terpeanuts and sesame seeds, were crispy and meaty, with the gojuchang rible mistake—I should have opted to dine in. adding a perfect hint of heat. Each dish, from the fluffy bao buns The vibe of Hawkers’ interior is immediately stuffed with pork belly to the tender marinated bulgogi beef strips with endearing, with vibrant Asian murals adorning the house-made kimchi, was uniquely delicious, to the point that it was walls, a long, narrow dining area reminiscent of a bustling food hall hard to pick a favorite. and, most attractively, a spacious, palm- and umbrella-shaded outdoor While I didn’t sample any of Hawkers’ craft cocktails, its eclectic courtyard that looked particularly appealing during my visit on one of assortment of Asian-inspired reinventions of bar staples certainly has my South Florida’s few cool “fall” (if you can call it that) days. attention. Its Margari-Thai is just what you’d expect from a margarita, but As a purveyor of street food, which is typically a grab-and-go experience, with a dash of mango and Thai chili-infused simple syrup. Espresso martini I was surprised to see how much intentionality went into creating a space lovers will want to check out its Viet-Spresso, made with Vietnamese coffee that all but demanded lingering—something I resolved to do on my next and condensed milk, while tropical libation enthusiasts can sip on a mojito visit. This time, it was all about sampling Hawkers’ variety of small plates made with lemongrass-infused rum. inspired by flavors from across Southeast Asia.

Whether you’re looking to explore a variety of shareable Asian plates I decided on a full-on culinary tour of dishes—roti from Malaysia, with a group over a game of cornhole or giant Jenga Korean fried chicken, Chinese bao buns, pad on the patio or cater a work lunch (there are catering Thai and Korean bulgogi. The menu also IF YOU GO options for groups of up to 25), Hawkers introduces includes Vietnamese and Singaporean noodle 640 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach; to Atlantic Avenue a novel take on the street food dishes that I’ve got my eye on for next time.

561/485-4111 experience that shouldn’t be missed.

The roti, a pastry-like flatbread, was flaky and —Tyler Childress light, with its buttery flavor enhanced by a rich PARKING: Street HOURS: Sun. - Thurs., 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.; Fri. & Sat., 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.

PRICES: $20-$30 WEBSITE: eathawkers.com

Dishes at Hawkers JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

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[ DINING GUIDE REVIEW ] B Y C H R I S T I E G A L E A N O - D E M O T T

STAGE

5377 Town Center Road, Boca Raton; 561/409-2376 PARKING: Valet, lot parking HOURS: Tuesday – Sunday, lunch 11:30 a.m. – 4:45 p.m.; Sunday, Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. ; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Closed Mondays PRICES: $12 – $69

MICHAEL CONNOR PHOTOGRAPHY

WEBSITE: stagekitchenandbar.com

Spicy tuna bomb

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Naga lychee ceviche

Ela’s butter chicken masala

Life’s a Stage

CHEF PUSHKAR MARATHE BRINGS HIS GLOBAL FLAVORS TO BOCA RATON

I

was frustrated after visiting chef Pushkar Marathe’s Stage concept in Palm Beach Gardens a few years ago. It was disappointing knowing that if I ever wanted to marvel at his dishes again, I’d have to commit to an extensive drive. (Don’t get me wrong, I’ll travel for food, but South Florida traffic has become overwhelming.) So, when I heard early last year that he was opening an outpost in Boca, I was ecstatic. I waited a year for the grand opening, but it was definitely worth it.

Located in Midtown Boca’s bustling Restaurant Row, Stage (pronounced staaj, as in a culinary intern, not a platform for performers) features a polished design divided into three distinct areas: an expansive, vibey bar; a serene dining room; and a spacious covered patio.

As we perused the menu, we appreciated that dishes are labeled glutenfree and vegan, and that it features several local farms like Kai-Kai Farm and Naga Gardens. While some restaurants can get away with average food if the service is exemplary, thankfully, here, both were equally impressive. Our waiter captivated us with his knowledge of the menu, passion for the dishes he recommended, and how he coursed our meal.

The dishes are meant to be shared, but the experience was never rushed or overwhelming.

We started with the spicy tuna bomb ($23) and Naga lychee ceviche ($19). Both dishes intrigued us, especially when our waiter confessed the bomb was something he’d never tasted anywhere else, and that the ceviche was sans fish.

With these two dishes, I understood why Marathe was a semifinalist for a James Beard Award. His creativity and

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

DG REVIEW Stage JF26.indd 63

execution were on full display. The tuna is marinated in spicy soy for a light kick, topped with creamy avocado and stuffed into four bite-size airy puffs, inspired by the Indian puri bread. Visually, the ceviche looks like raw fish. I feared it would be too sweet, because Marathe replaced the fish completely with lychee pieces, but it wasn’t. The fruit’s sweetness and the sauce’s citrus notes are perfectly balanced, and the Thai chili adds a subtle level of spiciness, while the cucumber and onion provide a refreshing crunch.

Replacing the customary chicken, the tandoori Niman Ranch churrasco ($45) was still marinated in yogurt and spices, making it extra tender and juicy with mild, smoky undertones. It’s served with a tomato and onion salad topped with blue cheese, which allowed me to slather some blue cheese on the steak without the cheese overwhelming the meat’s flavor, which I liked. Another classic, Ela’s butter chicken masala ($26), served in a tomato cashew curry, is accompanied by basmati rice that I eagerly drenched in the creamy sauce. While it delivered in flavor, there was room to up the spice.

If you love bananas, the deconstructed Banoffee pie ($12) is an excellent end to the meal. It’s an indulgent, banana-centric dessert with roasted bananas and white chocolate dulce de leche topped with a graham cracker crumble.

I can’t wait to go back for that ceviche that replays in my dreams. Thank you, chef Marathe, for not making me trek north for it.

Banoffee pie

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[ DINING GUIDE ] DINING KEY $ Inexpensive: under $17 $$ Moderate: $18 to $35 $$$ Expensive: $36 to $50 $$$$ Very expensive: $50+ DELRAY BEACH 50 Ocean—50 S. Ocean Blvd. Seafood. The former

Upper Deck at Boston’s on the Beach is now the more upscale, seafood-oriented spot. The menu ranges from familiar to slightly more inventive, from a classic lobster bisque and crisp-tender fried clam bellies to rock shrimp pot pie and baked grouper topped with blue crab. The cinnamon-dusted beignets are puffs of amazingly delicate deep-fried air and should not under any circumstances be missed. • Lunch Mon.-Sat. Dinner nightly. Brunch Sun. 561/278-3364. $$

800 Palm Trail Grill—800 Palm Trail. American.

This contemporary space is serving up American fare and classic cocktails. The menu has a steak-and-

seafood-house feel to it but without any stuffiness.

Instead, you’ll find dishes that entice the palate, like the loaded baked potato eggrolls and Wagyu boneless short rib. • Lunch and dinner daily, with patio dining.

561/865-5235. $$$

Akira Back—233 N.E. Second Ave. Japanese. Chef

Akira Back’s Seoul restaurant earned a Michelin star a few years ago, and now he’s showcasing his talented take on Japanese cuisine at his namesake restaurant inside The Ray hotel. Born in Korea and raised in Colorado, Back blends his heritage with Japanese flavors and techniques he has mastered to deliver dishes that are unique to him. With plates made to be shared, the menu is divided into cold and hot starters followed by rolls, nigiri/sashimi, robata grill, mains and fried rice. Dinner nightly. 561/739-1708. $$$$

Amar Mediterranean Kitchen & Bar—25 S.E. Sixth Ave. Mediterranean. No longer a quaint bistro, this new version is buzzing with energy while still as charming and welcoming as ever. Dishes deliver solid, bright flavors that honor owner Nicolas Kurban’s Lebanese roots, as his family recipes take center stage alongside Mediterranean favorites that have been elevated with slight tweaks. On some evenings, there is belly dancing entertainment. • Dinner nightly. 561/865-5653. $$

Angelo Elia Pizza • Bar • Tapas— 16950 Jog

Road. Italian. Nothing on the menu of Angelo Elia’s modCern, small plates-oriented osteria disappoints, but particularly notable are the meaty fried baby artichokes stuffed with breadcrumbs and speck, delicate chicken-turkey meatballs in Parmesan-enhanced broth, and Cremona pizza with a sweet-salty-earthypungent mélange of pears, pancetta, Gorgonzola, sun-dried figs and mozzarella. • Dinner nightly.

561/381-0037. $$

Avalon Beach House—110 E. Atlantic Ave. Contemporary American. This steakhouse was transformed into a chic coastal haven for seafood and lively cocktails.

Its menu features a variety of casual dishes like ahi tuna poke, fish tacos, double smash burger and short rib ragu. • Lunch and dinner daily. 561/593-2500. $$ Bamboo Fire Cafe—149 N.E. Fourth Ave. Caribbean. The Jacobs family joyously shares its Latin and Caribbean culture through food that’s bursting with bright island aromas and flavors. Tostones, plantain fries and jerk meatballs share the menu with curry pork, oxtail and conch. A quintessential Delray gem.

• Dinner Wed.-Sun. 561/749-0973. $ Beg for More Izakaya—19 S.E. Fifth Ave. Japanese Small Plates. The large sake, whisky and beer menu here pairs beautifully with the small plates full of everything except sushi. No sushi. And that’s fine. Try the takoyaki (octopus balls), the crispy salmon tacos and anything with the addictive kimchi, such as the kimchi fried rice.

There are pasta, teriyaki and simmered duck with bok choy dishes—or 16 varieties of yakitori (food on skewers).

You’ll be back to beg for more. • Lunch and dinner daily. 561/563-8849. $$ Brulé Bistro—200 N.E. Second Ave. Contemporary American. The regular menu of this Pineapple Grove favorite always has satisfying dishes. Its specialties include crab tortellini with black truffles, chicken meatballs with coconut broth and cashews, plus signature dessert pistachio crème brùlée. Spirits and house cocktails steeped in speakeast style are paired with an ever-changing menu.

Outside tables offer the best option for conversation.

• Lunch and dinner daily. 561/274-2046. $$ Burt & Max’s—9089 W. Atlantic Ave. Contemporary

AARON BRISTOL

American. This bastion of contemporary comfort food in west Delray is approaching local landmark status, forging its own menu while borrowing a few dishes from Max’s Grille, like the hearty chopped salad and bacon-wrapped meatloaf. Other dishes are variations on the comfort food theme, including a stellar truffle-scented wild mushroom pizza. • Dinner nightly.

Sunday brunch. 561/638-6380. $$

Pan-seared halibut at Brulé Bistro

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Caffe Luna Rosa—34 S. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach.

Italian. This multiple Delray Beach-award winning resJANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

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taurant has sparkling service, comfort food taken to a higher level, and a setting just steps from the Atlantic.

Open since 1993, and a success since then, they dish up big flavors in a tiny space, so call for reservations.

Try the calamari fritto misto, then the rigatoni pomodoro and leave room for dessert. Or come back for breakfast. • Open daily from breakfast through dinner.

561-274-9404. $$

Casa L’Acqua—9 S.E. Seventh Ave. Italian. Diners

can expect white tablecloths, tuxedoed staff and attentive service at this fine-dining restaurant. The wine list is Italian-focused but does offer a variety of bottles from around the world, and each dish is expertly prepared with sizable portions. The main dining room, with its vibey bar and wine cellar, is cozy, and so is its fully enclosed patio in the back. • Lunch and dinner daily. 561/563-7492. $$

City Oyster—213 E. Atlantic Ave. Seafood. This

stylish mainstay of Big Time Restaurant Group serves up reasonably priced seafood that never disappoints, such as shrimp and grits with a jumbo crab cake. This is the place to see and be seen in Delray, and the food lives up to its profile. • Lunch Mon.–Sun. Dinner nightly. Outdoor dining. 561/272-0220. $$

Coco Sushi Lounge & Bar—25 N.E. Second Ave., Suite 208. Asian. Local hospitality veterans Tina Wang and chef Jason Zheng continue to grow their restaurant empire with this concept. The extensive menu caters to any palate, dietary restriction or craving and features both traditional and creative dishes. Soups and salads lead into sushi selections and appetizers divided into cool and hot. Cooked and raw rolls are followed by rice, noodle, land and sea entrée options. • Dinner Mon.-Sat. Sunday brunch. 561/926-9434. $$ Costa By OK&M—502 E Atlantic Ave. Contempo-

rary American. Contemporary American. Costa takes chef/owner Coton Stine’s dedication to farm-to-table fare to an elevated level with its seasonal menu. Working closely with local farms and vendors, Stine curates deliciously healthy dishes that tempt your palate while fueling your body. For those with dietary restrictions, the dishes are clearly labeled gluten-free or vegan, which adds a sense of ease to the experience. The corner space is comfortable and embraces natural elements with its wicker chairs, lanterns, greenery and expansive sliding doors. • Dinner nightly. 561/501-6115. $$

Cut 432—432 E. Atlantic Ave. Steakhouse. Hipper decor, a more casual vibe and an inventive take on steak-

house favorites make this sleek restaurant just different enough to be interesting. Starters such as ceviche (prepared Peruvian style) and ultrarich oysters Rockefeller are first-rate, while the wet-aged beef is appropriately tender and tasty. • Dinner nightly. 561/272-9898. $$$

Dada—52 N. Swinton Ave. Contemporary American. The same provocative, whimsical creativity that spawned Dada the art movement infuses Dada the restaurant, giving it a quirky charm all its own. The comfort food menu has its quirky charms, too, like shake-n-bake pork chops with sweet-savory butterscotch onions, and a brownie-vanilla ice cream sundae with strips of five-spice powdered bacon. The wittily decorated 1920s-vintage house-turned-restaurant is, as they say, a trip. • Dinner nightly. 561/330-3232. $$ Deck 84—840 E. Atlantic Ave. Contemporary Ameri-

can. Burt Rapoport’s ode to laid-back tropical dining is like a day at the beach without getting sand between your toes. Though the restaurant is casual, the kitchen takes its food seriously, whether the stellar flatbreads, the thick and juicy 10-ounce special blend burger or homey seasonal cobbler. And the waterfront location just seems to make everything taste better. • Lunch Mon.–Fri. Brunch Sat.–Sun. Dinner nightly. 561/665-8484. $

Who said your Golden Years had to be boring?

The Volen Center was made with the active and social senior in mind, offering a jam-packed schedule of things to do every week. From live music and dancing to themed parties, art classes, games, exercise classes, discussion groups and local trips and outings, your only problem will be finding enough hours in the day to do it all!

Call today! 561-395-8920

volencenter.com

Together we make community happen.

1515 W. Palmetto Park Road • Boca Raton, FL 33486

ADULT DAY CARE • SENIOR ENRICHMENT PROGRAMS • DINING & ACTIVITIES COUNSELING & SUPPORT SERVICES • TRANSPORTATION • NURSE REGISTRY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

DINING GUIDE LISTINGS JF26XXXX.indd 65

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Josie’s te Ristoran Celebrating Over

[ DINING GUIDE ] Eathai—1832 S. Federal Highway. Thai. If you’re

craving approachable and affordable Thai food, put Eathai at the top of your list. While you can expect to find curries, noodles, soups and fried rice on the menu, the dishes here aren’t the typical ones you’ll find around town. Indulge in the Thai chicken French toast or crispy duck breast with lychee curry sauce or oxtail basil fried rice to savor the true talent of owner and chef Sopanut Sopochana. • Lunch and dinner Wed.Mon. 561/270-3156. $

ess

30 Years in Busin

Authentic. Italian. Cuisine.

Curated by James Beard Awarded Chef

El Camino—15 N.E. Second Ave. Mexican. This sexy, bustling downtown spot is from the trio behind nearby Cut 432 and Park Tavern. Fresh, quality ingredients go into everything from the tangy tomatillo salsas to the world-class fish tacos clad in delicate fried skin, set off by tart pineapple salsa. Cinnamon and sugar-dusted churros are the perfect dessert. And check out the margaritas, especially the smoky blend of mezcal and blanco tequila.

• Lunch and dinner daily. 561/865-5350. $$ Meatball & Martini Monday | Weekly Live Music | Wine & Warrior Wednesday

“Best Brunch Spots in South Florida”

650 E Woolbright Road, Boynton Beach, FL 33435 | (561) 364 - 9601 | contact@josiesristorante.com

714 Heron Dr., Delray Beach FL CHRISTINE SANDERSON

American. The Grove, which has been tucked inside the tranquil Pineapple Grove District for nearly a decade, continues to surprise diners with its vibrant dishes. The upscale but casually comfortable nook has an international wine list that spans the globe and a seasonal menu that’s succinct and well-thought-out. • Dinner Tues.–Sat. 561/266-3750. $$$$

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Listed at $729,900 648 George Bush BLVD Delray Beach FL 33483

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561.271.8208

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Italian spot, with classically prepared dishes including spiedini shrimp, burrata de prosciutto bruschetta, costoletta di vitello (veal), a guanciale pizza, cacio e pepe pasta, malfadine Amatriciana and gemelli puttanesca. Portions are large and that, thankfully, goes for the homemade gelati, too. The best seating outdoors is the second-floor balcony overlooking Atlantic Avenue. • Lunch and dinner daily; weekend brunch. 561/650-6699. $$

The Grove—187 N.E. Second Ave. Contemporary

Real Estate Specialist

John Moore

Elisabetta’s—32 E. Atlantic Ave. Italian. An ornate

The Hampton Social—40 N.E. Seventh Ave. American. The Hampton Social is known for its “rosé all day” tagline, but it doesn’t just slay its rosé; its food is equally as tempting. It does a standout job of incorporating its casual coastal aesthetic into not just its décor but also its menu, from its seafood-centric dishes to its droll cocktail names like the vodka-forward I Like It a Yacht. Lunch and dinner daily, weekend brunch. 561/404-1155. $$ Henry’s—16850 Jog Road. American. This casual, unpretentious restaurant in the west part of town never fails to delight diners. Expect attentive service and crisp execution of everything—from meat loaf, burgers and fried chicken to flatbreads and hefty composed salads. • Lunch Mon.–Sat. Dinner nightly. 561/206-1896. $$ Il Girasole—2275 S. Federal Highway. Northern

Italian. If you want Northern Italian in a low-key atmosphere, and nobody rushing you out the door, this JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

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is your spot. Start with something from the very good wine list. Try the yellowtail snapper, the penne Caprese and the capellini Gamberi, and leave room for the desserts. Reservations recommended. • Dinner Tues.– Sun. 561/272-3566. $$

owner Joseph Boueri, wife Margaret in the kitchen, and son Elie and daughter Romy working the front of the house—has all tastes covered. Try the special cheese platter, the duck a l’orange or the rack of lamb. • Lunch Mon.–Sat. Dinner nightly. 561/272-6100. $$

J&J Seafood Bar & Grill—634 E. Atlantic Ave. Seafood. This local favorite on Atlantic Avenue— owned by John Hutchinson (who is also the chef) and wife Tina—serves up everything from burgers and wraps to a menu brimming with seafood options.

Don’t forget to inquire about the stunning array of 10 specials—every night. • Lunch and dinner Tues.–Sat. 561/272-3390. $$

La Cigale—253 S.E. Fifth Ave. Mediterranean. Popu-

Jimmy’s Bistro—9 S. Swinton Ave. International.

You should come for both the sunset and the food.

This oceanfront restaurant is a gem tucked inside the Delray Sands resort. From the airy, bubbly interior to the raw bar, the décor is soothing and fun. Try the lobster and crab stuffed shrimp, the miso-glazed Skuna Bay salmon, the branzino or the veal Bolognese. • Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. 561/278-6241. $$$

Jimmy’s Bistro is a casual neighborhood concept serving consistently delightful dishes from a diverse menu that can transport diners to Italy with house-made pasta or Asia with its delicate dumplings and tender duck. • Dinner nightly. 561/865-5774. $$$

Joseph’s Wine Bar—200 N.E. Second Ave. Mediterranean-American. Joseph’s is an elegant, comfortable, intimate nook in Delray’s Pineapple Grove, and an ideal place for a lazy evening. This family affair—

lar venue since 2001, with Greek and Italian dishes and more. Highlights are seafood paella, roasted half duck and grilled jumbo artichoke appetizer. Lots of favorites on the menu: calf ’s liver, veal osso buco, branzino, seafood crepes. Nice outdoor seating if weather permits. • Dinner Mon.–Sat. 561/265-0600. $$

Latitudes—2809 S. Ocean Blvd. Modern American.

Le Colonial—601 E. Atlantic Ave. Vietnamese

French. Le Colonial radiates classic elegance that is as sophisticated as it is comfortable. Created to showcase

Vietnamese cuisine and its French influences, Le Colonial has a standout method of curating classic Vietnamese dishes that appeal to various palates, from meat lovers and pescatarians to vegetarians and everyone in between.

The space immediately transports you back to Saigon’s tropical paradise of the 1920s. Lush birds of paradise and palms line the halls that lead into intimate dining nooks throughout the 7,000-square-foot restaurant. • Lunch (on weekends) and dinner. 561/566-1800. $$$

Lemongrass Bistro—420 E. Atlantic Ave. PanAsian. Casually hip ambience, friendly service, moderate prices and a blend of sushi and nouveau pan-Asian fare make this a popular destination. The quality of its seafood and care in its preparation are what gives Lemongrass its edge. • Lunch and dinner daily. 561/5670442. (Other Palm Beach County locations: 101 Plaza Real S., Boca Raton, 561/544-8181; 1880 N. Congress Ave., Boynton Beach, 561/733-1344). $ Lulu’s—189 N.E. Second Ave. American. Lulu’s in

Pineapple Grove offers a relaxed ambiance with unfussy, approachable food. The quaint café is open every day and serves an all-day menu including breakfast until 3 p.m. and a selection of appetizers, sandwiches, salads and entrées that are ideal for an executive lunch,

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Raul J. Rodriguez, MD Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology Diplomate, American Board of Addiction Medicine

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[ DINING GUIDE ] lively tapas happy hour, casual dinner or late night snack (until 2 a.m.). • Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.

561/453-2628. $

MIA Kitchen & Bar—7901 W. Atlantic Ave. Contemporary American. Owner Joey Lograsso and chef Jason Binder have curated a balanced choreography of fascinating yet approachable dishes. The menu travels the world from Italy to Asia and showcases Binder’s formal training with elevated dishes that are exceptionally executed. It’s vibey with a great playlist, and the design, reminiscent of a cool Wynwood bar, is industrial with exposed ducts, reclaimed wood and sculptural filament chandeliers. It’s a place that amps up all your senses. • Dinner Tues.-Sun. 561/499-2200. $$$ The Office—201 E. Atlantic Ave. Contemporary American. Your office is nothing like this eclectic gastropub, unless your office sports more than two dozen craft beers on tap. Don’t miss the restaurant’s winning take on the thick, juicy Prime beef burger and simply wicked maple-frosted donuts with bacon bits and two dipping sauces. • Lunch and dinner daily. 561/278-3796. $$ Papa’s Tapas—259 N.E. Second Ave. Spanish. This family-owned restaurant will make you feel welcomed, and its cuisine will satisfy your craving for Spanish tapas. Start with a few shareable plates and then enjoy a hearty paella that’s bursting with a selection of seafood, chicken or vegetables. • Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat., dinner Sun. 561/266-0599. $ Park Tavern—32 S.E. Second Ave. Contemporary

American. Check out the high-top seating or bar stools during an excellent happy hour menu that includes deviled eggs, pork sliders, chicken wings and a happy crowd. Entrees are generous and well executed. Try the fish and chips, one of six burgers, fish tacos and more. • Dinner nightly. Brunch Sat.-Sun. 561/265-5093. $$

Rose’s Daughter—169 N.E. Second Ave. Italian.

While not your traditional Italian trattoria, it is a place to find new favorites and revisit old standbys updated with delicious ingredients and high standards. Try the Monetcolored lobster risotto, or housemade pasta, pizza, bread and desserts. • Dinner Wed.-Sun. 561/271-9423. $$

Sazio—131 E. Atlantic Ave. Italian. This long-lived venue on crowded Atlantic Avenue is a reason to sit down and take a breath. Then take up a fork and try the linguine with white clam sauce or the ravioli Sazio or grilled skirt steak or pretty much anything on the menu. Prices are reasonable; leftovers are popular. • Lunch and dinner daily. 561/272-5540. $$ Taki Omakase—632 E. Atlantic Ave. Japanese.

Taki Omakase, a shining example of omakase done right, is pricy but worth it, so long as you love eating raw fish. Every night is different, because it prides itself

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on importing fish, meat and seasonal ingredients from Japan that arrive daily. So, if you do pine for the delicacies of the sea, buckle in and get ready for the talented chefs at Taki Omakase to guide you through a culinary journey unlike anything else. Dinner nightly, lunch hour Fri.-Sun. 561/759-7362. $$$$

Terra Fiamma—9169 W. Atlantic Ave. Italian. The

pleasures of simple, well-prepared Italian-American cuisine are front and center here. Enjoy the delicate, pillow-y veal meatballs in Marsala sauce; lusty chicken Allessandro with mushrooms, spinach and artichoke hearts; and a finely crafted tiramisu that’s as satisfying as it is familiar.

• Lunch and dinner daily. 561/495-5570. $$

Tramonti—119 E. Atlantic Ave. Italian. In a world where restaurants chase trends with the relentlessness of Casanova in full Viagra heat, Tramonti stands out as a classic outpost of authentic Italian cookery. Not trendy hardly means stodgy, however, as evidenced by expertly crafted, robustly flavorful dishes like the signature spiedini di mozzarella Romana, spaghetti al cartoccio and braciole Napoletana. Torta della nonna is a triumph of the highly refined simplicity that lies at the heart of true Italian cuisine. • Lunch Mon.–Sat. Dinner nightly. 561/272-1944. $$$

Vic & Angelo’s—290 E. Atlantic Ave. Italian. People watching is a staple ingredient here, a complement to the Italian fare. The wine menu is robust, mainly grounded in Italy but with choices from around the world. Thin-crust pizzas are family-friendly, but you won’t want to share the Quattro Formaggi Tortellini filled with al dente pear and topped with truffle cream.

If you have room for dessert, the classic sweets include cannoli and a tiramisu. • Dinner nightly, brunch weekends. 561/278-9570. $$ LAKE WORTH BEACH Paradiso Ristorante—625 Lucerne Ave. Italian. A Tomasz Rut mural dominates the main dining room, and there is also a pasticceria and bar for gelato and espresso. Chef Angelo Romano offers a modern Italian menu. The Mediterranean salt-crusted branzino is definitely a must-try. Plus, the wine list is a veritable tome. • Lunch and dinner daily. 561/547-2500. $$$ PALM BEACH Bice—313 Worth Ave. Italian. This venerable res-

taurant offers a marvelous array of risottos and fresh pastas and classic dishes like veal chop Milanese,

pounded chicken breast and roasted rack of lamb. The wine list features great vintages. • Lunch and dinner daily. Outdoor dining. 561/835-1600. $$$

Buccan—350 S. County Road. Contemporary Ameri-

can. Casual elegance of Palm Beach meets modern culinary Miami at this hot restaurant by chef Clay Conley. The design offers both intimate and energetic dining areas, while the menu is by turn familiar (wood-grilled burgers) and more adventurous (truffled steak tartare with crispy egg yolk, squid ink orrechiette). • Dinner nightly. 561/833-3450. $$

Café Boulud—The Brazilian Court, 301 Australian Ave. French with American flair. This hotel restaurant gives Palm Beach a taste of Daniel Boulud’s world-class cuisine inspired by his four muses. The chef oversees a menu encompassing classics, simple fare, seasonal offerings and dishes from around the world. Dining is in the courtyard (not available during summer), the elegant lounge or the sophisticated dining room. • Dinner nightly. 561/655-6060. $$$ WEB EXTRA: check out our complete dining guide only at BOCAMAG.COM.

Save the Date AVDA’S

OF A LUNCHEON February 24, 2026 • Woodfield Country Club, Boca Raton www.avdaonline.org • (561) 265-3797, ext. 114 (1) Ticket $195 | Table of (10) $1950

Presenting Sponsor Vegso Family Foundation

River of Hope Sponsor Heidi Schaeffer MD Charitable Trust

Media Sponsor Boca Magazine

Keynote Speaker

Ms. Denise Brown Sister of Nicole Brown Simpson

Celebrating 40 Years of Service AVDA ad.indd 1

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DON’T MISS YOUR CHANCE TO BE A PART OF THIS ICONIC DELRAY BEACH CELEBRATION

CHAPTER 19

OPAL GRAND RESORT & SPA JANUARY 30, 2026

Our superhero celebrity, actor and comedian T.J. Miller is back to host this night of shenanigans and fun benefiting the Delray Beach Public Library.

Door open at 7:30PM for a high-spirted night of cocktails, fabulous food including sushi and sake, margarita bar, and a specialty whiskey tasting paired with our carving station. individual tickets go on sale December 15th!

meet & greet with T.j . - plus dinner • cocktails • comedy

lra e d y ad

y!

r e l l i . j. M !

get r

e

t is B ack

s h i p s A v a irly.acbo lme N o w r o s n o p S THANK YOU TO OUR raylibra d e lSPONSORS www.

.jo nso ns@ del ray lbr Ple ase con tac t Kae Jon son s | kae

ary.org or 561 266 079 8

OUT & ABOUT

JENNIFER LITTLE

SNAPSHOTS

GIRL SCOUTS Local Girl Scout Ronica Deshmukh was honored with the esteemed Girl Scout Gold Award for her project “Shattering Stereotypes: Empowering Asian Voices in Media.” The project challenged cultural expectations and provided a voice for Asians in the creative industry by interviewing Asian professionals in media. Pictured: Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida (GSSEF) Board of Directors Chair Tula Hudson-Miller, Priya Deshmukh, Gold Award Girl Scout Ronica Deshmukh, GSSEF CEO Lisa Johnson TRACEY BENSON PHOTOGRAPHY.

THE MORIKAMI The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens hosted a limited exhibition of multimedia zodiac animals and Japanese roof tiles. The former included origami, toys, prints and more of the 12 animals of the Japanese zodiac, while the Japanese roof tile exhibit offered a rare glimpse at the tradition of Japanese tilemaking that goes back to the seventh century. Pictured: Zodiac tiger at the Morikami.

CATALYST AWARD Local nonprofit the Carl Angus DeSantis Foundation awarded Delray Beach resident Chuck Halberg with its annual Catalyst Award for his years of advocacy and philanthropy in the community.

Founded in honor of the late Carl DeSantis, the nonprofit honors exceptional people who drive positive change in their communities. Halberg, a leader in the construction industry, is the founder and president of Stuart & Shelby Home Builders and president of Delray Citizens for Delray Police.

Pictured: Chuck Halberg, Pam Halberg, Jeff Perlman.

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SPADY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL The Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties partnered with the School District of Palm Beach County to open the Betty Harman Warner Montessori Model United Nations (MMUN) Reading & Emerging Leaders Center, located at S.D. Spady Elementary School in Delray Beach.

Named in honor of Betty Harman Warner, who introduced an innovative remedial reading program to the school in the 1960s, the center was dedicated by her son, Will Harman, and his wife, Cheryl. Pictured: Cheryl Harman with kids at the MMUN.

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[ OUT & ABOUT ] COCKTAILS FOR JARC

Perry Chencin, Jordyn Gechter, Lauren and Richard Koblick

CREATIVE FOCUS INC

WHERE: Good Night John Boy WHAT: JARC Florida, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting and empowering those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, celebrated its 15thannual Cocktails for JARC event with a record-breaking evening of fundraising. More than 150 supporters enjoyed a nostalgic cocktail party immersed in the ‘70s-inspired decor of Good Night John Boy. Proceeds from ticket sales, raffles, sponsorships and donations totaled more than $53,000, all of which will benefit the nonprofit’s Community Works Program to provide job training and community-based employment for JARC’s beneficiaries. “We are beyond thankful for everyone who continues to support this program, which not only provides valuable employment and vocational training but also builds confidence and independence in our clients,” said JARC Florida CEO Jeff Zirulnick.

Lori Rand, Ariella and Aaron Strassman, Mark Bines, April Wilson, Tana Sachs Copple, Jessica Sachs, Fallon Gechter, Gaby Gechter, Jordyn Gechter, Molly Friedman

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Grace Mordente, Dr. Craig Shapiro

Michele and David Katzman, Elaine Zimmerman

COLBY KESSLER

Rebecca and Tyler Lettman

Amanda Herman and Aaron Hoffer

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Mark Bines and Kaitlyn Swierzko

Allison and Scott Wides

Jon Warech, Olga Zelzburg Alterman, Igor Alterman

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[ OUT & ABOUT ] LAUNCH THE LANTERN DINNER

WHERE: The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens WHAT The Morikami celebrated the Japanese tradition of Obon with a lavish dinner and ceremony to honor the lives of departed ancestors. Guests enjoyed sake and Japanese whisky tastings paired with authentic Japanese fare before decorating lanterns with messages to loved ones that have passed and releasing them into Morikami Lake—a symbolic gesture to honor their spirits. Soft taiko drumming and Japanese flutes provided the backdrop for the emotional send-off. Funds raised from the evening benefited the Morikami’s programming that preserves and shares Japanese history.

Japanese whisky tasting

MORIKAMI MUSEUM AND JAPANESE GARDENS

Bonnie White LeMay, Cici Zahringer

Bob Dalton, Heather Biderman

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Taiko drumming and flute

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Jessica and Douglas Baity

Javier Nunez, Michelle Zogby

Guests paying respects at the Bon altar

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Wes and Heather Bolitho

Kim and Ted Diehl

Tammy Mandelbaum Morganstein, Jamil and Bianca Bouchareb, Hailey Phukett, David Carpenter

Diane Kaufman, Brenda Bryer, Pamela Jones

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[ OUT & ABOUT ] THE PINK RETREAT

WHERE: Palm Beach WHAT: Lilly Pulitzer lovers from around the world converged in Palm Beach for a celebration of friendship, connection and all things vibrant at the annual Pink Retreat. Presented

by Discover The Palm Beaches, the Pink Retreat welcomed more than 450 women for the ultimate girls’ getaway that culminated with The Pink Party at Hilton West Palm Beach. “Each year, I am inspired by the stories of camaraderie and empowerment among our attendees, but this year, there were even more connections,” said Pink Retreat founder Tosha Williams. “Witnessing such genuine bonds and shared growth has reaffirmed my belief in the power of community and self-care. It’s truly remarkable to see how each woman leaves feeling more inspired and renewed.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DISCOVER THE PALM BEACHES

Jeanne Steiner, Patti Curry, Sherry Guraddy, Carol Hawkins

The Pink Party at Hilton West Palm Beach

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Kelly Homman, Kim Maciulewicz

Jamie Arty, Rachna Kumar

Melani Peffers, Kelly Homman, Mary Chin

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Tosha Williams, Aly Fernandez

Rosie Aurtado, Nicole Glen

Ciera Campbell, Jill Flewitt, Andrea Pugh

Holly Bush, Olga Degtyareva

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DELRAY

Insider

ADVERTISING • PROMOTIONS • EVENTS

THE VOLEN CENTER: A PLACE FOR EVERYONE IN THE COMMUNITY Serving from Broward to Palm Beach County, The Volen Center enhances the well-being of South Florida seniors by educating and advocating on their behalf and providing health care and supportive services that meet their physical, emotional, social, and psychological needs. Contact us to schedule and learn about our program and services.

1515 West Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton FL 33486 561.395.8920 ext. 272 volencenter.com

AUTHENTIC ITALIAN CUISINE For 35 years, Josie’s has been an authentic family Italian restaurant and a cherished neighborhood fixture—where families gather and tradition lives on in handmade pastas and classic pizza. Fresh, organic ingredients anchor our menu, which goes beyond Italian favorites to include a variety of fresh seafood dishes and prime steaks.

Our bar features a curated selection of wines, Floridaforward craft beers, and handcrafted cocktails. Join us on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings for live music.

650 E Woolbright Rd, Boynton Beach, FL 33435 561-364-9601 josiesristorante.com

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[ COMMUNITY CONNECTION ] B Y R I C H P O L L A C K

“Becoming part of a community that is actually making a difference is very rewarding now that I have the gift of time. Time and consistent effort can really make a difference.”

CARINA MASK

— Michelle Aiken Gitu

Michele Aiken Gitu

ELDERS TABLE MEMBER; UNIFY PALM BEACH COUNTY MEMBER; DELRAY BEACH POLICE ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

THEN:

For Michele Aiken Gitu, being involved in her community is a responsibility that comes from deep within. “My moral compass is what has lit the fire for me to try and make a difference,” she says. Growing up in the nation’s capital and being guided by parents who instilled a deep sense of honesty and of right and wrong, Gitu attended a Catholic high school before enrolling in Fisk University in Nashville. She later graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she majored in zoology and chemistry. Many years later, she received a master’s degree in public health from George Washington University, specializing in international health promotion and disease prevention. In between, she spent a short time working in a temporary shelter for abused and neglected children in Tucson, an experience that further shaped her commitment to helping her community. For much of the next 44 years, Gitu served as a histotechnologist, assisting hospital pathologists to help prepare tissue for examination.

NOW:

In 2017, Gitu sold her home and set her sights on Florida.

“I always wanted to live by the water and never do winter again,” she says.

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While staying with a friend in Boynton Beach, Gitu attended an event at the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum and was pleasantly surprised by what she saw. “I was just amazed at the collection there,” she remembers.

After finding a home in Delray Beach and settling in, Gitu was looking for something to do and visited the Weisman senior center to explore its offerings. She found it very welcoming, and while attending a seminar, she was approached to join the Kings Point Democratic Club. She has since been elected secretary and now serves on the executive committee of the Florida Democratic Party. She is currently advocating for a “Green Harvest” in the Glades area to reduce pollutants from sugar cane burning. “We need to show the disaffected that we still represent their interests,” she says. She continues to do that on a local level as well as through her membership in the Elders Table, a Delray Beach group that meets weekly to discuss community projects and advocate for key issues. She is also a member of Unify Palm Beach County, which focuses on justice and equity for Black and marginalized communities. “I’m cautiously optimistic about what the future portends if we can continue to work hard in those passed-over communities while facing today’s challenges,” she says.

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V H

VERIDIAN HOUSE 501 NW 9 TH STREET, DELRAY BEACH

WHERE SOPHISTICATION MEETS NATURE This 5,231 sq. ft. home is a true paradise, offering 5 bedrooms, 7 baths, a guest house, and a 3-car garage on a .46-acre lot. Inside, the club room, private office, and butler’s pantry provide both sophistication and function, while smart home technology and organic tongue-and-groove ceilings add modern elegance. Outdoors, the loggia with living, dining, and kitchen space overlooks a saltwater pool, spa, and fireplace—creating a boutique private, natural retreat.

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