Spanish flavors, ingredients enliven dishes at restaurants across Palm Beach

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From shrimp to peppers to seasoning, restaurants benefit from what chefs from Mexico and Central and South America bring to traditional dishes.

M.M. Cloutier | Special to Palm Beach Daily News

Though not home to Hispanic restaurants, hardly absent in Palm Beach are flavors from Spain, Mexico and Central and South American countries.

What has much to do with this is the cooking passion and curiosity of the island’s restaurant chefs and their culinary teams, which sometimes include members from Spain, say, or Guatemala or Peru.

The result? Menu items and daily specials associated with Hispanic countries. These dishes are sometimes Americanized to appease a broader audience, but what better time to enjoy them since Hispanic Heritage Month runs through Oct. 15?

Here are some places to dig in:

Buccan 350 S. County Road

Before opening his uber-popular Palm Beach restaurant in 2011, Buccan executive chef/co-owner Clay Conley worked closely with a Peruvian chef at the Mandarin Oriental in Miami.

Collaborating with Miguel Puelles had a profound influence on Conley, especially learning the secrets of such dishes as Peruvian ceviche.

While working with Puelles, Conley because “obsessed by the bright, acidic and spicy flavors” of Peruvian cuisine, he told the Daily News.

“Miguel and I travelled to Lima (in Peru) and worked side by side for the next five years,” Conley said. “I’ll always be grateful for all that he taught me … ”

Buccan’s empanadas and Hamachi tiradito (with Peruvian chiles, mojo onion, lotus root and yuzu vinaigrette; $20) are based on “traditional Peruvian dishes, but we put a spin on them to make them ours while still retaining the essence of the original,” Conley said.

Of course, don’t miss Buccan’s ceviche served with house-made tortilla chips.

The restaurant’s daily changing menu periodically features ceviche, such as a recent mixed-seafood ceviche ($25) with leche de tigre; fresh fish marinated in lemon, garlic, ginger, jalapeno, celery, cilantro and more; and poached shrimp and lobster.

Swifty’s The Colony Hotel

155 Hammon Ave.

Among the players on Swifty’s culinary team who have played a role in expanding executive chef Tom Whitaker’s cooking prowess: Guatemala native and executive sous chef Yamileth “Yami” Sandoval.

While Swifty’s menus lean decisively toward American and Continental cuisine (with a couple of favorites from Whitaker’s native England), one of the most popular dishes is a crushed-avocado appetizer ($35) with pico de gallo and house-fried flour tortillas drizzled with agave, espelette and salt.

“Yami has been amazing,” Whitaker said, noting guests routinely rave about her gilled tomato-and-jalapeno salsa; at the same time, her added, she is a talented and versatile chef who succeeds with many cooking styles.

Whitaker and Sandoval currently are collaborating on a mixed grill for two, combining their British and Hispanic roots to elevate the dish.

The current incarnation — look for it on Swifty’s menu this fall—features prime filet, double-bone lamb chop, a smoked bacon slab and roasted sausage with garlic mojo sauce, wild mushrooms, green plantains and crispy yucca.

Al Fresco 2345 S. Ocean Blvd.

When longtime Al Fresco manager Epigmenio Ortega, a native of a farming town near Acapulco, talks about the tools of the trade for the ocean-view restaurant’s cooking team, he refers to one as “the Mexican blender.”

It’s actually called a molcajete, a traditional Mexican mortar and pestle used for grinding, crushing and combining ingredients — a workhorse in the polished modern-equipment kitchen at indoor-outdoor Al Fresco.

The restaurant, on the second floor of a Key West-style clubhouse at Par 3 golf course, serves Italian cuisine, but American and Hispanic favorites are present.

Whether it’s breakfast-time huevos rancheros ($14) with green tomatillo salsa and black beans or a dinner special of grilled halibut (market price) with savory sweet-and-spicy fruit salsa, a molcajete may have played a role in the preparation.

Ortega concedes that any Hispanic-inflected dishes at Al Fresco are a bit Americanized, but it’s the way guests seem to prefer them, he said.

“But they will ask about the origins and I love that,” Ortega told the Daily News, noting that along with executive chef James Pierre, who hails from Haiti, Al Fresco’s culinary team includes members from Mexico and Guatemala.

“Whether guests compliment our gazpacho or an Italian favorite like linguini with clams, I tell our kitchen team. So much care goes into everything we do.”

LoLa 41 Palm Beach The White Elephant Hotel

280 Sunset Ave.

Guests have come to expect culinary influences from Spain on LoLa 41’s menu since the Iberian Peninsula — along with other countries — is located on and around the 41st parallel, which is where LoLa gets its name.

But more to the point: Lola 41 executive chef Pablo Torre is from Spain, although he grew up in Miami.

Though he’s based at Lola 41’s Naples, Florida, restaurant, he frequently collaborates with Lola 41 Palm Beach’s Chef Brian Bottge — and that brings one to the restaurant’s popular new appetizer: gambas al ajillo.

The dish ($25) stems from a classic Spanish favorite — gambas al ajillo is on menus throughout Spain — which in this case features red shrimp, garlic, chilies and grilled bread.

Lola 41 also now features a Basque-style cheesecake ($15), which showcases a pressed Basque cheese made from sheep milk, plus lemon-saffron gelato.

Renato’s 87 Via Mizner

Executive chef Javier Sanchez, who hails from Mexico and leads a cooking team with members from the Unites States, Europe and Central America, uses various Hispanic ingredients, from Spanish octopus to Peruvian potatoes.

But as he quickly notes, that’s hardly unusual as chefs today explore and seek the best ingredients from around the world.

“Most of the dishes we do are Italian to perfection for guests,” he told the Daily News for this article. “But we do have a little Hispanic influence with ingredients. Where you see this a lot is when we cook staff meals before service each night — and this is inspiring because we eat like a family together.

“One night I remember, one of our sous chefs from Guatemala (Manuel Chajal) cooked the staff meal and made Pepián — it’s a Guatemalan stew he made with chicken thighs and legs. It was the first time I tasted Pepián, but it reminded me so much of my family’s cooking, I almost cried. That gives you inspiration to prepare something for someone else — Italian cuisine for our guests at Renato’s — that you hope gives them the same feeling.”

Piccolo Mondo 87 Via Mizner

Some of the most popular items at this takeout-and-delivery window courtesy of upscale Italian restaurant Renato’s are not Italian — be it Philly cheesesteak or what Piccolo regulars call the best burger in town.

And then there’s the Tuesday taco special.

The idea for the special, which sells briskly from Piccolo Mondo (located behind Renato’s), came eight years ago from none other than the aforementioned Javier Sanchez, Renato’s head chef.

“I knew it would be popular, but I said, `If we’re going to do it, we have to do it right,’ ” he told the Daily News.

Since then, the Tuesday marinated-chicken tacos — with three tacos per $9.30 order — has become so popular that call-in lunch orders flood the phones starting in the morning.

Nearly everything in them is made in-house, including guacamole and pico de gallo, and house-made tortilla chips come with each order. A super-spicy jalapeno-based Mexican-style sauce comes on the side.

Cucina 257 Royal Poinciana Way

Guests at Cucina periodically have commented about how sauces, for one, at this Italian restaurant seem to have an extra depth of flavor.

At times, that may be because of a smidge of a smoky Mexican chili.

Just ask Cucina head chef Jose Madriz, a native of Jalisco, Mexico, who works directly under Cucina executive chef/co-owner Kent Thurston.

“It’s really about taking what we serve, which is Italian cuisine, which I love, and sometimes enhancing it with the different flavors I know will work,” Madriz told the Daily News. “We put our heart into Italian cuisine here and want authenticity, but there are times when, for instance, certain chilies will add something special. You might barely notice it, but it might amaze you.

“Many times, when we have beef or pork specials on holidays, I will marinate the meat in traditional Italian spices and marinades, plus add adobo and cumin, for instance,” Madriz said. “During private parties at the restaurant, we may do five or six courses that include traditional Mexican dishes like carne asada, traditional tacos and birria (Mexican barbecue), and everyone is so happy.”

Executive chef/owner Thurston said, “Jose has added so much to what we do at Cucina. He even has brought so much knowledge about tequila and mezcal. And with Spain’s historic culinary influence on Mexico, he brings that as well.”

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