WHEN LILLY PULITZER opened her jewel-box of an orange juice stand in the Via Mizner off Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, it was an instant hit. Pulitzer and her husband Herbert owned a crop of orange groves, and it only made sense that she used them to her advantage. A trailblazing entrepreneur and yet original housewife of Palm Beach, Pulitzer was often seen behind the counter, squeezing the juice herself. Alas, it caused quite the splatter, and Pulitzer found her couture couldn’t quite take the spills.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and Pulitzer seized on the idea that colourful pops of pattern would mask any mess. A meeting with a dressmaker, a pick of prints, and the Lilly Pulitzer print was born. She and her employees would wear “The Lilly” shift dresses – flowers! flamingos! fabulous! – while they worked, and the juice stand’s customers went gaga for them. Pulitzer, socialite, entrepreneur, and now, suddenly, designer. It was in America’s “first resort destination” after all; her friends Jackie Kennedy and her sister Lee Radziwill were in-the-season residents and clients, as were the Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and Whitney women.
I learned this, not from Wikipedia, but from a walking tour worth taking with Rick Rose, a dandy of a local, Worth Avenue historian and author of Palm Beach: The Essential Guide to America’s Legendary Resort Town. Pulitzer’s dresses still sell like hot cakes (plus decor, wallpaper, accessories, you name it), he adds, from a much larger space at 240 Worth Avenue. If you’ve been watching Palm Royale, Apple TV+’s fictional take on society life in 1960s and 1970s Palm Beach, you’ve already been getting an eyeful of the cacophony of colour, print, pattern – a veritable style buffet of joyous, rainbow-brite dressing – which won’t show a drop of that spilled Green Goddess dressing. And we still love it. But The Palm Beaches, the county in which the city of Palm Beach rests its pretty, well-coiffed head, is more than oranges and high society. Its juice also lies in the fresh takes on its coastal cuisine and contemporary art scenes.
DOING DELRAY BEACH
Florida, for me, is all about pink, and blue, and turquoise, and yellow. The sea and sky play with the sun, bouncing off the peaks of the waves and the pavements of the streets. It’s a place where I spent many winters with family as a young adult and beyond; like a warm hug that comes with sand in my hair and freckles on my nose. The Atlantic is where I’ve dipped my toes most often, the east coast calling me with its wild green water, diverse people and welcoming culture. Breathe it all in, the salt in the air and the fresh-squeezed citrus in your glass. It feeds the body and the soul.
The Ray Hotel Delray Beach, an art-filled boutique Curio Collection by Hilton hotel
Besides, where else can you go where it’s perfectly fashionable to wear white after Labour Day? On this day, however, I’m braving the rain – a rare occurrence – at a rooftop bar enjoying a craft cocktail. And why not? This rooftop, the Rosewater, is perched like a cherry on The Ray Hotel Delray Beach, an art-filled boutique Curio Collection by Hilton hotel in the city’s Pineapple Grove Arts District, and under the exacting culinary gaze of the Michelin- starred chef Akira Back. Spin in your barstool (or, when the weather’s cooperating, your poolside sunbed), and get a full 360 of town. But when there’s Back you can’t help but want to eat. So, down we go, streetside, skipping over puddles and into his buzzy eponymous restaurant adjacent to the hotel.
Tuna Tataki topped with a mustard sumiso sauce and Salmon Tiradito paired with grilled peaches and Yuja lemon. 📷 @palmbeachesfl
It’s noisy, yes, but in a good way. People are engaged in the conversation and the food, which swings to Japanese. The sushi bar, with its modern art backdrop, swirls of what look to be tie-dyed corrugated metal slices undulating over the heads of the chefs while they work on creating the perfect bite of hamachi or making a Hot Mess – roll, that is. The name and the ingredients belie the chef ’s sense of humour: Crab tempura and sashimi poke topped with spicy ponzu aioli; but it’s not all about the fruits of the sea; try the Cow-Wow role, a twist on down-home barbecue, with it’s braised short rib and crunchy crown of Asian slaw. Fusion at its best.
Related: The Coolest Places to Visit on Florida’s Gulf Coast: Tampa, St Petersburg and Sarasota
Back is not the only star at The Ray. My room is decorated with Barbie photos – not the film, but the dolls. It’s camp and fun and lends a lighthearted air to an already airy room. There’s a tiny balcony where I can take my morning coffee, but alas the rain keeps me indoors. Considering the lobby feels more like a light-filled living room, that’s just fine. Before heading out for an art tour, there’s a minute to get lost in the optical illusion that is Anthony James’ “Portal Icosahedron,” an oversized sphere (sort of ) made from glass and metal and neon, 20 sides of windows or is it windowless? It absorbs you, like a portal, you see yourself on the other side. Out of body? Perhaps, but this mind is craving more visual stimulation.
We spend the morning exploring the rooms at The Cornell Art Museum, in Old School Square. It is, indeed, housed in an old school, circa 1913. Exhibits are constantly rotating, but the curators endeavour to feature Florida artists, as well as works that are as interactive as they are intriguing. In one room, there is a treelike sculpture, a giant heart at its centre like something out of Dr Seuss, with a smaller rotating heart; spin it, follow to where the arrow lands, and “read and embrace your spiritual message,” writes the artist Claudia La Bianca. According to my spin, my heart is looking to embrace alignment: “Align to the space of inspiration & connection to all that is you.” I’ll take it.
After a visit to The Arts Warehouse, an arts incubator with studios and exhibitions, we get a Delray Beach driveby tour (the rain has not let up), and catch a glimpse of some of the more than 40 street murals that decorate the walls of buildings throughout the city.
Conceptually Green @artswarehousedelray
It’s the walls that have got my attention at Dada, a restaurant and bar dedicated to surrealism and the Dada movement. A few steps up the veranda of this 1920s corner-lot bungalow feels very Florida to me, but then I step through the door. Eclectic, weird, wacky, saturated, and yes, surreal, I dunno, I love it! In the back room – affectionately called the balloon room, by me – echoes of the randomly suspended balloon lighting- cum-art installation are splashed on the wall with primary coloured paints; it’s shadow- play in Technicolor. The food is also eclectic, in a good way; cocktails are inspired by the disruptors of their time – the Banana for Warhol, Moonbird for Juan Miro, Frida Kahlo for, well, Frida Kahlo and, then, there’s The Great Masturbator for Salvador Dali.
The author at Dada restaurant, Delray Beach. Photo: @vivianvassos
Artsy, tattoo’d staff are empowered with the knowledge of ingredients and what twists the chef can take on tonight’s menu. Speaking of, the food is anything but surreal. It’s American classic comfort cuisine, tweaked as Dali’s moustache; beef meatloaf dips in horseradish-laced mash; pork belly gets burnt ends; the starving artist grilled cheese comes with the requisite tomato soup – and with the promise that the price will never be more than “10 Bucks.”
Dada’s Restaurant, in Delray Beach, is a beloved spot housed in a historic 1924 home. Known for its eclectic vibe and creative menu, it’s been delighting guests since 2000. A must-visit for food lovers and art enthusiasts. Photo: @dadadelray
PLAYING IN PALM BEACH
There are some things in a foodie’s life that should be on their Top 10 things to try. One of them, in my opinion, is Daniel Boulud’s burger. Yes, despite all the Michelin stars and global culinary domination, it’s the super- chef ’s burger that’s a never-miss. At Cafe Daniel Boulud Palm Beach in the Brazilian Court hotel (a star of vintage Palm Beach in its own right), it’s nine ounces of prime beef, topped with Vermont cheddar, red onion, tomato and a toss of shaved iceberg. Go for lunch, and splurge on a glass of the house Champagne to go with. The only challenge is how to finish it – a knife and fork may be required. Work it off with a short stroll around Brazilian Court and, oh, if these walls could talk. Whispers would surely include Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jordan and Meghan Trainor.
Photo: The Brazilian Court
Photo: Café Boulud Palm Beach
The celebrity status of The White Elephant Palm Beach, our next stop, lies in its Nantucket roots. It’s a New England- inspired oasis among the swaying palms, all white clapboard and black-and-white, lawn- striped sunbrellas, eschewing those Palm Beach power pinks and lime greens. Yet, it works. It’s a shift-into-neutral zone where you can appreciate the more than 100 works of art that dot the walls, floors, tables and in the boutique hotel’s 32 rooms. It’s cosy and almost counterintuitive since the sun’s finally come out. It would suit the November grey of Nantucket; here, it gleams against the blue sky. Its in-house resto, LoLa 41, is a poolside patio that comes to life at sunset; seafood and sushi are greatest hits, while the indoor bar’s banging after 5 pm. It’s also a 10-minute walk to the OG hotel icon of the area, The Breakers, and about the same to the beach – the White Elephant also provides guests with bikes, BMWs or a ride on a private Barton & Gray yacht. I choose the beach; the water’s stirred up today, toe-dipping ensues.
Photo: The White Elephant Palm Beach
“The Lady of the House” artwork by painter Katina Huston, © Chi-Thien Nguyen/Elkus Manfredi Architects
It’s time to go west. West Palm Beach, that is. We cross one of the 12 bridges that connect the strip of multi-million dollar sand to its (slightly) more humble little sister on the mainland. We’ve booked a West Palm Beach Food Tour (don’t hesitate, it’s fabulous), and we’re greeted by our guide with a South Florida sweet: a guava and cheese pastelito – a Cuban puff pastry that’s typically had at breakfast – followed a few minutes later by a Mahi fish taco at the waterfront spot E.R. Bradley’s Saloon.
Small mercies that the sun is out and we can actually walk – and walk it all off as we go – from Pistache’s French Croque Monsieur (oh, the cheese!) and traditional Colombian tinto coffee brewed tableside at Salento Coffee, to Ganache Bakery’s take on Key Lime Pie and how the patisserie uses Caribbean influences like tamarind and coconut, to my favourite: Kapow! Noodle Bar.
Inside, there are banquettes lining the walls on one side, a long bar on the other, all wrapped up in anime, manga and Lichenstein-esque comic book-festooned walls; tuk-tuks trimmed with twinkly lights are suspended from the ceiling. Outside, there are little tables from which you can watch the world go by while munching on wagyu beef potstickers, thai donuts and, for the veggie lovers, General Tso’s cauliflower, all washed down with a blueberry lavender mojito. Clematis Street is a pedestrian-only way that’s equal parts alternative bars and tattoo shops as it is street-food style eateries, and a cool respite from the polish of Palm Beach.
Back at Dada, I’m contemplating the real/surreal menu. It’s still pouring rain, the drops smacking at the roof of the 100-year-old bungalow in a soothing way that inspires a deeper craving for all those comfort foods. I’m partial to a wedge salad, and this one’s a quarter slab of romaine, drizzled with Green Goddess dressing; I’ve forgotten to wear my Lilly Pulitzer shift dress. Oh, well, any splatters will put me well in as part of the scenery; surreally perfect in Palm Beach. thepalmbeaches.com
