Food is like a time machine and sometimes if you bite into the perfect slice of pizza you are instantly transported ‘home.’ I moved to Palm Beach County nearly three years ago. I’ve fallen in love with the beaches, the laid-back lifestyle and the endless supply of fresh seafood, but sometimes I long for a taste of Brooklyn. Happily, I’ve found some places that are reminiscent of home.

1. Grimaldi’s Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria
When it comes to Brooklyn pizza, this is the way to go. The coal fired brick-oven makes a super thin crust with a little charring on the edges. Fresh mozzarella cheese, sweet tomato sauce and basil complete the perfect slice. There are tons of topping options but I prefer mine very simple. I was excited when I heard about the opening of Grimaldi’s at Downtown at the Gardens. But would the pizza taste the same? In my opinion, absolutely! Read the full story

It’s not often you have four of Palm Beach’s top chefs in one room, but that was the case last week at Café Boulud during the cocktail-party preview for the upcoming Ultimate Chefs Dinner. While the menu for the Aug. 28 “ultimate” feast at the Four Seasons Palm Beach has not been finalized, we did get an idea of what it may taste like, as great bites floated about the preview event and the chefs mingled with one another.

Boulud’s new executive chef Jim Leiken, an avid cyclist, hung out with Four Seasons executive chef Darryl Moiles. Also a cyclist, Moiles is planning an ambitious 165-mile ride from Miami to Key West in the fall. Of course, our favorite mingling was the mingling of the evening’s delectable flavors: Read the full story

Kona Grill in CityPlace has closed its doors. The company sent out a newsletter this morning stating “With regret, our West Palm Beach location has closed”. There is no word yet on what will be opening in it’s place.

If you have Kona Grill gift cards they can be used at any other Kona Grill location. You can check your balance on their site or call 480-922-8100.

On The Post‘s business blog Malled, Emily Roach reported:

The American grill and sushi restaurant opened in 2008 at the corner of Okeechobee Boulevard and Rosemary Avenue and struggled to make headway.

“Since the restaurant opened in November 2008, it has been challenged by volume and seasonality, particularly in contrast to our other highly successful locations,” noted Mike Nahkunst, interim president and CEO of Kona Grill, in a company press release today. “We believe the closure will ultimately improve future profitability by allowing us to focus our resources on improving the performance of our other 24 locations, as well as allowing us to better prepare for additional restaurant openings in 2012.”

More: Meet the kid who’s a veteran in the kitchen at age 17

How do I get my child to eat healthy and enjoy it? It’s a daily issue at our house with our 6-year-old Jaiden – he’s beyond picky and, worse, he isn’t even consistently picky. Sometimes he loves chicken; sometimes he won’t touch it.

One thing he does love is helping out in the kitchen. And he loves the Food Network and Chef Cat Cora. In fact, he got a chance to meet the chef earlier this year at a family festival on South Beach. (He asked if she had a favorite food as a child. "Fried chicken!" said the chef.)

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The mood was celebratory at Cafe Boulud on Wednesday afternoon. Daniel Boulud was in town not only to name his new executive chef for the Palm Beach eatery, but also to congratulate his outgoing chef, Zach Bell, for his years of service.

“Zach, you’ve done an amazing job,” Boulud said. “You’ve shown talent and caring and that has been translated to the food.”

Then Boulud announced Jim Leiken as his new executive chef. Read the full story

The Biggest Loser is making a big announcement on Tuesday and word on the street is that Anna Kournikova will join the show as a trainer.

Jillian Michaels has left the show to focus on family and now X17 Online is reporting Kournikova will take her place.

Anna has appeared on the show before as a mentor.

She surprised contestants late last year with a private tennis lesson.

“Tennis is something where your whole body gets a workout,” she said. “You’re constantly on your feet, and the key is to move, move, move and have fun with it.”

Princess Beatrice’s avant garde hat stole the show at the royal wedding on April 29th.

The infamous hat has since become the subject of many jokes, blog posts and a Facebook page that has scored over 143,000 “likes”.

The 22-year-old princess donated the hat to be auctioned online on ebay.com, with the proceeds benefiting Unicef and Children in Crisis.

The hat was designed by Phillip Treacy. “I’ve been surprised by the overwhelming response to ‘the hat,’ ” Treacy said in the auction listing.

The hat was auctioned for a whopping $131,000 on Sunday. The bidder’s identity is still a mystery.

Venue Listing: Directions, invite a friend, see more upcoming events at Playtown Cafe

Do you have a tiny chef at home? If you do check out the Lil Chef Skill 101 & Dinner Party at Playtown Café in Boca Raton. Your budding chef will learn kitchen safety and knife skills. Along with cooking skills, kids will learn table manners – those sure come in handy when you take your little one out to eat. Read the full story

Damon Fowler Group
Fowler’s guitar work has been compared to Johnny Winter and Jeff Beck see him live at Boston’s on the Beach.
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All about Elle
The Alliance Francaise Palm Beach hosts a free screening of the French documentary, Et Elle Crea La Femme at West Palm Beach Library
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