Boynton Beach restaurateur Chrissy Benoit hosted a brunch last weekend at her popular new tavern and eatery, The Little House.

People showed up in pajamas. At her request.

The pajamas thing was a coded message of sorts to the enthusiastic clientele she’s been packing into the re-done cottage she opened in mid-July, a tiny place serving inspired small-plates and craft brew.

The message, to paraphrase, goes like this: “No need to dress up for an exceptional dining experience – you with me?”

Benoit is the sparkplug chef and café owner who helped launch The Cottage in Lake Worth and then turned that city’s Havana Hideout into a stop on Guy Fieri’s red Camaro road trip that is Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

But after selling Havana in November and partnering with Boynton’s Community Redevelopment Agency early this year, Benoit now operates amid the powder-blue walls of the historic, wood-frame structure formerly known as the Ruth Jones cottage that was transported and revamped after being purchased by the CRA.

Every corner of its 823 square feet of interior space – with its reclaimed Dade County pine, Mason jar glasses and bar-mop towels for napkins – tells the story of renovation. Now like new, the cottage is a metaphor for downtown Boynton’s spiffy new dreams.

In less time than it takes to say “early bird special,” boring Boynton has become hip and utterly crawl-able.

A new crop of bars and eateries beckon the county’s beer-savvy and adventurous palates, generating a downtown boomlet. In three short miles, a bar-hopper can hit the cool, re-done cottage, a retro-styled speakeasy bar just south, an Islamorada-esque outdoor bar off Federal Highway, and a cavernous brewery that doubles as a funky beer garden.

Welcome to downtown Boynton, the new hot zone, nestled between trendy downtown Delray and bohemian Lake Worth. It’s a district defined by a breezy, low-key attitude and a desire to be unlike anyplace else.

“Our downtown is a little bit different than others. It’s a little more Key West-y, if you have to make a comparison. You can wear shorts. You can wear flip-flops. You don’t have to wear high heels,” says Vivian Brooks, executive director of Boynton’s CRA. “We’re not trying to be West Palm or Delray. We’re offering something a little different.”

If the vibe is relaxed, the vision is far from it. The push of the CRA and local bar and restaurant owners to bring life to a depressed area is an aggressive one.

The vision for the downtown hub – east of Seacrest Boulevard, between Boynton Beach Boulevard and Ocean Avenue – is all about personal expression, says Brooks.

Benoit agrees: “It’s about finding that cool, organic balance of individual energy. It’s like this natural little garden that’s loosely organized, just enough to motivate. We’re not like Delray, which has this ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ vibe. We’ve got boutique-y, personalized places.”

Fellow businessman James Hall echoes her thought. He’s the former finance guy who in March opened The Backyard in a formerly dilapidated block just off Federal Highway. It’s a sprawling, open-air bar and eatery, serving fresh-grilled foods out of a vintage Airstream trailer. Green-lit palm trees signal visitors to the open lot that’s nearly hidden from the view of traffic. Once there, bar-goers are rewarded with regional craft beers on tap and some of the best Kobe sliders this side of Atlantic Avenue.

“I built a place that is a conglomeration of places I’ve been and places I want to go to. And I think that’s what’s happening here,” says Hall. “I think proprietors have given a lot of personal time and attention to their places. It’s a matter of heart, not just business.”

He has plans for downtown Boynton beyond his laid-back Backyard. He’s in the planning stages of The Abbey, a stylish pizza concept to be housed in an Old English abbey-like structure located just north of The Backyard. He’s also planning The Hangar, an upscale American bistro that would be an homage to vintage aircraft. He hopes to have both concepts up and running within a year and a half.

Down the street from Backyard, a starkly different concept has been just as successful at Sweetwater Bar & Grill, an eclectic spot that combines a speakeasy aesthetic with a gastro pub menu. Owners Clint Reed and Sean Iglehart have poured a whole lot of groovy into this cocktail-centric space: It’s about crystal chandeliers against exposed brick, wildly imaginative drinks stirred with house-made infusions and barrel-aged spirits, craft beer and a nicely curated wine list.

All this amid a cookie-cutter row of storefronts just north of Woolbright Road.

“Who would have thunk it in that little strip center there, and who would have thunk it in Boynton Beach? But there’s a renaissance going on here,” says CRA chief Brooks.

She points to a new influx of younger residents flocking to eastern Boynton as a sign that this dining boomlet is not just a passing thing. “We’ve gotten over 4,000 new units up in east Boynton, attracting younger people who want to be near the beach, near I-95 and near their jobs.”

Katy Lynch is one of those youngsters. The creative strategist behind the Savor Tonight wine-and-dine club, which hosts weekly visits to South Florida restaurants and bars, Lynch moved to the city months ago from West Palm’s Northwood neighborhood. Now she enthuses about the newly sprouted scene in Boynton.

“There are some great neighborhood hangouts. It’s comforting that you can go to a place a couple of times a week,” she says. “I mean, when Little House first opened, I think I was there like 12 times in the first week.”

The young hipsters also want to be near the beer. Just north of Sweetwater, another kind of speakeasy unfolds in an industrial patch of High Ridge Road, where the Due South Brewing Co. set up shop about four months ago. In a cavernous space appointed with stainless steel fermenting tanks, brew master Mike Halker turns out close to a dozen core beers, ranging from refreshing blonde and saison brews to deeper, bolder stout.

That echoing warehouse is also home to one of the coolest hangouts in South Florida, an untailored bar in a brewery. Park in the back lot, just off Industrial Way and you’ll find the brewery tucked between Sherwin-Williams and Boynton Beach Marble and Granite. You’ll pass a food truck on your way into the 15,000-square-foot warehouse, where you’ll find a couple of bars, TV screens, a scattering of tables and chairs, and plenty of fresh-brewed cerveza.

It’s a brewery built on love. Halker stumbled onto the home-brew circuit while researching how to make sulfate-free brew for his wife, Jodi. In fact, one of his most popular brews, the Caramel Cream Ale, is the vanilla-infused beer he concocted for his wife, testing it for two years before she finally gave her seal of approval.

Now the couple tends to the sprawling taproom on nights when beer lovers converge. Some bring their own grub, others buy food from an on-site food truck.

On a recent night, fellow Boynton business owner Benoit bellied up to the bar for a taste of the Southern Saison farmhouse ale. She’s long familiar with Halker and his brews. He was one of the amateur brewers who entered her home brew competition at Havana Hideout some years ago. He entered his “Category 3 IPA,” a Florida-style golden ale. He won top prize.

Now he makes beer that’s served in some 90 restaurants and bars. One of them is Benoit’s Little House, where a new “brew-off” competition is brewing. It happens Nov. 4, from 4 to 7 p.m. Benoit says she’s got 20 brewers competing.

“They’re all non-professionals – like the Olympics used to be,” she says. “At this point, I’m turning people away.”

And that new brunch she rehearsed last weekend? It went so well, she’s making it a regular weekend feature at Little House, where brunch will be served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the last seating at 1:30 p.m.

Reservations are suggested. Pajamas are encouraged.