ON THE MENU

THE DISH: Malakor salad, $8

THE RESTAURANT: Malakor Thai Café

Meet the salad that kicks off a jam session on your palate. This green papaya slaw is a gorgeous study of contrasts. Each ingredient is crisply defined, yet their combined flavor notes mingle in harmony, as is the case when freshly shredded papaya meets peanuts, tomatoes, green beans, lettuce, carrots, sesame oil and palm sugar. And sometimes they mingle in lovely dissonance, as in the meeting of Thai chiles and lime juice.

Topped with a couple of plump shrimp, the salad is sensory masterpiece by Malakor’s talented young head chef, Thai-born Nopporn “Noopy” Areerak.

It’s a must-have starter at this funky Thai café. Add a steamer basket of sticky rice and you’ve got a terrific lunch or dinner.

THE INFO: Malakor Thai Café is at 425 25th Street in Northwood Village, West Palm Beach; (561) 762-9070; Malakor.com

— Liz Balmaseda

SUMMER MENU AT SEASONS 52

When you think summer dining, you think gazpacho, entrée salads, chilled seafood, lighter fare grilled outdoors. Seasons 52 offers this new thought: an 11-ounce Piedmontese bone-in strip steak. Yep, it’s on the restaurant chain’s new summer menu.

The steak is served in a larger context of Seasons’ lighter dining concept (nothing on the menu is more than 475 calories). And it sounds like just the thing for hearty steak lovers to order while their portion-minded dining companions nibble on the eatery’s lighter favorites. Then again, this is some steak ($28.95), a lean but tender and flavorful cut that comes from grass-fed, Nebraska range-raised cattle with roots in the Piedmont region of Italy.

An ample cut, it’s served with cremini mushrooms in a red wine reduction, fingerling potatoes and grilled jumbo asparagus. More moderate appetites can opt for other new summer items, including organic tomatoes with warm, crusted mozzarella on micro greens with pesto vinaigrette, a summer vegetarian tasting of chile relleno, cedar roasted tofu, mango chutney and soft taco, and chilled lobster and shrimp spring rolls with lemongrass and salsa verde. And here’s a treat for fans of Seasons 52’s “mini-indulgence” desserts (that would be us) – a berry cheesecake with fresh blueberries, raspberry sauce and graham cracker crumbs.

The summer menu will be served through mid-September.

Seasons 52: in Palm Beach Gardens at 11611 Ellison Wilson Road (561-625-5852); in Boca Raton at 2300 Northwest Executive Center Drive (561-998-9952).

— Liz Balmaseda

NICE PRICE WINE DINNER

Gol! Brazilian-style restaurant in Delray has extended its superb wine dinner special through the end of July. Wine-loving carnivores get a full rodizio dinner for two with a bottle of wine for 79 bucks. You get all the freshly grilled, tableside-cut meat you can eat (meats include top sirloin, prime rib, bacon-wrapped filet mignon, flank steak, Brazilian sausage, grilled shrimp and grilled salmon), a salad bar of more than 40 hot and cold starters and sides, plus a bottle of wine.

It’s a home run. Or, rather, un goooooooool!

Gol! The Taste of Brazil: 411 E. Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach; (561) 272-6565; GolTheTasteOfBrazil.com

— Liz Balmaseda

OPENINGS

LANTANA JACKS BAR & GRILL, an island-inspired bar and grill, has opened in the former Lantana Ale House location. Head chef Chris Palmer presents a Caribbean-tinged menu of American favorites.

The info: 308 North Dixie Highway, Lantana; (561) 847-4158.

FRIGATES, a dock-and-dine waterfront restaurant serving seafood specialties, has opened in North Palm Beach in the spot where Denny’s once stood.

The info: 400 US Highway 1.

STEPHANE’S, a stylish, French-meets-American restaurant and lounge, opened this week in Boca Raton. Proprietor is Stéphane Lang-Willar, a native Parisian and restaurateur of more than 30 years. (He owned and operated Leon de Bruxelles, the first restaurant chain in France to go public.)

Executive chef is John Belleme. They crafted a menu that includes fresh, sustainable seafood (chilled oysters, snow crab clusters, fresh sea urchins, clams), antibiotic-free meats and globally inspired flavors. There are eight variations of mussels, a range of tartare and toasts, moderately priced meats (including a $23, 5-ounce filet mignon), 20-buck smoking nitro martinis, and a wine list curated by West Palm’s own Master Sommelier Virginia Philip.

Stéphane’s: 2006 NW Executive Center Circle, off Glades Road, in Boca Raton; open Monday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to midnight, Friday 11:30 a.m. to 1 a.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 a.m., and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to midnight; (561) 893-8838; StephanesRestaurant.com

— Liz Balmaseda