In the thick of Flavor Palm Beach, the month-long dining promotion that brings prix fixe deals to top area restaurants, I ventured into Malcolm’s at the Omphoy hotel on Palm Beach.

Venture, I say, because there’s a certain South Beach noir aesthetic to the Omphoy that my subconscious equates with having to wear black. And by extension, Malcolm’s seemed a place to save for a special occasion.

But what better occasion than a random night in September, when some of the best dining deals in the county are offered at eateries like Malcolm’s? Here, the Flavor menu is richly varied and includes some of the popular dishes from the restaurant’s main menu, making it a good place to get your prix fixe on.

The restaurant’s tagline, “the art of food,” glimpses the new executive chef’s playful cuisine. The vibrant green compressed cucumber square, served as a refreshing amuse bouche, reinforces his whimsical touch. Chef Michael Wurster, a Culinary Institute of America alum, came to the Omphoy earlier this year with a range of experience that includes stints at Le Cirque, Alain Ducasse and Lutèce in New York, and Thomas Keller’s French Laundry in Napa.

It takes a chef of this pedigree to fill the space where executive chef Lindsay Autry once whipped up her sophisticated-yet-homey dishes at Michelle Bernstein’s restaurant, which closed in early February.

On the Flavor menu, which runs $35 per person (excluding tax, tip and wine), Wurster offers a supremely tender pork cooked sous vide style that’s so delicious it’s worth the price of the entire meal.

He also serves a Chatham skate dish that pops with unexpected flavors – sweet grapes, buttery Marcona almonds, grilled cauliflower. The moist fillet contrasts nicely with the nutty almonds and crisp cauliflower, and a fleeting note of pickling spices.

We enjoyed those entrees after a starter course that included a delectable jumbo lump crab cake and a chilled prawn and corn soup that was a feast for the eyes as well as the palate. Saturated in flavor, the chilled corn cream flowed beneath seared Laughing Bird shrimp and atop crisp, buttery brioche. Atop it all floated an oval of popcorn ice cream. (For our real dessert course, we enjoyed a lovely lemongrass crème brulee.)

Although the meal offered just a sampling of Malcolm’s full menu, it revealed a plus and a minus of the food-as-art concept. The plus: the interplay of contrasting flavors and textures makes for delicious bites. The minus: artistic as they are, the plates appeared to be fussed over, sometimes to the point of arriving tepid at the table, as was the case of my fish entrée.

All said, we enjoyed a fancy dinner for $35 each. The flavors were delicious, the service terrific, the valet parking complimentary (so not South Beach). That night upon departure, diners got sweet goodie bags containing cinnamon rolls and a pouch of coffee beans. It felt like a special occasion, after all.