I have a good friend who, in recent years, has become an advocate of vegan cuisine. While I don’t think I’ll ever dive off that particularly culinary pier, I do respect it as a wonderfully healthy and usually delicious way to eat. I was reminded of that when my vegan pal and I lunched at the new Clematis Street outpost of the Soma Center, which brought vegan, raw and yoga goodness to my beloved Lake Worth and is now bringing a little hippie to the happenings in downtown West Palm Beach. The potato curry? Unbelievably satisfying with the crunchy brown rice. I didn’t even feel bad about cheating on cheese for a day.

The Soma Center, 300 Clematis St., West Palm Beach; (561) 296-9949

Just a few years ago, downtown West Palm Beach was on the verge of becoming a culinary wasteland.

Prominent eateries in the Clematis Street district and CityPlace were closing. And few restaurateurs appeared willing to fill the vacancies, perhaps discouraged by ongoing construction projects that turned city streets into traffic nightmares. The real action was to the north and south — in the suburban hotbed of Palm Beach Gardens and the vibrant cityscape of downtown Delray Beach.

But in the past 12 months, all that has changed.
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Reef Road's interior is festive without being garish. (Richard Graulich / The Post)

As spirits go, rum is something of a neglected stepchild — good for a few frilly frozen drinks (or for a Cuba Libre), but hardly the equivalent of vodka or tequila in its popularity as a mixer or stand-alone spirit.

Reef Rd. Rum Bar would like to change that.

This latest downtown West Palm Beach enterprise from the Big Time Restaurant Group, the same company behind such Clematis Street eateries as Rocco’s Tacos and Grease Burger Bar, is all about the rum. Not only does the restaurant boast a solid menu of rum cocktails that goes way beyond the expected — how about a rum version of a Bloody Mary? — it also has a separate menu of sipping rums, with the most prized ones (say, Ron Zacapa’s Centenario XO from Guatemala) going for $10 and up a glass. Read the full story

Restaurateur Burt Rapoport had high hopes for his newest venture, Clematis Social, on bustling Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach.

Billed as a chic neighborhood restaurant, Rapoport designed a menu around affordable small plates that he thought would be popular with value-conscious diners. The timing seemed right, too, as Clematis Street entered its latest revival.

Rick Sheridan takes out a speaker at the former Clematis Social restaurant. With its affordable small plates, Burt Rapoport was optimistic about the venture when it opened in December in West Palm Beach, but he closed it in June. 'I have never seen such a softness in the restaurant business,' he said. (Chris Salata / The Post)

But on June 27, the celebrated restaurateur did the unthinkable: He closed Clematis Social after only six months.

“It’s been extremely frustrating,” Rapoport said. “I thought the menu was perfect for its time. It just never took off.”

If a veteran like Rapoport is finding the restaurant business tough sledding, other restaurant owners had better be bracing, too — especially as the region settles into its traditionally slow summer season.

“It’s going to be a long, hot summer,” said Bill Watson, an owner of West Palm Beach’s Big Time Restaurant Group, owner of City Oyster, City Cellar, Rocco’s Tacos and Grease Burger Bar restaurants.
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The nation’s best spoken word artists and rhymesmiths are set to visit West Palm Beach this August for National Poetry Slam 2009.

The annual poetry contest will be held from Aug. 4-8 at venues along Clematis Street, according to a press release. The finale will be held at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

This is the biggest team poetry contest in the world. About 80 teams will participate. There will be events such as Head-to-Head haiku and nerd slams.

Tickets range from $3 for daily events and $5 for late-night events to $7 for preliminary competitions, $10 for group piece finals, and $20 for the finals. A pass for all events costs $75. Group discounts are available.

For more information, visit our event listing,  nps2009.com or poetryslam.com

A Durango burger at Grease Burger Bar laden with cheese and grilled onions. (Bruce R. Bennett/The Post)

Grease Burger Bar chef Jason Fallmann of Boca Raton is more than a burger-flipper. He has worked at several Wolfgang Puck restaurants.

Even so, he says preparing the perfect burger shouldn’t be an overly complicated process.
Here, in celebration of National Hamburger Month, are his simple steps to getting a burger right:

1. QUALITY MEAT — “It all starts with the quality of your meat,” Fallmann says. “That’s the most essential part to a great burger. You want aged and marbled meat.”
2. SEASONING — “You don’t even need a lot, just salt and fresh ground pepper, if you have the right meat. You want the flavor of the meat to come through.”
Note: “Don’t over-handle the meat,” Fallmann warns. The temptation to pat may be strong, but doing so will cost you juiciness, he says.
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