Modern and trendy, The Ray boutique resort makes its debut in Pineapple Grove Wednesday, Sept. 1, bringing some shiny-new eating choices to downtown Delray Seashore’s increasing restaurant scene.
These choices embrace a rooftop bar and restaurant, a basic grill helmed by a well known Las Vegas chef, a foyer bar and a espresso store. And opening nearer to winter is a contemporary Japanese restaurant by Michelin-starred chef Akira Again, a former skilled snowboarder turned chef with some 16 eating places throughout the globe.
There could also be no waterfront views at this resort, however you’ll be able to spot the ocean shimmer from the rooftop pool deck on a transparent day. The Ray, which is a part of Hilton’s Curio Assortment of boutique inns, sits a couple of mile west of the seashore at 233 NE 2nd Ave. Its terraces and home windows might supply cityscape and sidewalk views, however the resort’s interiors echo Delray Seashore’s tropical setting.
Designed by Gonzalez Architects of Miami, The Ray marries a contemporary tropical look with big-city aptitude.
“When it comes to location and makes use of, the resort is city. When it comes to the design, we’ve made the structure tropical trendy,” says Jordana Jarjura, president and basic counsel of Menin, the Delray Seashore-based growth firm that constructed The Ray and likewise introduced the town the Delray Seashore Market meals corridor in April.
Simply because it did for the meals corridor venture, Menin partnered with Clique Hospitality for the resort’s meals and beverage element. Clique additionally operates Lionfish and Johnnie Brown’s eating places in downtown Delray Seashore.
Menin and its lenders are banking big-time on The Ray. The event firm purchased the land in 2016 for $26.6 million and later secured a $72 million mortgage to assemble the resort venture, in line with the Actual Deal and different trade publications. In July, Menin took out an almost $86 million mortgage from lender Acres Capital Corp. to refinance the venture.
The designers who labored on the 141-room resort centered on supplies native to Florida, says Jarjura.
“We do stay in South Florida and have that tropical vibe,” she says.
The foods and drinks choices carry echoes of the setting as effectively.
Right here’s what to learn about The Ray’s eating places and bars.
Ember Grill provides outside eating
Ask The Ray’s govt chef Joe Zanelli what diners ought to count on from the resort’s major restaurant and he’s fast to reply: “The best neighborhood grill — that’s what they need to count on.”
The 4,700-square-foot Ember Grill options an open kitchen and inside bar. The house could also be brand-new however the chef says he detects an old-soul really feel in regards to the restaurant, which seats 272.
“It’s a type of rooms that appear timeless to me,” says Zanelli, a longtime Las Vegas chef who has labored with prime cooks together with Wolfgang Puck, Michael Mina, Laurent Tourondel, Daniel Boulud and Andrew Carmellini. “It’s trendy and stylish however nonetheless has rustic components, and there’s a terrific open kitchen.”
That kitchen’s star participant is a hybrid Josper grill and oven powered by hardwood charcoal. Therefore the menu’s many grilled and roasted dishes just like the Peruvian-spice-rubbed roast rooster that’s served with ají verde sauce, the Veracruz-style branzino, and any of the steaks that Zanelli bastes with bone-marrow butter.
Zanelli approaches the menu with equal measures of creativity and respect for “the basic American stuff.”
“We’re attempting to place collectively a menu that’s the best hits of nice consolation meals,” he says. “We’re taking recognizable dishes, then attempting to pair them with what’s taking place in South Florida.”
Ember Grill
Rosewater Rooftop
Using the mini-trend of rooftop bars (akin to Spruzzo at The Ben, Treehouse on the Cover resort and Topside on the Beacon on Love Road in Jupiter) is The Ray’s informal and breezy Rosewater Rooftop.
The bar and small-plates restaurant shares the 22,000-square-foot rooftop with the resort’s pool deck, providing seating capability for greater than 450.
With its personal restaurant kitchen, Rosewater provides a menu that meanders a bit as effectively, taking inspiration from world flavors.
“It’s world avenue meals, numerous shareable objects moderately than your appetizer-entrée-dessert factor,” says Zanelli.
Meaning a menu that’s centered on shareable starters and mezze, dishes like a hamachi tostada with smoky morita chilies and cashew cream, wagyu beef carpaccio with miso onion jam, crispy native shrimp with gojuchang aioli and ancho-rubbed lamb ribs with bitter orange glaze. A slate of artistic sushi rolls and skewered bites (like soy-glazed rooster and spicy eggplant) spherical out the rooftop menu.
Like in any respect of The Ray’s food-and-drink spots, you’ll be able to count on some snazzy cocktails for the pairing at Rosewater Rooftop. Snazzy when it comes to seems to be, not extreme substances.
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Rosewater Rooftop
Meet the ‘Intoxicologist’/head bartender
Head bartender Eric Hobbie, higher referred to as The Ray’s “Chief Intoxicologist,” believes “you eat and drink via your eyes first.”
“I would like 5 footage taken of the drink earlier than you style it. I would like you to see it from throughout the room and say, ‘I don’t even know what that’s, however I would like one,’” says Hobbie, who has created signature cocktails for Rosewater, Ember Grill and Foyer Bar.
These snapshots might not reveal Hobbie’s major focus: the basic inspiration for every cocktail.
“I’m not attempting to reinvent the wheel, however make classics,” says Hobbie, who additionally takes inspiration from The Ray’s govt chef, Zanelli. (“Chef Joe’s obtained among the best palates within the enterprise,” he says.)
Zanelli favors cocktails which can be recognizable past their presentation frills.
“You possibly can take a look at any cocktail on my menu and say, ‘Oh, that appears like an quaint or a gin and tonic, however with a twist,’” he says.
A few of his extra adorned drinks embrace the Backyard of Eden cocktail at Ember Grill, which is served in a white ceramic flower pot with pineapple leaves and edible vegetation.
“It seems to be like a centerpiece. Once you see it, you’ll inform your mates and get 1,000 likes,” says Hobbie of the drink that’s made with Tito’s vodka, lime juice, pink peppercorn and herb syrup. “It’s a play on a gimlet. You possibly can’t put it down.”
At Foyer Bar, Hobbie serves his Laborious Day’s Work cocktail in a mini bathtub that’s full with bubbles and a memento rubber ducky.
“It’s a play on a vodka bitter,” he says of the drink that’s made with vodka, lemon juice and honey syrup.
These bubbles within the mini-tub? They’re fabricated from aquafaba, the whipped liquid from canned chickpeas and different legumes.
The Ray’s Foyer Bar
The Ray’s Foyer Bar is a meandering affair.
“There’s no scarcity of seating,” says Menin’s Jordana Jarjura. “There are many small areas to take a seat and eat and work and have cocktails.”
There’s no devoted meals menu for the bar, says chef Zanelli, however there shall be a full vary of craft cocktails, wines and beers.
“I like a superb resort foyer bar,” says Jarjura. “We wished this one to be extra intimate, extra conventional, not some humongous bar.”
Foyer Bar
Stingers for lunch or breakfast
For many who search a fast breakfast or lunch, they’ll discover it at Stingers, the resort’s counter-service café. It provides grab-and-go objects in addition to a la carte dishes which can be ready onsite.
Count on signature coffees and teas, a choice of pastries, wholesome choices like egg-white bowls and smoked salmon, pressed juices and snacks.
The café provides some seating and it opens to the foyer and bar space, the place many extra seats can be found. There’s a patio eating space as effectively.
Stingers
Akira Again
Named after its celeb creator, Akira Again is a contemporary Japanese-leaning restaurant impressed by Chef Akira Again’s life and world travels as a former skilled snowboarder.
The Korean-born chef is on no account a cultural purist. The dinner menu at his Akira Again restaurant at 4 Seasons resort in Seoul, features a truffle-scented tuna pizza, a chicken-chorizo enchilada and octopus croquettes.
Akira Again
THE RAY HOTEL
