Restaurants in Delray Beach

Fresh, seasonal ingredients, harmonious flavors, artful presentation, and eclectic gastronomic touches are the core tenets behind Patio Delray's tropical-inspired menu. The creative bill of fare highlights fresh local seafood—including Florida blue-crab cakes and a catch du jour—as well as Asian-inspired dishes such as braised boneless beef short ribs that the Sun Sentinel praised as "slow-prepared to practically dissolve in your mouth." Sunday brunch pairs premium libations with inventive takes on breakfast classics, such as the blue crab cake benedict, which features petit Florida blue crab cakes topping a croissant and covered with a béarnaise sauce. An intimate purple-and-gray bar pours more than 30 craft and local beers, plus a menu of specialty cocktails and martinis, each one devised by owner Miss Lily.

Patio Delray’s namesake space—a covered outdoor patio area—situates diners amid lush tropical plants and casual patio tables, and an interior dining room offers a more refined experience, complete with crisp white tablecloths, silk draperies, and forks that whisper in French. The yellow-and-orange walls are made all the more colorful with the addition of artwork from Dr. Mark H. Widick, a local photographer who captures cityscapes, space-shuttle launches, and vivid underwater scenes in vibrant high-resolution images.

A red awning shelters a showcase of fresh, simple Italian treats assembled to entice Town Center mall shoppers. As baristas brew Segafredo coffee beans and artfully prepare cappuccinos and americanos, patrons scan the menu of prosciutto and fresh-mozzarella paninis, soups, and salads. After lunch, cannolis and other classic Italian pastries provide a sweet treat, as does the café’s housemade gelato.

Along with its regular bistro service, Cafe Gelato & Panini accommodates groups with customized catering packages, which can prevent the loud thunder of rumbling stomachs from ruining a birthday party or a screening of a 1950s filmstrip entitled The Digestive System.

Chicken, roasted peppers, and parmesan. Artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil pesto. Spinach, kalamata olives, and gorgonzola. These fixings mingle with mozzarella atop City Pizza Italian Cuisine’s gourmet pies. For something more conventional, try the menu’s build-your-own pizzas or a customer’s creation such as the meat lover’s, topped with pepperoni, sausage, meatballs, ham, and bacon. The restaurant’s other Italian grub includes hero sandwiches, pasta, calzones, and stromboli.

Pies slathered in homemade sauce bake to a crisp, golden finish over hot embers inside ovens at Giovanni's Coal Fire Pizza. 15 homemade Italian dinners, authentic pastas, chicken dishes, sandwiches, and salads top tables inside both locations, which each sport exposed-brick walls and a bevy of flat-screen televisions.

By night, Breathe's dining room transforms into a Levantine hookah lounge. Smoke rings dissipate into the air as patrons pull wispy flavors such as watermelon mint or guava from hookahs. In the background, resident DJs Johnny Ramirez and Dean Michaels spin high-octane tunes, keeping hips and extras from the "Thriller" video swaying until the wee hours.

By day, though, Breathe is an upscale Mediterranean eatery, with pita wrap lunches and sumptuous dinners of grilled steak kafta and fresh Mediterranean salmon. Patrons can pair their dishes with pours from an extensive wine list or sip specialty cocktails and liqueur-infused dessert drinks. Like their late-night counterparts, day diners can also delight their postmeal palates with hookah.

Just because a menu is brief doesn’t mean it doesn’t offer a lot of choices. At Wild Wild Wingz, chicken wings fill about a quarter of the one-page menu, tempting diners with sauces as varied as teriyaki and bacon cheddar. The rest of the menu dabbles in a menagerie of other meats, including full or half racks of baby-back ribs, new york strip steaks, or salads bulked up with mahi-mahi. When not congregating around the bar, patrons can reserve a private room where they can challenge each other to games of pool or practice juggling controllers for Xbox 360 Kinect or Nintendo Wii.:m]]