Review: The Office in Delray Beach
By John Tanasychuk, Sun Sentinel
Important: This article was last updated on April 29, 2010. Please call ahead to confirm hours, prices, dates and other information.
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 201 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach 561-276-3600 theofficedelray.com Cuisine: American Cost: moderate-expensive Hours: lunch, dinner daily Reservations: not accepted Credit cards: AE, D, MC, V Bar: full service Sound level: loud Outside smoking: yes For kids: high chairs, boosters, kid-friendly menu items Wheelchair accessible: yes  |
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First impression: If every "season" brings a crowd pleasing restaurant to Delray Beach, this year's winner is the Office. Restaurateur David Manero has a knack for translating trends for South Floridians. This time, it's the grastropub: quality food, beer and wine in a publike setting. Come for celebratory good times, not a quiet meal.Ambience: Lynn Manero wanted to create a home office/library atmosphere, but it feels more like a mishmash of design ideas: beveled mirrors, vintage brass mailboxes, red leather and cowhide arm chairs, an ethanol fireplace, books on high shelves organized by category. While it doesn't evoke any office I've ever seen, it's a visual smorgasbord of stuff that somehow works. Even better, the huge bar extends outside, so you can sit at an outside stool but look into the restaurant.
Starters: Truffled Organic Deviled Eggs ($6) set the tone for the treasures to come, including sinful Pork and Beans ($13): a generous slice of Niman Ranch pork belly with sweet barbecued butter beans and crispy leeks. If you love popcorn, you'll love Heirloom Black Kernel Popcorn ($8) delicately doused with black truffle and black sea salt. Bite into the honey drizzled Phyllo and Serrano-Wrapped Dates ($9) and you get a delicate pop of blue cheese. Tomato Toast ($9) — with ham and manchego — was the only disappointing starter. The toast was more chewy than crunchy.
Entree excellence: Gastropub is broadly defined at the Office as anything one might associate with comfort. Attention to detail is everywhere. The burger offerings include an incredible Prime Office Cheeseburger ($15) made with prime beef and cheddar cheese and served on a perfect lightly toasted bun. It's served with a pile of crisp shoestring fries. Flakey cod with a soft but not crisp batter makes up Dark English Ale-Battered Fish ($19) that comes with skin-on, fresh-cut fries. (The waiter brings malt vinegar.) Tender braised short rib ($19) arrives in a puddle of potato puree, horseradish sauce and green beans. Those shoestring fries make another appearance on the N.Y. Office Steak ($19) plate, which is sauced with a creamy green peppercorn and brandy reduction.
Side issues: Forgo any kind of diet here (Really!) and order the Best Crisp Brussels Sprouts Ever ($8) that are spiked with lardons of bacon. Mac & Cheese ($8) is creamy and not dry.
Liquid assets: Along with a broad beer menu — more than 45 on tap — there are more than 200 wines by the bottle at every price point.
Sweet!: Miss Piggy Goes to Vermont ($9) is what they call the maple glazed bacon doughnuts and you would be a fool to not order them. They're served warm on a Lucite tray contraption where two pastries are suspended on a dowel and tiny bowls of coffee anglaise and chocolate sauce sit at their end. English Toffee Pot De Crème ($9) tastes just as it sounds, and Bananas Foster Bread Pudding ($9) is likewise decadently sweet. Coffee drinkers will love the individual French press pots that come to each table.
Service: Outstanding. In keeping with the casual yet refined menu, it's so much better than you'd ever expect of a restaurant that serves beer and burgers.
—John Tanasychuk
Contact dining correspondent John Tanasychuk at jtanasychuk@sunsentinel.com or write to him in care of Sun Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301.