A Boca Raton Fine Dining Establishment
There are only three real choices in fine dining:
1. Go to an upscale eatery and select from its sophisticated menu and get served by professional wait staff in a well-appointed environment.
2. Hire a gourmet private chef to come to your home, club or facility to oversee, create and prepare the evening’s fare, subject to your choices, whims and fancies.
3. Do it yourself at home, if you have the talent, ability and everything you need.
What if, though, you were to desire hosting an affair with dozens of people, or even hundreds of people, and you wanted haute cuisine with all the concomitant attention, nuance and subtlety of a private, intimate gathering? What if the affair was with just two of you and you wanted what amounted to a private chef for the evening? Does a facility exist that accommodates private parties from two to 400, which can serve dozens of secluded small dining areas and relatively large functions such as balls, bar mitzvahs, and weddings in a manner equal to or better than any strictly restaurant or any strictly catering facility?
Is there an eatery that is a haute cuisine catering facility and an intimate reservations-only restaurant, where not only the few restaurant patrons are spoiled with near-perfect everything, but the folks attending the larger functions are equally treated and it is all done at the same time?
The Addison (notice – it doesn’t say “restaurant,” “catering” or “banquet”) is the ONLY very upscale, very private, very near-perfect facility where, based on the reservations you make, you will be secluded in an area where you and your one guest will feel as if you rented an entire restaurant for the evening or you and your many guests will believe that you have entered into a bygone era of the decadent, quiet luxury of old Florida. It is located at 2 East Camino Real in Boca Raton (telephone: 561-372-0568).
You enter the Addison through a courtyard embraced by two huge banyan trees that are hundreds of years old. They cover just enough of the night sky to make one feel safe from the elements and reveal just enough of the night sky to allow for dream-like fantasies. Daytime functions are shaded by these protective giants, opening to a courtyard within a courtyard for exchanging vows or sliding gracefully across the grounds to the sounds of a Viennese waltz provided by your orchestra (or any sounds by any orchestra you retain).
There are comparisons to be made. Sundy House in Delray Beach is beautiful and brings its patrons to 1930s’ Florida. Vizcaya in Miami and the 55-room Flagler Museum in Palm Beach evoke the same yesteryear spirit. But in Boca Raton, in fact in all of Florida, the only such facility is the Addison, offering the finest in luxury surroundings, serviced by consummate professionals, with very haute cuisine.
Several years ago, I reviewed a gourmet, reservations-only restaurant in Boca Raton called Six Tables. That wonderful eatery caters to, as the name implies, only six tables per evening, thus making the guests feel as if they have a private chef (who chooses and creates the evening’s menu). Then there are catering facilities/ restaurant combinations such as Brooks in Boca Raton. There they allow for diners on an à la carte basis, as well as catered parties. The Addison model, however, combines the best of all worlds without sacrificing one iota, one degree of magic.
If you want to surround yourself with what once was, dine on “never tasted tastes like this,” and be treated like there’s no one else, then whether you’re two or 400 in number and you’re willing to accept the price of profound luxury, call the Addison.
It is fruitless to describe our menu for the evening because each item was prepared specifically to our desires. Each of the main courses — the chicken, the fish and the filet mignon — were, not surprisingly, exactly as ordered. The opening salads were gigantic and delicious. The desserts were amazing. The coffee was fresh and a great closing to a rare and very special evening.
Patrick Duffy (executive chef ), Cody Tomczyk (event operations manager) and Jessica Brownstein (event captain) were as gracious as if we entered their own home, but there was never so much as a hint of stuffiness. We were made to feel like royalty and I firmly believe that everyone is treated just the same.
You will not be going to the Addison for a casual dinner or a quick night out. But you will remember each and every visit, whether it’s for your anniversary, Valentine’s Day, special birthday or a large holiday event. The size of the party doesn’t matter, only the goal — perfection.
By Charles Marcanetti
[August 2011]