Jan NorrisSushi and seafood to be featured as husband-and-wife team plan December opening.
There’s no longer a waterfront view at The Catch Seafood & Sushi at its new home in landlocked Northwood Village. But there’s a thatch-covered deck in an outdoor dining area behind the main dining room at the restaurant at 529 25th St.
Jorge Paz and Tara Barnes are the husband-and-wife team who own the seafood restaurant that moved from Northlake Boulevard in Lake Park after closing in June.
“This has been a very quick turn,” Paz said earlier this month at a menu-tasting preview for the staff. “Just three months after we decided to stop the deal on Donald Ross.”
It will be the second new seafood restaurant to open in the commercial section of Northwood, an area of single-family homes, some dating to the 1920s boom, a few blocks west of the Intracoastal Waterway in West Palm Beach.
Palm Beach Lobsters & Seafood opened in September at 2501 N. Dixie Highway, serving Florida lobster, stone crab claws and local fish such as tripletail, hogfish and lionfish. It is run by area divers John Kyle Christoffers and his father, Scott Christoffers, The Palm Beach Post reported.
A Hawaiian vacation and Gardens move fizzles
The Catch will feature a fusion of Peruvian-Asian seafood and meat dishes, and sushi.
Plans to move The Catch had a catch of their own.
After selling everything from the Northlake property at auction, “We packed up and left,” Paz said. “We had already planned this summer family trip to Hawaii.”
That’s when initial plans to move into Donald Ross Village in Palm Beach Gardens fell apart, he said.
Once back in Palm Beach County, they found the Northwood property within days — a former hookah lounge and site of the Hoboken restaurant. They signed on and got to work within three weeks.
With renovation, including building out the massive palm-thatched roof on the patio and putting in new sliding doors, they already have their permits and plan to reopen Dec. 1.
“It worked out perfectly,” Paz said.
One hitch is the parking — an apartment building is going up in front of the restaurant on the opposite side of the street, and The Catch will not have its own parking lot.
Right now, there is little street parking available and only a few spaces on his building’s side. Paz found a church nearby whose pastor has agreed to share his lot.
“We’ll have a valet lot signed by the end of the week,” he said.
Bar dates to Flagler’s day
Already the fans from his former place are calling to reserve Paz’s signature “mac snapper” — macadamia nut-crusted snapper. Others are preordering his grilled octopus.
“The octopus isn’t on the menu,” he said. “It’s a special. If I put it on the menu and run out, then they will be disappointed.
“Also, we want to encourage guests to be adventurous — try something new.”
Paz is excited about the expanded space with 132 seats, including the dining room, a full bar and the tiki area, which includes an AstroTurf game area for kids and grown-ups.
The dining area opens to the street via sliding glass doors for bistro seating. The bar area, separated from the dining room by rope dividers, features a sushi counter at one end.
The imposing bar nearly filling one wall has a history, Paz said. “It was in the This Is It Pub. It’s originally from (Henry) Flagler’s Royal Poinciana Hotel. Jim Ponce certified the story.”
Ponce, dubbed “Mr. Palm Beach,” was known as a Palm Beach historian before his death in 2015.
“We had a full bar in Lake Park,” Paz said, “but it didn’t work because of the customers. They didn’t order food and treated it more like a bar.”
He’s expecting a different clientele in the established urban neighborhood with more foot traffic.
For that reason, Paz added a take-out window in the kitchen, from which he’ll offer breakfast and lunch sandwiches, fresh juices, pastries and coffee before the restaurant opens for dinner.
The restaurant will be open weekdays 4-10 pm, later on weekends, and will open for brunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday at noon.
Sashimi ‘pizza’ and Peruvian-Asian dishes
Menu prices range from $10 appetizers to $35 entrees, with a few items at market price. A separate menu will come out for happy hour, 4-6:30 pm weekdays. Bar bites are $9, well drinks are half off, and wines are $6. The bar also has craft draft beers and signature cocktails at special prices.
“We’ll have apps and tapas on it, and some sushi rolls,” Paz said.
To pair with sushi, sake flights will be offered, with 15 tiers available.
“We’re still tweaking the menu,” he said. A large raw bar menu and sushi list fill the first page. Several ceviches, octopus salad and a sashimi “pizza” are featured.
On the main list, the house-smoked fish dip is spiced with jalapeno. A version of garlic Buffalo sauce is on the “killer wings.”
Crispy veggie spring rolls, a chicharon (fried crispy pork with caramelized onion, lime, garlic and cilantro), and beef and potato empanadas are also starters.
Mains include Peruvian-Asian seafood specialties that Paz is tweaking for his menu: Tallarin saltado, a dish of stir-fried lo mein noodles served with a mixture of fish, shellfish and squid; and chaufa — fried rice with the seafood mixture.
Soups are clam and shrimp chowders with egg and cream in broths, Peruvian style, with cilantro. Parihuela is a mix of shrimp, scallops, mussels and clams with cilantro in a tomato broth.
Vegetarian items are on the menu, and he can prepare some dishes without meats or add tofu if requested, he said.
There is still much to do with three weeks before opening, but he’s confident and says he’s looking forward to what he hopes will be new and returning customers.
“It’s going to be crazy,” he said, “but we’ll be ready.”
Jan’s a journalist covering the South Florida dining scene for 30-plus years. (She knows where the bones and onion peels are buried.) She’s a Florida native, remembers the state pre-Disney, and travels frequently to visit family and friends from the Keys to the Panhandle.
