Just south of Atlantic, on the east side of Federal in Delray Beach, sits a seriously charming (converted) house built in 1907. The Blank House is the second oldest house in Delray Beach, and its original wooden floors and bead board ceilings are still there along with much of the original wainscoting and windows. The owners of Corner Porch, Mahendra and Jason, did most of the non electrical and plumbing renovations to the house, trying to exfoliate the layers of paint and “updating” done by earlier businesses to the 111 year old building since the first restoration by Michael Bonchak in the early 1990’s. Bonchak bought the house from Blank family at that time and restored it to its previous glory, and obtained its historical designation. Scratching your head at this point? Too much house talk? But wait...there’s more...
The gray wash they used on the floor boards reveal the pattern of the grain of the planking, while helping to infuse a sense of light to the interior and second story. As you approach the Dade County Pine clapboard midwestern farmhouse style building, the first thing to catch your eye is the corner porch running along the west and south side of the house. There is also a west side second story porch, that is still a work in progress. The owners still have some restoration to do to get it to their standard, with a plan to eventually use the second story porch as a more intimate dining area. You get an unobstructed view of Federal and Atlantic from that porch, and a serene sense of being “above the fray” of the pedestrian flow. While the Caribbean colored seating along the sidewalk allows for a café ambiance, the wooden patio style seating under generous cantilevered umbrellas provides the sense of being on one’s patio. This sense is only augmented when sitting closer to the Corner Porch yard, which is delightful once the sun starts to ebb. Jason and Mahendra have set up a huge multi sided conversational couch in the Corner Porch yard, as well as an occasional Adirondack and small table with chairs. To give the kids something to do, as their parents relax and mingle, they built a couple of cornhole boards from wood found in the attic and placed them just far enough from the huge couch so as not to startle non-parents, but close enough for parents to hear their kids’ voices. Garden lights are strung throughout the patio and yard providing sufficient luminance to make it feel...like a garden party. On certain nights, like tonight, they have live music on the porch. Prior to the entertainment arriving, a nice mix of music was streamed throughout the property.
As you enter the house, the stairwell is a few feet from the front door. The second story is home to their office and a private party room capable of seating 18-20 quite comfortably using long family style tables, or they’ll set up high tops...giving more/less seating depending on spacing. The previously mentioned second story porch is off of the private party room. Although I don’t generally mention restrooms in a review, unless they are spectacular or amusing, I did notice that unlike old restaurants in the northeast where sometimes restrooms are only in the basement...Corner Porch has a restroom in each section of the house: porch, first floor dining area, and second floor private room. Back to entering the house...to the right of the stairs is a well stocked full bar with several barstools. The interior dining area with several tables is off to the left of the stairs. I have noted significantly more about the property than I usually would, I think in no small part because of the scarcity of south Florida businesses in century year old buildings.
It was happy hour when we arrived, so we started our visit with a beer, which led to a few cocktails. While all of our drinks were pretty good, only one stood out...to my wife...The Hipster. A concoction of dark rum, vanilla, simple syrup and coffee. I tried it, and it was pretty good...and I do not like iced coffee. I wouldn’t order it, but if you’re an iced coffee type...you’ll really like it. Happy Hour saves you $4 on drinks.
For appetizers we tried the Hummus, Short Rib Flatbread, Brocco-moli, and Blackened Mahi Taco. Everything is made from scratch, it being quite noticeable from the texture of the hummus and brocco-moli. The Mediterranean Plate hummus was freshly made, and while it had a bright back-end garlicky flavor, I would have liked it to contain more tahini. Guacamole step back, the Corner Porch is bringing some healthy competition in the form of Brocco-moli...not that avocado isn’t healthy, but this is a nice twist with more mouthfeel to this dip than the creamy guac. The blackened fish taco had mango on it...mango, I don’t particularly care for mango...but on this taco it worked really well with a juxtaposition of the spice with that sweet acidity. We loved the blackened mahi taco. Root beer braised Short Rib, goat cheese, mushrooms and pea shoots on flatbread...delicious...even my pescatarian wife tried it and agreed.
We were not aware of it, but it was Restaurant Week. The $37 prix fixe menu was too good of a value not to take advantage of, hence the additional appetizers before we picked out choices of appetizer, entree and dessert. It was Friday at 4pm when we got there and hadn’t eaten lunch. The cocktails needed some appetizers before we decided on the prix fixe deal. Don’t judge....For our entrees, my wife chose the Shrimp Kabob, which she really liked. It came with some seriously tasty coconut rice, cooked with kaffir lime leaves from Mahendra’s tree. I chose the Root Beer braised Short Rib, because I liked the appetizer so much. It was fork tender with a hint of caramelized crust, served over some silky mashed potatoes, with baby carrots and baby zucchini...resting in a kiddie pool of the short rib’s au jus, a subtle mixture of comforting fatty juices a little acidity and a hint of vanilla anise from the root beer. It was very good...like drag the veggies through the au jus and dip in mashed potatoes all day good. My wife will happily eat her leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
For her dessert selections, my wife chose the Key Lime Tart. It came in a real pie crust, not a wannabe graham cracker “crust”, accompanied with sliced strawberries and blueberries AND a ultra creamy house made whipped cream with lime zest sprinkled on it to brighten the sweetness...which was perfectly not too sweet. I chose the Bread Pudding, which was accompanied by the almost same heavenly whipped cream...no lime zest, instead a sprinkle of turbinado. They make the bread pudding in individual muffin sized serving, which is usually difficult to avoid the muffin tin bread pudding being “dry”. Bread Pudding should be moist and have a solidly creamy texture, which sounds nutty as a description because we’re not talking flan or other custard firm creamy...more dense, more solid but not “bready”. Confused? My apologies. The kitchen managed to keep just enough moisture in the interior of the bread pudding, that it was good “pudding” in the English style...made even more so by their whipped cream.
So as a bottom line...the food was good, and its fresh. Mahendra doesn’t use a microwave or fryer, have a walk in refrigerator or even a big cooler/freezer. That’s part of his culinary philosophy...fresh food, “healthyish” when probable, and when today’s fresh ingredients are gone...strike that menu item, no defrosted and reheated food for you...and the staff was friendly, and Mahendra and Jason were terrific. I would recommend the Corner Porch to family (I already did), friends and strangers (but not strange strangers)...but come on, add in an 111 year old Dade Pine house with a nice big porch and big back yard? Too sweet a spot in south Florida to pass up, we just don’t hardly get the opportunity to hang out in that old a building...if it had a water view, I would never had shared it with you. Peace
