CELEBRITY CHEF TODD English is about to get cooking in downtown Lake Worth Beach.
Lula’s by Todd English, promising traditional Italian food with “rustic flavors of Tuscany” and “the elegance of a premium steakhouse,’’ is scheduled to launch with a soft opening Oct. 25 at the southeast corner of Lake Avenue and South J Street.
The “Lula’s” in the eatery’s name is both a nod to Lake and Lucerne, the two main downtown roads, and a gesture of English’s enthusiasm for his restaurant’s prime location at 717 Lake Ave.
English said Lula’s, his 11the restaurant, is the result of his new partnership with Bhavin Shah of Oak Lane Partners, a private investment firm based in Boca Raton. A company registered with Shah paid $2.5 million for the 4,600-square-foot space in December 2021.
“We were looking at a bunch of stuff in Palm Beach and West Palm, but I just love this area. I really have this whole feeling about Lake Worth, like there’s something happening there,’’ English, a four-time James Beard Award winner and host of PBS’ “Food Trip with Todd English,” said in an interview.
It’s not the first time he has set up shop in Palm Beach County.
In 2019, he opened Todd’s in the EmKo building on Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach, but that closed a year later. His other since-closed eateries include his wood-fired oven pizzeria Figs inside the Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens and the Mediterranean-influenced Wild Olives in Boca Raton.
The Lula’s building has experienced turnover in recent years, too.
For 33 years, it was occupied by L'Anjou, a French restaurant that closed in 2012. Callaro’s Steak House moved in for a successful run before closing during the pandemic. Los Panchos Taco and Tequila Bar closed in the summer of 2022. El Diablo Tequila and Taco Bar didn’t last long, either.
“This location has had a very storied past,’’ Shah said Thursday to more than 200 guests at a private pre-launch “Taste Off” party. “Now finally we think we have something here that will make Lake Worth Beach proud.’’
Mayor Betty Resch thanked Shah for investing in the city. She said she believes the Todd English brand will attract diners from all over South Florida, not just Lake Worth Beach, and make the restaurant a long-term success.
“Todd has a wonderful reputation. His name brings great elevation,’’ she said. “This is another step in the revitalization of our city.’’
Lula’s opens as the long-awaited Gulfstream Hotel renovations are underway. And earlier this week, the city commission gave first approval to the WMODA mixed-use development that will bring a decorative arts museum, apartments and parking garage a block south of Lula’s.
Inspired by those and other city projects, Oak Lane Partners is also redeveloping an historic building at 1000 Lake Ave. into a brewery and pop-culture museum with pop singer Vanilla Ice. It will feature a kitchen and bar designed by another celebrity chef, Guy Fieri. Oak Partners bought that building for $300,000 in 2018 from the Lake Worth Beach Community Redevelopment Agency.
And across the street from Lula’s, Oak Lane is working on plans to redevelop 728 Lake Ave., possibly into a bar. The firm paid $1.3 million for that building in January 2022.
At Thursday’s kickoff party, the spotlight was on Lula’s.
“I was fortunate enough to meet Todd a few months ago and we started talking and I said, ‘Have you ever been to Lake Worth?’ And he said, ‘Where is Lake Worth?’’’ Shah told the guests as English smiled.
“I brought him here. We showed him this particular space and he said this would be a phenomenal opportunity for us to take Todd’ s influence, which is mainly Mediterranean and Tuscan, to create something that is truly unique and fits into the vibrancy of Lake Worth.’’
Before he met Shah, English said, the closest he’d been to downtown Lake Worth Beach was the Four Seasons and Tideline Ocean Resort & Spa, both on Palm Beach just north of the Lake Worth Beach Casino Complex.
As soon as he started spending time downtown, English said, he was attracted to the arts vibe and potential.
“What's so important about a restaurant that people don't often attribute to what restaurants are, they are about community. We want you to feel like this is your local place,’’ he told the crowd.
English said Lula’s will take reservations and give priority to guests with a 561 area code, borrowing from a strategy he used at his Olives restaurant in the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas from 1998 to 2018.
“That is what makes restaurants special. It’s obviously about great food and great company, but it's the feeling (of) it's your place that you go to where you get to know the waiter and the staff,’’ he said.
Lula’s, downtown's third Italian restaurant (the others are on Lucerne Avenue), will feature traditional Italian food prepared by head chef Antonio Montella, a native of Naples, Italy.
Other Lula’s highlights:
It will be open Tuesday through Sunday at 5:30 p.m. for dinner only. Lunch hours might be added later depending on its success.
It will seat 150 people and feature live Italian music and valet parking.
The west wall of the dining room features a mural of a woman named "Lula."
Menu offerings range from pasta and meatballs to swordfish and sea bass and lamb chops and steaks, along with antipasti and gourmet breads.
Locally-sourced ingredients will be used as often as possible.
“We always try to work with what's local and what's there,’’ English said. “Obviously fish from the area will be a big priority. We are working with a couple of local farms as well. We are going to really curve it to what that market wants.’’
English lives in Miami but said he expects to spend lots of time in Lake Worth Beach getting the restaurant off the ground.
“We are really excited about it,’’ he said.
City officials deserve credit for a smooth development process, Shah said.
“I've really found a lot of our success in Lake Worth Beach beyond just this project to be because of the support we have gotten from the city,’’ he said. “They truly are aligned with us in wanting to see the city preserve itself as the jewel that it is and also take it to the next level.’’
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About the author
Joe Capozzi is an award-winning reporter based in Lake Worth Beach. He spent more than 30 years writing for newspapers, mostly at The Palm Beach Post, where he wrote about the opioid scourge, invasive pythons, the birth of the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches and Palm Beach County government. For 15 years, he covered the Miami Marlins baseball team. Joe left The Post in December 2020. View all posts by Joe Capozzi.