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Forte Martini Bar and Restaurant - CLOSED

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225 Clematis St. West Palm Beach FL 33401

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  • Bar Food, Contemporary, Italian, Wine Bar
    $$$$ $$, $$$, $$$$
    All Major Credit Cards
  • Business casual
    Delivery, Patio/Sidewalk Dining, Private Party, Smoking, Takeout, Wheelchair Accessible
    Dinner, Late Night
  • Full bar
    Accepted, Highly Recommended, Required for Large Parties, Online Reservations Available, Recommended on Weekends
    Meters, Street, Valet
Description

The first week it opened in downtown West Palm Beach, the staff at Forte di Asprinio reported that a table of customers had spent $25,000 on dinner and tipped the waiters another five grand. But you don't have to spend like Imelda Marcos on Ritalin to get a good meal here. In fact, 20-something Top Chef celeb Stephen Asprinio has designed his menu specifically to accommodate gangs of foodies his own age who want to sip and sample without having to empty their trust funds. Asprinio is no longer the chef, but the small, Tuscan-contemporary menu is exquisite. Starters in the $10 to $20 range that also make great bar food include plates of salumi dressed up with delicate vinaigrettes and mostarda fruit and a quartet of fish tastings, each with its own indelible personality. Homemade pastas and risottos, like a lobster ravioli or buccatini in cream sauce, sound obvious but enchant with ethereal and unexpected flavor pairings. Wine flights are dispensed from a gleaming machine at the bar.








Back to TopUser Reviews & Comments | Write a Review
  • bpbnewtimesbestof
           (0)    (0) Flag

    | Palm Beach, FL | 139 Reviews

    Stephen Asprinio's Forté is a work of art. It's as though the 26-year-old proprietor, a contender on the first season of Top Chef, had designed his décor and menu to generate argument — and indeed, since it opened this spring, many have loved it and many have hated it. Even we who love it find our feelings shifting from week to week — pleasure, irritation, shock, despair, ecstasy — but the place never bores. There's a balance of tensions and what sometimes feels like deliberate anarchy, the occasional stroke of genius, and the inevitable flamboyant failure. But unlike restaurants that chart a safe course, Forté never shrinks from risk. The menu changes whimsically and sometimes frustratingly — you'll never meet the same amuse bouche; your favorite cocktail has been discontinued (the basil martini, although it was replaced with something even more delicious and elegant); the specific pairing of fruit compote with cheese (or mostarda with salumi) you raved over one night is ancient history. The menu has Italian genes, but in execution it's almost unbearably personal and not a little surreal, as if the butter poached lobster, the miniature pork chops with wild mushrooms and blackberry sauce, or those codfish "lollipops" had taken shape from a fevered dream.

Back to Top New Times Broward-Palm Beach Awards | Visit the Best Of Website
  • 2009 | Best Pre-Dinner Cocktails

    Don't call Joshua Liberman a "bartender." Even "mixologist" is too lame a term for the guy who's been putting together the drinks at Forte -- potent mixers made from eccentric liquors, seasonal fruits, and surreal decorative elements. He's the "wizard of wet," "prince of the pie-eyed," "most exalted expert of the inebriated." It just can't get any better than this: Getting your drunk on while stimulating your addled intelligence and simultaneously feeling smug about your slow-foodish... More »

  • 2008 | Best New Restaurant in Palm Beach

    Stephen Asprinio's Forté is a work of art. It's as though the 26-year-old proprietor, a contender on the first season of Top Chef, had designed his décor and menu to generate argument -- and indeed, since it opened this spring, many have loved it and many have hated it. Even we who love it find our feelings shifting from week to week -- pleasure, irritation, shock, despair, ecstasy -- but the place never bores. There's a balance of tensions and what sometimes... More »

Back to TopNew Times Broward-Palm Beach Critic News & Reviews | Write a Review
  • A Good Chef Is Hard to Find

    A Good Chef Is Hard to Find

    My job as a restaurant critic is great fun, but there's a sad irony. I never become a regular customer. Budget and time limitations conspire: after a second or third visit I rarely have the opportunity to go back to a place I've written about.... More »

  • Clematis Lays Golden Egg

    Clematis Lays Golden Egg

    The week they opened in downtown West Palm Beach, the staff at Forté di Asprinio (225 Clematis St., West Palm Beach; 561-833-3330) were happily startled when a small party spent $25,000 on food and drink and dropped a $5,000 tip. So too was it... More »

Dinner Menu
Insalate
$14.00
Caprese
 heirloom tomatoes, watermelon, house made mozzarella, basil
$12.00
Tricolore
 roasted beets, spiced pecans, gorgonzola dulce, pear vinaigrette
$12.00
Caesar
 romaine, parmigiano, lemon-garlic emulsion, white anchovies
$11.00
Misticanza
 swank farms "forté blend", shaved summer vegetables, champagne vinaigrette
Antipasti
$14.00
Cacciucco
 spicy tomato "brodo", littleneck clams, fennel
$18.00
Affetati Misti
 artisan and house cured salumi, cerginolas, fruit mostarda
$12.00
House Made Ricotta
 eggplant caponata, parsley, marcona almonds
$15.00
Yellowtail Crudo
 mango, chile gazpacho "verde", black olives
$16.00
Hand-cut Beef Tartare
 truffle vinaigrette, capers, potato
$15.00
Proscuitto Di San Danielle
 24-hour pineapple "sous vide", rocket lettuce
$13.00
Grappa-cured Salmon
 beets, fennel, valencia orange
Wood Fired Pizzetas
$12.00
Margherita
 heirloom tomatoes, house made mozzarella, basil, chiles
$11.00
Bianco
 ripe pear, gorgonzola dulce, rocket
$12.00
Roma
 la quercia "lardo", organic egg, rapini, pecorino
$12.00
Caesar
 escarole, garlic, parmigiano, white anchovies
$11.00
Oreganata
 fontina, coppa, cherry tomatoes, oregano
Pasta
Half Portions Available On Request Price: $12.00
$18.00
Bucatini Alla Carbonara "carmino Caesar"
 guanciale, red onion, english peas
$19.00
Pappardelle
 braised rabbit, red pepper confit, marjoram
$17.00
Butternut Squash Mezzalune
 brown butter, sage, amaretti
$20.00
Artisan Spaghetti
 american kobe meatballs, amatriciana, hot chiles
$17.00
Gnocchi Alla Romana
 zucchini, parmigiano, mint
$20.00
Orzo "risotto"
 lobster, black truffle espuma, chervil
Carne E Pesce
$23.00
Berkshire Pork Milanese
 apricot agrodolce, escarole, smoked bacon
$26.00
Belle & Evans Poussin "all Mattone"
 panzanella salad, stone fruit, madeira
$27.00
Red-chile Marinated Hanger Steak
 haricot verts, heirloom tomatoes, sunchokes, marrow
$24.00
Slow-roasted Loch Duart Salmon
 truffled summer corn, potato gnocchi, pepperonata
 
Butter-poached Maine Lobster
 pignolis, currants, saffron-cauliflower zabaglione
$16.00
Cedar River Shortribs "straccoto"
 celery, radish, pistachios, tomato "soffritto"
$27.00
Roasted Alaskan Halibut
 cannelini bean "minestra", rocket pesto, lemon marmelata
Contorni
$8.00
Creamy Artisan Polenta
 mascarpone, chive
$9.00
Caramelized Brussel Sprouts
roasted fingerling potatoes
$8.00
Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
 ciopollini, pickled ramps, oregano
$8.00
Grilled California Asparagus
 citronette, pine nuts, capers
$8.00
Broccoli Rappini
 wild mushrooms, garlic confit, parmigiano
The FortÉ Veal Burger
$16.00
Osso Bucco
 salsa verde, fontina, heirloom tomato & "pommes frites"
Dolci
$12.00
Formaggi
 trio of artisan cheeses, honeycomb, crostini
$7.00
Caramello
 butterscotch budino, candied peanuts, vanilla crema
$10.00
Ciccolato
 warm upside chocolate torta, coffee gelato, cocoa-almond streusel
$8.00
Crostata
 nectarine-blueberry, lemon claufotis, honey-lavender gelato
$6.00
Cantucci
 biscotti, pine nut-almond cookie, lemon sablé
$8.00
Panna Cotta
 tahitian vanilla bean, summer cherry, aged saba
$7.00
Gelati I Sorbetti
 seasonal selection
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