A dream inspired the name. Years of restaurant experience helped bring it to life.
Smoke & Maple, a new gastropub becomes the first full-service restaurant to open in Avenir, marking a major milestone for the sprawling Palm Beach Gardens community as its town center begins taking shape.
The restaurant combines steaks, seafood, comfort food and craft cocktails covering an expansive 166-seat indoor-outdoor space.
More dining concepts are on the way, but Smoke & Maple arrives first, giving residents and golfers a new place to gather close to home.
Dreams can come true
Long before Smoke & Maple had a location, it had a name.
Co-founder and managing partner Joel Hartunian says he and his partners regularly spoke of opening a restaurant of their own while working in the hospitality
industry.
Then, in 2017, inspiration arrived unexpectedly.
"I had a dream and in the dream the restaurant was called Smoke & Maple," Hartunian says.
The name stayed with him for years before becoming the foundation for the new gastropub launched with partners Tara Dodson, Nick Lanier and Brendan O'Hara, hospitality veterans who previously worked together at area restaurants, including Lucky Shuck where she was general manager.
The restaurant is the first concept from their HOOD hospitality company, which plans additional restaurants in the future.
Comfort food with a twist
The team describes the menu as "rustic refined," blending comfort foods from around the world with locally sourced ingredients whenever possible.
"We want to take comfort food from every culture around the world and make it with local ingredients," says Lanier.
That approach shows up throughout the menu.
Leading the kitchen is executive chef Michael Luth, who most recently worked at the now shuttered The Salty Zebra.
Starters and shareables range from about $12 to $28, while entrées generally fall between the high $20s and about $50. Desserts are priced around $12, and signature craft cocktails like the Maple Old Fashioned, Smoke & Tonic and The Avenir, are mostly $15 to $18.
Happy hour appears to be a draw. On a recent visit, the restaurant's bar and lounge buzzed with couples and after-work crowds taking advantage of drink specials, while young families filled tables throughout the dining room.
Their goal is to create a restaurant where guests feel equally comfortable stopping in for a burger and beer after golf or lingering over oysters, steaks and cocktails for a night out on the town.
Its location places it within reach of several golf communities and clubs in western Palm Beach County, including Panther National, Ibis and Sandhill Crane.
Avenir's dining scene grows
Smoke & Maple opens at a pivotal moment for Avenir, the master-planned community in western Palm Beach Gardens. According to its website, the development's Town Center is approved for 400,000 square feet of retail space and 2 million square feet of offices, with plans for shops, dining and entertainment.
The gastropub may be the first full-service restaurant in the development, but it won't be alone for long.
Tenka, an Asian restaurant will open nearby, along with Italian restaurant Seppe Pizza Bar. H&H Bagels is already at Avenir, so too Field of Greens.
For now, Smoke & Maple gives residents something they haven't had before: a full-service neighborhood restaurant in the heart of one of Palm Beach County's newest communities.
Details: 12325 Northlake Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens, 561-631-8772, smokeandmaplepbg.com
Diana Biederman is the Palm Beach Post's food & restaurant writer. Care to share news tips about the local dining scene? Please send them to dbiederman@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach Gardens' Avenir gets first full-service restaurant
