- Address:
- 514 Via De Palmas, Boca Raton, FL, 33432
- Phone:
- 561-347-1055
- Overall User Rating:
-
(4 ratings)
- Hours:
- Summer Hours 6 p.m.-10 p.m. seven days a week
- Official Web Site:
- http://www.jakesstonecrab.com
This is not the place to go if you are on a budget. The price per person can easily climb above the $75 mark for a full meal including drinks, appetizers, salad/soup, entree and dessert. But you do get professional service, a creative menu, high–quality food and a beautiful dining room.
Starters: The appetizer list has the usual suspects for a seafood restaurant. The giant shrimp cocktail ($16) is excellent, with three huge shrimp. The scallops Rockefeller special ($15) is composed of two large, nicely seared sea scallops on a bed of the house garlic–creamed spinach. The drizzle of hollandaise is slightly too salty.
Two soups are offered on the dinner menu: she crab ($10) and Bahamian conch chowder ($9). The portions are reasonable, and the soups are rich, complex and very flavorful. The she crab has a dominant flavor of sherry, but the delicate flavor of the crab is not completely lost. The chowder stock is dark rather than tomato-red, and the flavors are concentrated and intense.
The wedge salad ($12) features tomatoes, red onions and crumbled bacon around a quarter–head of iceberg lettuce. It's plenty for three or four adults to share (the server automatically brought enough plates for everyone.) The blue cheese dressing is thin and light, yet very flavorful.
Stone crab claws are market priced by size and can be bought by the piece or the plate. A la carte, three large claws priced out at just under $30; again the server anticipated that we were sharing and the claws were brought to the table individually plated with the required accessories. On the night of my visit, the all–you–can–eat stone crab special (which includes soup and salad), was priced at $45. This special is not available on Fridays or Saturdays.
Dish big: Entrees include a wide selection of fish: snapper, swordfish, salmon, mahi, sea bass, grouper and tuna. Surf & Turf ($42) is a pairing of an excellent 6–ounce filet mignon with perfect bearnaise and an 8-ounce perfectly broiled rock lobster tail.
Mango–glazed gulf shrimp and scallops ($29), plated with rice and pineapple–mango salsa, is a nice saute with plenty of shrimp and scallops. The sauce has an intense smokiness and sweetness that almost suggested barbecue sauce.
The well–prepared bouillabaisse ($36) is quite large and contains plenty of seafood and delicious tomato–saffron broth (ask for extra house–made bread for dunking.) Jake's chef has excellent skill with stock that results in very flavorful soups, sauces and, notably, bouillabaisse.
Sweets: Only four desserts are on the menu. The selections cover the basics: Key lime pie ($10), New York–style cheesecake ($10), chocolate bomb ($14), and fruit tart with sherbet and berries ($14). The desserts are delicious though not spectacular.
Donald Kim is a freelance writer for the Sun-Sentinel. This review was adapted from Showtime a section of the Sun-Sentinel.
Cuisine: seafood
jakesstonecrab.com
Cost: expensive
Credit cards: all major
Hours: lunch Friday-Sunday; dinner nightly
Reservations: suggested
Bar: full service
Sound level: quiet
Smoking: outdoors
Children's facilities: high chairs, boosters
Wheelchair accessible: yes
