Cloud Nine

Robert W. Tolf | 8/1/2007

Cielo — 27 floors up.

Cloud Nine

Cielo (Boca Raton Resort & Club)
501 E. Camino Real, Boca Raton
561/447-3222, Bocaresort.com

Since Blackstone Group’s December 2005 takeover of the Boca Raton Resort & Club, there have been extensive and dramatic enhancements and renovations on all fronts, including a reorganization of the many restaurants and the new presence of independent operators. None are more exciting than Cielo by Angela Hartnett gracing in a most sophisticated manner the 27th floor of the resort tower building in a stunning space designed by New York architectural firm Bentel & Bentel, which recently completed the award-winning design for the restaurant at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The dynamic perfectionist Angela Hartnett, Cielo’s creator

The aptly named stunner has an inviting glass-lit floor leading to the cloudy white onyx reception desk in front of an onyx bar with glass, wine racks and bottles that seem to float, adding to the sense of being in the clouds. The main room comfortably seats 125, and there are alcove arrangements with inviting curving banquettes and shimmering curtains. But the real drama is outside, through the walls of oversized windows providing panoramas of beautiful Boca Raton and its beachfront buildings. There’s no finer viewing in Florida, and the dynamic and perfectionist 38-year-old Hartnett is creating cuisine to match the challenges of that magnificent setting. After all, she stunned the hospitality world with her amazing success at the revered Connaught Hotel in London, shattering the previously male-dominated century-old institution with her new and exciting creations at The Grill Room and M E N U, winning a Michelin star in her second year.

The menu that Harnett and her executive chef, Christopher Eagle, developed for Cielo is like no other being offered in greater (or lesser) Boca. Dinners feature grilled ribeye with braised salsify; pan-fried Tasmanian salmon; venison with grated chestnut and beetroot puree; and pan-seared then oven-roasted lamb. Three courses are pegged at $65 and four at $75. But you have to be a resort guest or club member to eat there.

No reason to despair in booming Boca. There are other outstanding places to celebrate the culinary arts. Led by a sensational newcomer from the uniquely successful Buckhead Life Restaurant Group, which has 11 restaurants in Atlanta, the Chops Lobster Bar (101 Plaza Real South; 561/395-2675).

The setting is sophistication all the way, and I particularly like the Lobster Bar room with a ceiling modeled after the famous Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant at Grand Central Station. The lobster is top market; meats are all the pick of the prime; and the staff performance, quietly supervised, very professional and self-confidently proud, is surely setting the highest standards in Florida if not the nation. Dinner prices range from $20 to $80.

Tags: Dining & Travel, North Central