Dining review: Oceano Kitchen does local in big, delicious ways

When top local chefs are telling their friends to check out some tiny, cash-only spot in Lantana with no dining room and barely any oven space, something remarkable must be going down in the kitchen.

And they are right – something extraordinary is happening at Oceano Kitchen, where a bright yellow awning shades the restaurant’s 10 small tables and where the oven is just large enough for one entrée at a time.

This is where the talented chef Jeremy Bearman writes a new menu daily, taking inspiration from what’s fresh, what’s regional and what can be beautifully wood-fired.

Bearman, a veteran chef who came to Lantana from Fort Lauderdale’s inventive One Door East, brings a refined hand to Oceano’s rustic little kitchen. He and his pastry chef wife, Cindy Bearman, kept the “Oceano” name when they bought the popular Pizzeria Oceano (which had been renamed Jerk Oceano before closing) on Ocean Avenue.

They transformed the squat, pale yellow structure into a more sophisticated nook of white-trimmed, deep-gray exteriors, adding that sunflower-yellow pop of an awning, fresh greenery and three ceiling fans to cool the terrace.

More important is what the Bearmans have brought to the kitchen. Jeremy Bearman has taken the pizza-making quality established by Pizzeria Oceano’s owner (and local pizza demigod) Dak Kerprich, even keeping the original dough recipe, and began to build his own menus. He added wood-fire-smoked meats and pasta that’s made in-house with a fancy extruder gadget. The result is fresh, glorious food.

Glorious as in Oceano’s wood-fired peach salad ($17), a dish Bearman finesses the dish with a perfectly oozy orb of burrata, shavings of speck ham, arugula and a savory pecan granola that’s spiced up with pink peppercorns. A drizzle of maple-sherry vinegar completes the salad. The grill not only lends a lightly smoky touch to the peaches, it also intensifies their sweetness. The salty, rich and peppery notes of the other ingredients lift the dish to the sublime.

We were lucky to find the salad on the menu on the recent weekday night of our visit. As the menu changes nightly, there’s no telling when it will be offered. (Oceano posts its menus daily on its website as well as on its Facebook page.)

Another lucky find on that evening’s menu: the smoked beef brisket taco ($6 each). The taco was one of those luscious bites of contrasting flavors that hit every part of the palate. Each taco was stuffed with tender, smoky beef – as in properly sized chunks unapologetically accented in a little fat – avocado, queso fresco, sweet corn, charred tomato salsa, and a touch of ancho chile aioli and cilantro. This oversized appetizer bite summarized Oceano’s gifts: freshness, smoke, contrast.

More subtle and delicate flavors defined an entrée dish of snowy grouper from the Keys ($29), a plump fillet served with couscous that was studded with dried apricot, almond, olive and mint. A swirl of lemon-scented yogurt completed the lovely dish.

More dramatically spiced was the evening’s house-made pasta, a spaghetti alla chitarra (guitar-string noodles, $25). Thanks to Oceano’s fancy extruder, the sauce of garlic, Calabrian chile, anchovy, parsley and Sicilian olive oil clung perfectly to the pasta “strings,” creating a cohesive wallop of flavor, all at once spicy, salty and rich. Plenty of plump and tender Royal Red shrimp dotted the tangle of pasta, deepening that richness of a simple yet exquisite dish.

We enjoyed these dishes, one plate at a time, for the oven limitations don’t allow two entrées to be completed at once. This might be a problem for more traditional diners. But for those who enjoy the shared plate route, this kitchen flaw is kind of perfect, allowing them to savor and share one dish at a time and stretch out their dinner experience.

At the sweet finale, Cindy Bearman’s confections do not disappoint. We enjoyed a “soft” cheesecake ($10), a mousse-like oval of cheesecake served with sweet roasted pineapple, poppy seed merengue and toasted graham cracker crumble – a dish that begs the question, “Roasted pineapple, where have you been all my life?”

Adding to the magic of the dishes was a certain magic of ambiance. There’s no real attempt to create ambiance here, mind you. And while service is efficient and friendly, it isn’t the focus here. But as regulars and newcomers drift onto the terrace, a quietly relaxed sense fills the place, leaving the passing traffic to exist in another dimension. Bearman makes a point of approaching each table to say hello, a gesture that reinforces his pride in the place and his desire to be part of the community.

Among those diners, it’s not uncommon to find top local chefs present, as I did during my visit.

Seeing this brought to mind a post I spotted in May on the Instagram page of Lake Worth-based chef Zach Bell, a four-time James Beard Award finalist. He wrote:

“The bar has been raised once again in Palm Beach County! Get your [behind] to @oceanokitchen for their #woodfired goodness.”

He was spot on. The bar has been raised, indeed.

Oceano Kitchen was reviewed July 3, 2017

REVIEW 

Oceano Kitchen 

FOOD: A

SERVICE: B

ADDRESS: 201 E. Ocean Ave., Lantana

TELEPHONE: Contact via website only

WEBSITE: OceanoKitchen.com

PRICE RANGE: Moderate to expensive

NOISE LEVEL: Intimate feel; conversation is possible.

FULL BAR: Wine and beer only; no bar.

HOURS: Open for dinner Wednesday through Sunday from 5:30 p.m. to close. (These are Oceano’s summer hours.)

CREDIT CARDS: Cash only

RESERVATIONS: Walk-ins welcome; reservations by email for parties of six or larger with 24-hours’ notice.

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes

WHAT THE GRADES MEAN: 

A — Excellent

B — Good

C — Average

D — Poor

F — Don’t bother

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dining review: Oceano Kitchen does local in big, delicious ways