After brief closure, West Palm Beach's Blind Monk restaurant opens in larger space

After months in moving limbo, The Blind Monk has finally re-opened, now doing business at 655 S. Dixie Highway, several blocks southeast of its original spot in downtown West Palm Beach.

Closing the Evernia Street location that had been its home since 2010 and moving approximately five blocks to the ground floor of the new AKA West Palm luxury hotel, the beloved wine and tapas bar has gained valuable space —growing from 700 square feet to 2,200 square feet.

"When we were on Evernia, it was a small space... with a very small, limited kitchen. Less than 100 square feet," said owner Ben Lubin. "We did everything we could in that space, utilized every square inch," he said. "We were bursting at the seams."

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The new location opened March 14 after a 13-month build out. It has a nearly 900-square-foot, full kitchen.

"For us, it's like a palace," Lubin said. Added elbow room will allow for an expanded menu because staff can do preparations they couldn't do before, he said.

More: The Blind Monk wine bar on Evernia to move to larger digs

The Blink Monk's menu will include new dinner options

The Blind Monk currently serving brunch on the weekends along with dinner Wednesday through Saturday.

Some of their brunch offerings include a wild blueberry muffin with Farmstead Butter and sea salt; sour cream pancakes with Farmstead Butter, blackberries and maple syrup; daily frittata with seasonal vegetables; and shakshuka featuring roasted eggplant, tomato sauce, baked eggs, harissa and parsely.

Some of their dinner options include a few new entrees like the mussels escabeche with fried green plantains and the grilled swordfish skewers with black lentils. These go along with a few from their old location like the charred cauliflower with almonds, castelvetrano olives and manchego and the yucca gnocchi with serrano chile brown butter. Lubin described the new menu as "much more robust compared to what we used to do."

In addition to an expanded menu, The Blind Monk has also expanded its drink options and now has a full bar and a craft cocktail menu.

The cocktail menu sports some wildly creative and fun names like the Stubborn Jenny, Any Port in a Storm, Whisky-Tango-Foxtrot, Gallagher's Revenge and This Sh!t is Bananas.

Owners expect their 1,600-square-foot, covered terrace to be ready sometime in May. Lubin said crews are adding a few landscaping touches and the area will include a wine garden.

When completely up and running the new location will be able to accommodate up 120 guests at a time.

Though The Blind Monk has moved on to a larger location, which will enable them to do much more, Lubin said their focus continues to be hospitality.

"We want you to know you are welcome," he said.

Lubin said that from the first experience with the hostess it's about "making people feel warm and welcome."

Despite operating in a new location, Lubin wants this to still be the neighborhood place where they know the customers and what they drink. "It's important to me that we maintain that."

What will those customers be drinking? "We want to showcase wines you can drink every day. High quality, but within reach for most people," Lubin said.

The Blind Monk's focus is on responsibly-crafted wines that are not manipulated, Lubin said. "We want to taste where that wine comes from." The growing region and season should be reflected in the wine. "It's not a Budweiser, it shouldn't always taste the same."

He said though the Monk was technically closed for nearly three months, their old regulars have found them again and plenty new downtown residents have too. "We're for the city... for everybody."

The Blind Monk has new digs in West Palm Beach

Where: 655 S. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach

Hours: Brunch from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; dinner 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday

Information: theblindmonk.com

Eddie Ritz is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Blind Monk restaurant opens new location in West Palm Beach