New Items at Sweet Dewey's BBQ: Spatchcock?

loaded-sweet
A loaded sweet potato? What the heck is a Spatchcock chicken? Chef Dwayne Hooper and friends are cooking up some great new dishes at Sweet Dewey’s BBQ on Glades Road.
Sweet Dewey’s has been one of our favorite places to eat since they opened last year. The prices are reasonable and it’s the best barbecue in the area. Recently we were invited to try some of the new dishes.
The highlight for me was the loaded sweet potato (top). I’m not sure where they got the idea to put pork on a sweet potato but it works. The potato is huge and together it’s easily a full meal. We took about half of it home.
spatchcock
The other new item is Spatchcock chicken. We’d never heard of it before but it must be a thing if Martha Stewart does it. The short idea as we understand it is you split the chicken so you can flatten it and that allows it to cook better and get more flavor from the smoker. We had a half chicken, white meat. The meat was excellent. We have a feeling the dark meat might be even better.
Speaking of the smoker, we got a look at it in action with the chef:
dewey-smoker
That’s pork smoking in there.
The other thing worth noting is the soups. They now have five of them. We had some of the new corn chowder, which was so good we ate it before we could take a picture.
They wanted us to let readers know that they cater events. Sometimes the chef himself comes out and serves.
Sweet Dewey’s BBQ is on the north side of Glades Road just west of Lyons, in the same plaza with two of our other favorites, Bamboo Wok and Stallone’s Italian.

Disclosure: Our meal was on the house. But we eat here regularly on our own dime.

Multi-Car Crash on Palmetto Park: Photos & Video

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Earlier today there was a major accident on Palmetto Park Road, between Lyons Road and Boca Rio, just west of the Turnpike bridge. Official reports on the 8000 block or near 8300 West Palmetto Park. Our best estimate of the time was sometime around 6:15 or 6:20 pm. It was definitely before 6:30 but we’re not sure how much earlier.

Several readers sent us photos from the scene and two sent us videos, which we have put together into one video, below:

We enhanced the lighting and color in most of the photos.
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We were told this was a four-car crash but as we look at the photos and video we think at least five cars were involved. We count four in the middle of the roadway and one on the side of the road (the first one visible in the video, and also below).
accid-red
Despite the tremendous damage we see to the vehicles it is our understanding at this moment that none of the occupants were killed. However, it’s not clear yet if people have been severely injured in this accident or not. If they have, we hope that they take appropiate action by hiring a law firm (hopefully they will get one with a contingency agreement). Let’s just hope they have nothing worse than a scratch though. We are still waiting on confirmtion on what has happened to the people involved. Although we are aware that they have been taking to hospital, this could just be as a precaution and it is unclear about what has actually happened.

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stretcher
The accident was identified as a “Mass Casualty Incident Level 1” which is actually the lowest level of such incidents, with 5-10 patients. Level 2 MCIs involve 11-20 patients and it goes up from there.
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Of course this incident had a major impact on traffic on Palmetto Park Road and nearby roads as well including Lyons. We hope to update readers in the near future with details about what actually happened.

Efes Bistro in Somerset Shoppes

Update: Coupons for Efes added at bottom.
efes-grill
Efes Bistro is one of our favorite Mediterranean restaurants in South Florida. Due to its location you may not have noticed it – it’s hidden in the interior of Somerset Shoppes, the plaza with the Michael’s craft store, the new Saks Off 5th, and Original Pancake House. They’ve been there for eight years.
Here’s a video showing how to get there from the parking lot on the Lyons side of the plaza.

You can also enter on the Glades side near Original Pancake House and OrangeTheory Fitness.
What we love about Efes is that the quality is outstanding. It has many of the typical Greek options but because it’s Turkish it has other items.

Efes previously had a great review in the Sun-Sentinel in 2011.

I started with the lentil soup.
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It’s hearty with great flavor and texture. Next up we had the cold appetizer platter.
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There’s a lot on this platter, including dolmas (grape leaves stuffed with rice), hummus, two different eggplant appetizers, two different yogurt-based spreads, and another veggie spread.
There’s also a hot appetizer platter on the menu which comes with falafel, zucchini pancake, kibbe, spinach pie, and more. We didn’t get a shot of the platter but here are two of the items it comes with.

Zucchini pancake
Zucchini pancake

Spinach pie, similar to Spanakopita
Spinach pie, similar to Spanakopita

The entrees are another area where you really see and taste the quality. My favorite item has always been the mixed grill platter, which comes with a variety of meats.
efes-mixed
When you have a group or family eating, the appetizer platters and mixed grill platter are a great way to sample a lot of the options on the menu.
There are simpler entrees including chicken, lamb and beef shish kabob:
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efes-meat
These dishes come with either rice, bulghur (pictured) or steak fries.
In talking with the owner she said we had to try the meat pie, and she let us video her making it:

It was delicious, but might be a little spicy for some.
For some regular customers the highlight is the fish.
efes-fish
All in all it’s great food with a wide array of choices, healthy and tasty. In addition to dine-in they do take out, delivery, catering as well as parties in the restaurant.


Efes Coupons
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efes-lunch-coupon800
efes-dinner-coupon800

$1.8M FDOT Project Coming to Lyons

Lyons Road, southbound; image and map data by Google
Lyons Road, southbound; image and map data by Google

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has recommended spending nearly two million dollars to prevent accidents on the curved section of Lyons Road. A review of crashes over a five year period (2007 to 2011) found a concentration in this area:

The police hard copy crash reports revealed that 48 of these crashes involved vehicles traveling along the curved section of Lyons Road. Of these, 37 happened north of the intersection with Escondido Way; 26 were traveling southbound on Lyons Road and 11 were traveling northbound. Furthermore, 22 crashes involved wet pavement. Nine crashes were recorded in the intersection of Escondido Way and Lyons Road. A majority of the crashes (32 crashes or 58.2%) were run off the road crashes.

We reported on a crash in this area in May on the West Boca News Facebook page.

Map data by Google
Map data by Google

Our readers will be surprised to hear this (sarcasm alert) but apparently drivers go faster than the recommended speed in this area:

The analysis of speed data collected on the study segment on May 21, 2012 showed that almost 100% of the motorists were driving over the advisory speed (30 mph) by an average of 30.17% to 48.73% above the speed. Vehicles in the 85th percentile traveled even faster, averaging between 40% and 66.67% over the advisory speed.

Data points included many over 50 mph and even some over 60 mph, or double the recommended speed.
In an earlier phase of the project “speed feedback signs” (the ones that flash when you’re going too fast) were installed. They didn’t work:

The analysis of the speed data revealed that the installation of the SFSs did not bring down the speeds significantly and that the majority of the motorists still traveled substantially above the advisory speed of 30 mph.

Since the signs didn’t work, FDOT is now recommending major roadwork on the curved section.

Reconstruct the roadway typical section per Palm Beach County Engineering and Public Works recommendations to improve existing super elevation through the curves. The proposed reconstruction project will rebuild the three curved segments of the road with the super elevation appropriate for the 40-mph design speed limit, relax the three horizontal curves, add shoulders on both sides, and add a 6-foot pathway on the west side of the road.

The report does not provide much detail on the changes beyond what’s written above, but the reference to super elevation suggests the curves will be banked, but not as much as this picture:
banked
It’s unclear when this roadwork will begin, but it should take several weeks with dramatic traffic impact.
The full FDOT report is below:
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Lyons-Rd_Norte-Lago-to-Pine-Springs-Dr-Study_-final2.pdf”]

Crash Update at SW 18th and Lyons

Looking north at intersection of SW 18th and Lyons; image and map data from Google
Looking north at intersection of SW 18th and Lyons; image and map data from Google

The Palm Beach Sheriff released some details from the bicycle-SUV collision at the corner of SW 18th and Lyons. According to their report, the bicycle was traveling in the crosswalk from the northeast corner to the northwest corner (right to left in the picture above) when it was struck by a 2009 Chevy Equinox, indicating an address in the Kings Point community in Delray Beach. That vehicle drove off but was found a short distance away, unoccupied.
2009equinox
The bicyclist, Beth Jamine (44), was initially reported in critical condition. That has apparently been upgraded to serious. It is our understanding that Ms. Jamine suffered from some fractures, a pneumothorax, and may need surgery, but she is likely to recover well.
Beth Jamine
Beth Jamine

Ms. Jamine’s reported address is in the Isle of Boca Dunes on the west side of Lyons Road at SW 8th, not far from the accident scene.
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PBSO indicated the driver is unknown. The address they attribute to the vehicle is owned, according to property appraiser records, by Richard and Harriete Birnbaum. That record shows a Brooklyn mailing address for them.
If any readers have leads on the driver please let us know or contact PBSO Investigator Sean Ramsey.