Darbster, West Palm Beach

While dining at Sublime, my waitress recommended that I also visit Darbster. Darbster? She told me not to judge it by its name because it was named after their dog and that the food is great. Heh - why not?  So I drove up to West Palm Beach on a Wednesday afternoon to have lunch at Darbster.  Darbster is the name of the owners' dog, but this isn't just any dog. It is a 17-year old poodle who came to them from a puppy mill 10 years ago. I love that story.

The location was astonishing -- a waterside deck with tropical plants overlooking the crystal clear water. I chose a seat with a nice view of the water. Above, I could see and hear exotic birds playing and cooing, which made for quite a tropical feel.  I inquired about the kombucha and my waitress said it was very good. I was hoping for fresh housemade kombucha and was surprised to find they just served the Synergy brand. That is my favorite brand of kombucha so I was fine with that -- I was just hoping for something fresh.

The menu features both cooked and raw organic food. After discussing it with my waitress, I decided to go the raw route. It isn't often that I get to have good raw food. I started with their raw cream of spinach soup. While made with cashew cream, it was delightfully light and flavorful. I had expected a heavier soup, but was happy to find it was light and refreshing. It was just the right balance of spinach and cashew cream.

For my entree, I ordered the tuna club on flax bread. I was particularly intrigued because my waitress told me the flax bread was made in-house. I love flax bread!  And I loved this sandwich! The "tuna" was made of portobello mushrooms, carrots, walnuts, and nutritional yeast. The nuts gave it a grainy and nutty taste while the vegetables and nutritional yeast contributed to the flavor. While it didn't really taste like tuna salad, it certainly had a similar texture. I was very impressed. It was topped with fresh lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, dill mayo and eggplant bacon. The eggplant bacon was really good. And the flax bread was delicious as well. Yum, yum, yum. It was served with a fresh salad in a lemon tahini dressing.

As rich as the sandwich was, I did not have room for dessert. Oh, well. The entire meal was $20 before tip so it was a bit pricey for lunch, but it was definitely worth it -- for the food and the animals. Darbster contributes 100% of their profits to the spaying and neutering of animals -- that is incredibly admirable. In fact, there were a couple cats who came onto the deck while I was eating looking for food. They call them "Darth Vader" (below) and Skeletor. They don't come very close, but they know the hands that feed them. So cute.

Do you need any more reasons to go eat at Darbster?  Let me recap -- great food, great service and a great view all while benefiting a great cause. Run, don't walk, to Darbster.

Darbster
8020 South Dixie Highway
West Palm Beach, FL 33405
(561) 586-2822