Breakfast is the draw at Delray Beach’s Bagel Tree, but so are lunch and dinner
Bagel Tree is aglow at dinner time.
Dinner in a breakfast spot? Sure, while the food is not gourmet, satisfying $20 complete dinners are enticing. Breakfast is a sure thing.
By ALAN J. WAX
We weren’t expecting any excitement heading to breakfast recently at Bagel Tree, the venerable coffee shop in the Kings Point Shopping Center in west Delray Beach. But as we arrived we saw emergency vehicles throughout the parking lot and inside the restaurant, a team of EMTs were treating a patron who apparently suffered a heart attack.
Nonetheless, we were promptly seated after our 9.a.m. arrival at Bagel Tree, which is enormously popular with the residents of nearby retirement condos (the average age of residents within a mile of Bagel Tree is 76, according to a website operated by the center’s real estate broker).
The dining room at breakfast.
Perhaps because many snowbirds had already left town, Bagel Tree’s 120 seats were surprisingly empty (I’ve been told there’s often a wait at breakfast). But soon after the last of the first responders had departed, guests, many of them ROMEOs (really old men eating out), again began to the fill the plain but modern dining room. There are four outside seats.
The Kings Point Shopping Center, nestled into a large corner adjacent to the Kings Point retirement community, appears much the way it did when Artie and Marge Levitz opened the crowd-pleasing eatery almost 40 years ago. The couple sold Bagel Tree in late 2017 to MJM Restaurant, Inc., whose owners, Miguel A Jimenez Hermosillo, Juan L de La Torre, and Manuel Torres-Segundo, are visible every day, from the restaurant’s opening at 7 in the morning until closing at 8 p.m.
Bagel Tree’s current owners seem to have maintained its popularity with an extensive eight-page breakfast and lunch menu that includes eggs in countless ways, French toast, burgers and salads. There’s also a bargain-priced two-sided dinner menu filled with entrees priced at around $20 that in most cases also includes soup or salad, beverage and dessert.
Western omelet and home fries.
Thick-sliced challah French toast.
During our breakfast visit a pitcher of hot coffee was on the table throughout and our orders were delivered in a blink. My wife enjoyed the flavorful, thick-sliced challah French toast ($7.99). I was sated by an enormous, puffy western omelet with crisp home fries ($11.99).
To be sure, this was not our first visit to Bagel Tree, which to all intents and purposes is like the proverbial New York Greek diner, complete with a listing of Greek and Eastern European-style entrees. (I’ve been told by those familiar with Bagel Tree that the current owners have experience working for caterers and Greek restaurants.)
Velvety split pea soup.
Fresh challah at dinner.
Dinners, which are served after 3 p.m., start with a basket of soft sliced challah bread along with foil-wrapped pats of butter that together can easily fill you up before your main courses are delivered.
One evening, I was satisfied with Bagel Tree’s velvety split pea soup and a serving of tender sliced brisket ($18.99), though a side dish of canned corn left much to be desired. On another evening, a plentiful Greek salad was followed by a gyro platter ($15.99) filled with tender slices of meat atop a warm pita with oddly sliced French fries and tzatziki. My wife pronounced her roast beef entrée ($19.99) as “okay,” tender though a bit too spicy for her sensitive palate.
Dinner gyro platter.
Dinner brisket platter.
Desserts here are not huge. One night I ordered a nutless chocolate brownie, and on another a slim slice of cheesecake. But after a large dinner you’re more than likely to pack it up to take home.
Despite its name, Bagel Tree is not really a bagel shop, but a full-service sit-down eatery. Large breakfast specials make it visit worthy and dinner, while not gourmet caliber, is satisfying nonetheless and a good alternative to cooking at home when you’re not in the mood or if you are not up to fancier dining. And, the bagel’s aren’t bad, either.
Bagel Tree
6580 W Atlantic Ave Delray Beach, FL 33446
(561) 495-0008
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