Pomona Kitchen: Falafel Bowl, Soft Pretzels, South Side and Chris Hemsworth
The first time we went to Pomona was a fluke. The place we really wanted to go to wasn’t open and this place was and it was new, so why the hell not?
That shrug of a decision lead to me finding my favorite restaurant in Palm Beach County. Since that initial visit, I’ve been back at least six times and dragged a rotating cast of friends and family along with me. I’ve stopped in for family dinners, cocktails, girls nights and their Christmas pop-up where I drank a prosecco cocktail infused with mulled wine syrup and felt like Frank Cross at the end of Scrooged.
This is technically a review of my last visit but I’m also throwing in some info about the other times I’ve visited just for fun.
Vegetarian falafel bowl with quinoa, cucumbers, tomatoes, pickled onions, and crispy falafel balls.
Hot soft pretzels served with savory beer cheese and bacon honey mustard dip.
The Spot: Pomona Kitchen
Location: 717 Lake Ave, Lake Worth Beach, FL 33460
Vibe: Dimly-lit, cool, with kitschy throwbacks on the TV above the bar (Bewitched!). Ideal for girls' nights out and low-key date nights.
The Bite: Falafel Bowl and Soft Pretzel
Price:
Falafel Bowl: $19
Soft Pretzel: $10 (happy hour pricing)
Vegetarian Status: All are vegetarian.
The Flavor Breakdown
My son is a soft pretzel connoisseur - a habit that likely stems from us dragging him to breweries since he was about three months old and he’s had them all over the country, including the home of soft pretzels, Philadelphia (strongly recommend the one at Victory Brewing).
He loves the soft pretzel at Pomona for two reasons:
It’s not bathed in an avalanche of salt.
The beer cheese.
It arrives magma-hot, and you will sear off your fingertips tearing off a piece. It’s worth every blister. This soft, salt-studded doughy carb bomb is the definition of tear-and-share comfort food. (Sidebar: Have they ever done a soft pretzel signature challenge on Bake Off?)
It’s served with a savory, malty beer cheese that desperately needs to be repurposed into a broccoli-cheese soup, plus a salty-sweet bacon honey mustard. If Pomona sold little pretzel nugs and quarts of these dips for Super Bowl Sunday, they’d make a fortune.
I wish I could be as complimentary about the falafel bowl. The falafel is light and crispy - a feat considering a majority of falafel in Palm Beach County is dense and hits your stomach like a brick hurtling off a steeple - but the rest of the bowl is uninspired. Unseasoned tomatoes, cucumber and carrots laid on a bed of quinoa and parsley with a few pickled onions and a drizzle of a citrus vinaigrette. There is a way to make this dish sing - fistfuls of fresh herbs, generous grinds of black pepper, pickled turnips, briny olives, a thwack of crumbly feta, charred carrots, pomegranate seeds, marinated cucumbers and tomatoes - but this? This is a dirge of a dish which is so unfortunate because I know how good Pomona can be.
Must Try Dishes
Green Goddess Dip
I loathe sour cream and yet, when it comes to this dish? I would lick the damn bowl if it was socially acceptable to do so. Chockful of dill and chives, drizzled with basil oil (a slept-on condiment) and served with naan crackers and crunchy fresh vegetables - this dip would make Oliver Putnam’s skirt fly up.
Fried Green Tomato and Braised Cabbage Sandwich (RIP)
I mourn the loss of this sandwich as deeply as I mourn the loss of Santa Clarita Diet. Do you guys know how hard it is to find a good vegetarian sandwich in Palm Beach County that isn’t a caprese, an eggplant parm or some bullshit concoction featuring hummus, lettuce, tomatoes and onions? It’s goddamn near impossible and then, Pomona - a shining light in a velvet-napped sea of darkness - featured this beauty on their menu - thick slices of battered green tomatoes, braised cabbage (a truly underutilized vegetable on most menus. It’s capable of so much more than coleslaw), a caramelized onion and Calabrian chili jam and Gruyere cheese holding it all together on soft light foccacia bread. It was the inspiration behind my favorite homemade sandwich and I miss it dearly.
I don’t know the chef who created this sandwich but I need to buy him a drink, say thank you and beg him to bring it back.
Cheeto Chickpeas - I don’t have a picture but they’re crunchy, relatively healthy, immensely snackable and I think they’re vegan too. A must order app every time I visit.
The Beverages: The South Side and the Chris Hemsworth
Price:
South Side - $7 (Happy Hour pricing)
Chris Hemsworth - $16 (I think?)
The South Side
I don’t know which South Side this city is in, but I want to go to there. It’s a classic cocktail - gin, lemon and mint. Expertly blended and refreshing as hell on a summer evening that’s hotter than Hades.
Chris Hemsworth
Real talk - I drank the South Side real quick and then, had a flute of Prosecco and then ordered the Chris Hemsworth based on the name alone, so my memory is a little fuzzy but I do know that it has carrot juice and Campari with a Tajin rim.
To me, a Chris Hemsworth cocktail features an ingredient like Jose Andres’ salt air and finger lime “boba” as a nod to his Aussie roots but this bitter but balanced drink hit me like Mjölnir, so what the hell do I know?
One Mouthy Sandwich Girl Rating:
Flavor & Freshness:
🥪 🥪 🥪
Falafel Bowl: 🥪 🥪
Soft Pretzel: 🥪 🥪 🥪 🥪
Value for Money: 🥪 🥪 🥪
The prices align with typical Lake Worth Beach dining, but the execution puts them ahead. Their Happy Hour is easily one of the best in Palm Beach County:
$4 Domestic beers & Modelo
$5 House spirits & shots
$6 House wine & seltzers
$7 Classic cocktails
Appetizers from $5 (Cheeto Chickpeas) to $12 (Fried Cauliflower)
Vegetarian Variety: 🥪 🥪 🥪
Six veg-friendly apps, three salads (hold the anchovies/lardons), and two main entrees. Significantly better than most local menus.
The Verdict:
🥪 🥪 🥪 🥪
If they still had the fried green tomato-braised cabbage sandwich on the menu, Pomona would have gotten a million stars but since it’s been taken off the menu, I’m giving it a solid four stars. Good food, reasonable prices, excellent cocktails, impeccable service and a great vibe. If you’re in Palm Beach County and you’re not eating at Pomona, you’re missing out.
