Miami Beach bakery wants to open on Worth Avenue; Ta-boo also returns to council

A Miami Beach-based Italian bakery is vying to make its Palm Beach debut, with a representative for Rosetta Bakery set to appear at the Town Council's Wednesday meeting to propose a new location on Worth Avenue at its corner with South County Road.

The Italian bakery isn’t the only eatery appearing at the council's development review meeting, with representatives for the new Thomas Keller-backed Ta-boo returning in hopes of receiving approval for its reformatted governing documents.

Rosetta Bakery first opened in November 2015 on Miami Beach’s iconic Collins Avenue. Since then, the rustic Italian bakery has expanded to seven other locations in the greater Miami area and two locations outside the state, in East Rutherford, New Jersey and New York City.

During Wednesday's meeting, the bakery will be seeking a special exception to allow for the sale of specialty food on Worth Avenue. Unlike Ta-boo, which required a special exception to run a restaurant inside Worth Avenue's commercial district, the special exception sought by Rosetta Bakery would only allow for the sale of already prepared food.

According to the project’s letter of intent, all bakery products will be baked offsite at the company’s commissary kitchen in Miami, with the proposed 450 S. County Road location prepping the products for purchase. The document also states that Rosetta Bakery would serve as the only takeout-oriented café near Worth Avenue, save for the Starbucks inside the Esplanade mall, at 150 Worth Ave.

The presentation also will include a review of Rosetta Bakery's site plan, which proposes to convert the 1,322-square-foot space on the corner of the building that also houses Valentino into a casual takeout delivery café, with a 722-square-foot front of house and 590-square-foot back of house.

Renderings of the bakery detail an all-white interior with wood accents including a natural wood counter, wood wheel wall mount and natural wood shelving peppering the interior walls. Furnishings will include wicker sofas, seats, and coffee tables.

Ta-boo agreement returns to Town Council with key additions

The development review meeting also will see a representative for the new Ta-boo return to the Town Council with a revamped declaration-of-use agreement.

During the Town Council's April 10 meeting, town employees and council members criticized the agreement for deviating from the declaration-of-use template created by the town, and for its omission of key conditions including strict language over what entertainment and music would be allowed. However, they also commended representatives for creating the first governing document to ever exist between the town and the restaurant on 221 Worth Ave.

"These people want to make it work, and anything we put in the declaration-of-use is an improvement over what existed for Ta-boo, which had no declaration-of-use, no parameters," Mayor Danielle Moore said. "I think everything we're doing to add some boundaries to this is an improvement."

The reformatted agreement seeks to address those concerns with a slew of additional regulations. Following a request made by Council Member Julie Araskog during the April meeting, the agreement now includes a provision stating that the restaurant will not have a DJ, loudspeakers or dance floor.

Additionally, the revamped agreement also includes provisions that detail a clear enforcement strategy should the restaurant violate the town’s noise ordinance; that bans any activity from occurring on the restaurant’s roof; and that grants the town greater enforcement capabilities over the restaurant’s valet parking.

Unchanged, however, is the restaurant's closing time of 1 a.m. during its Thursday-through-Sunday hours of operation, a time Council President Bobbie Lindsay said she couldn't agree to.

If approved, it would pave the way for the restaurant's projected opening in spring 2025, joining Keller's fleet of award-winning restaurants, including Napa Valley's The French Laundry and New York's per se, both three-Michelin-star awardees.

Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at dlasa@pbdailynews.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Town Council to review bakery proposal, Ta-boo agreement