KONRO RESTAURANT - Bucket list level dining in West Palm Beach, Florida
Tucked away in a nondescript space, with the barest of signage (the name alone in black letters with an arrow indicating the unmarked entrance), Konro offers diehard gourmets and the culinarily curious perhaps one of the boldest and most dazzling dining experiences in Palm Beach County. Located at 424 Park Place, #101 in West Palm Beach, Konro is dedicated to technique-driven cuisine crafted with precision and excellence. What truly sets Konro apart from other fine-dining experiences by acclaimed starred chefs of this caliber, is the unassuming warmth and personable hospitality that is the beating heart of this hidden gem. The ten-seat, tasting-menu only, bucket list worthy gastronomic wonder is the love child of husband and wife team chef Jacob Bickelhaupt and sommelier Nadia Bickelhaupt. Open Wednesday through Saturday with only one seating nightly (6:45 p.m.), Konro offers guests a perfectly choreographed evening rich with mystique and promising discovery. This dining experience is as intimate and private as it is balletic and executed exclusively by the Bickelhaupts, ensuring the utmost attention to detail and seamless harmony in every aspect of the meal.
“Konro was designed to be as much an extension of our home as it was a dining experience,” says Nadia, who guides the entire evening with elegance and keeps cadence as Jacob creates edible art on his plated canvas behind her, both ensconced inside the U-shaped chefs counter. “There isn’t anyone who could ever pair my dishes with the most distinguished wines or sake as congruently as Nadia does,” adds the self-taught chef, who earned two Michelin stars at his Chicago restaurant, 42 Grams and was part of the 2015 class of Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chefs. “The way we work so synergistically is like a dance we learned in another life.”
Jacob describes the menu concept at Konro as global cuisine executed with classic techniques, infused with modern interpretations and flavors from all around the world picked up through past experience and artistic expression. “We’ve all experienced those ‘serious dinners’ that might wow but are void of warmth,” he says, “but that's not what you will find here. We both open the door and welcome guests – returning and new – with open arms. My personal playlist fills the room and I change it up as the night progresses and our guests start to interact with each other. A night here feels like the most exquisite dinner party you’ve ever attended prepared by the hands, and at the home of, good friends.”
So what does a night at Konro entail? Seats are reserved and paid for in advance via OpenTable, allowing guests to enjoy the evening without the disruption of a bill. Doors open promptly at 6:40PM, and each guest is warmly greeted by Jacob and Nadia. Once seated, acquainted and debriefed on the gastronomic adventure that awaits them, Nadia delicately pours the first glass – a luxurious French Champagne in pristine stemware. Experiences range from 10-14 courses, balletically choreographed with a flawless cadence, usually lasting around 2½-hours. Prices begin at $390 per person for the tasting menu experience excluding additional tax, gratuity, and beverage pairings. Diners are taken on a masterful culinary journey with a natural progression. Before any libation or dish touches lips, Nadia and Jacob each passionately explain each pairing, and questions are encouraged. Organic conversation and personal banter flow throughout the entire evening as there is no conventional partition present between the guests and Nadia and Jacob. On a recent visit, menu highlights included:
Takamori “Drunken” A5 Wagyu, the rarest beef in the world. It is triple-seared on a konro grill over the highest quality binchotan coal with Chef Jacob’s 12-year-old soy sauce, which is aged in Japanese whiskey barrels. The wagyu technique by Chef Jacob has been perfected over a decade of study and execution.
Fine French porcelain golden eggs house a signature dish that took years to perfect. A six-hour poached yolk in duck fat gleams as the crackled golden eggshell top is removed. The yolk is nestled in a whimsical arrangement of toasted barley and truffle risotto, three-hour “fried” onions cut paper thin by hand, roasted enoki mushrooms, and an amaranth grain that has been cooked, dried, and rehydrated with water so it steams ever so slightly when fried to ensure a crispy texture. Porcini mushroom powder adds an earthy and intense umami flavor.
Tart “explosion” palate cleanser of tempered white chocolate shell encapsulates a Japanese lime called kabosu that has honeydew melon notes. Honey cream balances the bright flavors, and locally grown citrus caviar adds depth, texture, and beauty.
An Onyx coffee ice cream sandwich always completes the experience, complete with a traditional canelé dolloped with cardamom cream, crispy chicken skin caramel, and gold leaf.
To accompany each course, guests can select an optional wine pairing curated by Nadia or a non-alcoholic house-made beverage pairing personally crafted by Chef. “The thoughtfulness that goes into each pairing is its own adventure,” says Nadia. “Jacob and I speak our own language and are so deeply connected that based on my descriptions and my wine pairing tasting notes, even though he doesn’t drink, he is able to create the most symbiotic N/A pairing and vice versa. Ultimately, what we’re aiming for is something that complements the dish yet also beautifully echoes the alcohol pairing in flavor, viscosity, and mouth feel.”
Nadia and Jacob have been honing their skills together for close to five years, moving their home from Colorado to settle their family in West Palm Beach. The couple have immersed themselves into the community and South Florida culinary scene and are thrilled about the anticipated expansion of Michelin to West Palm Beach. After finding the most perfect space for their brick-and-mortar restaurant, the two meticulously designed the 1,432-square-foot space to create a restaurant that is both elegant and functional; sparing no detail or expense down to the Chef’s counter itself, which was perfectly built to measured specifications enabling Nadia to cater to each guest unobtrusively.
Upon approaching the restaurant, locked blacked-out doors conceal the mystery that awaits. At promptly 6:40PM, the door is unlocked by Chef Jacob himself, greeting each guest who is immediately enveloped in wonder and anticipation and invited to leave the ordinary behind. Past the doors is a masterfully-curated wine cellar and into the dining room proper; a jewel-box of a space with the U-shaped chef's counter and kitchen at its heart. White oak floors reflect the warm glow of strategically placed overhead lighting invoking a romantic and tranquil atmosphere. Speaking to the dance of artistic expression that is at play at Konro, large mixed media portraits of Frida Kahlo and Albert Einstein, handpicked from the local Haven gallery, overlooking the chef’s counter which is set simply and elegantly; with freshly pressed linen napkins, and custom wooden valet trays for Michael Aram chopsticks and silverware. Guests sit on luxurious velvet-covered chairs of black and gold, the black mirroring the gorgeous black quartz countertop. To complete the look – and amplify the sense of serenity and beauty the Bickelhaupts strive to deliver – much of the walls and columns are made of Japanese Cypress wood treated in the traditional yakisugi-style called Shou Sugi Ban. Additional art completes the look, all of which are from Palm Beach’s Haven gallery.
Konro is located at 424 Park Place, #101 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Telephone: (561) 446-2791; www.konrorestaurant.com. To make a reservation, click HERE. Follow Konro on Instagram @konrorestaurant.