4 Best Restaurants in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast

Palm Beach ladies who lunch leave the island for an afternoon at Belle and Maxwell's, while young professionals loosen up after work at the wine bar, part of the bistro's expanded dining area. Tucked along Antique Row, it looks like a storybook tea party at lunch, with eclectic furnishings and decor and a charming garden. Expect colorful luncheonette dresses and great soups, salads, and sandwiches at affordable prices midday; at night, it becomes a fun, twinkling bistro, offering creative comfort fare such as homemade orecchiette with squid and sausage and classic chicken marsala, along with fillets and a risotto of the day. Dessert lovers know the sweets are all made in-house; call ahead to get whole cakes, pies, and tarts to take to grateful hosts.

Decorated with vintage travel posters of its namesake city, this two-level restaurant serves authentic Cuban specialties on the cheap, including great Cubanos (pressed roast pork sandwiches), arroz con pollo, and ropa vieja. The friendly place attracts a late-night crowd at its popular walk-up window. Get strong Cuban coffee (often awarded the best in Palm Beach County), sugary fried churros, and fruit juices in exotic flavors like mamey, mango, papaya, guava, and guanabana.

Although "the island" is no doubt a bastion of French cuisine, this cozy bistro across the bridge on the Clematis Street waterfront entices a lively crowd looking for an unpretentious good meal. The outdoor terrace can't be beat, and the fabulous modern French menu with twists such as roasted sliced duck with truffled polenta is a delight. Save room for dessert: the homemade pudding Breton, a fluffy, raisin-accented brioche bread pudding paired with crème Anglaise, could be straight out of a Parisian café.

West Palm Beach's Rhythm Cafe is anything but Palm Beach formal (the decor includes a feathered pink flamingo perched on the terrazzo floor). Fun, funky, cheesy, campy, and cool all at once, the former 1950s-era drugstore-cum-restaurant on West Palm Beach's Antique Row features an ever-changing creative menu of homemade items with Italian, Greek, American, and Creole influences. Favorites include "tapas-tizers" like the lemon-doused saganaki (flaming cheese) and the goat-cheese-onion pie and main courses like the graham-cracker-crusted chicken in key lime sauce and fish of the day.