Restaurants, Food and Drink | Harry’s Bar & Restaurant opens first location outside NYC in South Florida

Harry’s Bar & Restaurant had a grand opening on Tuesday, June 6, in downtown West Palm Beach. And that’s a big deal here in the, um, shall we say Big Orange because Harry’s is a big deal in The Big Apple.

The original restaurant has been a must-be-seen-at spot for Wall Streeters and a mainstay in Manhattan’s financial district for a half-century, and now — for the first time ever — the brand is expanding outside of New York City. It is exporting its classic cuisine to the 360 Rosemary office building, which is most fittingly a financial hub located at The Square in West Palm Beach (The New York Post recently dubbed the enclave “Wall Street South.”)

Harry’s Restaurant Group — named after the eatery’s founder, Harry Poulakakos — also recently opened another restaurant from the company’s Manhattan-based stable of brands. Known for square-shaped pizzas, Adrienne’s Pizzabar debuted on April 15 next door to the Harry’s location at The Square. Both share a combined 11,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor space where patrons can intermingle and order from the two sister restaurants.

Here’s more about Harry’s in excerpts from a question-and-answer session with Peter Poulakakos, who is Harry’s son, a Palm Beach Gardens resident and a partner with Harry’s Restaurant Group (along with business partners Frank Casano and Paul Lamas). The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: The Harry’s legacy stretches back to 1972. So why is South Florida the only extension of the New York restaurant?

A: The reason is they’re really family-run businesses. So, my family moved here almost five years ago. My wife, my kids and myself and my dad. And I’ve been going back and forth to New York, but this just was a family move. So with the family move, we wanted to open some restaurants here. Now, with that being said, West Palm has really paved the way for us … We were living here for some time without a restaurant, you know, so it wasn’t exactly pressing for us to get started right away. But when we started, we fell in love with West Palm. We fell in love with this area.

Q: Yeah, but you could have opened up in a half-dozen or so foodie regions in South Florida, so why West Palm Beach?

A: It’s kind of the trifecta. It has the local residents … and it’s growing with the amount of apartments that are being developed. But then it also has this vibrant business community that’s expanding here. These are the same clients that we’ve been serving for 50 years in New York, same companies. And that was very enticing. Then thirdly, it is a tourist destination and a seasonal destination where people like to come and enjoy the weather. So having those three elements of business, we thought it was the perfect location, because that’s something that we have in lower Manhattan as well. So I feel there are a lot of similarities to where we are in New York.

Q: But it’s a little different, right?

A: It’s a little bit younger here. It needs a few more years to grow. But it kind of reminds me of the year 2000 or 1999 in New York City, when all of a sudden the financial district expanded with all these condominiums and these residences. It changed the dynamic where it used to be a five-day community in New York, now it’s a seven-day community because it has this mixture of tourism, locals and business. And here I believe, it’s the same recipe.

Q: Why open at The Square specifically?

A: It has walkability similar to New York City. Now it’s nothing like New York City, but at the same time … you can walk around and find a bakery, find a coffee shop, find a juice bar, find a salad place, find some retail stores on the way and add a couple of restaurants. In New York, you walk everywhere, right? So, the walkability of this made it very enticing as well. We have the benefit of having great transportation here as well with Brightline. It’s going to only make things more convenient as people can travel, whether they’re working or living in other parts of Florida. And we’re so conveniently close to it. I think it makes a lot of sense.

Q: You’ve lived in Palm Beach Gardens for five years, so what have you learned about the customer base here and their expectations of a restaurant?

A: I believe the expectations are of good quality, good service and nice, fun energy. Everyone seems to be, I would say, laid-back, but at the same time they want real service, they want real real quality and a good product. So I’m comfortable with 50 years of Harry’s and 18 years of Adrienne’s brands. If we apply the same principles, people that live … from Jupiter all the way down to Miami … would be pleased with what we’re offering.

Q: Is the decor more tropical with this location as opposed to the New York City original?

A: The design is different here. We infused South Florida Art Deco with the New York Art Deco design. It’s a little bit more appointed and a little bit more luxe I would say than New York. It’s a bit brighter. We feel that it’s comfortable for the New Yorker and comfortable for the Floridian. Adrienne’s design is a lot more fun here and a lot more vibrant than what we have in New York. In New York, it’s a small space, and so it’s limited in what we can do. Here we have more space, so we’re able to offer a larger bar, make it more fun, a little bit more energetic, which we thought was perfect for West Palm and South Florida.

W: Any menu changes here, in favor of Floribbean flavor profiles?

A: As far as the food, I only see tweaks really happening in the seafood, some of the local seafood — the snapper, the grouper — that we’ll see on the menu. But otherwise, it’s gonna be quite similar to what we do up in New York.

Q: What can you tell us about Harry’s executive chef, Joseph Mallol, who will be splitting his time between the two states?

A: He’s been the chef for 17 years of Harry’s. We’ve carried on what my dad has started, great product, very consistent. And Joe has managed to take the classics that Harry’s has always had and … modernize them a bit to make them more appealing for the youthful people.

Q: And the cocktails?

A: There could be some fun, refreshing cocktails (coming soon). We’re definitely going to do some local beers. We’re definitely going to do some drinks that’ll be on the lighter side, the more refreshing side, because of the temperature and the fact that we’re in Florida. We have a great wine program. Ivan Mitankin, our (manager and) wine director who’s worked with us for 20 years is coming to oversee the operations. He’s moved here as well, and he is very excited to not only create the concept program here but to run an awesome wine program like we do in New York.

Harry’s is located at 384 S. Rosemary Ave., West Palm Beach. Visit  or call 561-834-5010.