Lionfish, the James Beard Foundation-blessed, sustainability-themed seafood spot on Delray Beach’s buzzy Atlantic Avenue, permanently closed on Saturday night after 3 1/2 years in business.
In its place will rise a restaurant that needs no sugarcoating: Sugar Factory, an American brasserie chain and celebrity magnet best known for crafting cocktails and couture lollipops endorsed by The Rock, Kendall Jenner, Pitbull, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart and Bruno Mars. Sugar Factory intends to debut “within 60 to 90 days,” Lionfish owner Craig Menin told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Monday afternoon.
Lionfish / Courtesy
Steamed striped bass from Lionfish, which closed on Saturday after 3 1/2 years in downtown Delray Beach. (Lionfish / Courtesy)
The coastal seafood sit-down, which served tasty preparations of one of Florida’s biggest coastal invasive species — lionfish — suffered no declining foot traffic or sales. In fact, its final service packed the house, according to Menin and members of multiple Facebook groups who dined there Saturday night.
But the fine-dining restaurant “with a $90-$100 check average” and high-end, locally sourced ingredients demanded too much of his personal attention, he said.
“It’s a very intense, full-time job running a restaurant and, frankly, I didn’t want to do it anymore. I wanted to go back to my roots,” said Menin, who’s also a veteran real-estate developer. “There are more important things than money. I’m glad I did it, but I prefer being in real estate than running restaurants.
“(Lionfish) was very profitable, but going forward, will it improve upon the community?” he added. “I wanted to give someone else a try.”
Menin, whose company Menin Development owns multiple buildings on Atlantic Avenue, in art-splashed Pineapple Grove and south of the Avenue, added a hospitality arm, Menin Hospitality Group, about five years ago, opening the Delray Beach Market food hall, The Ray Hotel and its restaurant, Akira Back. He also owns Johnnie Brown’s.
Lionfish, a San Diego-born eatery specializing in grass-fed meats, wild catches and lionfish dishes, debuted in September 2020, after pandemic shutdowns sidelined its opening more than six months. Lionfish co-owner Andy Masi, founder of Clique Hospitality, brought his sustainable-savvy eatery to the East Coast to evangelize the taste of lionfish, a beautiful but voracious species known for devouring large populations of reef marine life. Since 2017, the James Beard Foundation recognized Lionfish twice as a Smart Catch Leader.
“Believe me, if you have our lionfish ceviche, you realize how tasty (lionfish) are,” Masi told the Sun Sentinel in 2020. “Once you taste the flavors of the lionfish, you want to get it out of the sea and onto the grill.”
Masi could not be reached for comment despite two emails sent Monday morning. According to Menin, Masi sold his stake in the Delray Beach location to Menin two years ago to focus on his West Coast restaurants.
Menin said he began courting serious bids for Lionfish’s replacement six months ago from “10 operators who wanted to put their restaurant on the avenue.” Sugar Factory won out, he said, for “signing a very lucrative lease.”
“At the end of the day, it’s a great building on a great street,” Menin says. “I get to step back and collect a nice check every month, and I found that very appealing.”
Menin declined to say how far in advance his hospitality group had informed Lionfish’s 50 employees about the shutdown. He said he “encouraged Sugar Factory people to meet with” Lionfish employees, or for employees to apply at Akira Back and Johnnie Brown’s.
On Instagram, former executive chef Emerson Frisbie (of Palm Beach Meats fame) posted on April 7 that he was “looking for a new executive chef position. Any leads are greatly appreciated.”
Noah Fecks for Sugar Factory / Courtesy
The World Famous Sugar Factory King Kong Sundae, which includes 20 scoops of ice cream, hot fudge, caramel and plenty of candy, is one of several over-the-top desserts served at Sugar Factory, an American brasserie chain coming this summer to Delray Beach. (Noah Fecks for Sugar Factory / Courtesy)
Sugar Factory, with its Instagrammable flower walls, neon and over-the-top milkshakes, offers rainbow-colored pancake stacks for breakfast and brunch, birria pizza quesadillas, cheese-smothered burgers and tacos for dinner and “Insane Milkshakes” for dessert that include crushed Butterfinger pieces and rainbow whirly pops.
Sugar Factory operates 26 locations including in Miami Beach, Orlando and the Bahamas. Restaurant representatives could not be reached for comment on Monday afternoon.
This article will be updated. Check back for more information.
Staff writer Phillip Valys can be reached at [email protected]. Follow on Instagram @p.v.guide and X/Twitter @PhilValys.
