John Kostoglou and Salt7 Delray Beach

There have been some crazy stories out there about the recent closing of Salt7 For Lauderdale. Stories of employees stealing, bankruptcy and a local TV reporter hit pieces. While some criticisms have been directed at the restaurant owner, people may have forgotten where this all began. The history of John Kostoglou and Salt7 Delray Beach is a fascinating story.

The original owners of Salt7 in Delray were John, often referred to as “Dr. John” and his cousin George Valantasis. The original motto on their website was, “Eat, Stay, Play.” The restaurant opened to the public in 2013.

But the name Salt7 refers to the seven seasonings used for their steaks. Those seasonings would ultimately be packaged and sold.

Having said that, one would think that the restaurant would be marketed as a steakhouse, as it was for a time, but ultimately became trendier as a “Modern American Eatery”.

In 2016, right next door on SE 2nd Avenue, an organic breakfast deli store opened called Eat Market. It was all fresh ingredients and made perhaps the best breakfast egg sandwiches in all of Delray Beach.

As amazing as it was, it closed within a year. The store was also owned by George Valantasis. An online search today still shows it had an amazing 4.9 Google customer review rating at the time.

Salt7 became increasingly popular, not only for great food, but for the signature drinks and fun events. However, the most well-known regular event was the Sunday Blackout Brunch. There was a time that reservations had to be made as far ahead as 2 months.

This was a cross between 5-star bottle service, crazy good food and Studio 54. It was so popular that even today on social media there are bars / restaurants across the country that have copied it, even down to the name. More on this later.

Friday and Saturday evenings had a great late-night crowd with popular area DJs.

Even during the week, the events continued with ladies’ nights, 2 for 1 drink specials, chef cooking competitions but another one stood out. The Bachelor TV show watch parties that included former contestants appearing in person were incredibly successful.

Salt7 was the place in Delray for sure. It was known for the model quality women, elite men and celebs.

As it ultimately turned out, co-owner George Valantasis was becoming burned out and pressured his partner to sell the business. With a second location now in Fort Lauderdale, it seemed like a good idea.

As it turned out the new owners (an Ohio restaurant group) really did not have a great plan and should have just left it alone. After several bad concepts, local restaurateurs opened it as Kapow. The other crazy part is why the new owners, even as Kapow, didn’t restart the Blackout Brunch. We suggested it to them, but I guess making money on Sundays is not in their playbook.

What everyone remembers the most about Salt7 is the Blackout Brunch. In fact, a recent email poll of over 50,000 former attendees revealed that over 70% of the respondents would love to see it back.

John Kostoglow and Salt7 Delray Beach