This is “Small Bites,” a South Florida Sun Sentinel feature with tiny tidbits on the food and beverage scene — because we know that sometimes you just don’t have room for a long article. You want a little news brief instead, an amuse bouche of information, if you will. Enjoy!
WHAT:
The buzz at J&J Fresh Kitchen is their exclusive hive-to-shelf honey from their very own bee farm.
The health-conscious Boca Raton restaurant/retail hot spot has 10 hives on a bee farm in Southwest Ranches. Each hive has 30,000 bees.
“We had a chance to meet with beekeepers, to see how they work, how they package their honey,” says co-owner Marco Pagano. “And that is how we ended up partnering with them so we could have our own brand of honey — our hives, our machines, everything that makes the honey.”
He and his father, Matias Pagano, head up The Kao Group, which acquired J&J Fresh Kitchen in October 2021. The Argentine-Italian family also own KAO Bar & Grill in Hallandale Beach and KAO Sushi & Grill in Coral Gables.
The honey started flowing around the middle of last year.
“My dad, he’s always looking for innovation, new concepts,” says Marco Pagano. “He’s always been intrigued not only about making food but producing it. And we had a chance … to find products and start incorporating new products that we had in mind that were locally sourced, that were either organic or natural.
“We are very much in love with the concept of eating from your region, eating healthy. And you know, the possibilities of this location were endless.”
(J&J Fresh Kitchen/Courtesy)
Working with beekeepers in Southwest Ranches, J&J Fresh Kitchen’s father-and-son duo — Matias and Marco Pagano — say they have developed an understanding of every aspect of the process, from the flowers and bees to the hives and manufacturing. (J&J Fresh Kitchen/Courtesy)THE HONEY:
The bestseller at J&J Fresh Kitchen is the Raw Honey Cinnamon Infused, according to Pagano.
“Cinnamon is a very popular product everywhere in America,” he says. “We have two kinds of honey, Wildflower and Orange Blossom, as well as the infused flavors cinnamon and chocolate. And then we also sell honeycombs and … other bee products.”
Those other products include propolis (a sort of beeswax), nut mix, natural cream and honeycombs.
“It’s not the plastic bear that you’ll find at the grocery store,” Pagano adds. “It’s something you take home because you want to taste the honey, you want something that is of good quality, and that you know where it’s sourced. You know that the people that take care of it, care about it.”
The honey is also available at KAO Bar & Grill and KAO Sushi & Grill.
“It had a great reception. We’ve been selling store products, protein bars, healthy juices, etc. And yet people seem drawn to the honey, which is also why we put it at the Hallandale location,” he says. “We sell our own sauces. We sell, for example, vegan mayonnaise that is homemade. We sell our chimichurri, which given our Argentinian background, makes sense. And our salad dressing that originally … was created for the restaurant, and people at the restaurant asked so much for it that we added it to our inventory of retail brands.”
Pagano says his grandfather, Domingo Pagano, who passed away at the beginning of this year, inspired the honey product line as well as many of their other locally sourced and sustainable products on the shelves at both venues.
“There’s a lot of him in these projects, our sauces, our pesto, all family recipes,” Pagano explains. “And he was always very much into bees. He read books (about beekeeping).”
Other than one exception, the honey doesn’t make it into any menu dishes.
“We use our honey for a special that we bring back every now and then, the chipotle figs wrapped in turkey bacon sautéed and caramelized in Wildflower Honey, and people love it,” Pagano says.
(J&J Fresh Kitchen/Courtesy)
The owners of J&J Fresh Kitchen have hives that produce two kinds of honey, Wildflower and Orange Blossom. They also offer honey with cinnamon and chocolate infused favors as well as several honey-based products. (J&J Fresh Kitchen/Courtesy)COST:
- Raw Honey Cinnamon Infused and Raw Honey Chocolate Infused — 11 ounces for $12
- Raw Orange Blossom Honey — 8 ounces for $9; 16 ounces for $15, 31 ounces for $26, and an 11-ounce jar with stir stick for $14
- Raw Wildflower Honey — 8 ounces for $8.50; 16 ounces for $13 and 32 ounces for $24
- Jar with stir stick and burlap honey jar with stir stick — both 1 pound for $22 each
- Raw Honey Nut Mix for $12; Bee Propolis, 1 ounce for $19; Raw Honeycomb for $17; and Bee Natural Cream for $14
WHERE:
- J&J Fresh Kitchen is located at 21316 Saint Andrews Blvd., Boca Raton. Visit freshkitchenboca.com or call 561-391-5003.
- KAO Bar & Grill is at 11 NE First Ave., Hallandale Beach. Visit kaobarandgrill.com or call 954-699-4232 or 954-699-4234.
EXTRA TIDBIT:
Wondering what KAO means? Pagano said it reflects their roots, “both in fusion, Latin America and sushi.” (The Paganos are also behind the SushiClub brand in South America and Europe.)
He explains: “‘K’ stands for kuntur, the Quechua word for condor, the bird of South America, which according to the Incas ruled over the sky. ‘A’ stands for Argentina. ‘O’ stands for Osaka, the place where most people came from Japan to Peru, bringing sushi to Latin America and creating ceviche.”
(J&J Fresh Kitchen/Courtesy)
