Restaurant News: Council Oak Launches Prix Fixe Menu; Whole Foods to Pour Nouveau Beaujolais; Fire Up at Delray Cigar Fest

• Council Oak Steaks & Seafood, an upscale eatery at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, has come out with a couple of seasonal dining deals. One is a three-course, $35 prix fixe menu that includes dishes like jumbo lump crabcake with whipped avocado and roasted tomato-chili gazpacho, petite boneless rib eye with lobster rigatoni and creamed spinach, and warm apple crumble with cinnamon swirl pastry. The second gives you a free bottle of the house Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon with the purchase of two entrées, so at least you can afford a decent buzz after getting cleaned out at the slots.

• Raise a glass to toast the release of the 2010 Beaujolais Nouveau on Thursday, November 18, at the Palm Beach Gardens Whole Foods Market (11701 Lake Victoria Gardens Ave.; 561-691-8550). From 4 to 7 p.m., the market will be pouring samples of the light, fruity, fun wine (which actually makes a quite respectable complement to your Thanksgiving turkey), traditionally released on the third Thursday of November.

• Smoke 'em if you got 'em or get 'em and smoke 'em at the inaugural Delray Beach Cigar Festival, set to fire up from noon to 7 p.m. Saturday, November 20, at Cigar Connoisseur (202 NE Second Ave.; 561-819-1212). More than a dozen cigar makers will be there, along with music, nibbles from local restaurants, and a Bacardi rum booth. The smoke-out will benefit the St. Vincent Ferrer Scholarship Fund for Children in Need. Ticket cost $100 in advance, $125 the day of the event, and can be obtained by calling Cigar Connoisseur.