Foodstuff

You've got your Italian markets, your Asian groceries, your Spanish bodegas -- all common sights in the Fort Lauderdale area. But if you're looking for something really exotic, check out Dee Dee's Meal in a Pie (4440 NE 20th Ave., Fort Lauderdale, 954-202-9118). You'd never guess from the name that this grocery is South African, selling imported products such as tennis biscuits, Peck's fish paste, Mrs. Balls Chutney, and Monkey Gland Sauce. You can even get biltong (beef jerky) and boerewors (beef and/or pork sausage) from the meat case, and choose from more than 20 varieties of wine, ports, and brandies. But the real treats are the prepared foods like the bobotie pie, puff pastry filled with Cape Malay curried beef, or the curried salmon pie. All told, Dee Dee's makes 17 different kinds of pie, along with salads, sausage rolls, and homemade dessert pastries, including melktert, a South African specialty. Other gourmet markets are downright tame by comparison.