Food & Drink

The inside of this place is nothing special to look at — but you don’t eat with your eyes, do you? Dang it if your belly won’t be delighted after 30 minutes in this shopping-plaza treasure, featuring traditional Japanese and Asian specialties (spare ribs, tempura shrimp), a hibachi grill (ask for your dinner made to order), and sushi, sushi, and more sushi. The service is basic but friendly; they can deliver a Sapporo or a sake just fine, but you otherwise help yourself. Lunch costs $9.95; dinner, $18.95 for adults ($16.95 Monday to Thursday), $9.45 for kids ages 3 to 10. We dare you to resist the dessert table, with a wonderland of fruits and eight flavors of ice cream (including green tea — hell yeah!) that you scoop and accessorize with whipped cream yourself.

Sweetwater in Boynton Beach, what could be considered the catalyst of Palm Beach and Broward counties’ craft cocktail movement. The year 1933 has special meaning here, not just as a nod to the year Prohibition ended but also to the good times that ensued. Owners Clint Reed and mixologist Sean Iglehart don’t want you to think of their establishment as a speakeasy; it’s just a good, old-fashioned watering hole where you’re meant to kick back, relax, and toss back some damned good drinks. Here, the bar program is second-to-none, run by a staff of highly skilled bartenders who collaborate on a rotating menu of seasonal specials that changes every few months. The menu also offers a number of signature concoctions, each expertly crafted with house-made syrups, bitters, liqueurs, and a rainbow’s worth of fresh herbs, fruits, and spices. Behind the bar, you’ll find everything from an authentic wooden swizzle stick to a topnotch arsenal of rare, expensive, or small-batch liquors. Pull up a bar seat, and let the show begin.

It’s nice that the proprietor, Maria Narvaez, learned to cook by watching her mother in their pueblo of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and that after a stint in Houston, she and her husband, Jose, ran a restaurant in Chicago named after their son, Marlon. It’s even nicer that they moved to Florida and opened an affordable, authentic joint on the Hollywood Broadwalk, naming it after the first words that spilled out of Marlon’s mouth when he saw the fine-looking ladies passing by on the beachfront: mamacitas. Today, it’s nicer still that this chill establishment offers sports on TV and live music four nights a week (salsa, merengue, bachata) and that a spontaneous dance party is likely to break out on the sidewalk as you wolf down a giant whole fried snapper. But these details are all best enjoyed when sipping on the signature drink, a tequila-drenched frozen margarita topped with lime, a straw, and an upside-down Corona. This concoction is called a “Rompe Nalga” ($15 for a medium, $23 for a large), which translates literally as “break buttock” but means, essentially, it’ll kick your ass.

Sadly, last June, Monroe Udell — the man who founded the iconic Dania Beach mecca of sweets, Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlour & Restaurant — passed away. Many South Florida residents owe Udell a great thanks. Since 1956, he had been giving us a wonderful place to bring our children, parents, friends, and first dates. Jaxson’s is a South Florida landmark, both for its nostalgic interior and for what comes out of the kitchen. Udell would be proud to see that Jaxson’s is still flourishing and still pumping out the best ice cream in the South. Stop in next time you’re in Dania Beach. Sit, grab a handful of complimentary popcorn, and order one of their classic milkshakes, served in 24-ounce shakers, topped with a swirl of whipped cream. Don’t be shy. Get some toppings too. Monroe would recommend it.

Fort Lauderdale, you’ve been caffeinated — thanks to Warsaw Coffee Co., which opened earlier this year. The 3,800-square-foot space has indoor and outdoor lounge spaces, an onsite pastry kitchen, walk-up and drive-through barista bars, and rentable office “flex” space. Inside, pastry phenom Jason Morale creates from-scratch delicacies: cookies, biscotti, and tarts to scones, muffins, and cakes. Sample the guava and cheese pastries or homemade Pop-Tarts — complete with frosting. Or try the affogato, a coffee-based beverage typically made with ice cream or gelato and a shot of hot espresso. Of course, coffee is Warsaw’s main focus, offering fresh-roasted beans prepared by nearby Argyle Coffee Roasters. The drink menu includes espresso shots and the standard selections like Americanos, macchiatos, cappuccino, and lattes. If you’re looking for fresh-brewed offerings, take your pick of various pour-over methods including Clever, French press, and Kalita. The cold brew even comes in concentrate to take home.

Readers’ Choice: Subculture Coffee

Oh Mojo Donuts, we hail to thee

Salty, crunchy, and sticky sweet.

When I’m on Pines, I must stop by.

Your bacon bar just makes me cry.

Sometimes I go in and then just stare.

Man, there are so many flavors there!

Five, ten, 13 or 20…

I sure wish I had more money.

I’d buy all the donuts in the shop

But then I might get shot.

I stepped on up to take a gaze

But I couldn’t choose between the Key lime or the glazed.

I’ll have a guava, a monkey, and a sugar patch kids.

Just eight more to pick, I’ll be done in a jiff.

Pembroke Pines, you’re my kind of town

I’ll erect a donut tower and turn you around.

No one will ever say anything bad about you again.

I’ll pray for more Mojos, then say an amen.

Misha’s Cupcakes likes to say they make “life sweet,” but until this past year, residents north of the Miami-Dade County line had to drive a bit to sweeten their lives. That all changed when Misha brought her goodies to Pembroke Pines. Whether you’re into chocolate ganache or just have a simple craving for a cupcake topped with vanilla icing, Misha’s is the holy grail of bakery-style cupcakes. Misha began cooking cupcakes in her kitchen for friends and quickly realized the demand for more was so off-the-charts, she was going to need to expand. After amazing success with her Coral Gables, London Square, Miami Lakes, and Aventura locations, Misha has finally come to Broward County, and for that, we thank her.

You would be hard-pressed to find an ice cream shop that is more fun than Cherry Smash. First and foremost, the ice cream is tremendous. That said, once you step inside Cherry Smash, you find out exactly why everyone is talking about it. From vintage train sets zipping around on the ceiling to old vending-machine fortunetellers all the way to the back area, where the curtains open up to a magical viewing area that is always themed to the most current holiday, Cherry Smash is different. You almost feel as if you have entered a local store that has re-created a Disney World ride — it’s that special.

A few years ago, cupcakes became a “thing.” They were the go-to, trendy dessert that dethroned self-serve frozen yogurt as the hot young sweet on the block. Now, both cupcakes and froyo are still around, the same way that Britney and Christina are still around. But if you want to be eating the chicest new portable dessert, these days you reach for a macaron. Every stylish avenue in South Florida boasts a macaron shop, and well they should. No place does them better than Bakery of France, a lovely Gallic café and bistro offering quiches, pressed sandwiches, pastries, café, and even escargots. It serves an exquisite Sunday brunch on its elegant patio, and it is all just lovely. But whatever else you eat, do not leave this establishment without a small white box of macarons. Far from a humble cookie, macarons should have a fragile shell glazing the outside, protecting the airy interior of the two pastries sandwiching the smear of creme in the center. And that is exactly how Bakery of France prepares them. You could get them in more familiar américain flavors (chocolate, vanilla, etc.), but don’t. Go full French and order a pistachio, a rosé, a lavender, and a café sans regret.

With a craft-beer selection that never disappoints and its lively staff, Duke’s has been a fast-rising restaurant for a while now, but this past year, its popularity has soared. The increased attention is a mixture of things that make Tucker Duke’s special — and one of those things is definitely the fried PB&J bonbon appetizer. The PB&J balls-of-goodness are made up of fried peanut butter, seasonal jam, and a milk shooter; yeah, it’s legit. The fun-sized app goes down perfectly with a dark beer while you’re waiting for your meal or doubles as a dessert once you’ve worked up the munchies.

Amazing how much better a cherry tomato can taste  if you pick it yourself right off the vine. Between the bountiful acres of strawberries and the indoor farmers’ market, there really is something for everyone at Bedner’s. Kids can mine for gold or pet a goat; then adults can walk them through a vast field of green and red peppers and have fresh dinner on the plate later that night. Bedner’s is a festival you can go to every weekend, with food trucks and specials that constantly take place, even when it’s not picking season. Farmers’ markets are cool, but playing farmer for a day is even cooler.

Every town has at least one farmers’ market. In West Palm Beach, it’s a posh affair overlooking the Intracoastal. In Hollywood, Yellow Green Market is a tented, sprawling expanse of farmers, crafters, and food vendors. But Food in Motion is South Florida’s only after-dark farmers’ market. The monthly event, which takes place every second Friday, started in fall of 2014. Free and dog-friendly, Food in Motion is in the heart of Flagler Village, the burgeoning arts district that’s also home to the FAT Village Artwalk and a growing number of third-wave coffee and beer bars like Laser Wolf. It’s a farmers’ market for a new generation that is creating this new downtown, and its mission is perfectly in tune with the ethos of the artists, musicians, and creative types who populate the area. So in addition to the fresh produce, there are food trucks, vegan vendors, gourmet baked goods, locally made products, and, let’s not forget, free craft beer.

flaglerfoodinmotion.com

Brimstone Woodfire Grill sits on the westernmost stretch of Pines Boulevard in Pembroke Pines, a sprawling, 200-seat dining room at the corner of an open-air shopping mall. With a large, covered outdoor patio and Americanized menu offering a mix of seafood, steaks, sushi, and flatbreads, it’s one of the area’s best spots to spend the day outdoors with a cold beverage in hand. Whether you take a seat at the spacious interior bar or grab a stool under the shade of a new patio awning outside, the restaurant presents the perfect place to enjoy a craft cocktail, beer, or glass of wine. The best choice, however, is the margarita flight created by beverage manager Jodi Patten. Order up and you’ll get a tower of four margaritas including a pineapple mango, strawberry, blood orange, and classic take. Each is made with a generous pour of Casamigos tequila; homemade sour mix combining fresh-squeezed lemon, lime, and orange juices; and a vibrant fruit purée that lends a touch of color and flavor. All are available in full-sized versions for a few more dollars, but it won’t be easy to choose just one. The blood orange is a house favorite, however, the tart citrus providing the perfect balance to the margarita’s salty finish.

Readers’ Choice: Rocco’s Tacos

Let’s face it: Buffets can be scary. In most American buffets, you have to thwack your way through aisles of love handles just to get to the fried chicken. You’re likely to get forked in the wrist if you reach for the last shrimp. And the only thing left for you to pick from are green beans that look like a shriveled Shrek wiener. But don’t write off buffets completely until you’ve been to Kyojin for lunch. Now, $16.95 may not sound like a cheap lunch to some, but consider what you’re getting. The Kyojin lunch buffet offers an assortment of fresh sushi, Japanese and Chinese cuisine, hibachi, and desserts that include the surprisingly delicious green tea ice cream. You won’t leave Kyojin hungry. You won’t leave Kyojin resembling anything close to hungry. You won’t want to think of food for at least 24 hours, until — of course — lunchtime the next day. Then you’ll want to go to Kyojin again.

We love bars. We love great restaurants. Let’s combine the two! There hasn’t been a no-brainer this obvious since the peanut butter deliveryman crashed his unicycle into the jelly truck. But though it’s easy in concept, man, is it hard to execute. When you have to worry about great drinks and great food, the quality of one side is usually going to take a hit. But some gastropubs manage to dodge this all-too-common trap. The Sybarite Pig is one of those. The definition of “sybarite” is “a person devoted to pleasure and luxury.” In most cases, this is not a good thing. But at the Pig, it’s an attitude responsible for dishes like roasted bone marrow, “Hellswine” sausage, and duck-fat-roasted potato salad. Now, all that stuff alone would be enough to pack the place, but when you toss in a beer menu that looks more like a novella, it creates a perfect storm of gastropub.

There are times when the inevitable happens and you find yourself hungry without a friend or date to join you for dinner. Instead of pulling up to some fast-food drive-through and scarfing a value meal in your car in desperation, try dining at Anthony’s Runway 84’s lounge. The airplane-themed room is designed to make you feel like you’re in a jetliner. As you settle into a seat, you can just imagine your flight attendant announcing that the takeoff was perfect and to settle in for a lovely flight as you look at a perpetual twilight sky out of mock airplane windows. As Sinatra softly croons in the background, order a glass of wine or a martini and peruse the menu. Your food order will be taken by a different waiter. The menu is classic Italian — gigantic meatballs served with ricotta ($12), a spicy coil of sausage with broccoli rabe ($13), and a chicken Parm to die for ($24), but it’s the Sicilian peppers — stuffed with capers, cheese, bread crumbs, and anchovies ($10) — that are the jewel in Anthony’s crown. The bar is always lively, filled with a mix of young professionals and old-timers, and no one is alone for more than a few minutes. On a recent Saturday, a man out alone for the evening was persuaded to join a party of women, while two couples compared (and shared) meals with one another. Think of it as Cheers, owned by a guy named Tony.

Let’s talk about poutine. It’s time we had this conversation, America. What is it? Why is it? How is it? There are many questions we must ask ourselves, but first, let’s dive into the facts. Poutine originated in Quebec, Canada. We’re not off to a good start so far. The only thing Quebec has ever given South Florida is bad drivers and tiny man Speedos. But bear with me. Poutine is a dish consisting of French fries, topped with hot gravy and fresh cheese curds. Wait, could it be? Quebec has made something… American. Fries? Check. Cheese? Check. Gravy? Check. How did we not invent this? These are hard questions we must face as a nation, but in the meantime, head to Poutine Dog Cafe in Lake Worth to sample the dish yourself. Let’s claim this dish for the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Readers’ Choice: Tap 42

Once you experience a proper/authentic Vietnamese banh mi sandwich, there is no going back — every sandwich you taste thereafter is judged upon the standard. Saigon Cuisine makes a banh-mi that will change your taste buds forever. You have no other choice but to order multiple styles, because it’s impossible to choose just one. The char-grilled/caramelized roast pork Saigon is famous for a bread that is somehow crusty on the outside and angel soft in the middle. The “combination/special” banh mi includes everything from a liver pâté spread to a sliced Vietnamese meatball. Some places might brag about their five-dollar sandwiches, but at Saigon, you get the greatness that is this authentic sub for just $4.75. Don’t walk; run.

Not long ago, most people knew only one type of ramen — the kind served in a styrofoam cup. Today, ramen has been elevated to cult status, with critics parsing the pros and cons of authentic Japanese soup and its many New Age takes. In South Florida, a few restaurants offer exceptional ramen — from traditional offerings of the pork-bone broth like tonkotsu of Japan’s Kyushu region to the hearty miso ramen of Hokkaido. But at Nori Thai, the ramen isn’t just soup — it’s a meal, served in giant white ceramic bowls topped to the brim with a pork- or seafood-infused broth and mounds of chewy-soft crimped Japanese noodles. Ramen options include the basic tonkotsu, a sesame-and-garlic-oil-infused broth topped with fatty chunks of chashu pork, large cuts of broth-infused bok choy, tender tendrils of bean sprouts, sheets of seaweed, tender corn kernels, half a boiled egg, and flavorful slices of kikurage mushroom. A Thai green curry ramen means noodles are simmered in a fresh basil and fish-infused green curry sauce before serving, then paired with bamboo, zucchini, red bell peppers, and the fresh catch of the day. A spicy version marries a Thai broth with lime, fish sauce, fried garlic, crushed peanuts, cilantro, and scallions before it’s topped off with shrimp, scallops, squid, and mussels. The best ramen Nori produces, though, is its spicy miso ramen, a tonkotsu broth flavored and thickened with a spicy bean paste for a kick of heat, then finished with all the appropriate tonkotsu accoutrements.

It’s filling, healthy, and fun to eat: Pho, a beef broth noodle soup that’s considered the national dish of Vietnam, is made after a lengthy process of parboiling, rinsing, and simmering beef bones and adding ingredients like ginger, rock sugar, charred onions, and spices. The broth is finished with rice noodles, slices of beef, onion, scallion, giant sprigs of fresh Thai basil, and bean sprouts. Housed in an informal strip mall on the outskirts of Davie, Pho 79 offers different phos in three sizes. Try the pho ga, a combination of noodles and chicken breast. Or maybe the pho seafood, with shrimp, scallops, squid, and imitation crab. If you want more meat, there are extras; add bo vien (meatballs) or extra tai (slivers of rare steak).

Often confused with a meatball, falafel is a completely vegan concoction made of ground chickpeas, herbs, and spices deep fried in oil. Nowhere in the area do you find as delectable a specimen of falafel than those found at Sunrise Pita & Grill. It comes served in three varieties of sandwiches — in a pita for $6.75, in baguette sandwiches for $8.49, and in a lafa wrap for $8.99. If you wish to have the falafel in its pure form unencumbered by bread, lettuce, or tomato, you can order the appetizer of six falafels for $3.99 or get the full falafel plate with hummus and salads on the side. Keep in mind, the restaurant is Glatt Kosher; thus, to observe the Sabbath, it closes at 4 p.m. on Fridays and is closed all day Saturday.

Don’t let the laid-back Caribbean theme fool you. Inside this tiki-hut-style eatery, there’s a bar serving some of the area’s best chicken wings. Here, it’s all about choice. Exercise yours wisely. You can order your wings with a wide array of homemade sauces, fried or grilled. Or both. The best: Teddy’s wings sauce, of course. It’s made from scratch, a vinegary purée of fresh banana peppers that’s finger-licking good whether on the wings or at the bottom of the basket. Some of the other 20 or so flavors include fun fruit mashups like raspberry, pineapple, and guava tequila lime. When the weather is nice, grab a seat outdoors under the tiki’s shade and be grateful the best Buffalo wings in the area come with a tropical breeze too.

Betty’s… a place where you can stuff your face with fried chicken and cornbread and no one will judge you for it. It’s been in Sistrunk for 40 years and is opening a second location in Pompano Beach. Owner Betty Taylor is a sweet Southern woman from Mississippi who just had to share her food with everyone, and we are so glad she did. This restaurant has won countless awards, and we aren’t hesitant to give it another one. It’s the best place to get a home-cooked meal when you don’t feel like frying anything. We just recommend you hit the gym the next day, because you may be feeling this one for days — but in a good way. Here are ten more reasons to go: crunchy fried chicken, creamy mac ‘n’ cheese, fall-off-the-bone ribs, breakfast all day every day, freshly baked desserts, soft and sweet cornbread, Kool-Aid (oh yeah!), collard greens, fried jumbo shrimp, and Betty Taylor’s smile.

The game just ended and your baseball team is hungry, but where can you take 20 kids and their parents to eat? Bokampers Sports Bar & Grill in Plantation, that’s where. Few places offer the seating, menu options, and entertainment that a Bokampers location does, and it all comes at a price that won’t make you want to seek out McDonald’s next time. Televisions fill every possible area the eyes might drift to at Bokampers, an especially useful feature when looking to keep kids in their seats. Parents can choose anything from calamari to steak to please their adult palates, while at the same time, kids’ options like chicken tenders, chicken wings, and sliders make it so everyone in the group can find something to satisfy. Bokampers is the sort of place a coach might pretend to take his baseball team because he knows they love it, but in reality, it’s his first choice too.

The South Florida craft-beer industry boomed in 2014, and Due South Brewing was a tremendous part of that growth. The brand skyrocketed this past year; its beer hit more and more shelves and taps around the state. From signature grapefruit-tinted IPAs to the famous Caramel Cream Ale, Due South is constantly kicking out quality beers that go head-to-head with any brewery in the country. The brewery — which you can visit and taste the beer straight from the barrel — offers a setting more like a family reunion than a traditional bar. The atmosphere and food trucks make for a festival-like feel. Whenever the brewery announces it’s making a batch of Mariana Trench Imperial Stout, craft-beer experts flock to find it.

Fran Andrewlevich and Matt Webster built out Twisted Trunk Brewing in Palm Beach Gardens, a large-and-in-charge brewery nestled in the corner of an unassuming and generic strip mall on PGA Boulevard. Luckily, since almost everything is in a strip mall down here, we’ve realized that it’s the inside that counts, and the inside is simply gorgeous. Dark wood covers the floors, metal and leather adorn the walls and chairs, and a floating bar tap system supplies beer from the cool rooms in the back to the tap handles up-front. It’s not just aesthetically pleasing. Open since February, the brewery cranks out numerous styles of beers, each a remarkable take on the style in which it was crafted. Seemingly every beer that has come out exalts the virtues of its style. It’s enjoyable to find an Irish red taste like it should and an English stout taste like it should. It is also enjoyable to find beers like the watermelon saison, which ends up being a solid saison with that balanced character of watermelon to it. This is what superior craftsmanship tastes like.

There’s no place so quintessentially Broward as LauderAle Brewery. This warehouse-centered brewery took all the things Browardites love about South Florida and combined them in a location that’s all the things we hate about it and came up with a winning combination. Natives Kyle Jones and Joey Farrell built the brewery in July 2014, putting together a collection of do-it-yourself-style fermentation chambers to whip up 20 barrels of beer per month for the thirsty public. From the robust English-styled Port Everglades Porter to the citrus-dominated Detour Double IPA and all styles in between, LauderAle is letting two Floridians live their dream of selling beer to an eager crowd. Of course, it’s a bitch to get to, as the brewery lies at the easternmost terminus of 595, just as it transitions into a confusing spaghetti bowl of roads, detours, and ramps by Port Everglades. No matter, because when the people need beer, the people seek it out.

“No Jerks, Yes Beers.” It’s a motto that more bars should follow and fortunately is the cornerstone of Fort Lauderdale’s Laser Wolf, a neighborhood craft-beer bar a coaster’s throw from downtown near Sunrise Boulevard. The venue, which was opened by beer enthusiasts Chris and Jordan Bellus in 2011, has been slinging an outstanding selection of beers across its bar ever since its inception, and it continues to draw the local beer crowd. In addition, beer reps and industry veterans continuously call Laser Wolf home. The bar has famously become known as a place to find one-off kegs from Florida brewers and national brands alike. From PBR to Ballast Point’s Grapefruit Sculpin and Cigar City Brewing’s Florida Man Double IPA, Laser Wolf knows all are worthy of consumption.

Barrel of Monks Brewing, home to a bevy of Belgian-inspired brews, is situated in an industrial park. Chandeliers hang from darkened ceilings, with red walls and brick bringing in splashes of sophisticated color to the space. Gray, silver, and chromed accents on chairs add a touch of Boca. At the forefront is a gray marbled bar top, a mirrored backsplash, and subtle but informative electronic tap lists that divulge everything about what’s currently on tap and what people across social media have been saying about the beers and brewery. Toward one side of the taproom is a pseudo living room: big comfy couches surrounding an antique table and lit by an amazing beer-bottle light fixture. To call it an art installation wouldn’t be doing it justice. The space is rounded out with a nook of soft benches and leather ottomans that allows intimate conversation and openness at the same time. Are we in Boca or Belgium? With enough time spent in this space, it’s easy to forget.

The Craft Beer Cartel is mysterious and shadowy — in that it makes one wonder what the owners do to get such a wide variety of craft beer. It stocks options that many other shops either pass over or simply don’t know about — like Destihl’s Wild Sour Series, cans from Black Market Brewing Co., bottles from Prairie Artisan Ales, and, of course, cases from brewers across Florida. Opened as a sort of companion project to Riverside Market across the street, the Cartel is a mix between a homebrew shop and package store, holding hundreds of interesting bottles and a selection of to-go taps to fill growlers. It’s not really surprising, though, as owners Julian and Lisa Siegel have teamed up with Native Brewing’s Adam Fine for this endeavor, and the experience that these veteran beer geeks bring to the operation can be seen in every aspect of the store. You will need some time to peruse, because there is little to gloss over. Every stack and every reach-in holds some unique frothy treasure.

It’s easy nowadays to spend into the double digits for just one or two beers… unless you know where to hang out. The Mack House in Davie, a nanobrewery that supplies the world with Holy Mackerel but also makes its own house-only beers, still keeps the inexpensive beer night alive. Plus, the offerings are tasty, from a $5 Stone IPA to a $6 Cigar City Cubano-Style Espresso Brown Ale and Dogfish Head Saison du BUFF or a $7 Founder’s Breakfast Stout and Boulevard Dark Truth. Pair that with a local brewery-friendly tap lineup and constant experimentation from brewer Justin Miles and it’s no wonder it gets busier and busier.

It’s usually a depressing experience for the beer connoisseur, when traveling out for a nice dinner, to see a thought-out list of wines and only a handful of boring and samey beers (can you say “light lagers”?). Luckily, a few restaurants out there are trying to get with the times, realizing the taste possibilities of, and demand for, beer at their venues. 3030 Ocean at Fort Lauderdale Beach offers a refreshing selection of beers to accompany its modern American seafood-oriented menu. Avery IPA, Dogfish Head 90, Native Lager, and Chimay Blue and Red are among the craft beers available for consumers as they dine on roasted local corvina and crispy whole local snapper.

If you grew up in Fort Lauderdale, you remember certain things. Whenever relatives came, you had to experience the kitschy Floridian joy of the Jungle Queen. You probably spent the night in the Discovery Museum back when it was in that awesomely creepy house down by the New River. And hopefully, on a special occasion, maybe after your mom had taken you to see Riverdance at the Broward Center, you ate snails at Le Cafe de Paris on Las Olas Boulevard. Opened in 1962 by Louis Flematti, Cafe de Paris is a landmark on Las Olas. There is nothing hip or trendy here, just excellently done traditional French fare served with all the white-napkined pomp it deserves. One of the joys of being a grownup in Fort Lauderdale, however, is the café’s extensive wine list. Vineyards like Brunello Di Montalcino, Chateau La Garde, and Paul Bouchard make up the restaurant’s standard list of about 50 wines of varying vintages. Many are, of course, French varietals, but there is a decent collection of Italian and California wines as well. If you are looking for something excellent, something suitably special for your special occasion, Le Cafe is happy to accommodate you with something like an ’85 Jordan Cabernet — a wine so good, the corking of it gets noticed on social media.

Wine is as ancient as the Bible. Early in humanity’s history, someone figured out that letting fruit spoil and ferment improved it exponentially. In a few thousand years, little has changed, really. The best wine is low-tech — wooden barrels, glass bottles stopped with corks. Quality is subjective, perceived with nose and tongue. Wine, for all its haute elegance, is truly a pleasure best enjoyed simply. Then again, a little technology could be a good thing. N2 proves that. The walls are lined with Enomatic machines from Italy. You give your credit card to the bartender, who gives you a swipe card. At each machine, you put in your card and choose a one-, three-, or five-ounce pour from one of 64 wines, thus tasting many different wines in an evening. Some of the bottles are expensive — not something the average wine novice would be able to afford. Behind the bar is another changing selection of wine that can be served in five-ounce glasses or in flights, and any of the bottles available for tasting can also be purchased in the retail section for carryout. There are also beers and ciders, as well as charcuterie plates, salads, and a selection of flatbreads including Caprese, Four Cheese, and the Pineapple Grove, topped with artichokes hearts, grilled chicken, pineapple, and Brie cheese. If you’ve been looking for a cost-effective way to learn about and sample wines, technology has finally made that possible.

Readers’ Choice: Tanzy

In 2013, Boca Raton-based Swami Juice started with an exciting — and fruitful — year. The brainchild of late founder and yoga instructor Stephen “Jak” Jakobot, the line of signature cold-pressed juices once sold to friends, family members, and hard-core yogis has grown from just five recipes to 15, including Jakobot’s original “Sunscreen,” made with carrots, oranges, apples, ginger, turmeric, and cinnamon. Today, Swami operates several Florida juice bars that offer a variety of nutrient-packed fruit and vegetable juices made using a two-step, cold-press process. Choose from a number of energy shots and eight- or 16-ounce juices with names like “The Bush Doctor,” “Yo Greens,” “Swami-Ade,” and an all-vegetable “Zeus Juice” that combines bok choy, celery, romaine lettuce, lemon, fennel, and turmeric. Swami has also become well-known for its one- to five-day juice cleanses. Swami opened its first full-service Fort Lauderdale juice bar last year where you can pick up any of the bottled juices and a good selection of raw and vegan snack foods. Stop in during “happy hour,” when select juices are on sale for $8, or sign up for nutritional counseling (pre- and postcleanse) free of charge. Can’t make it to the Broward or Boca Raton locations? Both make it easy to juice with free local delivery when you purchase six juices or more.

Sometimes, if you can’t find it, you make it yourself. If you hail from Philadelphia, however, it’s not pizza that warms the cockles of your heart; it’s cheesesteaks. Sam “Sonny” Nigro was a baker back in Philly who made the move to South Florida more than 50 years ago and promptly opened Sonny’s Famous Steak Hogies in Hollywood. Here you’ll find a steak hogie (get the name right, people) in the proud tradition of Philly. The bread is handmade daily from scratch and baked fresh. They prepare their own sauces and slice the meat themselves — just like you remember.

In June 2013, Sauced Up food truck hit the streets, a rolling kitchen with a menu serving two American staples: burgers and wings. The brainchild of Florida natives Dan Scala and Matt Kaiser, the Coral Springs-based food truck is best-known for its gourmet-style filet mignon sliders, a pair of two- to three-ounce filet steaks on fresh potato-bread buns dressed with homemade garlic aioli and topped with sautéed onions. Kaiser, who attended culinary school at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, boasts that his latest menu item — chicken and waffles — has become one of the truck’s more popular dishes: buttermilk fried chicken stuffed between two Belgian waffles slathered with maple bourbon buttercream frosting and topped with warm maple syrup. The real treat here is the stuffed chicken wings, which earned Sauced Up its cult following, a meal inside a meal. Extra-large jumbo wings are sold five for $10 (or ten for $18) and fitted with a choice of macaroni ‘n’ cheese, pulled pork, or bacon and cheddar. Each of these delectable treats is so good, it won Sauced Up a shout during the South Beach Food & Wine Festival, where it was ranked the Best Bite by the Food Network food blog, FN Dish.

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Readers’ Choice: Zombie Ice

In the internet age, there’s probably no such thing as a secret anymore, but the year-old GoBistro has as close to a secret menu as you can get. The sushi, wings, and avocado fries are among the best in all of Broward County, but it’s the ramen that gets you through the front door. Though ramen is on the menu, there are often weekly specials, and if you ask the wait staff, you may get to try unlisted additional ingredients and sometimes new dishes the chefs are testing out. If there’s nothing secret that night, you’ll still have a great meal, but if you get lucky, well, you’ll have gotten very lucky.

It’s rare you go somewhere specifically for the hot dog cart. Usually, it’s more of an afterthought — something you see on the way to the bathroom that makes you think, Hmmm, haven’t had one of those in a while. But that’s not the case with Frankie Dogs. The wonderful world of social media has allowed its fans to track this mobile cart’s every movement like hungry lions with zebra apps on their smartphones. Die-hard fans know the usual hangouts: Funky Buddha Brewery in Oakland Park or Fort Lauderdale’s Laser Wolf. And there is perhaps no better late-night food after a couple of local IPAs than a Frankie Dog. The buns are soft and warm, the wieners have a snap to them, and you’re drunk, so everything tastes great. And great things taste amazing. And that Frankie Dog you’re holding tastes whatever great plus amazing equals. Shhh, don’t worry about the mustard all over your white shirt. Deal with that tomorrow. Because tonight, you’ve got a date with a Frankie Dog.

Readers’ Choice: Dada Restaurant & Lounge

There’s no fluff about the sign hanging above the door at this Wilton Manors diner. It simply reads: “Quality Diner.” Refreshing, isn’t it? There are no promises of the world’s best anything or of magical, organic, gluten-free eggs. The eatery is simple and to the point. It knows you’ve got places to go and people to see, and it doesn’t want to waste your precious time. But inside the restaurant, you’ll find something deserving of a stronger adjective than the simple “quality.” With omelets bigger than most midsized SUVs, quick service, and classic dishes with a Greek twist, Quality Diner is truly the breakfast (or dinner) of champions. Whether you’re looking to get your bearings after a night of vodka-fueled dancing in Wilton Manors or you just need some fuel for a long day at the beach, Quality Diner has your back.

Readers’ Choice: Lester’s Diner

The gooey-rich flan cheesecake at Miramar Bakery is one of the most popular menu items at this family business, which has been serving South Florida for more than 30 years. Opened by Cuban-born Mario Cortes and his two brothers in the early 1980s, the original location was a simple shop with a short-order counter. In April of last year, a new generation of owners — Ryan Campbell and Alex Recio Jr., founders of Fort Lauderdale’s new Colada Cuban House — took over operations, expanding the business and relocating to a new, state-of-the-art retail and wholesale facility. The move marked the continuation of the bakery with a new generation of Cuban-Americans, who have partnered with Cortes to help keep the tradition of Miramar Bakery (and its goods) available for many generations to come. You’ll still find the same recipes and baking methods — everything from the guava and cheese pastries to café cubano and fresh-from-the-oven Cuban bread. Many of the bakery’s employees, some of whom have been with the bakery since its inception, can still be found in the kitchen or at the front of house. Of course, some things have changed, but for the better: The menu now offers lunchtime meals, dishes like ropa vieja and lechon asado, served with rice and beans for $5.99.

Family-owned and -operated since 1972, this New York-style eatery and deli has been serving the people of Pompano Beach — especially the Palm Aire neighborhood — for more than three decades. In 1992, its current owners, a husband-and-wife team, took over full-time and continued the Bagel Snack legacy of delivering the restaurant’s cooked-on-premises bagels and bialys to a hungry (and happy) patronage of snowbirds and locals. Bagel Snack features bagels in all the traditional New York varieties, from plain and poppy seed to sesame, rye, pumpernickel, onion, and garlic. You won’t find anything as sacrilegious as jalapeño or cranberry in the big plastic bins, however. Here, they make all the bagels the old-fashioned way. First, they boil them. Then, they bake them. The final product: a soft, doughy interior with the perfect thin, crispy crust that’s not too tough to chew or hard to swallow. All that’s left is to decide your favorite flavor. Bagel Snack also offers some of the tastiest bialys in South Florida and fresh cream cheese and smoked salmon that will put all that prepackaged stuff to shame.

Readers’ Choice: The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co.

Breakfast. It’s not only the most important meal of the day; it’s also the cheapest. Or at least it used to be. Then restaurants started charging absolutely ridiculous prices for the morning meal. Fifteen bucks for an omelet? That’s highway robbery for a few eggs, cheese, and maybe some veggies. What happened to those good, old-fashioned coffee shops where you could get a plate of eggs and a coffee without breaking the piggy bank? Everything about Diner by the Sea is retro — starting with owner Billy at the griddle slinging hash and cracking hen’s fruit. Sit at the brightly colored vinyl stools at the counter or in a booth and enjoy a steaming cup of coffee while you peruse the menu items — all way under ten dollars. Choose a hearty country sausage and gravy ($8.99) or the lightest, fluffiest pancakes you’ve ever had ($5.29). If you’re on a budget, a simple egg-and-home-fries breakfast with toast is only $3.99. And on weekends, your first mimosa is free. As you dig into your plate, look around to see a good assortment of tourists and locals cohabiting in harmony over coffee, chatting about the weather and condo values. This is what a good, old-fashioned restaurant is supposed to be.

Two is always better than one, right? Well, it certainly is when you’re talking brunch. Visit downtown Himmarshee Village on a Sunday and you’ll get two brunches in one spot thanks to Bull Market’s weekly brunch buffet for $24 per person. The restaurant tag-teams with its sister establishment, the adjoining restaurant Chow, to deliver a unique “East Vs. West” all-you-can-eat menu offering Bull Market’s American-style comfort food eats alongside Chow’s Asian-inspired fare. That means omelet and waffle stations accompanied by fried chicken or stir-fried noodles — even crab legs and unlimited sushi. The good times don’t stop there. Next, slog down a few drinks with the unlimited bloody mary and mimosa special for $15 per person. During happy hour, all regular drinks are two-for-one. So get in on the breakfast-lunch action with twice the food and drink options, guaranteed every weekend.

By now, we all know a glass of wine here and there can be good for you. In addition to red wine’s heart-healthy antioxidants and resveratrol, recent studies show those who drink two glasses of wine a day are slimmer and 40 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes. Cocktails can be good for you too — especially if you’re frequenting a bar that looks more like an apothecary than a happy-hour hot spot. At Mind Your Manors in Wilton Manors, they are offering drinks with an extra-special ingredient: spirulina. According to owner Bobby Del Campo, the spirulina behind this bar isn’t your average (and awful-tasting) green powder. Instead, the bar uses Spirulina Ice, a frozen product grown by a private farm and developed to preserve the nutritional benefits of this powerful superfood — without the harsh, grassy, bitter flavor often associated with dehydrated products. A potent source of plant protein and amino acids, this blue-green algae can be added to almost any drink. The real supersipper at Mind Your Manors is the spirulina bloody mary. It isn’t backed by any scientific claims, of course, but we’re guessing you’re getting a good dose of essential fatty acid gamma linolenic acid, chlorophyll, calcium, B-12, and bio-available iron with every sip.

Nothing says “happy hour” like a well-crafted martini. And nothing says well-crafted martini quite like Grille 401 on Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale, the stylish eatery with a buzzy bar scene and outdoor patio offering an extensive drink menu paired with New American plates. During happy hour at Grille 401, you can find BOGO deals on any of its 15-plus craft cocktails, along with a side of live music and a view from the outdoor patio. This year, the restaurant’s cocktail offerings expanded with three new cocktails featuring innovative ingredients, including Kappa Pisco liquor, blood orange, and jalapeño-cilantro purée. Of the many rotating and seasonal specials, one drink in particular has made the cut to full-time and has become a crowd favorite: the Red Cougar. Served in a chilled martini glass, the bright-pink drink is a simple yet refreshing combination of Stolichnaya vodka, fresh-muddled strawberries, basil, simple syrup, and lemon juice.

Finally, Subway and Burger King offer veggie burgers. But more encouraging is that Sublime exists — a place where you can have a three-course gourmet meal coupled with a cocktail that is entirely vegan. It serves lasagnas, mojitos, pizzas, and mac ‘n’ cheese all made of plant-based ingredients. The prices aren’t cheap, with entrées ranging from $15 for the black bean burger to $21 for the mushroom ravioli, but the ambiance is great. Save room for dessert: No cocoa beans were harmed in the making of that chocolate nirvana cake.

All hibachi restaurants are not created equal. That’s incredibly apparent when you step into the Saito’s Japanese Steakhouse Coconut Creek location. Nestled inside the rapidly growing Promenade shopping plaza, this Saito’s sits in a festive spot surrounded by lots of postmeal entertainment choices. Saito’s offers the traditional live hibachi experience, a children’s hibachi, and a vibrant bar with top-shelf choices that would make a South Beach restaurant jealous. Amazing chefs put on performances that go beyond the average hibachi routine. Saito’s is known for tender steak cuts and sushi options that are out of this world.

This longtime Sunrise eatery has been serving dim sum to Asian and American families in West Broward for more than 25 years. Here, there’s no pushcart from which to cull your options. Instead, mark off choices on a small checklist. Your food will arrive a little later — hot and freshly made. Start with pork-filled sticky buns or steamed dumplings stuffed with juicy shrimp. Then move on to shareable platters like steamed mustard greens finished with a squirt of plummy hoisin sauce. Exotic options like chicken feet, duck tongues, and jellyfish salad are available for more adventurous diners. A favorite is the Singapore Noodles, stir-fried, curry-infused rice noodles that arrive in a heaping platter with fat shrimp and strips of red-rimmed pork, stir-fried along with bean sprouts, egg, and onion. The dish pairs perfectly with the restaurant’s other dim sum, a collection of dumplings, sautéed greens, and skewered beef. The selection and quality guarantees a packed house on weekends, when the neon “Hong Kong Style Dim Sum” sign lights up in front.

Readers’ Choice: Kapow! Noodle Bar

Sausage, wiener, pretzels with mustard, and beer. Lots and lots of beer. You’ll get all this and more at Checkers Old Munchen. The restaurant looks as though you’ve arrived in the Bavarian capital and serves platters of meat and German beer in giant glass mugs and boots. The small restaurant is lined with beer bottles and decorative steins and anchored by a worn, copper-topped bar. A friendly staff will be eager to pour you a pint of the good stuff, be it hoppy Spaten Pilsner or dark Franziskaner Dunkel. What the place lacks in terms of modernity, it makes up for with plenty of sauerkraut, bratwurst, and spaetzle. With a beer selection that runs more than 60 deep and a kitchen turning out authentic grub, Checkers succeeds in transporting you back to Old Munchen any day of the week.

Cafe Martorano is a picture of Staten Island meets New Jersey cool. A black, horseshoe-shaped bar is the focal point of the room, flanked by an open kitchen on one side and a DJ booth on the other. Both booth and stove are the domain of owner Steve Martorano, who likes to spin tunes as much as he likes to make Sunday gravy. The burly cook (he doesn’t like to be called “chef”) specializes in Italian-American classics: eggplant stack ($23), chicken cacciatore ($34), and bucatini carbonara ($26), all served in oversized portions. The food is tasty and the portions generous, and if you’re a transplant from New York or New Jersey, it tastes like home. But it’s Martorano who sets this restaurant apart from other Italian joints. The chef’s personality is as big as his biceps, and when he’s in the room, all eyes are on him. As the evening progresses, so does the decibel level, until you’re not sure whether you’re in a restaurant or a club in Bensonhurst. You might even get a glimpse of some of Martorano’s celebrity friends like Mario Lopez, Tom Jones, and Shaq, who drive and fly in to see the king of the meatball.

Readers’ Choice: Casa D’ Angelo

Indian food is becoming increasingly easy to find. Recently, the first outpost of California-based KASI Indian Food opened in Boca Raton — fast-casual dining à la Chipotle but with a helluva lot more curry. Still, most of the Indian food sold in South Florida — like masalas and tandoori — comes from the country’s northern region. Madras Café, however, specializes in southern Indian cuisine like dosa, papdi chaat, and biryani. Recipes from the south use more exotic spices — amchoor (dried mango), saunth (dried ginger), and anardana (crushed pomegranate seeds) — as well as hotter chilies. They also lean vegetarian, with lentils factoring into sambar (a dish tempered with whole spices and chilies), rasam (a hot-sour soup dish), and poppadoms (deep-fried, crispy pancakes). Round out your meal with some sweetness, the most popular dessert being dahi vada (lentil cakes dipped in a mild coriander- and cumin-spiced yogurt) fried into dense doughnuts and paired with the restaurant’s syrupy-thick chutneys.

Fast, casual, and delicious — J28 Sandwich Bar is a hot spot to get a bite by the beach and sample some Peruvian fare with American flair. Most South Floridians are familiar with Cuban food, but if you haven’t tried a home-cooked meal from Peru, a trip to J28 is an easy way to get your taste buds wet. Established by two friendly brothers, Marco and Javier, this small but inviting restaurant offers pork, beef, and chicken prepared Peruvian style and served on a freshly baked bun. Most popular on the menu is the chicharrón — thick slices of pork belly with pickled onion, mayo, and boiled sweet potato. Munch on the sandwich with a side of roasted corn or potato salad, and wash it down with chicha — a purple maize drink with a touch of pineapple juice and hints of clove and cinnamon. Sure you could go to a Publix or Subway, but why?

Chef-owner Eduardo Pria introduced ingredients like ancho chilies, and nopales (cactus paddles) to South Florida’s upscale dining scene in 1993. Inside his eatery, amid colorful Mexican kitsch, you can sample unusual dishes like the achiote crepes stuffed with cuitlacoche (a fungus native to Mexico that grows on cornhusks); Florida blue-crab cakes with sweet yellow corn, napped in puebla mole and smoky chipotle sauce; and a cream of cilantro soup (which actually contains no dairy aside from the cotija cheese sprinkled on top). Pria’s specials change often, and a daily new dish might include escargots sautéed with white wine and onions, or grilled nopales layered with marinated pork loin and achiote for a new take on bocadillo. For entrées, try something less Mexican but tasty and tantalizing: the trio of ruby-colored Colorado lamb chops brushed with cilantro-garlic oil and served with a wild-mushroom-stuffed tamale and a miniature cornhusk boat of puréed black beans.

Readers’ Choice: Rocco’s Tacos

Co-owner and chef Mario Flores went to great lengths to create a menu with dishes that combine the best of Spanish and Cuban fare, selections that work to complement each other and highlight both cultures. The restaurant is best-known for its potent mojitos, homemade sangria, tender roast pork, ground-beef empanadas, and hefty corn-scented tamales. The crowd here is lively, and the air is heavy with the scent of garlic, grilled onion, and pepper. Main plates worth traveling for include the red snapper, rolled in ground plantain and topped with a handful of fresh shrimp; an Argentine-style skirt steak; and seafood-stuffed paella. The staff at this Fort Lauderdale spot is as sweet as the grilled plantains, the tres leches dessert, or the tiny cup of Cuban coffee at the end of your meal.

According to the restaurant’s owners, a Dutch pot is the only way to produce authentic Jamaican cooking. The pot heats up at an even temperature, making the food consistent — and here, consistently awesome. What started in 1998 as a single-burner oven in the backyard has morphed into one of the best — and most inexpensive — eateries around. Here and at the two other locations, lunch specials cost less than $10. That includes a platter of spicy jerk chicken or pork served alongside a pile of rice, peas, and plantains. If jerk isn’t your thing, there’s also curry goat, akee, catfish, liver and onions, and callaloo. Caribbean-style sides offer a taste of something different, from fritters and boiled bananas to “bammy” — a traditional Jamaican cassava flatbread.

Eating here is like eating at someone’s home, where conversation and company are half of the experience. The heart and soul of the place is proprietor Beverly Jacobs, a charismatic woman known for her home-cooked dishes: escovitched tilapia, jerk chicken and pork, and curry golden crab, its sweet legs basking in a pool of spicy brown sauce. (Vegetarians will be psyched to know many of the dishes are vegetable- and fruit-based.) Take your time, soak in the place, and finish with a slice of rum cake so infused with spirits, you’ll be breathing fire after each bite.

If you pull up to Calypso Restaurant & Raw Bar on a Saturday evening, the parking lot will be empty. The lights will be off. And there will be no one waiting for a table. This is not a bad sign, however. The longtime Pompano Beach restaurant hasn’t held weekend hours for close to a decade. After 25 years in business, the owners like it that way; the restaurant has garnered such a devout local following that it doesn’t need to cash in on a weekend swell. Inside, everything just feels right, from the gaudily bright parrot curtains to the tiki-style thatching hanging over the bar and the nautical bric-a-brac that brands it an official Florida hole in the wall. The seafoodcentric menu hasn’t changed much since opening day, featuring a list of starters like cutters (island-speak for sandwich), roti, and specials created by the founding Bahamian owners. The heart of the menu remains conch, which, for the past two decades, is delivered straight from local waters and prepared in the same laborious, time-consuming manner: a rhythmic pounding by large wooden mallets, rendering each pink tongue-like strip of conch meat into tender tidbits. You can order it frittered, fried, or cooked over an open flame, served with a lime wedge and a cup of drawn butter.

In one mile-long stretch of University Drive, you can sample some of South Florida’s best banchan, cook your own eats on a tabletop grill, and score a giant jar of kimchi. Best-known among the cluster of Korean eateries here is Gabose, a 14-year-old landmark and the final foray in a series of establishments opened by James Soonkuk Hong and Eunsuk Hong. Today, the restaurant is run by their daughter and her husband, Susan and Fred Kim, who recently opened Gabose Pocha next door. Pocha is Susan’s interpretation of a Korean pojangmacha — dubbed pocha for short — a reference to makeshift tents that serve nothing but grilled meats and the country’s popular rice liquor, soju. Today, the pocha is a sort of Korean gastropub. Servers converse softly in Korean; a fish tank housing live sea snails gurgles near the exposed kitchen; and Hyuna, a spunky Korean pop singer, croons from the speakers. Start with a shrub, a Korean cocktail made from fermented fruit, vinegar, and soju — a distilled rice liquor more reminiscent of vodka than sake. Specials sometimes include fresh catches straight from Korea, like nakji (octopus), abalone, and sea cucumber. The rest of the menu is known as anju — a series of small plates meant to be eaten with plenty of liquor. Each is exotic and unfamiliar and requires some explaining. If you’re feeling adventurous, beef intestine and chicken gizzard are racy options. Or try the gol bangee, a spicy escargot salad with carrot, cucumber, and cabbage slaw dressed in a pasty-thick sriracha-style sauce.

Sure, there are a lot of restaurants that are dog-friendly. Sit on a terrace and your dog will get a pat on the head, a dish of water, maybe even a Milk Bone. But the Nauti Dawg Café is truly dog-obsessed. The restaurant, located at the Lighthouse Point Marina, goes above and beyond to treat Muffy and Chopper like the furry royalty they are. Dogs have their own menu filled with delights — much healthier than having you sneak people food to your pooch. Offerings are grilled without spices, cut into bite-sized pieces, and served tableside in a doggy bowl. Fido can choose four strips of bacon ($3), a six-ounce skirt steak ($6), a chicken breast ($7), or a hot dawg ($4). Take Binky out on the town for Monday’s Yappy Hour, when all K9 entrées are half-priced all day. As you and Fido bond over burgers at the quaint waterfront café, know that the only drawback to interspecies dining is the fact that when the check comes, Rover always seems to have left his money in his other collar.

The Breakers is a legendary beachfront resort in Palm Beach. Also legendary is its Sunday brunch at the onsite restaurant the Circle — an opulent affair that’s been wowing guests for a quarter of a century. The brunch is less of a meal than a glimpse into what was likely a Wednesday snack for, oh, say France’s Sun King. There are mountains of stone crabs, a bounty of pastries still warm from the oven, and rows of carving stations with chefs serving turkey, lamb, and tender pink slices of beef. Salads, pâtés, waffles, omelets — they’re all here. This brunch, though, offers refinement to go with your eggs Benedict. Look outward to see the gleaming ocean in all her splendor. Look up and admire the hand-painted ceilings. Listen to the heavenly tones of a harpist as you sip on your fourth mimosa. Of course, nirvana comes at a price: 100 bucks, to be exact. Luckily, the Breakers is special enough that when Mumsy and Pupsy come down for their visit, it’s the perfect place to take them for a quintessential taste of elegance. They’ll think you’re thoughtful… when you’re just being really, really clever.

This upscale Italian ristorante, with dual locations in Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, has been described as “the closest to dining in Florence anyone will get in Florida.” And with more than 30 pages of Italian and American wines, this Wine Spectator-award-winning restaurant is sure to get your lover’s juices flowing. Although wine is the aphrodisiac, the food is just as seductive. Beautifully prepared dishes include bistecca alla fiorentina (oak-grilled, dry-aged New York strip steak marinated in olive oil, rosemary, and garlic with sweet Vidalia onions and wild mushrooms) and tuna carpaccio (with arugula, lemon, and olive oil). Chef-owner Angelo Elia offers an array of classy dishes, with courteous service offered in a dimly lit, white-tablecloth setting.

When you were a kid, you longed for adventure, novelty, and mango ice cream. Mai-Kai Restaurant serves all of that. Built in 1956 and now listed on the National Register of Historical Places, Mai-Kai is like visiting our very own Jungle Island without having to pay its exorbitant prices. This Polynesian restaurant prides itself on waterfalls and tiki sculptures that reflect regions of Polynesia. A kids’ menu comes with a lei and a coloring book, most of the fruity drinks can be made virgin, and kids 12 and under even get to watch the twice-nightly dance and fire-spinning show for free.

Finding the latest foodie hole in the wall can be a point of pride; the more rustic the location, the more accomplished you feel for having found it. Fish Shack in Pompano Beach is well-hidden in a strip of shops just one block east of Federal Highway. The tiny spot is owned and operated by a local family that has been in the seafood business for more than 20 years. This 600-square-foot eatery seats no more than 30, and on a busy afternoon, patrons will cram in elbow to elbow. The drink menu is simple: only iced tea, lemonade, soda, house wines by the glass, Budweiser, and Bud Light. Walls are adorned with fishing net, buoys, and a giant marlin hung between a mahi and a mackerel. The menu will have you salivating: conch fritters and smoked fish dip, cracked conch, oysters, and middleneck clams on the half-shell. Larger plates include First Mate sandwiches that come on soft, oversized kaiser rolls. Choose from grouper and mahi, both of which can be ordered grilled, blackened, or with Cajun spice. The fish and chips entrée is the most popular dish here, but you may never go back after discovering the conch salad, hidden on the back of the menu alongside the caesar and garden salad selections: a large serving chock-full of bite-sized diced conch, pepper, and onion dressed in a sugar-sweetened lime bath that gives it an appealing zing.

We joke about the foreigners who roam Hollywood. We joke about their banana hammocks, their driving habits, their funny tan lines. Long overdue, though, is a huge dose of appreciation for what they bring: the lilting sound of foreign languages, the wonderful mannerisms that make great people-watching on the Broadwalk, and some damned good food. Le Comptoir is the cozy creation from chef-owner Céline Maury and her husband, Otis, both expats from Paris, who opened Le Comptoir in 2010. The restaurant’s name translates roughly as “the bar,” although the drink menu consists of just a few select wines and five domestic beers. The food menu is likewise concise: just four appetizers and seven entrées, but that’s enough for the intimate space. Mussels — $16.50, offered in four styles: white wine, cream, curry, or Provençal — are the stars here, imported daily from Maine or Prince Edward Island, steamed to perfection, and dropped, in a two-pound pile, on your plate, with a side of homemade fries. Duck à l’orange and chicken cordon bleu are also on offer, but don’t take the traditional dishes to mean that this is a stuffy French joint. Kids are welcomed with chicken nuggets and fish sticks, and the French Canadians who’ve discovered this place keep it warm with their laughter. (Have you heard the one about how many Americains it takes to screw in a light bulb? One to comment on how funny-looking the light bulbs are, two to sue the light-bulb maker, and five to convert the currency.) Wash down the ambience with a banana flambé or a crepe filled with Nutella or Céline’s homemade jam. Merci beaucoup for this place.

Readers’ Choice: The Tipsy Boar

The “best” restaurant doesn’t have to be the one with the fanciest decor, the frou-frou-est ingredients, or the Frenchest chef. It’s the one you’re drawn to, over and over and over again. The one where you meet friends, where you take out-of-towners, where you feel the stress ooze out of your body the moment you slide into a booth. Whenever someone suggests, “Let’s go to Coconuts,” the sun magically shines a little brighter and you hold off on that snack you were about to bite into, knowing that something better — way better — awaits. The food is a mix of familiar comforts (a $13 coconut shrimp appetizer, $5 mac ‘n’ cheese, $27 strip steak) and little surprises (pigeon peas and rice, $3; bahn mi sandwiches on special). The waterfront setting is not at all pretentious, and the service, usually lovely. (Ask and servers will often provide food to toss to the little fish who swim up to the dock.) Fridays feel like a community gathering when paella is cooked outdoors, and on Monday and Tuesdays, wines from the well-curated list are half-off (though there is blueberry soda and blackberry mojitos, if you prefer). Best of all, you just can’t beat the company motto: “Be nice.”

Readers’ Choice: Steak 954

Luckily, Delray’s dining scene is expanding beyond the eastern downtown area. The year-old Apeiro Kitchen & Bar is one delicious example, located in the Delray Marketplace shopping plaza where Atlantic Avenue meets Lyons Road just west of Florida’s Turnpike. Here, chef-owner David Blonsky has partnered with local restaurateur Burt Rapoport. Apeiro is a Mediterranean-style concept built on simple ingredients and clean flavor. Blonsky has assembled a rather large menu, featuring cheese platters, falafel served with pickled vegetables, and Moroccan-spiced lamb ribs. Stracchino, a young, creamy Italian cow’s-milk cheese, is paired with a salty, thin-sliced prosciutto and a potent fig balsamic reduction; the bunuelo is a take on a Latin fritter, made with airy puffs of phyllo. Kebabs and sandwiches highlight house-roasted and shaved-to-order meats. And my God, the pastas — handmade orecchiette is a hearty dish, each tiny ear-shaped pasta tossed in an earthy saffron, fennel, and lemongrass cream sauce with cuts of spicy, house-made, lamb merguez sausage. “My goal with Apeiro is to open people’s minds to a different style of cooking,” says Blonsky. He is planning a Miami location next.

Readers’ Choice: Avocado Grill

This year, one of Miami’s Buzziest Restaurants, according to Condé Nast Traveler, made its way into Palm Beach County: Meat Market opened in Palm Beach. The upmarket steak house offers the same high-end cuisine, creative cocktails, and cool South Beach vibe as the original location; restaurateur David Tornek and chef/co-owner Sean Brasel know their prime cuts of beef and seafood. A stylish crudo bar offers classic raw-bar items including oysters and ceviches. Appetizers include white truffle Kobe tartare or a daily alternating charcuterie selection. But at the center stage are Meat Market’s prime-cut steaks, offered in a three-tier format in which guests can customize their dish with add-ons such as lobster tail, seared foie gras, or roasted prime bone marrow. Signature house-made butters and sauces are served à la carte, like the atomic horseradish truffle sauce. Like its Lincoln Road counterpart, Meat Market Palm Beach boasts a bustling bar scene and an innovative cocktail program.

Readers’ Choice: Dada Restaurant & Lounge

At the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s new Japanese-style restaurant, paying $24 for a tower of toro the size of a Ping-Pong ball is worth it. That pile of toro is rich and creamy, paired with a trio of sauces — salty, spicy, and sweet — and served with a basket of crispy wontons fried into pillow-shaped balloons. Kuro translates to “black” in Japanese, but that’s less about having black-colored decor and more about a certain noir sexiness that permeates the place. The 9,500-square-foot restaurant has become a showpiece for the resort with a theater-style dining room where patrons can indulge in traditional multicourse Japanese dining, a series of dishes that progress from light, simple fare to heavier, more complex dishes. A private chef’s bar presents a front-row seat to the restaurant’s expansive open kitchen. Or take your dinner party into the private dining area, a glass-walled room. Outside, just steps from Kuro’s bar, two private tables allow for a quiet alfresco dinner beside the pool. Plus, you’ll find that element that’s so elusive in Florida: exceptional service. A meal at Kuro plays out like a well-orchestrated performance, progressing in stanzas. It starts with chilled plates, salads, and tempura straight through to selections from a robata grill. The roller coaster of flavor peaks with the chef’s most inspired dishes, filed under fish (sea) and meat (land). Finish that off with sushi — bright slices of nigiri and perhaps a wacky, Willy Wonka-inspired dessert: shaved ice or green panna cotta.

Readers’ Choice: Fork & Balls

You can separate a good barbecue restaurant from the bad by its ribs. The meat should be fall-off-the-bone tender and have the perfect mix of smoky flavor and charred goodness. A newcomer to the South Florida scene but boasting a chef with decades’ worth of competitive barbecue under his belt, Smoke in Delray Beach serves some of the tastiest ribs around. Pork spare ribs and beef ribs are smoked over low heat for hours, permeating the meat with a soft smoky essence and melting away fat for a rich flavor and unforgettable char crust. The key to rib heaven, says executive chef Bryan Tyrell, begins with good product. Tyrell sources the same thick slabs of pork and beef he once cooked at Oklahoma Joe’s in Kansas City. Next, the product must be prepped and seasoned just right, trimmed properly, and given the Smoke house blend of sugar and spices that imparts each rib with a sweet-tart tang. Last, the ribs are smoked low and slow for up to four hours over oak logs in a custom-order pit made in Missouri. You probably won’t need them, but the restaurant offers several sauces to dip into, including a thick Kansas City-style red; tangy, vinegar-based Carolina BBQ; and a mild golden mustard sauce. When you’re done, there won’t be anything left but a pile of bones — and the need for a few dozen wet wipes.

Just one block south of Oakland Park Boulevard and over a canal that hems the northern edge of the Island City, chef-owner Armando Vega and his wife, Yudaris, will deliver your dish as if you were family. Inside their 15-table restaurant, the Cuban-born couple dish out carefully sourced and lovingly cooked Latin and Mediterranean cuisine. Charcuterie, like the $16 ham made from Iberico pigs that feed on acorns, is presented on a wooden cutting board, with specialty cheeses if you please. (Try the manchego, a nutty sheep’s cheese, cured for more than a year.) Other delights imported from Spain include medium-grain rice from Murcia; mahón, a soft cow’s-milk cheese from the island of Minorca; and olive oil from Jaén, a city in the south. Entrées like grilled octopus ($16) and oxtail medallions ($21) are specialties, and the wait staff will attentively refill your water or wine while you feast. The rustic, red-walled hideaway is accented with handmade wooden wine racks and Vega’s family china, and the corks of emptied wine bottles are evidence of the gastronomic merriment that’s taken place over the years.

Readers’ Choice: Chow Sushi BBQ

The veggie burger was once a sad food item. It was tossed onto the menu at every kind of restaurant from suburban chains to upscale steak houses to trendy gastropubs almost as an afterthought, a bare nod to the idea that some of these weirdo nonmeaters might come in and we gotta give ’em something. As food has become more introspective and the American public began to seek vittles beyond Sysco meals, the veggie burger evolved. Tap 42 does a particularly creative take: no fake meat or boring beans, the patty is basically a large falafel made from ground chickpeas and fried to crispy goodness. It is then topped with roasted red-pepper tzatziki (a yogurt-based condiment), lettuce, tomato, and onion. You don’t have to be a vegetarian to enjoy a sandwich like that.

M.E.A.T. Eatery & Tap Room in Boca Raton is all about doing everything in-house. As at its sister establishment in Islamorada, the restaurant staff smokes and grinds its own meats onsite, cuts and cures its own bacon, and offers house-made sausage and chorizo. Even the condiments — including a mango chipotle ketchup and caraway and beer mustard — are made fresh and from scratch. The menu is a carnivore’s dream, offering everything from duck and pickled blueberry sausage to an eight-hour, house-smoked, pulled-pork sandwich. A crowd favorite is the Inside-Out Juicy Lucy Burger, a six-ounce pimento-cheese-and-bacon-stuffed Angus patty topped with cheese, lettuce, and tomato, but we always opt for the “Patti” sandwich, a five-ounce chorizo burger made fresh and ground in-house. It’s a monster, topped with American cheese and a lime cilantro aioli. All it needs is a solid side act. We suggest pairing it with the bistro fries, here fried in duck fat for an extra level of flavor.

Readers’ Choice: Bull Market

Here, you’ll get more than a basic, boring wiener. A chalkboard on the wall advertises a dozen or so specialty dogs, everything from the Korean (with homemade kimchi, red onion, and Asian mustard) to the Reuben (with Swiss cheese, kraut, and Thousand Island dressing). Of course, you’ll still be able to find all the regular hot-dog toppings like relish, ketchup, and good ol’ yellow mustard. But it’s the more adventurous options like char-grilled salami sandwiches, smokehouse beef brisket, and gourmet sausages that make this place truly original. Daily specials are always exciting, like the gyro — a lamb hot dog topped with tzatziki and feta cheese. There’s even a well-stocked variety of specialty sausages, from duck and pheasant to wild boar, venison, elk, and buffalo — all for less than $6 each. For more familiar options, we still love the classic Chi-town dog, a Vienna footlong that’s been dragged through the garden with a slathering of mustard, onion, emerald-green relish, dill pickle, tomato wedges, sport pepper, and a sprinkling of celery salt.

Readers’ Choice: Hot Dog Heaven

When it comes to slowly smoked meats, few South Floridians know more than Will Banks, owner of Blue Willy’s Barbecue in Pompano Beach. Banks learned to cook barbecue from his grandfather, who owned and operated a Texas barbecue shop that opened in the 1950s. At 15, Banks’ family moved to New York, but he never stopped barbecuing — first in homemade pits, then a food truck, and now at a permanent restaurant where the scent of smoked meats hangs heavy in the air and leaves you with a delicious fragrance. Wooden picnic benches are set with rolls of paper towels and a trio of sauces. Here, Banks roasts, smokes, and cuts everything right before your eyes, from tender roast chicken to spare ribs and pulled pork and a juicy peppercorn-crusted brisket. The same cut of beef is used to make the best pastrami sandwich in Broward County, via a three-week brining and smoking process.

Readers’ Choice: Tom Jenkins BBQ

Chef-owner Clay Conley, who last year announced he’ll be opening a new Italian restaurant in West Palm Beach, recently brought life to yet another lifelong dream, offering hand-crafted baguette sandwiches for a hungry lunch crowd. Dubbed simply the Sandwich Shop at Buccan, the small eatery has become a huge hit, with lines out the door and people ready to scarf down anything coming out of Conley’s modest prep area. The 300-square-foot space is nothing more than a storage closet turned four-seat lunch counter in what was once a back room at Buccan, Conley’s upscale-casual Palm Beach eatery. The chef goes from wrapping sandwiches by day to prepping for the night at Buccan, all in the span of a few steps. The process begins each night, when staff preps dough for the 130 or so baguettes for the next day’s orders. These are baked fresh early each morning and are gone by late afternoon. Many of the ingredients for the menu’s two dozen or so hot and cold sandwiches are sourced from Buccan and Conley’s other restaurant, Imoto, and are prepared especially for the sandwich shop. For instance: a whole roasted turkey for the turkey club and a homemade pork pâté for the banh mi. Service starts at 11 a.m., and by 3 p.m., they close up shop. Of all the selections, the 48-hour sous-vide short rib ranks among the best, brushed with an apple-based glaze and topped with two-year-aged cheddar and a homemade horseradish sauce. The whole thing is pressed to a melty, hot mess and wrapped in white deli paper. To. Die. For.

Although the name of the green papaya salad ($8.95) might conjure images of a sweet fruit salad, the southeastern Asian delicacy really has more in common with the coleslaw you might find at a good deli or the cabbage salad you might find at a Central American restaurant. Known as som tum in Thailand, the green papaya salad is made of julienned unripened papayas and carrots. At Sukhohai, it is stirred with lime juice, tomato, and ground peanuts. Always refreshing, it is generally spicy but can be made mild and can also, upon request, be prepared vegetarian, without the fish sauce the recipe traditionally calls for.

Let New Orleans have its gumbo, Kansas City its barbecue, and Los Angeles and New York City their trend-setting concepts. Here in South Florida, we have our own invention: Floribbean, a fusion of island-inspired fare mixed with locally grown tropical fruits and fresh-caught fish. At Papa’s Raw Bar in Lighthouse Point, it’s what’s on the clipboard menu. It was originally intended to be nothing more than a wine and raw bar, but Papa’s — run by the same owners as longtime restaurant and fish market Seafood World next door — has transformed into a sort of seafood gastropub. Through nothing more than word of mouth, it has rapidly became a popular hangout for the Lighthouse locals who come for the fresh fish, craft beer, sushi, and creative small plates. But it’s the “Most Interesting Tacos” that will catch your eye. Choose from the fresh catch of the day, shrimp, conch, or lobster, and get any of them blackened, grilled, or panko-crusted. What you decide determines the toppings, either a fresh pico de gallo or ripened peach salsa slathered over a bed of raw savoy cabbage and topped off with the chef’s chipotle mayo. The fish tacos are the most interesting, of course — moist beer-battered slabs of white flesh tucked into corn tortillas delivered fresh from the Mexican market down the street.

On any given night, the line is out the door at Rok:Brgr, there are more than 100 reservations on OpenTable for Public House, and the newly opened Tacocraft Taqueria & Tequila Bar has a two-hour wait. You could say Marc Falsetto, whose JEY Hospitality runs these joints, is a busy man these days. His latest concept to hit SW Second Street in Himmarshee Village is a remake of the district’s longtime T-Mex Cantina, which closed its doors last year. Already, the tiny, 1,200-square-foot space is a hit, revamped with a custom mural by Florida graffiti artist Ruben Ubiera and featuring tacos that everyone is talking about. These come as house-made, hand-formed masa tortillas prepared daily and stuffed with prime meats and specially sourced cheeses, $3 to $5 each. Our favorite is the chorizo, house-made Mexican sausage paired with a fried egg in all its runny-yolk glory smothering a pile of potato hash, a garlic aioli, and delicate crumbles of cotija cheese. The crispy shredded pork is the most popular, however: adobe- and chili-rubbed and smothered with the same imported cow’s-milk cotija, a thick house crema, vibrant salsa verde, and diced, charred pineapple.

Readers’ Choice: Rocco’s Tacos

Taquerias are popping up all over South Florida, prepping handmade soft corn tortillas with pulled pork that’s been slow-cooked for hours. It’s a wonderful movement that hopefully builds in momentum. That does not mean, however, that the more familiar Americanized Tex-Mex cuisine is bereft of culinary value. Sometimes, just you want a danged giant burrito. You will get this at Señor Burrito, especially if you order the mole verde. Only slightly smaller than a newborn baby, the mole verde is a soft, perfect flour tortilla filled with shredded white chicken breast, and that’s it. No, seriously. That’s it. It is absolutely smothered in mole verde — literally green mole, rather than the more common black mole, which involves chocolate and cumin and other darker-colored spices. Mole verde is made from tomatillos, herbs like cilantro, and green peppers like jalapeño. It’s not particularly spicy here, however. As you cut open the burrito — yes, you will use a knife and fork — it oozes down into the pulled chicken along with the melted cheddar cheese on top. Drag the whole bite through the refried beans before you shovel it into your mouth. It’s burrito heaven, and you will need a siesta afterward.

Readers’ Choice: La Bamba

Hailing from Mexico City, Los Tacos chef-owner Omar Covarrubias was once hailed as an “ambassador of Mexican cuisine” by the New York Times, has served as executive chef for the Mexican president, received the National Award as Latino Chef of the Year at Flavors of Passion in 2011, and hosts a weekly cooking show on the Spanish-American network Univisión. Guess you could say he’s “authentic.” He brings his passion, expertise, and personal cultural background to every dish that emerges from his kitchen. A far cry from the Tex-Mex/Northern Mexican fare most Americans know, Covarrubias’ food is influenced by dishes and spices he grew up with in Mexico City. The house-made guacamole has a bit of heat from jalapeño and serrano chilies, diced tomato and sweet white onion, fresh cilantro, and lime juice. And the chips are fried fresh to order from house-made tortillas. If you are seeking authenticity, look no further than this big green bowl of guac.

A sign hangs on the wall at Fran’s Chicken Haven in Boca Raton that pretty much says it all: “If the colonel had our recipe, he’d be a general.” Why? This joint has been serving comfort food for close to five decades. Originally opened in 1964 by Fran and Joe Gerace, today the restaurant is owned and operated by Boca Raton native Chris Stuart, who remembers eating there as a child with his father, who at one time delivered the bread. Since he took over in 2013, Stuart has used the original Fran’s fried-chicken recipe, a sugar-sweetened blend of spices that fries up to a perfect crisp. Some things, though, have changed: The menu once served nothing but fried chicken with a side of coleslaw or fries. Today, Stuart offers homemade sides like mashed potatoes and gravy or macaroni ‘n’ cheese. If you’re extra hungry, go for the fried chicken and waffles, an oversized Belgian waffle served with a fried chicken thigh and leg and a choice of a regular, chocolate, or apple caramel waffle. For dessert, follow it up with a fried Oreo or Twinkie.

Readers’ Choice: Bay Bay’s Chicken and Waffles

Though its beaches are pristine and chic condos and hotels are opening, Fort Lauderdale is still seen by some as a place to drink beer and get tattoos. But one dinner at Steak 954 just might forever change your perceptions about the former spring-break capital of the world. The steak house, located inside the W Fort Lauderdale, is decked out in natural and citrus tones, a perfect accompaniment to the deep greens and blues of the Atlantic right outside the dining room’s windows. Order a barrel-aged Manhattan ($15) as you peruse the menu of beef from small boutique ranches. An eight-ounce filet ($39) is seared on a 1,700-degree range, allowing it a beautiful char on the outside while the inside stays a cool pink. It’s as damned near perfect as a piece of meat can get. A 16-ounce Wagyu rib eye will cost you $85. Pricey, but one bite of the marbled, succulent flesh and you’ll realize this is money well-spent. Of course, a steak house is also judged by its sides, and Steak 954 doesn’t disappoint. Get the truffled mac ‘n’ cheese ($11) and creamed spinach ($11), both creamy, decadent classics. Enjoy, indulge, and don’t worry about falling into a meat coma. Just get a room at the hotel and sleep it off in a state of pure carnivorous bliss.

If only all things in life were like a Brazilian steak house. For the poor uninitiated, allow us to explain how such an establishment works. You are given a small button when you sit down at your table. One side means you don’t want food; one side means you do. When you flip your button over to the food-wanting side, a swarm of meat-carrying hunks approaches your table, ready to carve off a slice of various steaks, pork, sausages, and chicken as soon as you approve. It’s the closest you can get to feeling like a Roman emperor without getting arrested. If the world worked like this, any time you were stressed out, you’d only have to flip over a piece of paper and a masseuse would pop up and start working out those knots. Hung over? Give the signal and a team of quiet nurses would crawl out from under your bed with Advil, Gatorade, and Chipotle. At Chima, they do service better than anyone in town. Make a reservation today, and wear your fanciest sweatpants.

At home, chef-owner Giovanni Rocchio practices mixed martial arts and wrestling, but in his restaurant kitchen, it’s all elegance: quail, turbot, foie gras, and handmade pasta. The chef is most famous for his casoncelli, wonton-shaped pasta stuffed with a rich veal and pancetta filling and served with a creamy brown butter sauce. The butternut squash tortilla is Rocchio’s favorite, however: a dish inspired by a meal at the Michelin-starred Ristorante dal Pescatore in Northern Italy. Rocchio started working at his family’s pizzeria as a kid, then at their white-tablecloth restaurant in Plantation before going in his own direction. His recipe for success: respect. “Respect for the product and respect for the customers. A good chef is only as good as his ingredients, and I want people to know they are getting the best. I’m always trying to do better. And that’s the secret to anyone’s success.”

Readers’ Choice: Brian Nelson, Tanzy

“Cheap” and “seafood” usually don’t mix well, except at Tark’s. Located in a standalone building that’s wrapped in a mural that might have been done by Guy Harvey when he was in middle school, this restaurant offers some of the best deals on quality seafood in South Florida. There’s about to be a party in your tummy: smoked fish dip ($5.50) and free (!) orders of blue cheese and celery get things going, and a gator-tail dinner ($9.95) or bucket of steamers (three dozen for $25.95) raise the roof. Two-dollar drafts make this the closest thing we have to a heaven on Earth, and if you eat enough oysters (an aphrodisiac, ya know), the chick in the Salt Life shirt on the next stool might want to start talking fishing poles.

The best way to start off a meal is to arrive at the restaurant by boat. Two Georges makes that easy with its dockside location. Once inside, chow down on a fried seafood platter or sliders that complement the great beer selection — especially on a Friday after work, during the happening happy hour. This friendly vibe is encouraged with community-building events like fishing and golf tournaments and sporting events on TVs. This place is quintessential Florida — it feels like you took a drive to the Keys, but thankfully, you can hit up this place even without a five-hour trek.

Hotel restaurants used to exist for the sole purpose of giving guests a place to satisfy their hunger without going outside. The Rusty Hook Tavern at the Sands Harbor Resort and Marina in Pompano Beach has flipped that script, even drawing locals to this hip waterside joint. A trio of industry veterans — Ned Jaouhar, Kareem Lakchira, and Andy Patton — has created a tavern-style establishment where locals and tourists alike can enjoy creative fare paired with a short list of cocktails and a selection of craft brews. On a beautiful day, the outdoor patio deck will be packed. Make it through the crowd and down a narrow set of steps and the hotel’s pool deck offers uninterrupted views of the Intracoastal Waterway, as does the interior dining area. “Nibbles and bites” options include deviled eggs or meatballs; a surf ‘n’ turf entrée brings together ruby-red porcini-crusted tuna and melty, tender braised oxtail swimming in a rich wine reduction. If ripped jeans and flip-flops are your go-to getup, then the “handheld” offerings like tacos and sandwiches might be the best bet. With its tapas philosophy and cool-kid casual theme, the Rusty Hook Tavern presents the perfect escape from the doldrums of a long workweek or the chaos of a downtown weekend scene.

Nearly everything inside this store is a little treasure: decorative chopsticks, Japanese magazines, and a cooler full of sakes. Cute little mugs and earthenware dishes are functional and fun. A selection of Japanese junk food includes chocolate-covered Pocky sticks, wasabi peas, mochi ice cream, and shrimp chips. There’s no fresh produce, but at the back, order cheap and fresh sushi takeout from a small counter. The Sunrise Roll is a house favorite, a simple and affordable mix of ruby-red tuna, white-ribbed salmon, electric orange masago (fish roe), bright-pink shibazuke (pickled vegetables including eggplant), and crisp cucumber. Japanese appetizers such as steamed edamame, miso soup, and seaweed salad round out the meal. But go early: The place is known to get busy during weekday lunch hours and on Friday or Saturday nights.

Can you afford to eat sushi every day? At Kevin’s Sushi & Thai in Deerfield Beach, you can. Named for chef-owner Kevin Ongtua, this spot is tucked into yet another aging South Florida strip mall. Regulars have done a good job of keeping quiet about this sleeper sushi spot. They don’t want you taking their seat at the sushi bar, ordering all the uni, or drinking up the last of the house pineapple-infused sake. Behind the sushi bar, the chef-owner prepares the restaurant’s most impressive menu items: enormous sushi rolls the size of sand dollars. A rainbow roll that could probably feed a family of four is only ten bucks; a godzilla roll, $16. A whiteboard advertises specials, in Ongtua’s handwriting, like frog legs, uni, and bluefin toro. The small kitchen also cranks out the standards, like homemade tom kha gai soup, or platters of seared wahoo tataki, thick cuts of fresh-sliced fish. Ongtua also makes his own pineapple-infused sake.

Readers’ Choice: Tee Jay Thai Sushi

We do miss the intrigue of this spot’s first incarnation, tucked away in a little warren of commercial spaces in an anonymous office building on Federal Highway, around the corner from its current home. But while the atmosphere is less exotic, the service remains lovely, and the food has lost no flair. The pho — baseline marker in the evaluation of any Vietnamese kitchen — is impeccable, a glistening and delicate herbal broth rich with fine noodles and meats. The banh mi is first-rate, a crispy baguette piled with veggies and roast meats. The lemongrass dishes are peppery and pungent. The wide-ranging menu includes gluten-free and vegetarian dishes. Finish it off with bracing/sweet/syrupy Vietnamese iced coffee or bubble tea.

From Chiangmai special noodle soup to spice-packed curries, Thai food is a complicated choreography of ingredients like fish sauce, dried shrimp paste, and lemongrass combined with seemingly incongruous spices such as coriander and cinnamon. The best chefs tame the full spectrum of flavors into a single, harmonious finish. At Tamarind Asian Grill and Sushi Bar, that balance has been achieved by owner Khruawan Russmetes, a Thailand native well-versed in her country’s cuisine. The tamarind at the front of the property — the flowering fruit tree used in cooking across southeast Asia — she planted herself after opening in 2001. Enormous fish-based platters include a crispy whole snapper, served at market price. The sushi menu offers more than 20 specialty rolls, including the house favorite, Tom’s Dream Roll, named for longtime sushi chef Tom Nanongkhai. A few dishes vie for the title of most original, including Russmetes’ Thai fries: cuts of boniato (a type of sweet potato) rolled in coconut flour and flash-fried.