As a countdown to the Best of Broward Palm Beach 2011, coming in June, Clean Plate Charlie is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in South Florida. Send your own nominations to Deirdra.Funcheon@BrowardPalmBeach.com.

No. 36: Bone-in Filet Mignon from Morton's

In the community of carnivores, the filet mignon ("dainty filet," in French) has about as much respect as tofu.

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In fact, it pretty much is the tofu of the carnivorous kingdom--tender and tasteless, best served with some kind of sauce to disguise its lack of character. But being that the tenderloin from which the filet mignon is cut is merely the other half of what's called a porterhouse steak, if you buzz right down the middle of the bone you'll get a bone-in strip (aka, New York strip) and--ta dah!--a bone-in filet mignon. That bone makes all the difference, imparting rich, beefy flavor to the otherwise bland meat and helping keep it moist and juicy, which is exactly what it does with Morton's $57(!) behemoth. True, you could buy a buttload of tofu for 57 smackers but then, after all, you'd still be eating tofu.