JJ Muggs…a “sports bar” literally right next door to Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida.

Yesterday afternoon (Sunday) around 2:00pm—Jeff Eats and Mrs. Jeff Eats ate lunch at JJ Muggs Stadium Grill…the joint was JAMMED and I do mean JAMMED…every table inside and outside–taken…tons of folks standing inside and outside watching football on the joint’s flat screen tv sets.

At this stage of the game you can check menu/prices/photos at www.jjmuggsgrill.com.

Trust me on this…in my day, I’ve been to loads of sports bars when Sunday football is “on air”…I can’t remember the last time I saw so many “different” jerseys—or a crowd having such a great time as I did yesterday at JJ Muggs. Amazingly, with such a huge crowd…our waiter was right on the money–providing really great service.

For our purposes…JJ Muggs’ menu has the full the boat of appetizers, wings, sandwiches, salads, burgers, meat/chicken/seafood entrees. The “sampled” items—bacon cheeseburger, grilled chicken caesar wrap, honey mustard grilled wings, french fries. The food was ok–but nothing out of the ordinary.

To wrap this one up…I’d definitely “go back” to JJ Muggs on game-day. I loved the atmosphere, vibe, crowd. If food was the “only’ game…I’d think twice before making another visit.

JJ Muggs Stadium Grill is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner.

Got a great weekend of fun-food-entertainment for you…

Feast Of Little Italy
Abacoa Town Center
1200 University Boulevard
Jupiter, Florida 33458
Friday-Saturday-Sunday
November 2nd, 3rd, 4th 2012
Admission–5 bucks a day (supports local childern’s hospital/charities)

Crafts, Food, Kid Activites…
Great Entertainment…Headliners Include:
Johnny Contardo, former lead singer of Sha Na Na
Let’s Hang On, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons’ Tribute Show
The Crests featuring Tommy Mara

If this is your bag, here’s the official “press release” for the event: www.feastoflittleitaly.com
*****

The Feast will be held at Abacoa Town Center in Jupiter on November 2, 3rd and 4th, 2012
August 20, 2012 (Jupiter, Fla.)

Ten years of Italian-American pride, traditions, music,
food, family and good old fashion fun continues to be celebrated at this year’s Feast of
Little Italy in Jupiter’s Abacoa Town Center. Named the Best Italian Festival in 2011, the
Feast of Little Italy brings out the best in the community! With something for everyone it
is a great time to get the whole family together and enjoy. When Jerry Somma, President
of the Feast, was asked what he loves the most, he shared, “Seeing three generations of
family spending time together and creating memories together, I love that!”

The Feast of Little Italy began 10 years ago with a vision to create an experience rich in
Italian culture. It is now the largest Italian festival in the state of Florida. The Feast hosts
national entertainment, cooking demonstrations, Banfi wine seminars, the Sorrento
Cheese Building for Charity contest, art pavilions, bocce courts, street painting, and so
much more. With something for everyone, it is a great time to get the entire family
together to enjoy: the best Italian food, music, art, tradition and family fun that Feastgoers have come to love.
The Feast will feature and amazing line-up of Italian singers from all over the country.
Entertainers will celebrate their accomplishments, as well as the accomplishments of
Italian -American artists of the ages.

THE FEAST OF LITTLE ITALY TO CELEBRATE ITS 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Information on the Feast:

Pricing
Admission is $ 5.00 per person, and children 12 and under, free.

Festival Hours:
November 2nd: 3:00pm to 10:00pm
November 3rd: 10:00am to 10:00pm
November 4th: 10:00am to 8:00pm

Parking
Free and easy parking is conveniently located around the Feast of Little Italy. Parking is
available at Roger Dean Stadium parking areas located on Main Street, FAU parking
lots, and the Town Center parking garages located on University Blvd. and Edna Hibel
Way.

About Feast of Little Italy
Feast of Little Italy was established in 2003 to create an experience rich in Italian culture
that celebrates the contributions of great Italians through food, music, art and tradition
within the community for the entire family to enjoy. For the latest updates on Feast
activities please visit feastoflittleitaly.com or by calling the Feast office
561-427-0500. Follow us on Face Book.

###
Media Contact: Jacqueline Walls, 561-723-3206

Got an absolutely terrific “mom & pop” breakfast-lunch joint for you…Duke’s Lazy Loggerhead Cafe in Jupiter.

This is a real casual “formica” tables/booths operation, so make sure that you wear your favorite tee shirt/shorts ensemble.

Duke’s breakfast/lunch menu has loads of breakfast stuff, salads, burgers, sandwiches. A recent outing had me “doing”— western omelete, thick cut french toast, hash browns, grilled chicken/caesar salad, cheeseburger with french fries. Trust me on this one, everything was delicious with the hash browns getting a special shout-out… Duke’s is right up there with the best of South Florida’s “mom & pop” diners. For those of you who need a bit more “color”—service was as friendly as can be, the portions were large and the prices were local-diner prices (you can fill in what you pay at your favorite local diner).

Duke’s Lazy Loggerhead Cafe is open 7 days a week 8am-3pm.

When I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn my parent’s favorite neighborhood Chinese restaurant was Joy Fong’s on Avenue J—now I’m just guessing here, but I’ll bet you that between 1949-1966 (the year Jeff Eats started college) I, my brother, my father and my mother must have eaten in that joint something like 600 times. Now, most non-Jews (the goyim) back then, thought that “us” Jews lit candels on Friday nights—au contraire, “us” Reform Brooklyn Jews were either stuffing our faces in/or getting takeout deliveries from the Joy Fong’s of the world. Back then we didn’t call it Chinese food, we use to say we were going out for C@@@@@—(And you thought that Jeff Eats wasn’t politically correct, didn’t you?) The point I’m trying to drive home here, whether right or wrong, Joy Fong’s “food” is as far as I’m concerned the gold-standard for neighborhood Chinese joint food. Maybe a better way to explain “this”—when I eat matzo ball soup-I compare the ball at hand–in texture, consistency and flavor to the ones that my mother made.

Now that I’ve filled some space and killed some of your time, I recently had dinner at Hong Kong Wok N’ Grill in Jupiter. Now based on my Brooklyn Jewish Chinese Joy Fong’s standards I gotta tell you, this joint makes some pretty good food.

Here’s what I “sampled”—egg rolls, pan fried pork dumplings, bbq ribs, roast pork fried rice, chicken chow mein, sweet & sour pork, general tso’s chicken (no spice), shrimp with lobster sauce. As for the test results, the egg rolls, dumplings, ribs were delicious—same for the fried rice and general tso’s chicken…as for the sweet & sour pork, chicken chow mein and shrimp with lobster sauce–good, but if memory serves me right, Joy Fong’s stuff was better.

Now for the kicker here—in early 1967 my parents, my brother and I discovered Pine Gardens (which morphed into Wong Kee) in NYC’s Chinatown which made Joy Fong’s food look like rookieville. Since Pine Gardens/Wong Kee were so phenomenal, I don’t use “them” as yardsticks, because to this very date, I haven’t found any joint that makes better food.

Let me wrap this story up this way…Hong King Wok N’ Grill is a real good Chinese restaurant. If you live or work in Hong’s neighborhood give it a shot—I enjoyed it and I think you will too.

Hong Kong Wok N’ Grill is open Monday-Saturday 11am-10pm, Sunday 4pm-10pm.

You can check menu/prices at www.hongkongwokngrill.com.

For our purposes, let’s call Portobello Cucina Italiana a “semi-upsacle” Italian joint. When you check Portobello’s site www.portobellojupiter.com in addition to menu/prices you’ll find pictures/video so you’ll know- exactly what you are getting yourself into.

I recently tried Portobello for dinner and I gotta tell you, whoever owns this joint, sure knows what he-she-they is-are doing. Portobello is a great looking restaurant, the service was professional/attentive, the food was dynamite and the prices extremely reasonable. No! I’m not a brother or brother-in-law…really, this restaurant has all of its ducks in a row.

Recently tried Portobello out for dinner…”sampled”–fried calamari/zucchini, gnocchi marinara, chicken marsala, veal parmigiana, shrimp francese, ricotta cheesecake. Like I said a few seconds ago, the food was dynamite. A cursory review of Jeff Eats’ site should tell you, that eating Italian food is one of my favorite dining-things to do. Trust me on this one, for basically the same price—Portobello’s food & ambiance run absolute circles around most of the “mom & pop” and other Italian joints that dot the South Florida landscape.

I loved Portobello’s.

Portobello’s is open 7 days a week 5pm-10pm.

If you want to see what a “hole in the wall” diner really looks like–checkout Center Street Nook in Jupiter.

Right up front, I recently did a breakfast and lunch at this maybe 35 seater and loved the joint. You can check menu/prices at www.centerstreenook.com.

To make what could be a long story a short one…delicious raisin bread french toast and belgian waffles—also really enjoyed the bacon cheeseburger and philly cheesesteak sub–they call it a hoagie, but I’m from New Yooork!

You regular readers know, I love the “mom & pop” diners of the world. If you’re like me, you will really enjoy Center Street Nook.

Center Street Nook is open Monday-Saturday 7am-9pm, Sunday 7am-2pm.

No kidding around, it just dawned on me why this joint’s name has the word NOOK in it!

Yesterday afternoon a “new” fast food burger joint CG Burger opened in Coral Springs. Soooo…I decided to give it a shot-getting there about 7pm. Before I go further, CG Burgers in addition to the Coral Springs location has… 1-store in Fort Lauderdale, 1-store in Jupiter and 1-store in Miami. CG’s website- www.cgburgers.com indicates that new stores are set to open in Coral Gables and Palm Beach Gardens. By the way, you can check menu/prices/photos at the site.

The best way for “me” to explain CG Burgers…Five Guys Burgers meets You Name It Sports Bar with a dose of “whatever” medicine Barry Bonds used- to hit all of those homeruns- thrown into the mix.

I absolutely loved the Coral Springs joint. Just so you know, CG Burgers (order at counter/food is delivered to your table) does burgers, fries, sandwiches, roasted wings, milk shakes and has a salad bar. Of note, the Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter and Miami stores also have coal-oven pizza…not sure why Coral Springs doesn’t do pizza, but it doesn’t.

Yesterday I “tried”—cheeseburger ($6.25), french fries ($2.50), zucchini fries ($4.50), roasted wings (10-$8), side salad ($3.95—”all you can eat” $9.95). Everything was delicious. The cheeseburger “using” Five Guys as a point of reference–was a good as the one Five Guys produces…same for the hand cut fresh french fries. The salad bar, must have had 20 or so items to load up on. The wings which were topped with carmalized onions and grated cheese were as good as the best that I’ve had the various coal-oven pizza & wings joints that dot the South Florida landscape. The zucchini fries, were long strips lightly fried—dipped in a great ranch dressing, they were right on the money.

Like I said before, I loved CG Burgers…definitely one of the best fast food “burger” joints that I’ve tried.

CG Burgers is open 7-days a week, 11am-10pm.
*****

August 8, 2012 UPDATE…

Just wanted to give you guys a “quick” update on CG Burgers…

Since my inital 6/21/12 “outing” to the Coral Springs’ store–Jeff Eats and Mrs. Jeff Eats have been back to that particular store something like 5-6 times. Each time, the food and service have been right on the money. In addition, to the Coral Springs’ outings, we have been to the Fort Lauderdale store twice–and those meals were a whole nother thing. Both times, we found the “exact” same burger, chicken breast, zucchini fries to be absolutely lousy. We also found on both visits, the outside area to be–dirty. The bottom-line as far as Jeff Eats goes…Coral Springs YES!, Fort Lauderdale NO! One other item, Jeff Eats and others have applied on-line for the various “discounts” and “cards” advertised—and to date, have never received anything back from the Company.

My gut feeling tells me, that CG Burgers may have bitten off more than it can chew. Just maybe, the “big” menu it offers is causing it to compromise on service and food quality issues. As I mentioned before, Coral Springs seems to be doing just fine—which I suspect has a lot to do with its GM (Mike) who seems to know how to really run things…as for Fort Lauderdale, Jeff Eats and Mrs. Jeff Eats will absolutely positively not be returning for a third go-round.

CG has other locations in addition to the Fort Lauderdale and Coral Springs’ joints—I have no idea as to what they are like.

If CG’s management reads this:
You guys better be careful here.
You have an interesting business that may soon end-up in the “crapper” because you didn’t operate it correctly.

Got a real good-reasonably priced “mom & pop–red sauce” Italian joint for you…Vinny’s Pizza in Jupiter, Florida.

Vinny’s menu has all of the “expected stuff”…pizzas, pastas, calzones, hot & cold subs, meat/seafood/chicken dishes (dinners–include salad, pasta side, garlic knots).

A recent dinner outing had me doing…large 16″ pizza ($12.20), penne alla vodka ($10.50), meat lasagna ($11.25), veal parmigiana ($14.50). Keeping in mind, that joints like Vinny’s aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel—I can, without hesitation tell you that-Vinny’s food was terrific. Definitey one of the best NYC styled pizzas that- I’ve had in a very long time. The pie was thin-crispy-with an amazingly-perfect sweet sauce. As for the penne, lasagna and veal parm—I know joints that get double the price and can’t hold a candle to Vinny’s food.

Vinny’s is a winner. This is NOT and I repeat NOT—some hack joint, just turning out passable food. Do have one huge problem with Vinny’s…it’s 86 miles (round-trip) from my house.

Vinny’s Pizza is open Monday-Thursday 11am-9pm, Friday-Saturday 11am-10pm and Sunday noon-9pm.

C. R. Chicks is a takeout/eat in “rotisserie chicken” joint…if you do some checking, on October 1, 2008- I gave this South Florida chain an absolutely rave-review. Back then C.R. had 7 locations—in about 8 hours-32 minutes a Boca Raton store will be added to the lineup.

Last night, C.R. Chicks’ Boca joint held a “Private Grand Opening Party” where a chance to try EVERY item on the menu was there for the taking…and I took! In no particular order—chicken, meatloaf, potato pancakes, mashed potatoes, brown rice, chocolate chip cookies, primavera linguine, apple pie, chocolate banana cream pie, caesar salad, bbq pulled chicken sandwich, brown rice, cole slaw. I was like a pig that died and went to heaven.

Let me make this “update” as simple and short as possible—C. R. Chicks makes terrific rotisserie chicken–in addition, there are delicious soups, salads, sandwiches, pastas, sides, desserts—and a meatloaf that will make you forget the one that your mom made/makes (I’m assuming she made/makes a real-good one).

You can check menu/prices/photos/locations at www.crchickswpb.com.

For those of you out there who swear by Costco’s rotisserie chicken…GET REAL!

C.R. Chicks is a winner!

C.R. Chicks is open 11:30am-9pm–7 days a week.

Costello’s Trattoria & Pizzeria is a good-casual-reasonably priced- Italian joint…located in the Abacoa Town Center…it has both indoor and outdoor patio seating.

Check menu/prices/photos at www.costellostrattoria.com.

A recently outing had me “doing”– large plain pizza (16″ $12.95), veal parmigiana ($16.95), chicken marsala ($15.95), penne alla vodka ($13.95). By the way, Costello’s menu is loaded with appetizers, soups, salads, pizzas, pastas, subs, calzones, meat/seafood/chicken entrees.

The verdict…Costello’s food is good, but nothing, shall we say- was any better than the stuff that most of the Italian joints down here in sunny South Florida serve…This is a good neighborhood joint. Just so you know, Costello’s entrees play -the soup or salad, pasta side, garlic rolls game.

Costello’s is open Monday-Thursday 11am-9pm, Friday-Saturday 11am-10pm, Sunday noon-8:30pm.