***** Nuts About Candy, 2900 West Sample Road (Festival Flea Market), Pompano Beach, Florida 33073, (954) 984-8908.

Call me a wild and crazy guy (I know-Steve Martin), but this morning I woke-up craving some chocolate Bonomo Turkish Taffy. Sounds nuts but Jeff Eats ain’t playing you here.

Anyway…

After a handful of telephone calls, Jeff Eats found a joint named- Nuts About Candy located in the Festival Flea Market that had chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, blue raspberry, wild cherry and banana bars in stock. For the historians out there, Bonomo Turkish Taffy has been around since 1912 and the original flavors were chocolate, vanilla, banana and strawberry–and if Jeff Eats forgets about the cost of 6-teeth implants, is one of the greatest candies ever created.

Anyway…

To make a long story short, this afternoon Jeff Eats and Mrs. Jeff Eats took a ride and found Nuts About Candy (Booths #3327 & 3331) at the intersection of Carnival & Bourbon Street…and I gotta tell you that this flea-market “store” in addition to Bonomo Turkish Taffy had a great selection of reasonably priced nuts/chocolates/candy/nostalgia candy. Now for the craziest part of the story (well at least to Jeff Eats it is)-is that although Nuts About Candy has been in the Festival Flea Market for something like 26 years, Jeff Eats (who has shopped at the Festival for years) had not even once-consciously noticed it…maybe subconsciously, but definitely not consciously. You gotta admit, that’s pretty crazy!

Let me wrap Nuts About Candy up (pun intended) for you…I hate this store-because by 3:30 this afternoon, Jeff Eats’ New Year’s resolution to lose 25 pounds ended as I downed huge chunks of chocolate Bonomo Turkish Taffy-at least 12 inches of button candy and something like 11 Mary Janes. Oh well, 2015 is fast approaching!

Nuts About Candy is a no-frills operation. Guess that’s how it’s able to sell its stuff at prices something like 1/2 of what competitors in the area are getting. By the way, the joint is owned by a real pleasant mother & daughter team Marilyn and Wendy–and in addition to selling packaged candy/nuts, candy/nuts by the lb.-also makes/ships some really cool candy/nuts trays and baskets.

Nuts About Candy’s website www.floridanutsaboutcandy.com is currently down-getting a facelift…but should be up real soon so you can check-out all of its stuff/prices.

The joint is open Monday-Friday 9:30am-5pm, Saturday and Sunday 9:30am-6pm.

* Price Ain’t Right!

Jeff Eats just heard about a woman who won $160,000 in merchandise-prizes and $10,000 in cash on the day-time version of TV’s “The Price Is Right.”

Do you guys have any idea, what the tax-bill is on those $170,000 in winnings? Well I do, and unless this lady is made of money, I seriously doubt that she will even bother to “collect” on her winnings.

Which brings me to the subject “at hand.”—The ridiculous prices that some South Florida joints charge on New Year’s Eve.

Now I’m not gonna name names, but don’t you think that $250 per person (tax and tip included) is a bit much for a Country Club party-featuring a buffet dinner, 8 piece band and an open bar? You guys can do the simple math, but that’s $500.00 a couple.

Now I’m not gonna name names, but some of those South Beach “Hotspots” are getting $30,000-$100,000+ for a table of 10.

Now I’m not gonna name names, but some Italian/Steak joints are fetching $225 a person (tax and tip included) for a 5-course meal, party favors and a champagne toast.

Now I’m gonna name names out of South Florida–just Google the “prices” that TIMES SQUARE- TGI Fridays, Applebees, Ruby Tuesday, Bubba Gump are getting. Jeff Eats knows, location-location-location, but high-way robbery is still high-way robbery!-and to boot, we ain’t exactly talking the Four Seasons here!

Now just maybe Jeff Eats is “out of the loop” but don’t you think that this type of celebratory-spending may-be sending the wrong message to all of those Chinese folks over in China who own all of those US bonds?

Happy New Year To ALL!!!

Jeff Eats will be at home watching the Times Square-Ball Drop!

One final thing, best wishes to you NYC guys with your new mayor, because I think you’re really gonna need it!

* Wanna Read Something Really Stupid?

Reuters, Just put out a story as to the people Americans most admired in 2013…

Take a look at the some of the names on the list. I don’t know about you, but most of those listed, wouldn’t be on Jeff Eats’ list!

*****
(Reuters) – Americans named President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the world’s most admired living man and woman in 2013, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday.
Obama topped the annual list for the sixth consecutive year, a typical ranking for a sitting U.S. president, the polling organization said.
But the percentage of those surveyed who choose him as the most admired man fell to 16 percent this year, down from 30 percent in 2012.
The president’s job approval rating has dropped during a year marked by a botched healthcare rollout and stalled legislative initiatives at the start of his second term.
Clinton earned the top spot among most admired women for the 12th consecutive year and 18th time overall, more than any other woman in the poll’s history.
Fifteen percent of Americans surveyed gave the former first lady and U.S. senator the highest ranking, down from 21 percent who named her as the most admired woman last year, the poll showed.
Gallup said its data came from a poll of 1,031 adults between December 5 and 8, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Other men named to the list included former U.S. presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter; Pope Francis and the Reverend Billy Graham; actor and director Clint Eastwood; Microsoft Corp co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates; U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and former Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.
The women who finished behind Hillary Clinton included talk show host Oprah Winfrey, first lady Michelle Obama, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and actress Angelina Jolie.
Also on the list were Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban for demanding education for girls; German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton.
(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Ian Simpson and Vicki Allen

* The Pop Culture Vault, 9169 Atlantic Avenue (Delray Marketplace), Delray Beach, Florida 33446, (561) 498-1762.

Well!- The Delray Marketplace (see review-2/26/13) pulled it off again, somehow it talked another “retailer” into taking a shot—this time it’s The Pop Culture Vault.

Personally, Jeff Eats loves walking around The Pop Culture Vaults of the world looking at all of the fabulously framed Rock n’ Roll memorabilia, fabulously framed Rock n’ Roll photographs and fabulously framed pop culture artwork that cover and fill these joints’ walls and easels. Do you know what chazerai (non Yiddish speakers-Google it) is?–well, most of the stuff for sale (but not all of it–fair is fair!) is usually chazerai that’s fabulously framed.

Now nothing for nothing, but Jeff Eats appreciates why a joint like The Pop Culture Vault might take a shot on a center like the Delray Marketplace…loads of new homes being built in the area-therefore lots of future bare walls to cover. Only problem I see with that type of thinking is that most of those “new” homes are going to be bought by the 55+ crowd and-Jeff Eats just doesn’t see them going for this type of stuff. Could be wrong, but don’t think so! Come to think of it, I seriously doubt that some 37 year old couple with 3 kids- ages 2-4-5 is really going to give a rat’s ass either-about some fabulously framed black & white Beatles’ photos circa 1964 (taken some 13 years before the couple was even born). But, I could be wrong–after all Graceland has been printing money for years as Lisa Marie can well attest to (Do you remember when she “married” Michael Jackson? But that’s a story for another day).

To the owners of The Pop Culture Vault…visited your new store and it looks great. I also loved your old store, that use to be on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach across from Tramonti. Really do hope you got a sweetheart rent deal because you moved from the fire into the FIRE! By the way, what do you think a signed black & white photo of Paul, John, George, Pete and Stu would fetch?

In all seriousness, Jeff Eats wishes the folks at The Pop Culture Vault the best of luck–but like the Olive Oil guy/the Photo guy/and numerous others…can’t figure for the life of me, how retail can make it at the Delray Marketplace.

Checkout www.popculturevault.com for store hours/products.

* Stufz (www.buystufz.com).

Nothing for nothing…

Jeff Eats ain’t no Ron Popeil–but my friend Norman W. recently bought me a Stufz—which is a plastic hamburger “stuffer machine” and I gotta tell you, this thing is great. So far I’ve used it twice and the thing hasn’t broken yet! Just so you know, I did a burger stuffed with raw onion/bacon/American cheese, a burger stuffed with mac & cheese/bacon and a burger stuffed with sweet sausage/mozzarella cheese/grilled onions– they all looked and tasted great.

Rather than me going into detail on how this “thing” helps you to put stuff in the middle of a hamburger, check www.buystufz.com for details/video/orders.

Just so you know, Stufz costs $9.99 plus $4.99 shipping/handling, but Stufz’s website gives you a second machine for nothing and all you gotta do is pay another $4.99 shipping/handling fee (that figures).

A very interesting-device.

Finally, if we do the math…Norman W. went for 20 bucks for two machines, so we now know exactly where Jeff Eats rates on the old friendship totem pole!

***** Bella Nonna Gourmet Pizza, 7400 North Federal Highway, Boca Raton, Florida 33487, (561) 989-8870.

This evening Jeff Eats “found” an absolutely terrific “hole in the wall”-Italian red sauce -mom and pop-joint…Bella Nonna Gourmet Pizza in Boca Raton.

Let me make this story short and sweet…the pizza, veal parmigiana, chicken parmigiana, chicken fra diavolo, penne marinara, Caesar salad, house salad, garlic rolls, cheezy garlic bread that I “took-out” was some of the best stuff I’ve eaten in South Florida. Every item was delicious and trust me on this, I ain’t playing you here.

Bella Nonna has been around for something like 1-year and until late this afternoon Jeff Eats had never heard of it. If the truth-be told, I read about Bella Nonna on Yelp and TripAdvisor and the reviews were so “good” that I decided to check the joint out for myself. Just so you know, Bella Nonna has maybe 25 seats inside and 8 outside. It would be fair to say, that Bella Nonna has virtually no decor, unless you consider a handful of wooden-tables and wooden chairs-decor. No tablecloths, no settings, no nothing. To be honest with you, the dining room reminded me of an old-bus station circa 1940. God only knows how many potential customers “passed on” eating there after-seeing the physical layout. Normally, Jeff Eats doesn’t harp on decor-issues, but I don’t want you guys being chased-away because you found the joint “sketchy.” Dumpy or not dumpy, Bella Nonna’s food is amazingly delicious, the portions are enormous and the prices just right.

Just so you know from where I’m coming…when Jeff Eats arrived at Bella Nonna (7:30pm)-there wasn’t a single person in the joint and this was a Saturday night, in Season-Christmas Week. During the 30 minutes or so that I waited for my order, there was 1 party of 5 that “sat down” to eat and 4 counter orders to-go.

To Bella Nonna’s owners– spend a few bucks on some red & white checked tablecloths, set the tables and put some real colorful Italian food posters on the wall-and based on your food- you’ll be good to go. Do what you’d like with Jeff Eats’s “suggestions”–what I do know, is that you make tremendous stuff that deserves to be enjoyed by more than just a takeout crowd.

You can check www.bellanonnapizzeria.com for menu/prices.

Bella Nonna Gourmet Pizza is open Monday-Saturday 11am-10pm, Sunday 4pm-9pm.

***** The Salad Spot, 690 Yamato Road, Boca Raton, Florida 33431, (561) 997-0039.

Right off the bat, let me start by saying that it wasn’t Jeff Eats’ idea to try The Salad Spot in Boca Raton. To be more precise, it was Mrs. Jeff Eats and Daughter Jeff Eats’ idea. Now with “that” out of the way…last week the three of us caught lunch at The Salad Spot. To sum the joint up, a huge help yourself salad bar that features-I’m guessing at least 70 different items that you “build” your own salad from -at $7.49 lb…throw in a handful of soups, wraps and prepared salads and you got the picture. Fast-food type seating inside and outside.

Now nothing for nothing, but you guys do know that Jeff Eats’ food of choice- is Carnival Food…burgers, French fries, pizza, onion rings, bbq ribs, sausage & onions sub, carmel corn, cotton candy, candied apples, fried anything!

Now back to The Salad Spot…

Jeff Eats thought that The Salad Spot had a terrific selection of “rabbit” stuff…that the joint was spotless…and that the Italian meatball soup/grilled chicken salad-green peppers-red onions- honey wheat wrap were quite tasty.

The verdict…As Mikey’s brother once said, “Mikey likes it!”

So…to all you vegans (I do- believe that’s what some of you vegetarians are calling yourselves these days),”healthy” eaters and gluten free guys, don’t say that Jeff Eats’ never did anything for you!

Jeff Eats can’t quite let this one go just yet…you vegans, “healthy” eaters and gluten free guys really have no idea as what you are missing–not devouring a fried Twinkie topped with chocolate ice cream, a mound of whipped cream and bacon bits.

You can check www.thesaladspotboca.com for menu/other stuff.

The Salad Spot is open Monday-Thursday 10am-5pm, Friday 10am-3:30pm, closed Saturday and Sunday.

* TWITTER IS A BUBBLE STOCK!

Look!

Jeff Eats is no expert on social-media stuff…but what I do know is that TWITTER which is currently trading at- NYSE: TWTR: $74.25 is a bubble stock.

Twitter went public on November 7, 2013 at $25 a share.

Right now, the “MARKET” is giving Twitter the same market capitalization (roughly-$42 billion) as companies like Target, FedEx who both gross and net a fortune of money. Twitter on the other hand-has to date, never netted-one single red cent.

Buying Twitter at $74.25 is an absolute sucker’s bet.

It doesn’t take some 64 year-old “food blogger” who is basically computer illiterate to know that—Twitter’s stock is a bubble just waiting to be popped.

Let’s see!

***** Italio, 1658 North Federal Highway, Boca Raton, Florida 33432, (561) 392-7778.

Italio is a fast-food Italian joint…there are currently 3-locations, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Winter Park—according to its website, Italio in 2014 plans to open stores in Coconut Creek, Florida/Orlando, Florida/Tampa, Florida/Oakland Park, Illinois.

Real simple concept…order/pickup at the counter…
3 choices–pasta bowl, salad bowl, wrap.
pick one of 7 entrées.
pick one of 11 sauces/pestos/dressings.
pick from 21 toppings.

Not gonna bother you with a list entrees, sauces/pestos/dessings, toppings… You can check www.italiokitchen.com for menu/prices/other stuff.

The food…

Jeff Eats recently gave the Boca Raton joint a shot…tried the grilled shrimp/Italian sausage/meatball entrées—also tried the basil pomodoro/alfredo sauces.

Let me wrap Italio up for you guys…Italio is what Jeff Eats calls a variation on a theme. You’re smart guys–you’ve seen this “build your own” concept with yogurt, Mexican, pizza, burgers, teddy bears-Italio is doing it with Italian stuff.

Personally, I really enjoyed Italio. Every entrée I had was delicious. Same for the sauces. Same for the toppings that I didn’t list because Jeff Eats got lazy. By the way, figure on spending $7.50-$9.50 depending on which entree you go with.

Italio is open Monday-Sunday 10:45am-10pm

***** Cabo Flats, 14851 Lyons Road (Delray Marketplace), Delray Beach, Florida 33446, (561) 499-0378.

Last night Jeff Eats gave Mexican joint–Cabo Flats a shot. Just so you know, Cabo has 2-south Florida locations 1-in Palm Beach Gardens, 1-in Delray Beach. The one I’m talking about- is the Delray Beach outpost which opened about a month ago in the Delray Marketplace.

Let me start by saying that Cabo Flats is an absolutely great looking restaurant. Trust me on this, Cabo ain’t a “mom & pop” joint…the Delray Beach location is probably 10,000 square feet- seating maybe 250 and there is an outdoor patio that probably seats close to 150. Jeff Eats is gonna guess here, but I’m thinking that the owners probably went for some heavy duty cash building this joint out—I’m figuring something like $1.5 million. When you check www.caboflats.com for menu/prices you’ll also find décor photos. Cabo has an indoor bar/window outdoor bar—and some real high ceilings.

As I mentioned above, Cabo Flats is located in the Delray Marketplace. Don’t really have the time to go into Jeff Eats’ opinion on this center, but if you do some checking- you’ll find a writeup on why I think that this relatively new center is a “disaster” in the making.

Anyway…

Cabo Flats is a real good looking joint–I will tell you, that no question in Jeff Eats’ mind, it’s way too big for the area’s demographics…also, its high ceilings and open doors/open bar window are going to result in “ac” electric bills that will probably shock its owners’ collective conscience. But hey, I’m sure they thought all this out before they started construction.

Let’s talk food.

Last night Jeff Eats and Mrs. Jeff Eats ate “outside”…service was real good- we ordered guacamole el cabo ($9) which came with a nice sized portion of corn tortilla chips, cabo wings ($10), gringo burger with French fries ($9), chicken fajita ($14), shrimp quesadilla ($13). First let me say, Cabo has its pricing right on the mark–very reasonable and there is no skimping on portion size. Absolutely loved the cabo wings–which were in a mild-bbq sauce. As for the rest of the “dishes” decent enough…but nothing that you guys won’t find in chains like Friday’s-Chili’s. Now-please don’t get me wrong, Mrs. Jeff Eats and I thoroughly enjoyed the meal, but Cabo is basically serving what I call chain food.

So what do we got here?

Great looking joint, with decent enough tasting/priced food, in a humongous space-with a high ceiling/open doors/open bar window, in a center that “imho” will suck wind.

To wrap this one up, give Cabo Flats a try. It definitely got the job done for Jeff Eats…but please check your “dynamite” food expectations at the front door. On the business side of the equation- Not so sure as- to how happy its owners are going to be with this “project”– only time will tell on that.

Cabo Flats is open Monday-Wednesday 11:30am-1am, 11:30am-3am, Saturday 11am-3am, Sunday 11am-1am.