Luca Bella, 19088 Northeast 29th Avenue, Aventura, Florida 33180.

Got a heads up for you guys…sometime in late August–early September, 2011 a new Southern Italian “family-style” joint is going to open in Aventura in the 4,000 sq.ft. which was the “home” of the famous Chef Allen’s.

Luca Bella is the “brain child” of Mickey Maltese–who in another life- owned Matteo’s Italian Restaurant in Hallandale…which by the way, was/is- one of my favorite Italian restaurants, of all time.

The bet here…if Mickey is involved, Luca Bella is a “home-run” in the making.

I’ll keep you updated on this one…

Here’s a copy of the “official” Luca Bella press release…

AVENTURA, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Concorde Plaza will soon be the new home of Luca Bella, a family-style Italian restaurant formerly occupied by Chef Allen. The new restaurant, situated just off of US 1 or Biscayne Boulevard, will feature primarily Southern Italian dishes, fresh seafood, Northern traditional dishes, as well as a full bar and extensive wine list.

Concorde Plaza, located on the north side of Loehmann’s Fashion Island, houses a number of family-oriented businesses and medical offices, including several retail stores. It is just the right place for new owner Mickey Maltese to call home.

“I am excited to open up a restaurant where my concept of family can truly be encompassed,” Maltese said. “The vitality and family nature of the plaza enables me to feel right at home, and I’m sure the clientele will agree.”

Maltese, previous owner of Matteo’s Italian Restaurant in Hallandale, has industry experience spanning over fifteen years. With family originally from Naples, Maltese was born in Brooklyn and raised in Cedarhurst, Long Island, New York. Living in South Florida for the past six years with his wife Gabriela and two children, Marcelo Luca and Isabella, he has established a great rapport with customers and looks forward to continually serving them and others in the area.

“My dedicated loyal staff and I like to create what we call Italian comfort food, family style portions of the more popular Italian-American and some traditional Southern Italian dishes as well,” Maltese said. “Some of my favorites will be the little neck baked clams or clams casino, pan fried veal chops layered with prosciutto and mozzarella and topped with a marsala mushroom sauce, prime New York strip steaks and double cut pork chops smothered with sautéed cherry peppers and onions cooked on our wood fired grill. We will also be serving a variety of fresh seafood, including whole lobsters, scallops, snapper, salmon, sea bass and mussels, as well as a variety of pasta dishes like gnocci, tortellini and ravioli.”

With the opening of Luca Bella, Maltese plans to showcase what he likes to call a “modern twist to an authentic, Italian eatery.”

“I’m excited to take on this new venture,” Maltese said. “I’ve always wanted to expand my horizons, yet still maintain a charming and relaxing family atmosphere.”

Luca Bella has begun transforming the space and is scheduled to open in September 2011. The 4,000 square foot facility will offer accommodations of up to 200 persons, boasts an outside patio for dining, a private party room, a 20 person bar and several large flat screen televisions. The average dish will run anywhere from $11.95-42.95.

Luca Bella, Aventura
David Mittler, 305-450 8655
or
Michael Maltese, 516-567-3904

***** Pink Buddha Chinese Restaurant, 5949 South University Drive, Davie, Florida 33328, (954) 680-3388.

Pink Buddha Chinese Restaurant…”mom & pop” joint loacted in Davie, Florida.

Brooklyn-Jewish Taste Test circa 1959—wonton soup, egg rolls, roast pork fried rice, bbq ribs, fried dumplings, sweet & sour pork, mu shu pork, general tso’s chicken—let me make this one short and simple, everything was delicious. Especially enjoyed the ribs and general tso’s chicken.

Pink Buddha has been around for something like 15 years and as “expected” is located in a bombed-out strip shopping center.

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

Pink Buddha is right up there with the best “mom & pop” Chinese joints that I’ve tried down here in sunny South Florida.

Pink Buddha is open Monday-Thursday 11am-10pm, Friday-Sunday 11am-10:30pm.

***** 2 Chef’s Souparee, 6338 Lantana Road, Lake Worth, Florida 33463, (561) 432-2477.

I know that it’s something like 103-out there…but you absolutely-positively gotta try 2 Chef’s Souparee that makes some of the most amazingly delicious- soups, salads, sandwiches, dinner entrees and desserts that you have ever tasted. 2 Chef’s is basically a takeout, but it does have indoor seating for about 16…order at/pickup at counter.

2 Chef’s menu has 17 soups, 4 dinner salads, 8 sandwiches, 6 dinner entrees, 6 desserts. From what I can tell, only the breads and rolls are not home-made.

I recently tried mushroom barley soup (bowl-$4.90), french onion soup (bowl-$4.90), chicken pot pie soup (bowl-$5.90), new England clam chowder (bowl-$5.90). Let me state unequivocally that all of the soups—were outstanding. On the sandwich front, chicken salad and tuna salad ($6.90) were dynamite…same for the sirlon patty melt ($6.90). Dinner entrees “sampled” ($11.90–come with bread. soup or salad, potato or pasta) “sampled”… meatloaf–chicken parmigiana–1/2 roast chicken…All were delicious.
On the dessert front- the chocolate cake and peanut-butter chocolate cake—were definitely worth the calories

Every so often old Jeff Eats “stumbles” upon a homerun. 2 Chef’s Souparee is a grand-slam!

2 Chef’s is open Monday-Saturday 10am-9pm. The joint is closed on Sunday.

One final piece of business, if “discount coupons” are your game…www.southfloridadines.com has a $7.50 gets you $15.00 deal going.

The Fresh Market, 20409 State Road 7, Boca Raton, Florida 33498, (561) 479-4845.

The Fresh Market…think Whole Foods Market (www.wholefoodsmarket.com—overpriced national “specialty” supermarket) and you got the whole (pun intended) concept in a nutshell. The Fresh Market is a publiclly traded company and as of June 2, 2011 had 101 stores in 20-states. You can check www.thefreshmarket.com for store locations/and other stuff.

Last week I stopped in the newest- The Fresh Market which had “just” opened on State Road 7 in Boca Raton. The space was previously occupied by an Albertson’s store. Like I said before, squint your eyes/and you’ll think that your in a Whole Foods. For those of you who don’t know what a Whole Foods is—specialty grocery retailer. Anyway…I absolutely love fresh orange, grapefruit, tangerine juice. To make a long story short, went to the the juice “area” and found fresh orange and fresh grapefruit. There were 2-brands Kennesaw and a Signature Collection. There was also a sign that in essence said that that Signature Collection was made by Kennesaw especially for The Fresh Market. Being a “good” shopper, I checked the “SELL BY DATE” on the product and low-and-behold I found a number of both the orange-grapefruit (Kennesaw-Signature Collection) quarts to have dates that had already-come-and gone. NOT GOOD!

Imagine—A specialty food market selling “expired” products?…or for that matter, any supermarket selling dated-expired stuff.

Sorry, I can’t comment on the fruits, vegetables, baked goods, prepared foods, candies…didn’t try them. I came for juice and found a store that couldn’t even handle the simpliest of tasks-having fresh products.

***** County Line Pizza, 875 Donal Ross Road, Juno Beach, Florida 33408, (561) 626-3662.

County Line Pizza…”mom & pop” red sauce Italian joint. You know the drill- entree comes with soup/or salad, pasta side, garlic rolls. You can check menu/prices at www.countylinepizza.com.

The details…tried, large cheese pizza (14″ $11), chicken parmigiana ($14.95), veal marsala ($19.95), shrimp scampi ($19.95). From what I understand, this joint has been around since 1975-throw in the fact that it was jammed last night (7pm-Summer-Tuesday night)…”so” the bet here, is that County Line has a huge local following. On the food front, I found everything ok, but nothing that I would get hysterical about.

County Line Pizza is open Monday-Thursday 3pm-9:30pm, Friday-Saturday 3pm-10pm, Sunday 3pm-9pm.

***** Saquella Caffe, 410 Via De Palmas, Boca Raton, Florida 33432, (561) 338-8840

The other day I was in the Royal Palm Plaza…Boca Ratonians “know” this outdoor shopping center as the Pink Plaza. The landlord and unfortunately many of its tenants, know that this mediterranean style center- which happens to be Boca Raton’s oldest center, is an absolute white elephant…suffice it to say, over the years, tenants have come and gone–at an amazing rate…but, that’s a whole-nother story for another day.

Anyway…Saquella Caffe is one of the very few “Pink Plaza” businesses that has successfully managed to build an enormous-steady clientele. The joint has both indoor and outdoor patio seating and does breakfast-lunch-dinner. If you check www.saquella-usa.com you will find a reasonably priced menu of breakfast items, sandwiches, flat breads, salads, meat/chicken/seafood entrees, desserts.

As I mentioned before, I was there the other day…tried, blueberry waffle ($6.99), chicken waldorf/muesli toast ($9.99), greek salad ($10.95), nova smoked salmon salad ($11.99)—let me go out on a limb here, the food served-the decor-the service…ran absolute circles around most of my favorite South Florida bagel-deli “close” at 3pm joints.

Rather than racking my brain to describe the decor-atmosphere…conjur up a Woody Allen Italian/French cafe-bistro and you’ll be on target. By the way, at the website that I just gave you, there are decor-photos/video, so if you are from Mars or Pluto and have never caught a Woody Allen film–you won’t be out of the loop. Just so you know, your shorts/tee shirts work here as this is one cool-easy going joint.

Let me wrap this up…I absolutely loved Saquella.

Saquella Cafe is open Monday-Wednesday 7am-9pm, Thursday=Saturday 7am-11pm, Sunday 7am-4pm.

Zinger’s Delicatessen, 7132 Beracasa Way, Boca Raton, Florida 33433.

Just a heads-up…Zinger’s Delicatessen–a NYC kosher style deli is set-to-open any day in Boca Raton. Zinger’s is owned by Gary Zinger. Gary is the former owner/operator of Pastrami Queen which was located in the same location a few years.

We’ll have to wait and see…if, Gary can “reproduce” the same sensational deli-food that Pastrami Queen served. If you check my “Pastrami Queen” 12-12-08 review, you’ll get a feel for what a terrific joint Gary had.

After Zinger’s opens, I’ll get over there and give you the skinny.

***** Fatso’s Pizzeria, 205 Southeast 1st Avenue, Boca Raton, Florida 33432, (561) 368-8443.

Fatso’s Pizzeria…basically a takeout joint located in Boca Raton…maybe a handful of tables inside–same oustside, but like I just said, TAKEOUT.

Picked-up a large cheese pizza ($15), ricotta/mozzarella calzone ($7.95), chicken parm sub ($7)…trust me here, the stuff is real-good. Nice thin crust/sweet sauce pizza. Now nothing for nothing– but this hole-in-the-wall’s stuff is as good as most of the “full” sit down red-sauce joints that I frequent. Just so you know, Fatso’s menu is kinda on the limited side–pizzas, calzones, strombolis, 4-cold subs, 4-hot subs, 4-salads. If pasta is your bag, this place ain’t gonna work for you. You can check menu/prices at www.fatsospizzeria.com.

Fatso’s Pizzeria is open Monday-Thursday 11am-10pm, Friday-Saturday 11am-Late, Sunday 11am-9pm.

***** Fleming’s Bistro, 6060 Southwest 18th Street, Boca Raton, Florida 33433, (561) 3471117.

Fleming’s Bistro…neighborhood “American Style” joint located in a small strip center in Boca Raton. Over the past few months, I’ve been “hearing” nothing but good stuff about Fleming’s, so I gave it a shot last Friday night.

Here’s the “call”—I enjoyed the food and Joel the waiter so much, that I will definitely be back. My party of 4-had me trying- house salad, caesar salad, sweet potato soup, roast duck, chicken marsala, grilled salmon, broiled shrimp. Everything was A-OK. You can check menu/prices at www.flemingsbistro.net.

Just so you know, the menu is pretty eclectic…meat/chicken/seafood eaters are all covered…that said, the bias is seafood. On the price front, the most expensive entree goes out at $27.95…the above mentioned chicken marsala with 2-sides and choice of soup or salad ran $17.25

Like I said before, this is a “neighborhood” thing. The owner Fleming greets and seats everybody…even though “we” had never set foot in the joint before, we were greeted and treated by him and his waitstaff as if we were old-friends. Usually, this “act” wears thin on old Jeff Eats, but Fleming and his crew convinced me, my wife and our 2-friends that we really-counted.

By the way, if Early Bird is your game…Fleming’s throws in dessert and coffee 7-days a week to those who are seated and have ordered by 5:30pm.

Fleming’s is open Tuesday-Sunday 5pm-10pm…closed on Monday.

***** Brock’s Surfside Grille & Pizzeria, 10545 South Ocean Drive, Jensen Beach, Florida 34957, (772) 229-9885.

Got a terrific “burger/pizza” hole-in-the wall-for you…Brock’s Surfside Grille & Pizzeria in Jensen Beach.

Let me make this one short and simple—tee shirts/shorts are considered formal-wear in this joint. Absolutely delicious burgers and pizzas. For sure, Brock’s got salads, sandwiches and other stuff (so nobody is gonna bitch) but the game here-burgers and pizzas. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed. As for decor-small bar, handful of wood tables, Florida tourist-stuff on the walls.

If you check www.restaurant.com—its got a $10 will get you $25 deal going. The site also has a handful of pictures of this hole-in-the-wall.

Brock’s is open 7 days a week 11am-9pm.