***** The Grille on Congress, 5101 Congress Avenue, Boca Raton, Florida 33487, (561) 912-9800.

“Out of sight, out of mind.”

The Grille on Congress is a real good-casual-reasonably priced “American-Style” restaurant, located in the back of one of the worst layed-out strip centers probably ever built. Trust me on this…make sure, your GPS system is working- if you haven’t been there before.

Way back when…not exactly sure when, I ate in this joint a handful of times. Suffice it to say, its crap location, actually made me forget that it even existed. Anyway…friends. Harvey and Judy “picked” The Grille on Congress last night, refreshing my memory.

Now, let’s talk about the joint…separate bar area, upscale wood interior…like I said before, casual, really good food and reasonable prices. You can check menu/prices/photos at www.thegrilleoncongress.com.

Last night I got to “sample”– bbq ribs ($24), asian glazed salmon ($23), New York strip steak (16oz-$30), baked stuff shrimp ($24)–entrees came with a salad and two sides.
Everything was absolutely delicious. A special shout-out to the “biscuits” that promptly arrive when seated—sensational. To be perfectly honest with you, 1-maybe-2 of those suckers with butter—and this joint will have you hooked, before your salad or entree hits the table.

For those of you too lazy to check The Grille’s online menu—the joint has meat/chicken/seafood eaters covered. You will definitely find something to eat with entrees running $15-$30…so nobody is gonna need a second job to pay the bill.

As a point of reference, if joints like Houston’s, J. Alexander’s, J. Mark’s are your style…then, you will really enjoy The Grille on Congress.

The Grill on Congress is open Monday-Friday 11:30am-9pm, Saturday 5pm-9pm, closed on Sunday.

***** Hong Kong Palace, 22191 Powerline Road, Boca Raton, Florida 33433, (561) 338-5887.

Don’t ask! Hong Kong Palace a “takeout only” Chinese joint has been around for something like 30 years and although it’s about 6 minutes from my house, I didn’t know that it existed until last night around 7:30pm. Mrs. Jeff Eats couldn’t “find” a red paper party bag that she needed at Party Supermarket so she dragged me to Party City (where she normally doesn’t shop) in her quest for that red paper party bag…and low and behold, while she was in Party City, I just happened to “notice” Hong Kong Palace which is right next door. Twenty minutes later…she had the red paper party bag and I had two plastic bags filled with…wonton soup, egg rolls, pan fried dumplings, white rice, bbq ribs, shrimp with lobster sauce, mu shu pork, sweet & sour chicken, beef with broccoli, a handful of fortune cookies.

You know what good fortune is? Well, a quest for a red paper party bag—resulted in me coming-upon a good Chinese takeout. Just for the record, the bbq ribs were 6-of the best that I’ve had in a very long time. Everything “else” was A-Ok, but nothing to get hysterical about. The beautiful part of this story, is I now know as do you, where you can get absolutely delicious Chinese bbq ribs.

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

Hong Kong Palace is open Monday-Thursday 11am-10pm, Friday-Saturday 11am-10:30pm, Sunday, 2:30pm-10pm. If you pay cash over $15-$25-$40 they throw some items like spring rolls, egg rolls, krab rangoon, fried rice in the bag for nothing. One other thing, Party City has red paper party bags for $1.99 and is open Monday-Wednesday 9:30am-8:30pm, Thursday-Friday 9:30am-9:00pm, Saturday 8:30am-8:30pm, Sunday 10am-6:00pm.

***** SOUVLAKI fast, 122 Northeast 2nd Street, Boca Raton, Florida 33432, (561) 395-1906.

SOUVLAKI fast…hole in the wall (maybe it’s got 20 seats)-fast food Greek joint in Boca Raton…order at/pickup at counter.

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

I just had dinner…gave SOUVLAKI fast- a shot…tried beef/lamb gyro, pork souvlaki, ribeye souvlaki, chicken souvlaki. The verdict, I thought that the beef/lamb gyro and chicken souvlaki were delicious. I found the pork and ribeye souvlakia to be “on” the dry side and overspiced. The pita bread, nothing worth wasting calories over. Now mind you nothing terrible, but a restaurant should be able to bat better than 400. I could also say that “almost” only counts in horseshoes–but I won’t.

You know and I know that this “food reviewing” business is purely subjective. What I like, you may not like and vice versa. I will tell you, that I was in SOUVLAKI fast from 8:25pm-8:53pm on a Thursday night and while there, the counter must have handled (in addition to my 2-party) 9 pickup orders and 5 eat-in orders. I will also tell you, that SOUVLAKI fast–in a about a week or so, is opening a second location at 625 North Spanish River Boulevard, Boca Raton. So just maybe, many others might disagree with my critical analysis. One other thought, the three counter-staff were as pleasant as could be.

That’s my take on this joint.

SOUVLAKI fast is open Sunday-Thursday 11am-9pm, Friday-Saturday 11am-10pm.

***** House of Sun, 15440 Northwest Court, Miami Lakes, Florida 33016, (305) 822-2613.

House of Sun…real good “mom & pop” Chinese joint in Miami Lakes.

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

House of Sun has all of the “expected” stuff…you know—egg rolls, pan fried dumplings, bbq ribs, wonton soup, roast pork fried rice, shrimp with lobster sauce, pepper steak, honey garlic chicken, plenty of dinner/lunch specials (soup-appetizer-entree-rice-dessert), chocolate/vanilla/pistachio ice cream, almond and fortune cookies.

Trust me on this, House of Sun isn’t re-inventing the wheel here. That said, “every” item above was tested– handily passing Jeff Eats’ Jewish-Brooklyn Chinese Food Taste Test.

If you live in Miami Lakes (Or is it really- Hialeah, only ex-Senator/Governor Bob Graham knows for sure?), you now know about a really good Chinese joint for eat-in/takeout.

House of Sun is open Sunday 11:30am-10pm, Friday-Saturday 10:30am-11pm.

***** Dylan’s, 2900 West Sample Road, Pompano Beach, Florida 33073, (954) 984-8355.

Yesterday afternoon- I found myself wandering the 400,000 square foot labyrinth known as the Festival Flea Market Mall in Pompano Beach. Seriously!figuretivly speaking, do we really need 97 cosmetic booths, 101 cheap watch booths, 17 “dollar” booths, 51 reading glass booths–all under 1-roof? The craziest thing that Festival got going—a food court with 8 businesses and 4 of the 8 carry NYC style deli food. What in the world are these food-shopkeepers thinking? By the way, the mall’s owners should be ashamed of themselves (with ONE being the operative word here) 1-pizza, 1-deli, 1 Chinese, 1-cheesesteak, 1-salad, 1 fried chicken, 1 salad…at least give these “mom & pop” guys a real shot at making a living!!!!!! But I guess, “your” goal is to fill every space and you couldn’t give a rat’s ass that from Day-1 they are behind the 8-ball.

Anyway…Dylan’s breaks the “stupidity” mold.

Located in the food court– Dylan’s “outlet” features crepes, paninis, waffles, salads. A recent outing had me “trying”— waffle with chocolate ice cream, banana/honey/almonds crepe, ricota cheese panini. Every item was freshly made and was absolutely delicious. A cursory look at Dylan’s menu indicates that the joint has 20 crepes ($3.50-$7), 8 waffles ($4.95-$7.50), 8 paninis/croissants ($5.95-$6.95)…Dylan’s also has a “Choose Your Ingredients” salad deal—up to 6 items for $6.75.

I found Dylan’s food to be an oasis—in a retail world gone insane!

IF you ever find yourself in the Festival Flea Market Mall…be smart, take a break from all of the “bargains” and try Dylan’s stuff.

Dylan’s is open Monday-Friday 9:30am-5pm, Saturday-Sunday 9:30am-6pm.

***** Baja Cafe Dos, 1310 South Federal Highway, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33441, (954) 596-1305.

If “Mexican stuff is your “bolsa”—you gotta try Baja Cafe Dos in Deerfield Beach.

You know and I know, that casual-reasonably priced Mexican joints are a dime a dozen down here in South Florida. Betcha a buck, that you can “tell” me what Baja’s decor looks like, even before you checkout the photos on its website. For you “old-timers” out there, this joint has more reds-greens-pinks-oranges than Jon Gnagy had on his palette. You can find photos/menu-prices at www.bajacafe.com.

Baja’s menu is loaded with tons of tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, burritos—A recent outing had me “trying” both a chicken and steak fajitas ($10.99 each) they were really good. I also gave a mahi-mahi taco ($14.99) and a chicken quesadilla ($7.99) a shot–like the fajitas, they were also right on the money.

For you drinkers out there, the joint serves 100 different tequilas and 20 or so margaritas. So… if this is your game, have an assigned designated driver or a cab company’s phone number in your shoe.

Baja Cafe Dos is open 11:30am-11pm and Sunday 2pm-10pm.

***** Chaser’s Sports Bar & Grill, 2107 10th Avenue North, Lake Worth, Florida 33461, (561) 623-0509.

During the past 20 South Florida years, I have eaten in more SPORTS BARS than there are Chins in a Chinese phonebook (credit: Soupy Sales- 1956). You know what a blur is? Let’s just say, that give or take a “handful”—the game is basically the same…bar, tvs, wood decor, young energetic waitstaff, huge menu loaded with just passable food, reasonable prices.

Now…every so often I come across a “sports bar” which kinda breaks the mold. For sure, Chaser’s got the bar, tvs, wood decor, young energetic waitstaff, reasonable prices—now get this, the food was realy-really good. Just so you know, the menu is not “huge”-but it definitely gets the job done. Where most of these joints are “microwave” city, a recent outing had me doing… 1/2 lb. charbroiled bacon cheeseburger ($8.95) that was right-up there with the best stuff served by the so-called gourmet burger outlets—delicious grilled garlic wings (10-$8.95), the penne ala vodka and philly cheese steak were also-right on the money.

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

Another cool thing about this joint, it has a “band-schedule” which features some of the top local- rock/pop/blues/folk bands in South Florida. You can check that schedule at the previously mentioned website.

I really enjoyed Chaser’s.

Chaser’s is open Sunday-Wednesday 4pm-midnight, Friday-Saturday 4pm-2am.

*By the way, www.southfloridadines.com has one of those $15 gets you $30 coupon deals going…if that’s your game!

***** Grease Burger Bar, 213 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach, Florida 33401, (561) 651-1075.

The next time you find yourself wandering aimlessly around the CityPlace/Cleamtis Street “region”- I got a really-good “American Style” joint for you to eat in…Grease Burger Bar.

The best way to describe Grease Burger…upsacle sports- bar (its got 14 flat screen tvs), full bar and over 100 beers on tap/bottle—soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers “galore”–bratwurst, wings, desserts.

Let’s talk food…This afternoon, I “tried” beef sliders (4-$10.95), 10 oz. cheeseburger ($8.95), french onion soup ($5.95), chicken caesar ($10.95), french fries (large-$2.75), chocolate milkshake ($4.95). The result, like I said before—Grease Burger Bar is a really good joint to know about. Everything was right on the money.

If burgers are your game, you won’t be disappointed. The selection (toppings) is huge…the burgers are “upscale” and right up there with the best “gourmet” stuff old Jeff Eats has eaten down here in South Florida and elsewhere. The french fries, were also delicious—they weren’t “fresh hand cut”…but they were fried and salted perfectly.

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

This is a really cool place for lunch, dinner or just plain old socializing.

Grease Burger Bar is open 7 days a week.

***** Yogurt Zone, 8903 Glades Road, Boca Raton, Florida 33434, (561) 483-4521.

“Sur-prise, sur-prise, sur-prise!” (courtesy Gomer Pyle)…another self-serve yogurt joint recently opened in Boca Raton…say hello to Yogurt Zone.

Not gonna belabor the point…the self-serve yogurt business is a FAD. It’s gonna end sooner rather than later and a whole bunch of moms & pops who own these joints ain’t going to be happy campers.

The skinny on Yogurt Zone—12 flavors, toppings, 42 cents an ounce. Tried the coconut and “no sugar added” vanilla and strawberry. Glad- to report, that the yogurt is absolutely delicious.

Yogurt Zone flavor-wise, is one of the best self-serves that old Jeff Eats has tried. Not that it really matters (because the store is already open), but the location in “my humble opinion” is piss-poor. Not certain on this, but if memory serves me correctly, two former businesses in the exact same storefront where Yogurt Zone now resides, 1 an ice cream/yogurt store and 1 a gelato franchise failed miserably. I only wish the owner the best, but “I don’t think so.” Doesn’t anyone know that businesses like this, need…cheap rents and huge foot traffic and cheap rents and huge foot traffic and cheap rents and huge foot traffic to survive? I guess not!

Anyway…Like I said before, Yogurt Zone has a real good yogurt product.

The joint is open, Sunday-Thursday 11am-9pm and Friday-Saturday 11am-11pm.

***** Ruby’s Chen’s, 913 West State Road 84, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33315, (954) 525-2533.

Ruby Chen’s is a Chinese takeout joint…it has the obligatory Chinese takeout joint “handful” of tables, but the game here is TAKEOUT.

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

Based on a recent “outing” of wonton soup, bbq ribs, fried dumplings, egg rolls, sweet & sour chicken, shrimp with lobster sauce, beef with black bean sauce, roast pork fried rice…I can safely report that Ruby’s food isn’t half bad. Nothing to go nuts over, but if you live or work in the neighborhood, you could do far worse.

Ruby Chen’s is open Monday-Thursday 11am-10pm, Friday-Saturday 11am-11pm, Sunday noon-10pm.