*****  Jupiter Corners Ocean Bar & Grill, 71 East Indiantown Road, Jupiter, Florida 33477 (561) 7474-1161.

Jupiter Corners Ocean Bar & Grill is a surf-nautical themed- indoor/outdoor sports bar…located in Jupiter, Florida. Check the joint’s website www.jupitercorners.com for menu/prices/entertainment schedule.

Let’s make this short and simple…Jupiter Corners’ menu is loaded with appetizers, soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches and seafood-chicken-meat entrees. A recent outing netted me (pun intended) sliders, prime rib sandwich, bbq chicken & ribs combo, steak quesadilla, grouper rueben, french fries…and I got-to-tell you, the food ain’t “run-of-the-mill” sports bar stuff…everything was delicous.

Good food. Sports bar prices. Very pleasant service. TV sets. Entertainment including live bands (check schedule)…just what the doctor ordered.

Jupiter Corners is open Tuesday-Sunday 11:30am-3am.

*****  Palm Beach Grill, 340 Royal Poinciana Way, Palm Beach, Florida 33480 (561) 835-1077.

Palm Beach Grill is a “semi-upscale” American-style joint. So…you can sound smarter than your friends, Palm Beach Grill is owned/operated by the Hillstone Restaurant Group which also owns/operates Houston’s. The joint’s website www.hillstone.com has menu/prices…there is also a photo which will give you some idea of what Palm Beach Grill looks like. Like I said, “semi-upscale” but you don’t have to get all dolled-up to eat in this joint.

As for the menu…kind of limited. As for prices, a tad too pricey for me…a cheeseburger & french fries will set you back 15 bucks…a hot dog runs $12, bbq ribs $28 and grilled snapper $35…sides are $6 and desserts $9. As for the service, excellent.

I really enjoyed Palm Beach Grill’s overpriced food. Now…I don’t know if it was because I already KNEW, but while eating…the joint reminded me of Houston’s with a slightly different menu.

Palm Beach Grill is open for dinner 7 days a week.

*****  Bahia Cabana Restaurant & Patio Bar, 3001 Harbor Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33316 (954) 524-1555.

Let me start by telling you, that this American-style joint is located in the Bahia Cabana Beach Resort, which is a Days Inn. Let me send you to the hotel’s website www.bahiacabanaresort.com for menu/prices…there are also a handful of photos which will “tell” you that this indoor-outdoor restaurant is real casual and overlooks a yacht basin…eat outside, the view is absolutely great.

Now you know and I know, that most hotels try and rip your eyeballs out when it comes to food…not this joint. Very reasonably priced. No more expensive than your favorite sports bar. Bahia Cabana does breakfast-lunch-dinner 7 days a week.

Now let’s talk food. A recent lunch had me taste-testing…caesar salad, bacon cheeseburger, french fries, onion rings, crabcakes, conch fritters, baby-back ribs, philly cheese steak…Everything was right on the money and like I said before, you won’t go for your lungs here.

Cabana Bahia’s menu is loaded with appetizers, salads, burgers, sandwiches, meat/chciken/seafood entrees. Full bar. Very pleasant service.

I am telling you, this is a real-good place for a casual lunch…or for that matter, a breakfast or dinner. Nothing fancy, just easy-going South Florida.

***** Vista Grille, 466 SW Port SaintLucie Boulevard, Port Saint Lucie,Florida 34953 (772) 873-8808.

Let’s call Vista Grille an American-style joint…absolutely nothing fancy here…dynamite-reasonably priced food. It’s menu is loaded with breakfast stuff, appetizers, soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches, meat/seafood/chicken entrees. Think upscale-diner…rather than wood-dark Houston’s or your favorite sports-bar. 

A recent dinner netted me…grilled swordfish, grilled lamb chops, chicken spring rolls, baked rigatoni, chicken gumbo, bacon cheeseburger, steak fries. Like I said before, the food is excellent.  Prices are diner prices. Service is as friendly as can be.

Vista Grille is open for breakfast-lunch-dinner Monday-Saturday 7am-9pm and breakfast-lunch Sunday 7am-3pm.

*****  Friendly Greek Restaurant, 610 South Dixie Highway, Lantana, Florida 33462 (561) 33462.

“You say tomato and I like tomahto”…Friendly Greek Restaurant is really an American-style diner, which happens to have Greek stuff on its menu. This joint looks just like the gazillion neighborhood diners that dot the 5-boroughs…eat-at-counter, booths, woman standing behind register located at entrance/exit.

Friendly Greek serves good-reasonably priced diner food…breakfast stuff, appetizers, soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches, meat/seafood/chicken entrees…and it’s got the old Greek standbys like pastichia, mousaka and gyros.

Trust me on this…over the years, you’ve probably eaten in similar type joints at least a 1,000 times. I don’t know about you, but I especially  love “friendly Greek” restaurants for breakfast.

Friendly Greek is open Monday 6am-3pm…Tuesday-Saturday 6am-9pm…Sunday 7am-9pm.

*****  Vari Asian Crazy Buffet, 2030 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, West Palm Beach, Florida 33409 (561) 6161-9288.

Vari Asian is a Chinese-buffet-joint. It has 2 locations, 1 in West Palm Beach and 1 in Tampa.

I recently had an an absolutely terrific dinner at the West Palm Beach location. First let me tell you, that this joint ain’t a dump…it is an upscale-decorated restaurant with a full liquor bar…but your tee shirt/shorts ensemble will do just fine. In addition to something like 9,000,000 Chinese soups, salads, appetizers, entrees and desserts (I am assuming that pistachio, vanilla and chocolate ice cream are Chinese food), there is a huge sushi-selection…the joint also has a habachi grill and wok station. Trust me, the food is very good… far superior to most of the local Chinese eat-in/take-out joints in South Florida.

Vari Asian Crazy Buffet is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner.  Depending on the day of the week…Prices range $9.99-$15.99 for lunch and $17.99-$19.99 for dinner.

*****  Mitch’s Westside Bagels Too, 19575 State Road 7, Boca Raton, Florida 33498 (561) 483-2331.

Got a real good bagel-joint for you…Mitch’s Westside Bagels Too in Boca Raton. Great place for hot-fresh bagels, breakfast stuff, salads, wraps, deli meats, sandwiches, burgers…throw in handful of flat-screen tvs, pleasant wait-staff, reasonable prices and you pretty-much got the picture.

Now for you folks in Coral Springs…old Mitch has another joint called, Westside Bagels Drive Thru & Eatery, 5906 Coral Ridge Drive, Coral Springs, Florida 33076 (954) 755-4600. Haven’t been to the Coral Springs joint, but I’m “gonna” guess that this location in addition to eat-in also has a drive thru.

For menu/prices check www.mitchswestsidebagels.com. Both joints do breakfast-lunch 7-days a week.

*****  YOLO, 333 East Las Olas Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 (954)523-1000.

Last night I caught comedian, Jackie Mason’s show at the Broward Center. The next time he “comes around” don’t make the same mistake. Oh Jackie…time to retire. Anyway…before the show, had dinner at a relatively new ( 4 months old) “American Style” restaurant named YOLO…which is short-hand for You Only Live Once.

At this juncture let me send you to YOLO’s website www.yolorestaurant.com for menu/photos/details.

Got to this joint at 6:10pm and its inside & outside bars were PACKED…great looking-stylish 25-35 crowd. So if you are 25-35, you now know about Fort Lauderdale’s latest hot-spot.

Now for the rest of us, let’s talk FOOD (all of a sudden, I’m writing like Jackie Mason talks)…In addition to a couple of “specials” the menu consisted of 5-appetizers, 5-salads, 5-sandwiches, 10-entrees and 5-desserts. My “taste-test” consisted of meatball sliders, California spinach salad, beef tenderloin, rotisserie chicken and bbq pork ribs…I will tell you, that the ribs were some of the best that I have eaten “down-here” in South Florida and if the meatball sliders weren’t 4 bucks a pop, I could have eaten 6 of them…they were absolutely dynamite. The California spinach salad was delicious… large enough for 2. The rotisserie chicken and beef tenderloin were good, but not in the same league as those ribs or sliders. By the way, the entrees came with 2-sides…I had mashed potatoes and cole-slaw, they were just fine.

If you check this joint’s website, you will find photos…so you’ll know that this is a real-sharp…modern-decor joint. Personally, I found the lighting a bit too dark…but the super-modern bathrooms are gorgeous.

Let’s wrap this one up. Great looking joint. Very good food. Very good service. Price-point…Appetizers $6-$11…Salads $8-16…Sandwiches $11.50-$17.50…Entrees $16-30…Sides $4…Desserts $7.

YOLO does lunch and dinner 7-days a week.

I really enjoyed this joint. On this particular Friday Night it had “great energy” and very good food. Oh, to be 25-35 again!!!!

*****  Carving Station Buffet, 720 US Highway 1, Lake Park, Florida 33403 (561) 842-7791.

Let’s talk buffet…found a really good “all you can eat” American-style buffet for you…Carving Station Buffet in Lake Park. Take a look at this joint’s website at www.carvingstationbuffet.com for menu/prices/photos/details. Breakfast runs $6.49 (includes coffee)…Salad bar (only) lunch runs $5.79…Lunch runs $7.79…Dinner runs $9.39. Just so you know, that “all you can eat” doesn’t include desserts which go for $2.69 each and beverages which will run you $1.89 a pop (free refills). One other item, the joint is open 365 days a year for lunch and dinner and only does breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.

Gourmet food? Now let’s not get stupid here…but, for a cheap-buffet joint, the food is very good. “Nice” selection…things like, turkey, ham, lamb, roast beef, fried chicken, broiled fish…soups, salads, breads. Trust me, you will find plenty of things to stuff your face with.

Like I said, “nice” selection…decent enough food. Very clean. Very pleasant wait-staff.

Every so often, joints like this are a real-nice change of pace from your full-service restaurants. If you enjoy eating 10 strips of bacon and 6 sausage links with your eggs, Carving Station can handle you very nicely.

  Trevini Ristorante, 150 Worth Avenue, Palm Beach, Florida 33480 (561) 833-3883.

Trevini is an “upscale-white table cloth” Italian joint located on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach.

Trevini’s food is OK…check-out its menu/prices/photos at www.treviniristorante.com. Big problem here…way, and I do mean way overpriced. Don’t believe me?…now we aren’t talking “family style” portions here…fettucine bolenese $25.95, tortellini soup $7.95, shrimp fradiavolo $33.95, chicken francese $27.95, side of sauteed spinach $9.95.

Like I said before, the food is OK…mind you nothing great here, I have tasted better and I have tasted worse…The joint is open for lunch Monday-Saturday 11:30am-2:45pm and for dinner Monday-Sunday 5:30pm-10:30pm.

The rent on Worth Avenue must be a killer…