*****  Casa L’Italien, 9101 Yamato Road, Boca Raton, Florida 33428 (561) 852-9290.

This joint is for those of you who live in Boca Raton.

Casa L’Italien is a “mom & pop” red-sauce Italian joint located in a small strip center…actually, I don’t know if there really is a mom or pop here, but you know what I am talking about.

Anyway…this joint makes a real nice pizza and has better than average soup or salad/garlic rolls/entree with a pasta side.

Now, no one is telling you to make a special trip to eat here…what I am saying is, that if you live in the neighborhood you could do far worse on takeout/or grabbing a quick relatively cheap meal.

Like I said before, the joint makes a pretty decent pizza.

Casa L’Italien is open Monday-Saturday 11am-10pm and Sunday noon-10pm.

*****  Raindancer Steak House, 2300 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, West Palm Beach, Florida 33409 (561) 684-2810.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had it with these “upscale” steakhouses…you know the ones, Morton’s New York Prime, Ruth’s Cris, Chops, Abe & Louie’s (just to name a few), that cost you an arm and a leg and have servers that make you feel as if you are an idiot.  You know exactly what I am talking about…These are the joints, where nothing and I do mean nothing, comes with the steak/entree and salads and sides cost you a day’s pay…

If you are in the mood for a real good steak or some top-notch seafood, give Raindancer Steak House a try. The joint has been around since 1975… Real easy going (tee shirt/shorts do just fine here), no white-table cloths, great food, great “attitude-less” wait-staff. Take a look at Raindancer’s website at www.raindancersteakhouse.com for menu/prices/details.

Just so we are straight, Raindancer isn’t some $9.99 salad/steak/side joint. Just off the top of my head, a “soup to nuts” steak-meal is going to run you something like 50 bucks a head, give or take a few dollars. This joint’s seafood is as good as its meat game. Another beautiful thing about Raindancer, is that all entrees come with a potato or rice pilaf side and a fantastic salad bar…don’t think Shoney’s, or Golden Corral…

You now have a great steak-seafood house, that’s not going to break you. The joint is open, Sunday-Thursday 5pm-10pm and Friday-Saturday 5pm-10:30pm.

*****  Andiamo!, 5600 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, Florida 33137 (305) 762-5751.

I got a terrific pizza joint for you…Andiamo!…which is located in Miami. I had dinner in this joint last night and I have to tell you that Andiamo! makes one of the best brick-oven pizzas down here in South Florida…absolutely delicious. This joint also serves terrific salads, sandwiches and desserts.

Take a look at Andiamo!’s website at andiamopizzamiami.com for menu/prices/other details.

Andiamo! is a modern-decor pizza joint…the location is a converted gas station. The joint is open Sunday-Thursday 11am-11pm and Friday-Saturday 11am -midnight.

The food is absolutely terrific. If you live in the “area” you don’t want to miss this one.

The best way to describe Manero’s…diner meets upscale steakhouse. Check Manero’s website at www.maneros.com for menu/prices/details.

Manero’s is an unpretentious steakhouse. Tee shirts/shorts do just fine at this joint. The menu is loaded with steaks, but seafood “lovers” will absolutely find something to eat. Unlike the “upscale” joints, you won’t go for your lungs at Manero’s as most steaks “go” for less than $25 and include a gorgonzula salad and side dish…The really beautiful thing about Manero’s is the lack of waiters/waitresses who think that they are smarter than you are…If being talked down to, is your game, I can furnish you with a nice long list of South Florida steakhouses who are full of themselves.

Just so we are straight…Manero’s is a very good “no-frills” steakhouse. If you are looking for “fancy”…this joint ain’t for you.

Manero’s is open 7-days a week for dinner 5pm-9pm and for lunch 11:30am-2pm Tuesday-Friday.

*****  Little Anthony’s Diner, 7010 East Broadway, Tucson, Arizona 85710, (520) 296-0456

I know that this site is dedicated to finding the best joints in South Florida. That said, last week I had lunch at a joint named Little Anthony’s Diner located in Tucson, Arizona. Check this joint’s website at www.littleanthonysdiner.com.  Everything that you need to know about this joint is listed.

Absolutely perfect…Great decor. Great food. Great big portions. Great and I do mean great wait-staff. Great prices.

It’s just too bad that this joint isn’t down here in South Florida.

Anyway…if you ever get out to Tucson, you now have an absolutely great joint for breakfast-lunch-dinner.

Chili’s Grill & Bar, 401 Biscayne Boulevard (Bayside Marketplace) Miami, Florida 33132 (305) 373-0601.

This review is not an indictment of the Chili’s Grill & Bar chain… For those of you not familar with Chili’s…Chili’s is a national chain of American-style eateries which is owned and operated by publicly traded Brinker International. Over the years, I have always found Chili’s with its enormous appetizer-salad-sandwich-burger-entree menu to be a well run…fairly priced joint, with decent food and service.

UNTIL… I tried the Chili’s Grill & Bar located at the Bayside Marketplace in Miami, Florida. Dirty (no make that filthy)…Incompetent help (from the receptionists to the waiters/waitresses)…You would be  absolutely amazed at how simple burgers and other dishes were “mangled.”

Bad news…

*****  Mo’s Bagels & Deli, 2780 NE 187 Street, Aventura, Florida 33180, (305) 936-8555.

Mo’s Bagels & Deli is a New York-Kosher Style-Bagel/Deli joint. Mo’s is open Monday 7am-4pm and Tuesday-Sunday 7am-9pm.

You know and I know, that South Florida has more New York-Kosher Style-Bagel/Deli joints than there are Chins in a Chinese phonebook…some are good, some are very good, some are great and some are lousy.

If you live in the Aventura area, Mo’s (which falls into the very good box) is a joint that you want to know about. Excellent hand-rolled bagels…delicious appetizing…very good deli meats and  other stuff like potato pancakes and soups…clean/large joint…very reasonable prices. The joint is always jammed for Saturday-Sunday breakfast…Enormous take-out business. Mo’s is located about 5 minutes from the Aventura Mall.

You now know, what you need to know, about Mo’s.

*****  Nippers Sports Bar & Grill, 21069 S. Military Trail, Boca Raton, Florida 33486 (561) 338-4111.

You know and I know, that there are more Sports Bars in South Florida than there are Chins in a Chinese phone-book.

The other day…actually it was the other night…I found Nippers which is located in Boca Raton. Take a look at this joint’s website at www.nippersbarandgrill.com for menu/prices/hours/photos/details.

Nippers’ decor is typical-South Florida…wood bar, wood booths, wood tables, flat screen tvs, pool tables and a few video games.

Nippers has two things that separates it from the other sports bar joints in the area. (1) The joint has absolutley amazing hours. Monday-Friday 3pm-5am and Saturday-Sunday 9pm-5am. A full menu is served until 4:15am every day and there is delivery service every day until 3am. (2) The food is a step or two above “usual” sports bar stuff. I recently sampled the joint’s mini-burgers, Philly cheese-steak sub, chicken parmesan sub and french fries…all were right on the money. By the way, the menu is loaded with appetizers, wraps, salads, subs, pizzas, sandwiches, burgers and entrees. The joint’s prices are exactly what you’d expect.

You folks who live in Boca Raton and the surrounding area, should take particular note of the fact that this joint is open to 5am and delivers until 3am.

       Tony Roma’s Express, 19501 Biscayne Boulevard (Aventura Mall), North Miami, Florida  33180, (305) 936-9190.

When I first got down here some 17 years ago, there were 2 major players in the bbq rib-chicken business… namely Tony Roma’s and Bobby Rubino’s. Rather than rehashing old history…as to whether or not Rubino worked for Roma and stole the concept, or vice versa, let’s just say that back then, both chains had tons of restaurants in South Florida.

Anyway…both are still around, but far from the powerhouses that they use to be. To be perfectly honest with you, I use to enjoy both, but I haven’t eaten in either chain for something like 10 years.

Yesterday, I gave Tony Roma’s “new” food-court concept…Tony Roma’s Express, a shot. Just off the top of my head, in addition to the joint in the Aventura Mall (which I tried), I know that there are locations in the Miami International Mall and Sawgrass Mills Mall…Check Tony Roma’s website at www.tonyromas.com for menu/locations/prices/and other details.

Tony Roma’s Express has something like 10 menu items…there are bbq pork ribs, bbq beef ribs, pulled pork sandwiches. I tried the pork and beef ribs. Do you know what GARBAGE is?  Well if you don’t, eat this crap and you will find out. I don’t know how Tony Roma’s makes its ribs, but they tasted as if they were boiled “to death”…thrown on a grill for a few seconds… then slathered with an absolutely tasteless bbq sauce (think Original Open Pit Barbecue Sauce diluted 50% with water)…To add insult to injury… A pitifully small order of 5 beef riblettes with barely enough meat to feed a pigeon) plus a piece of corn-on-the-cob and a medium Pepsi cost $11.43….an absolute waste of money.

Pass this joint by. Lousy food, no make that horrendous food…Small portions, (then again maybe that’s a good thing, because the food is so bad)…Overpriced.

*****  Sergio’s Restaurant, 3252 Coral Way, Miami, Florida 33145 (305) 529-0047…9330 SW 40th Street, Miami, Florida 33165 (305) 552-9626…13600 SW 152nd Street, Miami, Florida 33177 (786) 242-9790…8202 Mills Drive, Miami, Florida 33183 (305) 279-3409.

Sergio’s Restaurant is a Cuban-diner. There are 4 locations…all in Miami. Yesterday, I had lunch at the Coral Way joint which is a free-standing building, that must seat something like 150 inside and maybe 50 on an out-door patio. When I arrived at 1:30pm every table was taken and there was a 10 minute wait. All 4 locations are open Sunday-Thursday 6am-midnight and Friday-Saturday 6am-3am. From any seat in the house, you can see the open-kitchen area. Suffice it to say, there were so many cooks, waitresses, busboys, counter people working, that I lost count. This joint really bangs out (that’s a compliment) tons of food.

If you check, on July 28, 2008 I did a writeup on another Cuban joint named El  Rey de las Fritas. In that review, you will find that I fell in love with that joint’s Las Fritas, which is Spanish for Cuban hamburgers. Anyway, I was told by a parking lot attendant in Coconut Grove (go figure), that the Cuban hamburgers served by Sergio’s were as good if not better than El Rey’s burgers…so the challenge was on.

First let me tell you, that Sergio’s has a menu that is as long as your arm…it has all kinds of breakfast items, appetizers, sandwiches, burgers, salads, entrees and desserts. The menu is written in Spanish…with English translations provided in small print under each item. Our waitress spoke Spanish, our busboy spoke Spanish, the hostess spoke Spanish…everyone in the joint spoke Spanish. Lucky for me and my party… that I got a “D” in High School Spanish and the fact, that most if not all of the staff is bi-lingual, so ordering was no problem.

Now for the Cuban hamburgers…incredible. They were right up there with El Reys’ burgers…mildly spicy, with a dab of ketchup and mustard and covered in a ton of potato sticks. I had 2 of these really nice size burgers which go for $3.50 a piece. The joint also has a big-old-fashioned “orange juicer” converyor-belt  driven machine which makes fresh juice all-day long…so I had 3 glasses of juice with my burgers. Don’t ask me why, but I also sampled 2 scoops of fresh-made chicken salad….delicious.

Anyway…Based on the crowds…Based on the fact that there are 4 of these joints…Based on the long hours that these joints are open every day…Based on the fact that most entrees are no more than 8 bucks…Based on the incredible Las Fritas…I think that Sergio’s is a joint that you will absolutely positively want to try.