Nathan’s Famous, 12801 West Sunrise Boulevard (Sawgrass Mills Mall), Sunrise, Florida (954) 846-1394.

This past Sunday, I visited the Sawgrass Mills Mall in Sunrise. While my “better-half” shopped, I killed 3 hours (2:45pm-5:45pm) reading books in Books A Million and seeing how many free-toothpick bourbon chicken samples I could devour.

Sawgrass has 2 large food-courts…with the usual mall-tenants like, Sbarro, Panda Express, Chicken Connection, Subway, Burger King, Auntie Anne’s…One quick observation. Except for Nathan’s Famous, everyone of the food-outlets had beautifully “show-cased” food… and energetic-nimble workers “banging” orders out like crazy.

There are things that I think I know and things that I know I know…and I know for sure that Nathan’s (the chain) which has been around since 1916, serves the best hot-dogs and french fries in the world.

The Sawgrass Nathan’s is an absolute disgrace. The workers are slower than the zombies that star in those Night Of The Living Dead flicks. While watching, there were no “delicious smelling” hot dogs “sizzling” on the grill (as a matter of fact, there was nothing on the grill)…there were two lines, one filled with frustrated people waiting to place an order and another, filled with frustrated people (standing with receipts) waiting for their food. In the span of 20 minutes, I actually watched 17 people walk-away without placing orders, because they obvioulsy didn’t want to play Rip Van Winkle while ordering-picking up fast-food.

Take a look at Nathan’s website at www.nathansfamous.com for menu/details. This fast-food chain has something like 234 outlets…Whoever owns the Sawgrass location…you got “gold” but you have absolutely no idea how to run a fast-food joint.

Mr. Chen’s Hunan Palace, 5130 Linton Boulevard, Delray Beach, Florida 33484 (561) 498-4703.

Last week, I ate lunch at this neighborhood Chinese joint. Mr. Chen’s menu is packed with all of the familiar appetizers, soups, entrees…not to mention, all kinds of combo plates and lunch $6.95-$7.95 “specials.” No question about it, you get a ton of food for your lunch-money…soup, egg roll/or fried chicken wings, fried rice, entree.

Sorry to report…the food isn’t very good. This joint flunked my basic “taste-test”…I did my best to grade Mr. Chen’s on a “curve” and it still couldn’t come-up with a passing grade. Just so you know, I tried the won-ton soup, egg rolls, fried rice, sweet & sour chicken, fried chicken wings, spare ribs, pepper steak, chicken with cashews.

Rather than bore you with the gory details…let’s just say that the won-ton soup had absolutely no taste…for all I know, it could have been hot-tap water. Everything and I do mean everything I tried, literally had no flavor. Whoever was in the back preparing this crap, had absolutely no idea as to how sauces-or seasoning work.

This joint is open 7-days a week for lunch and dinner. Don’t even think about it.

*****  Dyan’s Country Kitchen, 9100 Wiles Road, Coral Springs, Florida 33067 (954) 755-7590.

A short-story for you.

Dyan’s Country Kicthen is a “neighborhood” breakfast-lunch joint…counter-booth-table seating. Take a look at Dyan’s website www.dyanscountrykitchen.com for menu/prices. Absolutely-positively nothing fancy.

Let’s call Dyan’s a real good joint…big breakfasts, soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches.

Good food. Good prices. Good wait-staff.

Every NEIGHBORHOOD should have one of these!

Dyan’s is open Monday-Friday 6:30am-3pm and Saturday-Sunday 6:30am-2pm.

*****  Acquolina Ristorante Italiano, 2320 Weston Road, Weston, Florida 33326 (954) 389-1880.

Just finished eating dinner at an Italian joint…Acquolina Ristorante Italiano, located in Weston…and I got to tell you, that it was one of the best Italian meals that I have had in a very-very long time. Other than having to throw 2-pinches of salt over an “individual- 1/2 order” of fried zucchini, the food was absolutely delicious. Let me send you to Acquolina’s website www.acquolinaweston.com for menu/prices

Acquolina’s has white table-cloths, but your tee shirt/shorts ensemble will do just fine…there is indoor seating and out-door patio seating overlooking a man made shopping center lake.

Let’s talk food…trust me on this one, the food is outrageously good. The menu has “individual-1/2 order” and “family style” portions. Fried zucchini, baked clams oreganata, chopped salad, penne alla vodka, bone-in chicken campagnola, veal chop parmigiana, shrimp fra diavolo…all, as tv-food personality Guy Fieri would say “off the chart.” The service is real-good, with a group of waiters who “chat with customers” and keep a close eye to make sure that water and beverage glasses are never empty. Prices… maybe a “buck-or-two higher” than neighborhood pizza joint prices. A little heads-up…a lot of the “individual-1/2 order” portions are enough to feed 2-people, so  ASK the waiter about portion size when ordering…besides saving money, you’ll have more than enough food to stuff your face real good with.

Personally, I don’t care for the name Acquolina…it sounds like it has something to do with water and fish…but it ain’t my joint. What I do know, is Acquolina’s menu is loaded with top-notch appetizers, salads, pastas, meat/seafood/chicken entrees.

Let me sum Acquolina up for you this way…I drove 72 miles round-trip to eat in this joint…and I can’t wait to make the trip again. The food is that good.

Acquolina is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner.

*****  Bono’s Bar- B- Q & Grill, 2290 SE Federal Highway, Stuart, Florida 34994 (772) 283-0078.

Bono’s Bar- B- Q & Grill is a “casual-very reasonably priced bbq” joint located in Stuart, Florida. Take a look at its website at www.bonosstuartfl.com for menu/prices.

Bono’s menu is loaded with appetizers, salads, sandwiches, burgers, wings, pork-chicken-seafood entrees. In addition to serving lunch and dinner, Bono’s does breakfast.

Now this may get confusing, but follow me…Bono’s is NOT an extreme bbq joint…its food is just right, nothing too smokey or too southern-style.

Anyway, you’ll have to try Bono’s for yourself, to understand what I am yapping about.

A recent “taste test” of baby-back ribs, bbq turkey, bbq chicken, grilled shrimp, grilled chicken breast, french fries, onion rings…literally had me in pig heaven. Like I said before, “not overly smoked and just sweet enough” is Bono’s bbq game.

Real casual place. Very good food. Very reasonable prices. Very pleasant service.

Bono’s is open for lunch and dinner Sunday-Thursday 11am-9pm and Friday-Saturday 11am-10pm. Bono’s serves breakfast Monday-Friday 6am-10:30am and Saturday-Sunday 6:30am-11am.

*****  Big Daddy’s Chicken, 4650 Donald Ross Road, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33418 (561)694-2154

Hey! Boston Market…you should let Big Daddy’s make your rotisserie chickens for you…get a contract or something…be smart and stop serving your fatty-salty birds and get Big Daddy’s stuff in your stores.

Big Daddy’s is…let’s call it a “neighborhood mom & pop joint” that serves delicious rotisserie chicken, ribs, appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers hot dogs and wraps. Take a look at Big Daddy’s website www.bigdaddyschicken.info for menu/prices.

A recent outing had me sampling…the rotisserie chicken, hamburger, steak sandwich, bbq ribs, macaroni & cheese and garlic roasted potatoes. The food is dynamite. The prices are extremely reasonable. The service very pleasant.

Big Daddy’s is a terrific place for a real casual lunch or dinner. Nothing fancy here…just real good food and a take-out menu that makes me wish that it was near my house.

If you live in Big Daddy’s neighborhood, you now know about a joint where you can eat-in/take-out some heavy duty delicious food. Big Daddy’s is open Monday-Saturday 11am-9pm and Sunday 11:30am-8pm.

*****  Cita’s Italian Chophouse Restaurant, 3176 Commodore Plaza, Coconut Grove, Florida 33133 (305) 446-2207.

Cita’s is a combination…”upscale white tablecloth steakhouse- Italian” joint… The food is really good. The service is really good. It is PRICEY and your tee shirt-shorts ensemble isn’t really going to work here. Take a look at Cita’s website www.citasitalianchophouse.com for menu/prices and loads of photos. Great looking joint, with indoor and outdoor patio dining.

Like its brethern in the upscale steak business, this joint has a menu loaded with “$40+” entrees and $8 sides…nothing comes with nothing. That said, if you “watch” what you are doing here, you can have a great meal and not have to apply for food stamps the next day…pasta dishes run $18-$30, meat/chicken/seafood entrees $21-$65. The menu has enough, shall we say… elasticity, so you should be able to “work” the list of appetizers, soups, salads, pastas, entrees and not jeporadize your next car payment.

Just so you know…on “taste test day” I left my calculator at home ( I can write this meal off as a business expense) and found the fried calamari, pan seared grouper, veal chop parmigiana, gnocchi and bone-in New York Strip Steak to be delicious.

Based on its prices, I would be foolish to recommend Cita’s as an “every day” joint …but, it’s a real good place to know about, when you want something a bit special.

Cita’s is open for dinner, Sunday-Friday 5pm-11pm, Saturday 5pm-midnight and for brunch on Sunday 10am.

*****  Papa Z, 2500 SE Federal Highway, Stuart, Florida 34994, (772) 419-2007.

Got a real good Italian joint for you…Papa Z located in Stuart, Florida. Take a look at its website www.papa-z.com for menu/prices…there are also something like 12 photographs of the joint, so you’ll know exactly what it looks like. Personally, I found Papa Z’s eclectic decor, modern funiture combined with “old world” framed Mona Lisa-type paintings to be a great look.

Now for the food…baked ziti, meat lasagna, chicken francese, veal parmigiana, veal marsala and shrimp diavlo…let’s just say, that I would definitely be a repeat customer. Good service. Neighborhood joint prices.

Papa Z has both a lunch and dinner menu…the lunch one is loaded with appetizers, salads, pizzas, pastas, subs, meat-seafood-chicken entrees…the dinner one, shall we say, is a bit more compact, but there is plenty of great stuff to choose from.

I really enjoyed this joint. Papa Z is open Sunday-Thursday 11am-9pm and Friday-Saturday 11am-10pm.

*****  Bella Cucina Wood Fired Pizza, 4208 North Lakes Boulevard, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33410 (561) 799-7779.

Bella Cucina is a casual-moderately priced Italian joint, which plays the “wood fired” card…its pizzas are cooked in a wood-fired oven… and a number of its chicken-meat-seafood dishes are prepared on wood fired grills.

On a recent “outing” I stuffed my face with… ” margharita” pizza, lobster ravioli ala vodka, linguine with white calms sauce, steak pizziola and veal parmigiana. The food is very good. The portions just right. The service is as friendly as can be. The decor, modern pizzeria. The prices, neighborhood pizza joint prices.

I have to tell you, that I especially enjoyed the wood-fired margharita pizza…fresh mozzarella, basil and tomato sauce. Not to thin, not to thick, just right in the “crisp and sweet” department…absolutely delicious.

Just a brief thought…when I was growing up in Brooklyn in the 1950s-1960s, there was no such thing as a “margharita pizza.” It was either a “pie” or a “square or Scilian pie”…never heard the term margharita, ever. Did you?  Now, it seems everyone and their mother has “margharita this and —- that pizza”…what I do know, is that pizza is suppose to be, “dough-tomato sauce-mozzarella cheese” and if you want to get fancy, just maybe you top it with pepporoni, or sausage or meatballs…All of these weird combinations that you see joints serving today, are destroying the pizza-concept. I don’t care what anyone tells me, pineapple doesn’t belong on the top of a slice.

Bella Cucina makes some real-good stuff… the menu has a full lineup of appetizers, soups, salads, pastas, pizzas and meat-chicken-seafood entrees…and like I said before, a ton of items are “wood cooked” which adds a nice change of taste to many of the old standards.

Bella Cucina is open Monday-Thursday 11am-10pm, Friday 11am-11pm, Saturday 4pm-11pm and Sunday 4pm-10pm…you can wear your tee shirt and shorts’ ensemble.

Bar-B-Q Jack’s, 500 East Oakland Park Boulevard, Fort lauderdale, Florida 33334 (954) 567-4446.

Just had a terrifc lunch at a “roadside bbq” joint called Bar-B-Q Jack’s in Fort Lauderdale. This is a no-frills-order at/pickup at the counter bbq…no waitresses, roll of paper towels on every table. Take a look at Bar-B-Q Jack’s website at www.barbqjacks.com for menu/prices.

 This afternoon’s tast-test…bbq ribs, bbq pulled pork sandwich, bbq chicken sandwich, corn on the cob, steak fries, macaroni & cheese…all right on the money. The stuff is smoked and extremely tender… Bar-B-Q Jack’s lathers on a sweet-sauce that gives the bbq an outstanding flavor.

I absolutely loved the food at Bar-B-Q Jack’s. This joint has a list of reasonably priced “meat only items”…”sandwich combos”…”meal combos”… “sides”…and a “catering menu.” Like I said before, order at the counter…pickup at the counter…use loads of paper towels.

Bar-B-Q Jack’s is open Monday-Thirsday 11am-9pm, Friday-Saturday 11am-10pm and Sunday 11am-8:30pm.