*****  Jax House of Ribs, 5401 Powerline Road, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309 (954) 776-4994.

I originally reviewed this BBQ-joint on September 18, 2008. Back then, I told you that it was a relatively new restaurant that had good bbq…that it was “located” in a former Sonny’s BBQ outlet.

Anyway…tonight I had dinner at Jax…and I gotta tell you, that this joint has developed into an absolutely terrific bbq-restaurant.

This evening, I “tried” the baby-back ribs, bbq chicken, corn bread, corn on the cob, sweet potato,  garlic toast, peach cobbler and fried cheesecake –everything and I do mean everything was delicious. Throw in ridiculously low prices and…

I am telling you, that this CASUAL-UNPRETENTIOUS-EASY GOING joint is a must try.

Checkout Jax’s website at www.jaxhouseofribs.com for menu-prices -details.

Jax is open Monday-Thursday 11am-8:30pm, Friday 11am-9pm, Saturday 11:30am-9pm and Sunday 11:30am-8pm.

Just a heads up…  South Florida Dines www.southfloridadines.com has discount “money” for this joint.

*****  Rosinella Italian Trattoria, 525 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, Florida 33139 (305) 672-8777…&…1040 South Miami Avenue, Miami, Florida 33130 (305) 372-5756.

A few days ago, I gave Rosinella Italian Trattoria a shot…there are 2 of these joints, I ate in the one located on Lincoln Road. You can check Rosinella’s website at www.rosinella.net for menu/prices/photos/other stuff.

Personally, I find most of the joints in the “Lincoln Road” area to be over-priced and not very good…wanna-bes and tourists help fuel the fire. By the way, if you are one of those wanna-bes or tourists, no offense intended…but you guys are letting tons of “South Beach” joints get away with murder.

Anyway…Rosinella is a terrific joint for lunch or dinner. This casual Italian joint is “un-pretentious” and serves some excellent appetizers, salads, pizzas, pastas, sandwiches and meat-chicken-seafood entrees…all at very reasonable prices. Throw in the fact, that you can watch wanna-bes and tourists while you eat…and Rosinella is my kind of joint.

I recently did lasagna di carne (veal & beef), gnocchi bolognese, chicken parmigiana, chicken marsala and seared tuna… real good stuff.

So, you now know about a real good Italian joint that is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner.

*****  Geronimos Bar & Grill, 3528 South University Drive, Davie, Florida 33328 (954) 474-9998.

Geronimos Bar & Grill is a “sports bar”…it’s located in a non-descript strip center…right near Nova University. Unless you were looking for the joint, you would pass it right-by.

If you are over the age of 6 months…you know what Geronimos looks like…flat screen tvs, bar, tables-chairs…for some reason, the joint features that UFC stuff on its tvs…that’s the new “sport” where people  literally beat the crap-out of each other.

Anyway… unlike, most of its sports-bar brethern, Geronimos has really-really good food. The joint’s menu is loaded with appetizers, salads, sandwiches, burgers, wraps, meat-seafood-entrees. At this juncture you might like to check its website at www.geronimosbar.com for menu/prices/photos/other information.

A recent “outing” netted me… onion soup, bacon cheeseburger, dolphin oreganato, grilled chicken breast, chicken macadamia, chicken parm-sub, onion rings, steak fries…like I said before, the food is really-really good. As for prices, neighborhood sports bar prices…service is sports-bar pleasant.

Geronimos is open 7 days a week.

*****  The Draft House, 22191 Powerline Road, Boca Raton, Florida 33433 (561) 368-3292…&…201 West Camino Road, Boca Raton, Florida 33432 (561) 394-6699.

 The Draft House is a “sports bar”…there are two of them in Boca Raton. You know the story decor-wise…tvs, bar, tables-chairs, pool tables

Tried the joint located on Powerline Road. Not exactly gourmet food…but the  bacon-cheeseburger, bbq ribs, shrimp scampi and buffalo wings were just fine…not bad for bar-stuff. Take a look at The Draft House’s website www.drafthouse.net for menu/prices/pictures/etc.

You know and I know that “these” type of joints are basically all the same…so if you live or work near The Draft House, you got another joint where you can catch some sports-tv, with decent enough wings, burgers, ribs.

The joint does lunch and dinner 7 days a week.

*****  Dairy Queen, 2901 North Federal Highway, Pompano Beach, Florida 33064 (954) 943-8390.

I’m gonna assume that you know what Dairy Queen is…if you don’t, too bad for you.

National “soft serve” ice cream chain…stores all over south Florida.

An old one in Pompano Beach recently relocated to a new double lane-drive-thru on Federal Highway…great looking store.

Just so you guys know, Jeff Eats loves-soft serve and Dairy Queen’s is off the chart delicious! The joint has a thing called a Blizzard where you can have all kinds of stuff “ground into” your soft serve…I am telling you chocolate soft serve with Heath Bar is the way to go!

By the way, Dairy Queen  also has “things”  like burgers and hot dogs…don’t bother. The game is SOFT SERVE ICE CREAM.

You can check Dairy Queen’s website www.dairyqueen.com for menu/locations.

Unless you have been living on Mars for something like 75 years…I haven’t told you anything that you already didn’t know.

*****  Buon Appetito New York Style Pizza & Restaurant, 1156 Royal Palm Boulevard, Royal Palm Beach, Florida 33411 (561) 793-4904.

Gave a joint called Buon Appetito New York Style Pizza & Restaurant a shot the other night…I ate in the one in Royal Palm Beach…there is another location in Jupiter Farms.

BANYSPR (absolutely exhausted from typing that name) is a “neighborhood mom & pop red-sauce” Italian joint. Wear anything but tee shirt and shorts and you will be over dressed.

You already know the menu…appetizers, salads, pizzas, calzones, subs, pastas and meat-chicken-seafood entrees…you also know the price points…a veal parm dinner (soup or salad, pasta side, entree, garlic rolls) is gonna run you $15.95 and chicken parm goes for $12.95.

Nice place. Nice folks running it. Nice food. Nice prices.

Just so you know, I did a pizza, veal parm, penne a la vodka and eggplant parm…like I said before, this is a neighborhood joint. I have had better and I have had worse.

That’s the story on BANYSPR which is open Sunday-Thursday 11am-9pm and Friday-Saturday 11am-10pm.

*****  Lucky Inn Chinese Restaurant, 5639 Coral Ridge Road, Coral Springs, Florida 33076 (954) 510-7561.

Lucky Inn Chinese Restaurant is a ” neighborhood mom & pop” Chinese restaurant…operative word here, NEIGHBORHOOD, like you live or work in Lucky Inn’s neighborhood.

I am not going to waste time describing this joint’s decor…because, if you are over the age of 3, you know exactly what joints like this look like.  Same goes for service…and you already know that “specials” run $7.50-$11 and you get soup-choice of egg roll or wings-rice-entree-ice cream dessert.

Let’s talk food…not bad for a NEIGHBORHOOD joint. A recent outing had me “doing” wonton soup, egg roll, roast pork fried rice, sweet & sour chicken, pepper steak, moo shoo pork.

So…if you live or work near Lucky Inn, you now know about a decent-Chinese joint…nothing more, nothing less.

Lucky Inn is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner.

*****  III Forks, 200 East Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton, Florida 33432 (561) 416-2185.

III Forks is an “upscale-white tablecloth-steakhouse”…there are currently 4 locations, Boca Raton, Palm Beach Gardens, Austin, Texas and Dallas, Texas. If you check, back on December 23, 2008 I did a writeup on the III Forks located in Palm Beach Gardens. III Forks’ website www.iiiforks.com has menu/prices.

Last night, I gave the III Forks’ Boca location a shot. The joint which has only been open for something like 6 weeks is running like a fine watch…the food and service are terrific. The joint seats 272 with 4 separate dining rooms and an out-door patio.

What makes III Forks an especially beautiful-thing…the restaurant, unlike many of its steakhouse brethern, doesn’t try to take its customers’ eyeballs out of their heads…by charging “highway robbery” prices for every side dish known to mankind. III Forks’ game (quoting from the menu), “All entrees served with duchess potatoes, sugar snap peas, off-the cob cream corn, ripe tomatoes and spring onions.”

For sure, an 18 oz. bone-in ribeye is gonna run you $47.95 and 2 crabcakes will set you back $31.95…but unless you are a glutton for punishment and need-to-order sides not included in the deal, you are going to get a great meal for a sensible number. By the way, on those included-sides…you can have as “much” as you’d like.

Last night’s “taste test”…house salad (lettuce, walnuts, apples, blue cheese) bone-in ribeye, crabcakes, New York strip, dover sole, chocolate cake, cheesecake…excellent. On the service front, a professional-waitstaff that doesn’t take itself too seriously…and a team of managers who visit every table, to make sure that everything is A-Ok.

So…if you are looking for top-notch steaks-seafood, III Forks -got you covered in Boca Raton and Palm Beach Gardens.

 III Forks is open Monday-Thursday 5pm-10pm, Friday-Saturday 5pm-11pm and Sunday 5pm-9pm.

       Bova Cucina, 1901 North Military Trail, Boca Raton, Florida 33431 (561) 392-5595.

You know…if you dress a monkey in a $2,500 suit (in this case the suit is a great looking restaurant), it’s still a monkey.

Do me a favor and read my review for Mario’s of Boca (July 21, 2008)…it wasn’t very favorable.

Well the owners of Mario’s, recently changed the joint’s name to Bova Cucina and started a “dinner-promotion”…last month it was $8.95, this month it’s $9.95…the “deal”…soup or salad, garlic rolls, entree, pasta side and they throw in a cannoli for dessert.

Well, it’s still the same monkey dressed in the “$2,500 suit”…and the food is still mediocre.

The other night the joint was jammed with “bargain hunters”…trust me on this, the portions are small and like I said before, the food isn’t very good… your favorite neighborhood “mom & pop” serves better stuff.

Fool me once, shame on you…fool me twice, shame on me.

*****  Norman’s American Bar & Grill, 6770 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida 33141 (305) 868-9248.

Let’s call Norman’s a “local pub”…this joint which has been around for something like 29 years, has the expected-menu of appetizers, salads, burgers, sandwiches and meat/chicken/seafood entrees. Don’t believe me?…checkout its website at www.normans.biz for menu/prices…there are also photos which will “tell” you as to exactly what this joint is all about.

Nothing fancy here…real casual restaurant, decent enough food, pleasant service, reasonable prices. Norman’s has indoor/outdoor seating.

A recent “taste-test” of  a caprese salad, cheeseburger & fries and grilled steak fajita wrap found everything to be right on the money!

If you are in Norman’s neighborhood, this is a good joint to know about for an uncomplicated-lunch or dinner.

The beautiful thing here, Norman’s is open, noon-5am 365 years a year.