***** Palm Beach Fish Market & Bistro
3815 South Dixie Highway
West Palm Beach, Florida 33405
(561) 835-0300

If you check, back on February 22, 2007, I told you guys about a joint named Captain Jim Hanson’s Seafood Market and Restaurant located on West Dixie Highway in North Miami, which combines a seafood-fish restaurant and fish market under the same roof.

My uncle Sam Ting would tell you, that Palm Beach Fish Market & Bistro is a “northern” version of Jim Hanson’s, that being a seafood fish restaurant/ fish market combination. Both joints have terrific food. The “obvious” differences are, that Palm Beach’s decor looks like a small French bistro (whatever that is) while Jim Hanson’s looks like the Disney Pirates’ ride and Palm Beach uses cermaic plates and silverware, while Jim Hanson’s favors paper plates and plastic utensils.

You now have two terrific seafood-fish restaurant/markets, one in the SOUTH and one in the NORTH. Palm Beach Fish Market & Bistro is open Monday-Saturday for lunch and dinner and on Sunday for dinner only.

***** Ed & Ollie’s Diner
1313 West Boynton Beach Boulevard
Boynton Beach, Florida 33426
(561) 734-5513

First let me start by saying, that if you wear anything but a tee shirt/shorts to this joint, your nuts. Ed & Ollie’s is a small neighborhood diner which has counter seating plus a few tables inside and outside. Ed & Ollie’s has a black and white checkerboard floor and the obligatory wall photos of Elvis and Marilyn. Just so you know, this joint in a “prior life” was called Pinky’s Fabulous 50s Diner.

Ed & Ollie’s is a NEIGHBORHOOD joint. This is a great place to know about, if you live in the Boynton Beach/Delray Beach area. Like I said, this is a D I N E R, so the “game” here is breakfasts, burgers, sandwiches and salads.

Ed & Ollie’s is open 7 days a week from 7am-3pm for breakfast and lunch and Wenesday-Saturday from 4pm-9m for dinner. This is a very nice NEIGHBORHOOD joint!

***** Zeros & Ones, Inc.

Zeros & Ones, Inc (OTC: BB: ZROS) sells for about 44 cents a share. It doesn’t take a genius to know that this 44 CENTS STOCK is not a blue-chip stock/company.

If you are inclined, do some DUE DILIGENCE on this company which is involved in the internet/media space. A recent change in upper-management, the issuance of a “ton” of new shares, $.37 options to management and the launching of a “beta trial” of one of its products, peaked-my-interest.

Just so you know, I am neither long nor short this stock.

You make-up your own minds. That said, IN MY OPINION, ZROS may have some heavy-duty UP potential.

***** The Bread Box Cafe & Bistro
21334 Saint Andrews Boulevard
Boca Raton, Florida 33433
(561) 338-6300

“Out of site, out of mind.” The Bread Box Cafe & Bistro is located at the “end” of a non-descript Boca Raton strip-shopping center. If you weren’t expressly looking for this joint, I seriously doubt that you would even notice it based on its obscure and piss-poor location. I know all about rents and other expenses, but if The Bread Box Cafe & Bistro was in a better location, this terrific joint would be a goldmine.

The Bread Box Cafe & Bistro is open 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In a nutshell it is basically a “small diner.” This joint has all kinds of stuff on its menu, including pizzas, wings, salads, burgers etc. Over the years, I have eaten in this joint at least 5 times. The food is terrifc and the prices are “diner prices.” This is an absolutely great neighborhood-family run operation.

Like I said before, location, location, location. Move this joint to a better shopping-center…and there would be a line waiting to get in.

***** The Lobby Bar/ Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
1 Seminole Way
Hollywood, Florida 33314
(954) 327-7625

I am now going to tell you about one of the “best deals” going in all of South Florida.

For the sake of argument, I am assuming that everyone knows, that the Seminole Indians own/operate a hotel-casino-entertainment complex which is located in Hollywood, Florida.

Now…in the hotel/casino, there is an area which is called the LOBBY BAR. In addition to a “standard” bar, the Lobby Bar has various chairs and couches where ANYONE can sit and just “relax.” In addition, the Lobby Bar has a small stage/and dance floor which “hosts” some of the most terrific musical-acts that you have-ever seen. The Lobby Bar is open 7 days a week from 11am-2am, with Acts appearing from 6pm-closing.

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino draws an extremely diversified crowd. If you don’t believe me, just walk “around” the complex on a Saturday Night and you will see every age and ethnic group represented. In addition, you will see “clothing styles” that you didn’t even know existed.

The Lobby Bar with its FREE MUSICAL ACTS draws a sizeable crowd every night. All types of music is played and the Acts change every night. For example, on Sunday Nights, a 1960s-1970s band No Matter What has the “steady gig” and performs the hits of groups such as The Beatles, The Monkees, The Zombies, The Association, The Turtles etc. To say that this group is “good” is an understatement, they are absolutely fabulous. On other nights, you will find Acts that play disco, 1940s-1950s, country western and latin music.

Like I said before, the Lobby Bar is free. You don’t have to order anythig. It costs zilch, nada, zero…On the nights that I have seen the Lobby Bar in action, I noticed many people drinking coffee and eating desserts which they purchased from a near-by, Hard Rock take-out coffee stand. I also noticed others dining on different stuff that had been purchased at the Hard Rock’s food-court.

The point that I am trying to make, is that the Lobby Bar is a great place to spend an hour or so, listening to some pretty decent bands (for nothing). If this kind of a joint interests you, give the Hard Rock a call and find out what the Lobby Bar’s schedule is (with reference to performers).

***** Mrs. Mac’s Fillin’ Station
951 Old Dixie Highway
Vero Beach, Florida 32960
(772) 564-8400

Mrs. Mac’s Fillin’ Station is my kind-of-a-joint.

In a nutshell, Mrs. Mac’s is a diner. Mrs. Mac’s decor is a combination of a 1950’s diner-1950’s gas station. Take a look at this joint’s website at www.mrsmac.com where you will find video/pictures of this restaurant and its menus.

Mrs. Mac’s is a great place for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Just so we understand each other, this joint is a diner. Nothing slick or fancy, just decent food, large portions and “really” good prices. Mrs. Mac’s has something for everything. My personal favorites are the mini-burgers and mini-cheese steaks (that are served in orders of either 3 or 6 at a time).

Mrs. Mac’s is open Monday-Wednesday 7am-3pm (breakfast-lunch),Thursday-Saturday 7am-8pm (breakfast-lunch-dinner) and is closed on Sunday.

Mrs. Mac’s is strictly a tee shirt/shorts kind of a joint. Good food. Fun decor. Really (and I do mean REALLY) good prices. Try this joint, you will absolutely “love” it.

***** Cypress Nook Restaurant
201 East McNab Road
Pompano Beach, Florida 33060
(954) 781-3464

This joint’s name says it all. NOOK: “A hidden or secluded spot.” NOOK: “A small corner, alcove or recess.” Personally, I call joints like Cypress Nook Restaurant “holes in the wall,” but it’s too early in the day, for us to be discussing “semantics.”

Cypress Nook is a great breakfast-joint. If you are in the mood for some eggs, pancakes etc., this is a terrific place to know about. Please keep in mind, that since this joint is a “hole in the wall” (or “nook”), it has extremely limited seating and is usually packed.

Cypress Nook is open Monday-Friday 7am-2pm and Saturday-Sunday 7am-1pm. Like I said before, breakfast is this joint’s specialty, but you can get burgers and other stuff.

***** Philly Connection
1241 North State Road 7
Royal Palm Beach, Florida 33411
(561) 422-6090

Let’s play a game. I’ll give you two guesses what type of joint Philly Connection is and the second guess doesn’t count.

Of course you “silly goose,” Philly Connection is a fast-food joint which “features” PHILLY CHEESE STEAK HOGIES (or grinders, or subs, etc., depending on where you were raised). Now, I am not saying that this joint’s “stuff” is as good as Philadelphia’s landmark joints, Pat’s King of Steaks and Geno’s Steaks, but the Philly Cheese Steak “Whatever You Want To Call Them” are very-very good.

In addition to the aforementioned Philly Cheese Steak, this joint has other types of hoagies, soups and salads.

Philly Connection is open 7 days a week, Monday-Saturday 11am-10pm and Sunday noon-9pm. This is the kind of a joint, that you “spot” from the road, never stop at, but everytime you drive by it, wonder if the food is any good. Trust me, this is a great place to stop for a hoagie.

Maxwell’s Chophouse
501 East Palmetto Park Road
Boca Raton, Florida 33432
(561) 347-7077

Maxwell’s Chophouse is an “upscale” steak-house. Just to make sure that we are all on the same page, UPSCALE STEAK-HOUSES are joints where you pay top dollar for EVERYTHING and NOTHING comes with the entree. Joints like Ruth’s Chris, Morton’s, New York Prime, Hollywood Prime, Council Oaks and Abie & Louie’s are “other” examples of this type of restaurant.

Now, I have absolutely nothing “against” these kind of joints, as long as the food and service are good. For argument’s sake, I assume that if you have ever eaten in an an “upscale” steak-house, no one “put” a gun to your head and made you pick that particular joint.

Over the years I have eaten in Maxwell’s at least 5 times. If I recall my formal studies, I believe that there is a theory called, “The Law of Diminishing Returns.” Rather than playing professor with you, let me put it to you this way, “Maxwell’s 11-12 years ago was a terrific restaurant with superb food and service. Maxwell’s circa 2006-2007 is but a “shell” of what it once was and is now an overpriced joint serving “fair” food by a “fair at best” wait-staff.

If you want to eat overpriced-fair food, served by a fair-at-best waitstaff, Maxwell’s is open Monday-Friday for lunch and dinner and Saturday-Sunday for dinner only.

***** Cove Bagel & Deli
1634 Southeast 3rd Court
Deerfield Becah, Florida 33441
(954) 481-8600

Just west of the Intracoastal Bridge on Hillsboro Boulevard in Deerfield Beach is an extremely large strip-shopping-center. If you do some checking, this “center” is actually three different centers which are adjacent to each other. This “center” has been around for “as long as I can remember” and to its credit, has mostly “mom and pop” type operations, like an ice-cream store, hardware, men’s barbershop, dressmaker, tailor etc. Although this “center” is located in South Florida, it resembles in “tenant make-up” the shopping districts of Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx circa the 1940s-1970s.

One of this center’s tenants is the Cove Bagel & Deli. To call this joint a “hole in the wall” would be kind. It has a few tables inside and a few outside and that’s it. If I had to hazzard a guess, maybe the whole shotting match is 250-300 sq feet. This joint is run by a husband and wife team, so it further qualifies as a “mom & pop” operation. Don’t worry, their kids also work there, so we “know” that they are a mom and pop.

Cove Bagel & Deli for some reason has chosen old Coca Cola “stuff” as its decor. To be nice, let’s call the decorating “cute.”

This joint which is open for breakfast and lunch 7 days a weeks, is a terrific place to have a cup of coffee, eggs, deli sandwich, salad, etc. There is absolutely nothing fancy about this joint, but it has a “neighborhood charm” which for me, just hits the right spot.

The next time you need a hardware store, barbershop, dressmaker, tailor, ice cream shop, catering hall, bar, beauty parlor, pharmacy etc., all you have to do is step out of the Cove Bagel & Deli and follow your nose in any direction.