*****  Krystal, 901 West Sunrise Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311, (954) 524-9994.

Let me make this write-up short and sweet.

There are no White Castles in South Florida. Krystal is as close to being a White Castle as you will find in South Florida. Krystal is a “national” fast-food hamburger chain which has been around since 1932. White Castle has paper-thin- square shaped-burgers called ” SLYDERS” and Krystal has paper-thin- square shaped burgers called “KRYSTALS.” I like “slyders” better than “krystals”…but it’s a close call. Sort of like Coke and Pepsi.

Like I said before, there is one Krystal joint in South Florida– Fort Lauderdale…there is a whole bunch of them in Orlando. Check Krystal’s website www.krystal.com  for menu/locations. The joint in Fort Lauderdale is open 7 days a week from 7am-midnight.

If you don’t know what a White Castle is…GOOGLE.

*****  El Rey de las Fritas, 1821 SW 8th Street, Miami, Florida 33130 (305) 858-4223…421 W. 29th Street, Hialeah, Florida 33012 (305) 863-0880…9343 SW 40th Street, Miami, Florida 33165 (305) 223-9944…13720 SW 88th Street, Miami, Florida 33186 (305) 387-5656.

El Rey de las Fritas is a Cuban diner. There are currently 4 South Florida locations. There is counter-only seating. The joints are open Monday-Saturday 8am-10:30pm.

The literal English translation of El Rey de las Fritas is something like “The King of the Cuban Hamburgers.” Keep in mind that I got a “D” in High School Spanish.

Anyway…El Rey de las Fritas makes a hamburger that has to be one of the most delicious burgers that I have ever eaten. The burger is real thin… grilled… covered in onions and a sauce which tastes like a mixture of ketchup-mayo-paprika… the burger is then covered in a mound of shoe-string french fries and placed on a nice soft-hamburger bun. I am telling you, it is incredible.

In addition to the burgers, this joint has all kinds of amazing stuff, like a  hoagie-style sliced steak sandwich (pan con bistec) which gives the burger a run for its money…there are tamales, Cuban sandwiches, fresh fruit shakes, hot dogs…trust me, you won’t go home hungry.

This is a joint that you have to check-out. By the way, El Rey’s prices are no more expensive than your favorite fast food joint.

*****  Dave And Buster’s, 3000 Oakwood Boulevard, Hollywood, Florida 33020 (954) 923-5505.

Dave And Buster’s is a national chain of American-casual dining restaurants that feature enormous bar areas and humongous indoor video/skill game arcades…and I do mean humongous.

“Let’s cut to the chase”…the food is TGI Friday’s quality…the game arcade (maybe 20,000 sq ft.) awesome…great place for kids…great place for teenagers…great place for almost drunk adults…great place for the hard of hearing…the noise in the play area is borderline deafening.  Check Dave And Buster’s website at  www.daveandbusters.com for menu/hours/details.

For right now, Dave And Buster’s has something like 40 locations. There are currently 3 in Florida…Hollywood, Miami and Jacksonville. I have been to the Miami joint once and the Hollywood location something like 15 times. Just so you know, these aren’t sleazy joints…they are gorgeous, clean, well kept and very well supervised…think a Las Vegas Casino and you got the picture.

I am not hard of hearing…I don’t really drink…so you figure out whay old Jeff Eats was at the Florida joints so much.

Dave And Buster’s is open 7 days a week for lunch-dinner- late at night. By the way, Dave And Buster’s always has some “special” for food/games which makes this a very value oriented joint.. If you go, make sure that you ask what deals are available.

By the way, the last time I played at Dave And Buster’s I won something like 5,000,000 tickets and took home some really nice prizes…3 “Chinese finger puzzles”…you know, those 5 inch woven straw cylinders which you stick one finger from one hand in (at one end) and another finger from the other hand in (at the other end)…and then after all that work, you try and pull both fingers out…go figure.

Dave And Buster’s is a great place for kids and teenagers…and “you” folks” who accompany those teenagers and kids, will probably enjoy the joint, just bring a few pieces of cotton for your ears and some Bayer Asprin… what we won’t do for our children.

*****  Grampa’s Bakery & Restaurant, 17 SW. 1st Street, Dania Beach, Florida 33004 (954) 923-2163.

Grampa’s has been around something like 50+ years. It is basically a local diner with a bakeshop attached. It has the requisite counter and booth seating…and it still looks like it did when it first opened.

Grampa’s is open Monday 6:30am-3pm…Tuesday-Saturday 6:30am-9pm…Sunday 8am-4pm.

Grampa’s is a terrific place for a “diner” breakfast, lunch and dinner…not to mention the incredible baked goods that are made in house.

Absolutely nothing fancy here…these old nostalgic diner-joints are right-up there with my favorite places to eat.

*****  Da Vinci Italian Restaurant, 1655 Boynton Beach Boulevard, Boynton Beach, Florida 33437 (561) 738-7011.

Da Vinci Italian Restaurant is a neighborhood red-sauce Italian joint located in Boynton Beach. You know the game here, soup or salad/garlic rolls/entree with a pasta side.

I have eaten in this joint exactly twice and the food was okay…nothing great, decent stuff. The joint has a full-lineup of pizza, pastas, seafood-chicken-meat-veal entrees. The prices are pizza-joint prices. Da Vinci has indoor and outdoor patio seating.

You know and I know, that there are literally a million Italian joints just like Da Vinci in South Florida, so why a coveted ***** from Jeff Eats? First, the food is okay so no worry about a late night Delray Hospital Emergency Room food-poison visit…Second, the people who run this joint bend over backwards to please their customers. On both visits, I watched the general manager greet every person who walked through the front door…stop by every table and ask how everything was…and help the wait-staff in bringing food to tables.

Da Vinci is open 7 days for lunch and dinner. On the two nights that I was there, both inside/and outside dining areas were full.

If you live in  the Boynton Beach area…Da Vinci is worth a try.

***** Pa’ DeGennaro’s, 4331 North Ocean Drive (A-1-A), Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida 33308 (954) 351-0310.

First things first…let me get you to Pa’ DeGennaro’s website at  www.padegenarros.com  for menu/pricing/ details.

Pa’ DeGennaro’s is an upscale-white-tablecoth Italian Restaurant. It is located in a non-descript strip shopping center on A-!-A. Leave the tee shirt/shorts ensemble at home, but jeans are just fine.

I have been eating at Pa’ DeGennaro’s for something like 10 years. This joint is one of the top Italian joints down here. Take a few minutes and look at Pa’ DeGennaro’s menu…as you can see, it isn’t a gigantic list, but it has enough variety to please everyone. I am telling you, that the food is incredible…this joint (just to name a few) makes an outrageous meatball appetizer… an  absolutely incredible veal chop milanese… and a pistachio pound-cake that has to rank as one of the great desserts of all time. As for pricing, Pa’ DeGennaro’s isn’t a bargain-basement joint…but it won’t send you to the poor-house either. In the service department, the wait-staff doesn’t take itself too seriously, but knows it business and menu inside and out.

Pa’ DeGennaro’s is open 7 days a week for dinner. This joint has a very loyal clientele, so be smart and make a reservation.

       Morton’s The Steakhouse, 5050 Town Center Circle, Boca Raon, Florida 33486 (561)392-7724.

Morton’s is a national chain of “upscale-white-table cloth steakhouses.” There are currently 7 Florida locations.

I have eaten in the Boca Raton joint twice. The food is fair. The service is as phony as a 3-dollar bill. The prices…are upscale steakhouse prices, figure a complete meal runs somewhere around 100 bucks a head. Morton’s like every other upscale steakhouse prides itself on having tip-top service. Morton’s is also “big” on tableside presentation…having its wait-staff show/explain “raw cuts of meat” during the ordering process. The wait-staff also “shows” desserts before ordering.

In my most recent outing, the waiter during the meat-showing told my party, ” My personal favorite is the 24 oz porterhouse.” Amazingly…near the end of the meal, the very same waiter (I guess feeling a bit comfortable with our group) told me that he was “a vegetarian.”

Like the waiter, Morton’s is nothing but a scripited joint. The wait-staff could all work as tour-guides at Disney World…”watchout for that shark on the right side of the boat…boy that was sure close.”

If you still want details, Morton’s website is www.mortons.com.

*****  Maggiano’s Little Italy, 21090 St. Andrews Boulevard, Boca Raton, Florida 33433 (561) 361-8244.

Let’s start this review off by getting you to Maggiano’s website at www.maggianos.com.

Maggiano’s is a national chain of “up-scale-looking” Southern Italian Restaurants. The website will give you menu/pricing/locations…If I have read the “map” correctly, Maggiano’s is currently in 22 states which includes 4 locations in Florida…Boca Raton, Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa.

Maggiano’s decor is as “handsome” as most of South Florida’s “top-notch” Italian and steakhouse restaurants…the website has photos which will give you some idea as to what I am talking about.

Now let’s talk food. Maggiano’s menu is loaded with all kinds of appetizers, soups, salads, pastas, meat-veal-seafood-chicken entrees and desserts…sorry, no pizza. The food (now get this) is absolutely delicious. There are 2-ways that you can order…individual…or family style. Hopefully “individual” speaks for itself…Maggiano’s has a “Family Style Lunch” and a “Family Style Dinner.” Now stay with me…when you order “Family Style” the whole table picks various appetizers, pastas, entrees, desserts, etc., which are then shared and (here’s the great part) the amount of food is all-you-can-eat. Trust me, Maggiano’s has this Family Style-All-You-Can-Eat thing down to a science…it is basically a variation on the old Chinese proverb: 1 from column A, 2 from column B.

On my two outings to this joint, I “sampled”…fried zucchini, lasagna, chicken marsala, veal parmigiana, chicken cacciatore, shrimp oreganata…everything was absolutely delicious.

Now for the kicker…this joint makes a dessert called Apple Crostada that is absolutely fantastic…you can read the website for details as to how it is actually made… but for right now, “think” McDonald’s “fried apple pie” covered in vanilla ice cream…by the way, McDonald’s replaced the “fried apple pie” with “baked apple pie” in 1992. Anyway…this dessert is incredible and it alone is worth the price of the meal. One final thought…if you order “Family Style” you can have all of the Crostadas that you want.

Although Maggiano’s is done-up as a fancy looking joint, tee shirt/shorts are just fine. Individual prices are no more than your favorite neighborhood “mom and pop” joint…”Family-Style” ordering is going to run you about 25 bucks a head.

Maggiano’s is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner. It is always jammed.

*****  GG’s of New York, 5440 N. State Road 7, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33319 (954) 484-0400.

You know and I know, that South Florida has more “mom and pop” Italian joints “than you can shake a stick at.” Some are good…some are lousy…some are terrific…and some are just okay.

GG’s is a red-sauce “mom and pop” Italian joint…for the purpose of this exercise, let’s rate it REAL GOOD.

Over the years, I have eaten in GG’s something like 10 times. Real good pizza, pastas, veal-meat-chicken-seafood entrees. You know the game here…garlic rolls, salad, entree with a pasta/vegetable side.

Take a look at GG’s website www.ggsofny.com for menu/pricing/details. What I especially like about this joint, is that it has a very extensive menu…it is absolutely loaded with appetizers, subs, soups, salads, pastas, pizzas, entrees and desserts…you will definitely find something to eat at GG’s.

To be perfectly honest with you, GG’s is probably as good if not better than 90% of the “mom and pop” red sauce joints that I have eaten in…and trust me, there have been a ton of them. GG’s is not close to my home…if it were, I would eat there more often.

If you live in GG’s neighborhood…this is a real good place to know about.

GG’s is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner.

     New York Prime, 2350 NW Executive Center, Boca Raton, Florida 33431 (561) 998-3881.

This evening I ate dinner at New York Prime an upscale steakhouse…you know exactly what this kind of joint is all about…where a  22 oz. bone-in-ribeye goes for $42…where a baked potato goes for $7.50. Personally, if I closed my eyes and just ate, I couldn’t tell you if I was in New York Prime, Abe & Louie’s, Chops, Morton’s, Ruth’s Chris… as they all play the same tune, give or take a different “note” here and there. As for tonight’s food, it was okay, nothing great…the steak was very fatty…the hash browns bland, your neighborhood bagel-deli makes better ones and doesn’t charge $11…the onion rings and sauteed onions sides were good,  but pricey at $8 and $11 respectively. 

For information about menu/prices/hours… check this joint’s website at www.centraarchy.com.

Just for fun…Do a bit of homework here…look at the menu prices and figure out what “your” theoretical meal would cost. I think your calculator will show, that unless you eat like a bird… a no alcohol-no appetizer-no dessert meal is going to run you something like 60-85 bucks a head. 

Last night, my party of 4 dropped $300+…everyone agreed that the food was just fair and was way overpriced.  For that kind of money, you would expect at least one “Boy! that sure was delicious” comment…don’t you think?

I know people who swear by this joint…Personally, I think it’s “a- big- to-do-over-nothing.” The same goes for most of the upscale steak joints in South Florida, with one exception that being the Strip House (see review 5/9/08) in Palm Beach Gardens which doesn’t take itself all that seriously.