***** La Mia Focaccia
6303 Powerline Road
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309
(954) 772-9499

You 562guys know, that I “just” love little-hole-in-the-wall joints. Say hello to La Mia Focaccia! Primarily, a take-out/catering place, this 10 “seater” has to be placed on your “must try” list.

For the “uneducated” out there, focaccia is “flat bread” which is usually topped with various spieces and other prodcuts. It is “sort of” like pizza. As you can see, I don’t know what the hell I am talking about, so be smart and “Google” focaccia and find sites that really “define” this item.

Now that you know or don’t know what focaccia is, let me tell you that “in the hands” of La Mia Focaccia, some of the most delicious sandwiches in all of South Florida are being made. Rather than going into detail, suffice it to say, that this “mom & pop” operation has 7 different (toppings) focaccia which are then stuffed with some of the most delicious “things” that you have ever tasted. I am telling you, that the roasted peppers or baked chicken cutlets or sausages, that find their way into the 6-inch focaccia are absolutely fabulous. The last time I checked, this joint had 19 different “sandwiches” and 10 different salads/which come with a side order of focaccia.

Rather than my belaboring the point, run a MapQuest on La Mia Focaccia or better yet, call the joint, so that you will know as to exactly where it is located. La Mia Focaccia is open Monday-Friday 10:30am-2:30pm. By the way, those focaccia “things” are going to run you about $7 each.

I am telling you, to make a trip for this one.

***** Bagel Works
8177 Glades Road
Boca Raton, Florida 33434
(561) 852-8992

If you want bacon with your eggs, or bacon with your cheeseburger, or a BLT, then you “can’t” eat at Bagel Works. Bagel Works is a bagel-joint. Bagel Works is not a kosher-bagel-joint. I will leave it to you, to ask the owner or the “powers that be” when you are there, as to why: Bacon is not served? By the way, I know Bagel Work’s reason, but I ain’t telling.

Bagel Works has been serving some of the best New York Style Deli “stuff” in South Florida for over 15 years. This joint is open 7 days a week for breakfast & lunch, 6:30am-4pm. Bagel Works’ eat-at-counter and tables are always jammed and its take-out /appetizing counter always has a line.

Try this joint, it is a winner. By the way, don’t forget to ask about the “bacon.”

***** Cheeseburger Baby
1505 Washington Aveue
Miami Beach, Florida 33139
(305) 531-7300

If you like cheeseburgers (and who doesn’t), I got a little-hole-in-the wall joint that you “don’t want to miss.” Before I go any further, I think that calling a “hole-in-the-wall” little, is an oxymoron, but anyway…

Cheeseburger Baby has counter seating and a few-high-tops and that’s it. This joint makes some of the best burgers that you will ever taste. The “stars” of the menu are the 1/2lb burger ($5.50), the 1/2lb cheeseburger ($6.50), the 2.5oz burger ($2.00) and the 2.5oz cheeseburger ($2.50) which are superbly grilled and then “placed” in an egg-bun. I am not talking good “here.” I am talking “terrific.”

Cheeseburger Baby has other “stuff” on its menu, like wings and chicken breast sandwiches. That said, when a joint is called CHEESEBURGER BABY, you should be smart enough to know what to order.

Cheeseburger Baby is open Monday-Wednesday noon-4am, Thursday-Saturday 11am-6am and Sunday 11am-4pm. The way to “play” this one, is to order a 1/2lb bacon-cheeseburger with grilled onions, a side of french fries ($3.00) and a Coke and you will be in 7th-heaven (well, I was anyway).

This joint’s “odd-hours” in the past, have drawn such “notables” as, P. Diddy, Fat Joe, Beyonce and JeffEats.

***** Master’s Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria
1720 Alton Road
Miami Beach, Florida 33139
(305) 672-2763

Boy-oh-Boy have I got a good one for you.

Master’s Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria (which has been around since 1979), serves some of the most delicious “budget-priced” Southern Italian soups, salads, pastas, pizzas, subs and meat-fish dishes in “all” of South Florida. If you can’t find something to eat on this joint’s menu, there is definitely “something” wrong with you. There are literally, “tons” of salads, hot/and cold subs, main dishes and as for pizzas, fuggetaboutit!

Terrific food, priced right. Just so you know, if you wear anything but a tee-shirt/shorts, you are going to look “kinda” silly. Another “beautiful” thing about this joint, is that it is open 7 days a week from 11am (now catch this) to 1am.

The Miami Beach-ians have had this one to themselves, for way too long. You will love this joint.

***** Ruby’s Pizza
620 Glades Road
Boca Raton, Florida 33431
(561) 368-4050

I guarantee you, that unless you “MapQuest” or call Ruby’s for directions, you will never-ever find this pizza joint on your own. Ruby’s is “hidden” in a shopping center on Glades Road in Boca Raton and is literally “invisible” from the road.

Ruby’s has seating for maybe 10 people. A few booths, that’s it.

Ruby’s makes a great slice of New York Style Pizza. The rest of its “stuff” (pasta, meat and fish) is okay, but nothing to write home about.

The next time that you are “around” FAU or Boca Community Hospital (now you know the “basic” area where this joint is located), think about stopping in this joint for a couple of slices and a Coke. Just a “heads-up,” at lunch-time, noon-1:30pm (Monday-Friday) this joint is absolutely packed with college kids, docs, nurses and other medical “types” eating in or taking stuff out.

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

Tempura House
9858 Clint Moore Road
Boca Raton, Florida 33496
(561) 883-6088

Tempura House serves both Japanese and Chinese food.

Now, let me tell you a little story.

Every year, Spanish River High School which is located in Boca Raton, holds an auction to raise funds for various school activities. Members of the PTO (Parents-Teachers-Organization) literally spend months “going” to various merchants in the “area” requesting merchandise and services as donations for the AUCTION. I recently learned “first hand,” about one student’s mother who (last year) “went” to Tempura House (which by the way, is frequented by many families who have children at Spanish River High School) seeking a “gift certificate” and was told by the “same man” on 3 different occasions that, “She should come back when the owner was in.” Let’s make this story “short. Suffice it to say, the mother never got a gift certificate and the “same man” was in fact Tempura’s owner.

Now I ask you: Do you really want to eat in this joint? I know that I don’t.

End of story.

***** Friendly’s
14701 Military Trail
Delray Beach, Florida 33484
(561) 498-8873

If you check “Stocks”, back on August 2, 2006 I did a “writeup” on Friendly’s Ice Cream Corp. Rather than going into the “gorey details,” suffice it to say, that the writeup indicated that Friendly’s Ice Cream Corp, (a publiclly owned company), was a mismanaged restaurant chain that despite itself, could be a “stock play” based on its real-estate and “turn-around” possibilities.

Now let’s “talk” about the brand new Friendly’s location that opened a few weeks ago in Delray Beach.

This new Friendly’s is owned and operated by a guy named Noah Lewinger. From what I understand, this is Lewinger’s first Friendly’s franchise location and that he has plans to open an additional 13 stores in Palm Beach/Broward counites.

Now, I maybe really going out on a limb here, but based on 5 visits (2 in the evening and 3 in the afternoon), Mr. Lewinger may actually KNOW HOW TO REALLY RUN THIS TYPE OF A JOINT.

Friendly’s is open 7 days a week, Sunday-Thursday 7am-11pm and Friday-Saturday 7am-midnight.

Lewinger’s Friendly’s, is a big, beautifully designed store. It is clean, well staffed and well run. To date, I have had “Friendly’s Big Beef Burger,” “Chicken Cobb Salad,” “Chicken Parmesan SuperMelt,” Chicken Wrap” and Steak Fajita Quesadillas. In addition I “consumed” 3 “Friend-Zs” (they are similar to Dairy Queen’s Blizzards) which are soft-serve ice cream/whipped together with your choice(s) of topping. Just in case “we” go on the Dating Game TV Show, “you” should know that my favorite combination is chocolate soft serve and Heath Bar.

If you live in the Delray Beach area, give THIS Friendly’s a try. It has a “basic” diner menu at diner prices…and I “must” tell you, the food was terrific.

***** Peter Pan Diner
1216 East Oakland Park Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33334
(954) 565-7177

Let me start by saying, “that I am not trying to cure cancer” with this Peter Pan Diner “writeup.” This is a 365 days/24 hours a day joint. It has been around since 1978 (I seriously doubt that the decor has been updated one iota since then) and serves “basic” diner food at diner prices. If you are looking for gourmet stuff, don’t even think of walking into Peter Pan Diner. This is a very good place to know about, “like” last night at 11pm when I was driving home from AAA after watching the Miami Heat lose to the Detroit Pistons by 2 points. A cheeseburger, fries and a Coke “helped.”

End of story.

***** Dairy Belle Ice Cream
118 North Federal Highway
Dania, Florida 33004
(954) 920-3330

Dairy Belle is a “one of a kind” joint. Let me explain.

Dairy Belle looks like an “ordinary” free-standing Carvel Ice Cream Store (circa 1960). Hopefully you know what I am talking about. If you don’t, just picture a small building in a parking lot. The building has a glass window (maybe two) where you order and pickup ice-cream from a “guy” who has “soft serve” machines behind him. . Real simple. Now you know what Dairy Belle looks like. One other thing, there is no seating inside, but there are a few “picnic-style benches” outside.

Dairy Belle serves “stuff” like you find at Carvel and Dairy Queen. Good soft-serve stuff etc., but nothing that would warrant anyone “writing home” about it.

Now for the kicker. Dairy Belle is owned/operated by a couple, Gilles and Ritane Grenier, who were born and raised in Quebec. By the way, their daughter, Isabelle also works at the joint.

The Greniers in addition to selling soft-serve ice cream have a few “items” on the menu, that you absolutely-positively-”probably” can’t find anywhere else in a fast-food South Florida joint. If you have been “following” this story (this is where it starts to get interesting), Dairy Belle serves POUTINE and GUEDILLE which are dishes “indegenious” to Quebec. Poutine (I know it sounds like a dirty word) are french fries (crispy/lightly salted ) which are covered in a melted mozzarella-like cheese and brown gravy. As we say in Brooklyn, FUGGETABOUTIT. This poutine “thing” is absolutely delicious. Dairy Belle also has an “Italian version” of poutine, which has the same delicious crispy/lightly salted french fries covered in a melted mozzarella-like cheese “topped” with shredded chicken and peas in a tomato sauce. FUGGETABOUTIT! The other “dish” that Dairy Belle serves is guedille, which is a chopped salad consisting of mayo, lettuce, tomato and onion piled high into a toasted hot-dog bun. This “plain” guedille can be “topped” off with shredded chicken or egg. FUGGEABOUTIT, this guedille “concoction” is another winner.

Dairy Belle is open 7 days a week, Sunday-Thursday 11am-10pm and Friday-Saturday 11am-11pm. This joint is a “one of a kind.” You definitely “got to” try this one. By the way, this joint is located about one-block north on Federal Highway from Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor ( see writeup), so if you really want to be a pig, you can load-up on poutine and quedille at Dairy Belle and then eat waffles and ice-cream at Jaxson’s. By the way, just topping off this Quebec “stuff” with some simple soft-serve ice cream wouldn’t be “such a terrible thing either.”

***** Tower Deli & Diner
2315 South University Drive
Davie, Florida 33324
(954) 452-8202

Tower Deli & Diner is open 7 days a week, 365 days a year, 6:30am-3pm.

The next time that you are in Davie keep this joint in mind. Diner Menu. Diner Food. Diner Service. Diner Prices.

Tower Deli & Diner is a great place for a big-breakfast or when you crave a “nice” greasy (in the positive sense) cheeseburger with french fries loaded with ketchup. This joint has some awesome home-made baked goods and literally has “something” for everyone. Tower Deli & Diner is one of the best diners in South Florida.

If this joint was by-my-house, I would be spending a whole lot of time eating there. This is “one” that you want to keep on the radar screen.