Hello All,

Does anyone have updated restaurant and other food recs for Miami/Ft. Lauderdale?

I’ve searched this forum (via Roadfood search engine and Google), but it’s been a few years since anything substantive has been posted. Here are a couple of the most recent threads:

http://forums.roadfood.com/Haitian-or-Jamaican-in-Miami-m167232.aspx http://forums.roadfood.com/Haitian-or-Jamaican-in-Miami-m167232.aspx

http://forums.roadfood.com/Miami-etc-part-THREE-the-final-chapter-m316662.aspx http://forums.roadfood.com/Miami-etc-part-THREE-the-final-chapter-m316662.aspx

These are over 10 years old! The “Restaurants” page for Florida here does yield a few ideas (Zak the Baker, El Palacio de los Jugos, and Bob Roth’s), but that’s about it.

A few of the old posts here mention Joe’s Stone Crab, and that’s a possibility, but if anyone out in RFland has other ideas, I’d like to hear them. Any especially noteworthy Cuban sandwiches? A good place for arepas? Any worthwhile, old-school diners left to consider?

http://forums.roadfood.com/Profile/55124 quijote, I just got back from Ft Lauderdale and can attest that Louie Bossi’s on East Las Olas is real deal Italian.  Also, the beer is still ice cold at the Elbo Room.[8D]  Try http://grampasbakery.com Grampa’s Bakery and Restaurant(Diner) also.  I had the lamb shank, as seen on Triple D.  

As for Miami, I had a private tour of little Havana by our own Miami Don.   https://www.elpalaciodelosjugos.com El Palacio de los Jugos was a highlight of the tour. Try the chicharrones with a fruit smoothie. Joe’s is going to be great….at a price.  Try http://www.lacamaronera.com La Camaronera Seafood for fried shrimp and stone crabs if they are in season.  A must have also is the Cuban Burger at http://www.elmagodelasfritas.com El Mago de Las Fritas.  We had a great Cuban Sandwich….but I can’t remember the place.  Maybe somebody who took the Miami Don Tour will chime in.  Enjoy!

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Thank you, sir, for the ideas! Much appreciated, and they sound like places we would enjoy.

Hello All,

Does anyone have updated restaurant and other food recs for Miami/Ft. Lauderdale?

I’ve searched this forum (via Roadfood search engine and Google), but it’s been a few years since anything substantive has been posted. Here are a couple of the most recent threads:

http://forums.roadfood.com/Haitian-or-Jamaican-in-Miami-m167232.aspx http://forums.roadfood.com/Haitian-or-Jamaican-in-Miami-m167232.aspx

http://forums.roadfood.com/Miami-etc-part-THREE-the-final-chapter-m316662.aspx http://forums.roadfood.com/Miami-etc-part-THREE-the-final-chapter-m316662.aspx

These are over 10 years old! The “Restaurants” page for Florida here does yield a few ideas (Zak the Baker, El Palacio de los Jugos, and Bob Roth’s), but that’s about it.

A few of the old posts here mention Joe’s Stone Crab, and that’s a possibility, but if anyone out in RFland has other ideas, I’d like to hear them. Any especially noteworthy Cuban sandwiches? A good place for arepas? Any worthwhile, old-school diners left to consider?

Thanks, all, for your recs. On Thursday we had a good diner stop at Grampa’s Bakery and Restaurant on our way from the airport to our hotel north of Fort Lauderdale. We weren’t quite in the mood for lamb shank, so we had a fried clam platter and a patty melt, but a highlight was the coconut cream pie we had afterward. Another highlight was the pecan sticky bun that came with platter! And yet a third highlight was our waitress, who has been working there for over 27 years.

While in FTL we wound up visiting with friends of ours (also from out of town), so our attention was turned away from Roadfood yesterday and today. We did manage to try out a Salvadoran restaurant (La Casita Salvedore�a) in Oakland Park and a Cuban place (Little Havana Restaurant) near Boca Raton, but only because the first place was near our hotel, and the second place had vegetarian options that one of our friends could deal with while we were out scouting around….

La Casita was great–a bit of a dive, but delicious food and dedicated service. Among the high points was a massive appetizer combo loaded with cheese pupusas, pork chicharrones, carne asada strips, fried yuca, sausage, beans with crema, tostones, various condiments, and many other things. We also had grilled shrimp (with a Chimichurri-like sauce) and a couple of chicken tamales (the waiter didn’t like the looks of the one we first received, so he brought out a second, more perfect-looking one for us).

Little Havana was very good–our Cuban sandwich was correct and proper, and our ropa vieja was tender and delicious. Our vegeterian friend enjoyed his veg combo. This was a good stop after visiting the Boca Raton Museum of Art.

Our friends have moved on, and tomorrow we make our way from FTL to Miami proper. I’m hoping we’ll get to Zak the Baker and Palacio de los Jugos…. fingers crossed!