Nava's Grill - Hollywood, FL

Located at the mouth of the main entrance of the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood Florida is a little middle eastern/Israeli diner nestled next to an "arcade" and porn outlet. We walked in as a large group walked out, patting their bellies and grinning. Simultaneously carrying on a heated conversation in Hebrew with a co-worker, wishing the large, happy group a farewell and welcoming us was the owner, a fiery Israeli woman who exuded all the warmth and strength of an army of mothers. Attentive and friendly, the service was outstanding.
The owner is a bit over the top. She tells us she never forgets the face, and sometimes "that's not so good". She asks if we are Jewish. She knows that I am (you can tell just by looking at me, I guess.) and answers for me. She tells us about how her food is all kosher but the rabbis are mad at her because she's open on Saturdays.

The decor is sparse and chintzy. It has cheap looking tables, a waiter's station crammed in the corner and a wall with a half finished mural that's vaguely Middle Eastern or possibly Italian. The owner is all the atmosphere you need.

Prices are fair, most dishes are about $10. The food was made with care, served extremely hot and seasoned perfectly.

As good as the food is, the menu leans towards the strange for a middle eastern grill. The owner tries to please too many kinds of patrons perhaps, by adding mysterious entries such as yucca fries and plantains. Maybe they are done well, but I wouldn't go to Nava Grill for Latin food.

Immediately after we ordered, we were given 3 kinds of luncheon salad: an egg based potato salad, a purple cabbage slaw and a sour white cabbage slaw. All three were unique and really quite good. Everything was crisp and fresh.

I ordered the hummus and falafel app which was served with two hot fresh grilled pita breads. The pita bread was INCREDIBLE. It was soft, moist and sturdy.

I also tried the kafta kabob pita sandwich, which is ground seasoned lamb. It was mouthwatering. Literally. I drooled a little when I tasted it.

I will definitely go back to try some of the Israeli food on the menu: bourekas, malawach, (breads/pastries) shaksuka, (a tomato based baked egg dish), cholent ( a long simmered strew prepared to get through the sabbath) and some other things I've never heard of.

As ancestrally Jewish, it's probably a shame I never really bothered until now to get to know Israeli foods. I visited Israel once when I was 4 years old but only learned to love hummus during that visit. I think it's about time I got to know it and Nava's Grill seems like a great place to start.

Only because I didn't get to try much and I STILL think Kease's by the beach has the best falafel:

**** (4) Heey, that's pretty good!

Galanga Thai Kitchen & Sushi Bar (Wilton Manors, FL)

"Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.... and such small portions"
- Woody Allen, Annie Hall

I am always wary whenever I see a "sushi and thai" place. China and Thailand are distinctive countries with different cuisines and if you aren't good enough at one to make a go at a restaurant, adding the other never seems to help. Galanga is no exception.

To be fair, I did not try the sushi. And after this experience, I never, ever will.

At the moment, I am on a serious and focused hunt for both a new good high-end sushi joint and a good Thai place in eastern/central Broward area. I read many good reviews of Galanga and was excited to finally try it. We came early, about a half an hour into diner service. The restaurant was completely empty. The place was nicely decorated, but it couldn't quite hide that it was a reclaimed IHOP. It had exposed air piping in it's steeple shaped ceiling, a look that worked. Unfortunately, the piping and vents were dirty and in need of a thorough dusting.

Appetizer - Money Bags

We ordered for an app the Money Bags ($6). The menu states: chicken, crabmeat, corn, sweet potato in a golden bag (crispy rice paper) and peach chutney. My dining partner recalls these little dumplings from his childhood on Staten Island. Arriving at our table were 5 gumball sized slightly over fried wantons stuffed with sweet potato and a small shred of chicken next to a small cup of sweet rice wine vinegar with a few scant cubes of floating red onion and cucumber. They were tasty, but small and not as advertised. There was no peach chutney anywhere to be found, and I'm only 25% sure I encountered one kernel of corn. They were very much like the ones in Staten Island, however. And while they weren't exactly as advertised and a tiny portion, they were tasty.

Main Course - Pad Thai & Delightful Duck

I ordered the Pad Thai ($14) and my dining partner had the "Delightful Duck"($23). His was a crispy, lightly southern fried 1/4 duck next to a molded cup of white rice, green beans, sloppily chopped zucchini and carrot sitting in a shallow, watery pool of orangish brown tamarind sauce. It was okay.

My Pad Thai was drowning in watery peanut oil, thickened slightly with a pinch of cornstarch. The noodles were tiny shreds of broken rice noodles. The peanut shavings gave it a muddy and gravely consistency. It contained 2 shrimp(!) and an entire poorly fabricated dried chicken breast.

The portion was huge. I got about half way through and started feeling notsogood. I figured it was all of the oil, so I asked the waiter to wrap it up for me and I'd take it home, drain the oil and try to eat some more. After all, I spent $14 on it. I guess I didn't say it loud enough because the waiter threw it away. When I asked him about it he seemed really surprised and sorry, but didn't offer anything to remedy the situation. I was really pissed off about having $7 worth of Pad Thai tossed away but I guess he did me a favor because about 25 minutes after the meal, I found myself doubled over in stomach pain. He would have done me more of a favor by never having served me in the first place.

Quick Summary

Ambiance: Modernly decorated, dirty ceilings, suspicious that it was a former IHOP. The music was cheesy, mindless, mid-90s and modern vocorder driven techno club pop.

The service: It was hard to get their attention sometimes, even when we were the only customers in the place. The waiter threw away my left overs, half my plate.

The price: Pretty darn high, App was a rip off.

The food: Not as advertised and I'm darn near certain it made me ill.

I really regret having to give a local business such a poor review but:

* (1) Never, ever again!

The Ambry

The Ambry

3016 E. Commercial Blvd, Fort Lauderdale , Florida

When you arrive at The Ambry, it's obvious the kitsch will be as thick as the sauces and the refinement as thin as the schnitzel. For a German Restaurant, that's probably a good thing. Bavarian culture is the campy, happy Germany that America loves. Quiet, refined Germany can be a little scary, especially for the Eastern European Condo Comandos who come east for our ample early birds and meager parking.

Check out the German Grandma's bathroom they have!:
When the rest of my party arrived, we were instantly seated by a bubbly blonde with feathered hair in an intimate, brick walled, heavily directed in biersteins, beer mirrors & doilies. Seconds later we were happily greeted by an enthusiastic man and solid looking lady who guided us through the meal. The food was well explained and brought to us quickly. Any issues we had, (and we had some picky eaters with us) were promptly attended to. The only thing that bothered me is the way they took the order for the different courses,.

First, the took drink orders. Then the brought us the drinks. (On Draft: Spaten Lager, Warsteiner, Tucher, Weissbeer, Koestrizer Dark. They are all huge pints and about $7 each. I got the Koestrizer, which is a black beer. It was surprisingly light and thin. There are also bottled and various liquors, we ignored them.) We drank the drinks. We looked at our menus. We all finished our enormous beers. We looked hungrily at the salad bar a few feet away. The salad bar comes with the dinners and we would be entitled to it as soon as we put in our dinner order. But not yet, not yet. sip, sip, sip.

Then, they took the appetizer orders. They served the orders to the 3 of the 10 people there while the rest of us clutched our menus with white knuckles. Those who did get apps struggled to find a place to stash their menus for the entree order.

Goulash Soup: One person, an industry insider, at my table exclaimed: "Oh my god this is sweet and sour soup!". He wasn't wrong.

Liver & Dumplings Soup: It is a giant dumping of liver. It looks like a big gray matzo ball of liver. If you like liver, you'll like the soup. If you hate liver, you will hate this soup. It has maximum liveryness.

Escargot: This was the first time I ever had escagrot! It was served in the little special designed escargot server pottery with butter and garlic and with a crusty piece of baguette. It pleased the palate of the French girl who ordered it and had been eating them since she was knee high to a snail. I tasted one speck of grit, but it was otherwise a pretty delicious thing. I have nothing to compare it to, but it was tasty.

Steak Tartar: They give you complete power to decide how you want it. They will add any ingredients you ask to it or they will serve them all on the side for you. It usually comes with a runny egg on top, but the person who ordered it chose to mayonnaise in it instead. In France, she tells us, you either pick the egg or mayo. To have both is redundant.

Finally, after all the soups have been slurped and all the steak tartarred away, the entrees were ordered and we hit the salad bar.

Salad Bar: I love a salad bar, even a bad one. This one was a pretty bad one: Crisp iceberg ( :( ) lettuce, orangey tomatoes, green peppers, vidalia onion slices, radishes, carrots, olives, beets & bacon bits made up the majority of the sad salad bar. I mean, it's fine, for like, a steakhouse in 1975. But for $8.95 a la carte, puh-lease. Don't do it. The only highlights of the salad bar were the german potato salad, coleslaw and meat salad. The german potato salad & coleslaw were sweet and good and proper. The MEAT salad was a soup of mayo & mustard with chunks of ham swimming in it. It was sweet and hammy and a proper thing to use the pumpernickel bread with.

The entrees came quickly after we ordered. What we got were mostly variations on the schnitzel. Schnitzel is a thin pounded out piece of meat (here it's veal) lightly breaded and panfried. It's usually served with vegetables and/or sauces and/or cheeses. Here's some of the varieties we ordered:

* Jaeger Schnitzelw/ homefries (with mushrooms, onion, carrot & bacon gravy)

* Paprika Schnitzel (the sauce held for exactly 60 seconds after service before breaking on my plate. Still, quite tasty. Served with Spaetzle, an extremely light and airy maggot-looking pasta. Despite it's maggoty appearance, it's actually quite delicious.

And finally the Schnitzel of the Day, something-something-black forrest ham, swiss cheese.



The veal was a little dry, the sauces were very flavorful, their accompaniments were exactly what they should have been. The biggest downside to this place is really the price. The schnitzel's were all about $21.95 which is really, really overpriced. IHAUS on Powerline in Oakland Park charges $7.95 for the same schnitzel with an appley cabbage and flavorful mashed potatoes instead of spaetzle. What you're paying for is the atmosphere and the ability to find real german beer on draft. The staff was friendly and knowledgeable. I would go again, but not by my own volition. I left there happy, though. and incredibly disgustingly full.

*** (3) Not bad for what it is.

Coming Soon: The Ambry, Chartreuse Too! & Jimmy's Courthouse Deli

I will be soon dining at and then reviewing The Ambry German-American Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. We'll see how it stacks up against my current favorite Schnitzelhaus, IHAUS (International Haus of Schnitzel). International House of Schnitzel, 4820 N. Dixie Highway in Oakland Park. I'll review that place sometime in the not-too-distant future, too.

I will also sometime this week finally brave the pee-smells of the Downtown Main Library to dine at the Chartreuse too!, the library's cafe.

Jimmy's Courthouse Deli is on the list, too.

Check back this week!

D'Angelo Pizza

A, B & I @ Casa D'Angelo's in Fort Lauderdale

No, wait a minute. Where are we going? Oooooooooooooooooh.

D'ANGELO PIZZA in OAKLAND PARK

NOT CASA D'ANGELO'S! $$ not $$$$. My wallet thanks you, B!

I walk in already pleased that my estimated meal cost just halved itself. It made the sting of the mandatory "complimentary" (you gotta tip, of course) valet a little easier. Prices at this Italian Tapas Bar range on average from $6 - $15. Much more Tuesday night worthy.

The place is attractive. Outside there's some sturdy looking and clean tables and chairs out on some clean looking cerement but I barely payed it any attention. There was NO WAY I'd eat outside because (1) it's on US1. US1 is chock full of various crazies and strange folks with boundary issues. I'm glad they are around to make the city a more interesting place to live but I don't like to mix the un-medicated mentally ill and my dinner so much. Nor do I like exhaust fumes wafting over my aromatically spiced meat balls. US1 is one of my least favorite locations for dining al fresco. Also, (2) It's the end of June in Fort Lauderdale. I would melt.

Inside D'Angelo Pizza it's clean, cool, and decorated in a way that says, "High Quality Ikea". The dining room is long and narrow, kind of like a shinny, forcibly modern bowling alley. The waitstaff is all decked out in crisp black and whites with embroidered D'Angelo Pizza logos. It's very sleek and well lit. It's bright enough to see your food/dim enough to soften the blow of your dining partners pock marked skin or plastic surgery scars. There's a bar, a deli counter(!!!), and a semi open kitchen with a wood burning stove to the right. Yeah! A Deli Counter! A long straight backed booth and tables are to the left. Paper reminiscent of parchment lined the tables, looking like white table cloths, but actually being the opposite as they are disposable, a lot more practical. Maybe not the most environmentally friendly but... that's not this place's point.

We got there pretty stinkin' early, around 530pm. The staff greatly out numbered the customers. They were all jovial and in good spirits, doing a lot of milling around. I mentioned this apparent over staffing to A, the line cook I was dining with. He assures that we have just beat the dinner rush. He's right, half way through the meal those milling around waitstaff were moving like the wind, like graceful italian gazelles, and suddenly we're almost elbow to elbow with hungry masses. It's an odd crowd to not quite rub elbows with. To the left are a cute couple of body builders, lovers i suspect. To the right is an all adult family of 3. Across from us there's some awkward father-son bonding going on. All just of the tables were spaced just adequately. I couldn't smell any other tables food or breath. Having just recently eaten at Kelly's Landing in Fort Lauderdale, I appreciate the adequate distance.

When they seated us, they promptly brought some oven toasted bread. It reminded me of biscotti but I guess it was focaccia. it wasn't the most flavorful bread, and it shredded the top of my mouth, which gave everything else i ate from that point a tinny metallic taste. Mmm, mouthblood. Ignoring my now tender pallett, I enjoyed trying their choices of dipping liquids. There was a nice olive oil, balsamic & chili oil. It was wise of them to give us something to munch on while we gaped at the intense, huge menu.

The menus are on two sided place mats on the tables when they seat you. Those things are pretty overwhelming. You can chose from various kinds of Tapas ($8 - $10), Soups ($5 - $8), Bruschette ($7 - $9), Ceviche & Carpacci ($10 - $12), Panini ($8), Salads ($7 - $8), Pizze ($9-$13), Pizze Bianche ($11 - $14), Calzone ($11 - 13) & Wood Oven Frittatas ($8-$9). They also have cheese & cold cuts. a CHEESE course. Where else in Fort Lauderdale is there a cheese course? ($20 - $50). Sure, it's kind of a lame selection. Fontina, Gorgonzola, Asiago, Reggiano, or Provolone? Yawn. But anyway, it's the thought that counts. I just kind of expected more, what with the deli counter(!) and all.

The "B side" of the place mat menu was the wine list. I know next to nothing about wine. I ignored it. They have a couple of decent-enough beers. Stella & Bass on tap. I didn't order one.

I ended up settling on the pasta fagioli ($6) which was, honestly, the best i've ever had. The pasta was cooked right, the cannellini beans still had good bite but were plenty tender. It took a while to get to the table but it was worth the wait (and the $6 price tag). My dining mate got the lobster bisque ($8) which was one of the better lobster bisques i've had. Beats the living snot out of the... well... snot that is Morton Steakhouse's lobster bisque. Morton's was watery, fishy, and featured a slimy sliver of lobster dead of center. Also, frankly, inedible. D'Angelo, however, delivered. It was, for a lack of a better term, very lobstery. Also creamy and thick. Both portions were quite large and quite filling. They also both had those biscotti like bread sticks in the soup. They were too dense to soak up the soup and were hard/impossible to cut with a spoon. And I didn't want to fill up on bread. That's how they getchya. (ha). Both bread logs got set aside. They hindered the otherwise great soups.

Offered with the soup and throughout the meal was fresh cracked pepper and fresh grated cheese, (I assume parmigiana.)

I barely had room for the Salmon Pizze Bianche (sushi thin lox on soft brie cheese, chives & lemon oil. ($12). It was on whole a good and interesting pizza. It was sizable. 6 respectable slices worth of pizza. Rich with cheese & oil, light on the chives. The lemon oil was a bit too subtle with the lemon to add to the dish. What it did ad was more fat and oil to an already fatty and oily pizza. Brie is already heavy. I suspect that it wasn't all brie, either. It didn't melt or pull like brie. It tasted like brie and... something else.They didn't promise it was 100% brie. It could have, even ethically, been mozzarella in there, too. Brie could have been considered a "topping". Whatever it was, it was melty, cheesy, plentiful and had a subtle pleasant gameness of a ripe brie. The crust of the pizza was crisp and flaky. I would order it again, but perhaps, hold the lemon oil, and instead ask for a lemon.

Also ordered were the chicken and turkey meatballs. There were two fist sized balls swimming in a well made marinara. The balls were light, bright, clean, and distinctively chicken and turkey. They weren't too bad. I wouldn't have ordered it, and I didn't, but it was good for what it was.

Also: Quattro Bruschette, a sampler of Basilico (mozz, tomato & basil, Toscana (chicken liver mouse), Gambero (three tiny shrimp, three bits of a cherry tomato & mint) & Scapece (eggplant, garlic and some balls to the wall balsamic) on bruschette. The Toscana & Scapece were winners, Gambero & Basilico lost with me. The one who ordered them loved them all. I just thought the later two were a little dry and could've used some salt or something. I suppose I could've salted them.

Also: Some classic italian chicken dish i've forgotten the name of. It was extremely homey tasting. I remarked to the one who ordered it, a 10 year veteran of the kitchen, "This tastes like your food!". And it did. It tasted like the end of the week meals he makes for me. Professionally done, but homey tasting. There were roasted vegetables everywhere. Roasted red peppers, roasted zucchini (which was also fried in oil, i think. it was kind of oily.) and roasted potatoes. Despite a couple of technical flaws, it was a very homey dish.

I was way too full to go for a desert. I didn't even consider it.

This place has much more to be explored. I will definitely be back.

**** (4) Heey, that's pretty good!

Italian Food in West/East Broward County

For some reason, italian food is kind of scarce in these parts. Here's the best I've found so far, in order of greatness at their peak. They are almost all, sadly, just pizza places.
* Pizzeria Panaretto (amazing pizza. haven't tried the pastas yet.)
* Squggy's on Himarshee (Best pizza in South Florida),
* Isabella's, (good italian-american pizzeria. nothing fancy, you get exactly what you ask for.)
* Empire Pizza (good for pizza, disappointing for everything else. The don't know how to cut a tomato),
* Pizza Rustica, (they have pizza with HAM AND PEAS!)
* Primante Bros. (it's barely italian. italian-ish, really. italy by way of pennsylvania. ),
* Angelos (gone down hill, ordered a Sicilian and it was just plain not cooked/doughy. My friend refuses to return),
* Vicos (now inedible),
* Pizza Center (Plantation, FL. Supergood pizza, but it's in Plantation)
* Tower Pizza (same issue as Pizza Center. It's in Davie).


Tomorrow I'm trying Casa D'Angelo in Fort Lauderdale on my friend, "B"'s suggestion. I know nothing about it except it's menu has no prices on it and the listings on the internet have FOUR $s. $$$$! That's way more $s then usual for me. It better be good, cause I'm pretty cheap.

Room for One More?

Hi, guys. In this over saturated market of food blogs, I figured, what's one more? So here we go.

Nothing thrills me more these days then finding a new gem of a dining spot or market and then sharing it with everyone in earshot. Or eyeshot, as the case may be.

And that's this, one-more-of-too-many-food-blog's goal. I want you all to eat as well as I do!

So shut up and let's eat.Ratings:

* (1) Never, ever again!
** (2)Most definitely not for me.
*** (3) Not bad for what it is.
**** (4) Heey, that's pretty good!
***** (5) So good it hurts.
****** (6) The Best.