Ben's Kosher Deli in Boca Raton, FL

Sometime last year I ate dinner at Ben's Kosher Deli in Boca Raton. Something that I wrote about that visit to Ben's got quite a few people upset, based on the emails and comments that I received. Perhaps it was because of my initial description of the demographics of Ben's customers, or maybe it had something to do with my explanation of how I don't follow religious dietary restrictions. I suppose another possibility is that these are avid Ben's Deli fans that couldn't fathom that I wasn't too impressed with the food here. Whatever upset people so much, I really wasn't expecting the response I got, so I'm wondering if I'll offend anyone in this post.

On my first visit to Ben's, the line was out the door to get in. On my second and most recent visit, we were one of the few occupied tables in the large restaurant. Pickles and coleslaw came first. Half sour pickles are awesome!

Last time, I found Ben's sandwiches to be very dry and kind of flavorless. On this visit, I decided to get something totally different and ordered the potato pancake dinner. I was actually surprised when the plate came. The large plate was filled with three of the biggest latkes I've ever seen with a bowl of apple sauce on the side. Taste-wise, these were really good, but imagine eating a huge plate of really dense hash browns. There's only a certain amount of deep fried potato that I could take in one sitting. Really, just one of these potato pancakes would have been plenty for a meal!

Overall, I was pleased with these potato pancakes. It was more fried potato than I could possibly eat, but they were otherwise good. Much better than the sandwiches from Ben's Kosher Deli...