Good Eats in South Florida

My Chief Culinary Consultant and I took a little drive and had a wonderfully relaxing and fun vacation. I’m back and trying to get settled back in to “real life” (begrudgingly!); I hope you all enjoyed the posts that I had lined up for last week while I was away. In case you missed them, be sure to check out the Coffeecake Muffins, Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Pittsburgh Steelers Cookies, and Polenta Pizza. You may also want to read about how you can enter this month’s Does My Blog Look Good In This? food photography competition.

In the meantime, I wanted to share the great eats that I enjoyed while vacationing in southern Florida. If you ever find yourself in Palm Beach County, be sure to check out these fabulous spots!

Flakowitz of Boynton Restaurant, Delicatessen & Caterers

Location: Boynton Beach, FL

Website: http://www.flakowitzofboynton.com/

Review: We didn’t eat-in here, but rather purchased food from the deli, prepared food section and bakery to eat at home. Everything was fresh and fabulous – we made sandwiches with traditional Jewish rye bread, corned beef, pastrami, Swiss cheese, kosher pickles and coleslaw with potato salad on the side and a strawberry shortcake cake for dessert. It’s no surprise that Flakowitz was recently featured on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I could have easily devoured the entire dessert case; I’m looking forward to going back and sampling more of the food and sweets!

Boston’s on the Beach

Location: Delray Beach, FL

Website: http://www.bostonsonthebeach.com/default.asp

Review: My Chief Culinary Consultant had been here before so I was naturally excited to try somewhere that I already knew had great reviews. Boston’s sits in a fabulous location across the street from the sand and surf in Delray Beach. If you sit outside on the covered patio you’ll catch a great breeze, wafts of the salty ocean air, and have a view of the water while you eat. Inside of Boston’s you will find walls covered with Boston-area sports memorabilia, which, even if you’re not a Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins or Celtics fan, is pretty cool to check out. The menu consists primarily of New England-inspired and seafood dishes, including the ever-famous lobster roll. We started lunch with an order of Conch Fritters, which were awesome. I had the “Big Papi” Cheese Steak Sandwich which was piled high with shaved beef, mushrooms, onions and cheese; my Chief Culinary Consultant had the Muffuletta sandwich – both got big thumbs up. Would love to go back and try a lobster roll!

City Cellar Wine Bar & Grill

Location: West Palm Beach, FL

Website: http://www.bigtimerestaurants.com/

Review: This was the last meal we had on vacation and it was the perfect way to cap off a great week. City Cellar is located in City Place of West Palm Beach, which is an open area full of shops, restaurants and live music. With a great atmosphere, fantastic food, and out-of-this-world desserts, this will definitely be on my list of places to eat at again. I enjoyed the Gnocchi al Forno, which was the second-best gnocchi I have had in a restaurant (the first nod going to the gnocchi at Dish Osteria in Pittsburgh); the dish included chicken, spinach and asiago cheese in a vodka cream sauce. My Chief Culinary Consultant had the Crab Stuffed Jumbo Shrimp and raved about them as well. We ended dinner with Creme Brulee (excellent!) and quite possibly the best Banana Cream Pie ever: a pecan-graham crust piled high with layers of bananas and sweet cream, topped with dark and white chocolate shavings.

I also picked up a regional cookbook, Worth Tasting, as a souvenir, which is something I plan on doing each time I visit somewhere new – a great way to recreate a bit of vacation after you get back home! This book was created by the Junior League of the Palm Beaches and includes a ton of fabulous recipes, ranging from drinks and appetizers to entrees and desserts as well as a number of sample menus. You’ll definitely be seeing some of these recipes featured here on Brown Eyed Baker in the near future.

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