Rosie's Bar & Grille

If you're going to visit Gay Fort Lauderdale, you owe it to yourself to eat at Rosie's Bar & Grille. Heck, whatever reason you're in the area, this place is worth a visit.Where else will you find valet parking for a hopped up burger joint? Well, in actuality, Rosie's is way more than a typical burger joint--though the do have burgers on the menu, along with a lot of other good eats.

My friend Tommy and I went to Fort Lauderdale recently for a quick, short, weekend getaway. Our first stop upon arrival was at Rosie's for lunch. We'd eaten here before and found that it's packed in the evenings. Thankfully we arrived right as they opened at 11 and had out pick of a place to sit. The inside seating area is pretty small, but Rosie's boasts a large and gaily decorated patio--pun intended. It is indeed very festive, both outside and in.

Most of the seating at Rosie's is outside, on a patio that surrounds about three sides of the building. A large overhang surrounds the building itself, and most of that is a bar. The rest of the patio is table upon table of outdoor furniture and umbrellas--very festively colored umbrellas. We were seated under an orange umbrella which gave us and our food a somewhat orange glow.

Rosie's has a fairly large menu, everything from Prime Rib to hamburgers to an extensive seafood selection--they boast that their fish arrives fresh daily. decided to start my meal with a cup of the soup of the day, Roasted Red Pepper soup. It was excellent! Though I'd say tomato flavor was the overriding flavor, the roasted red peppers were there, but subtle. The soup was very well balanced, a nice creaminess offset by the acid of what I'd guess perhaps to be red wine vinegar. Though creamy, it had a bit of a texture to it as well. This was a very, very delicious soup and I'd certainly order it again....and again!

Next it was on to lunch. Tommy ordered a Chicken wrap which was served with a potato salad. The wrap was absolutely delicious with moiste and tender chicken, sliced of avocado, some lettuce, tomato, bacon, and a delicious mayo-based dressing. This was a real winner, a very good wrap, one of the best I've ever tasted. Tommy loved it and said it was very, very good as well. The potato salad was also very good, an nice creaminess from the potatoes gave it a rich smoothness that was very pleasing.

For my main course I orderd what was basically fish tacos with a side salad for my side. I had a choice of fish and chose the fresh grouper. First, the side salad. I had a house balsamic viniagrette with it. As salad's go, it was somewhat ordinary, but still very good. The greens were fresh and were an assortment of various greens. The viniagrette was nice and light and flavorful--in small amounts it did not overpower the salad. 

But the star of my meal was the fish tacos. First, a word about what I didn't like--the plating. Two fish tacos graced on side of an oblong shaped dish--the other side was empty. Presumably, people would normally order a side like chips or onion rings or veggies that would consume that empty space, but I ordered a side salad for my side. I would have served the fish tacos on a smaller plate or put them  in the center. But this is a minor point. As to the fish tacos themselves....what can I say? They were excellent. First of all, the grouper was perfectly cooked, nice and tender and moist and flaky, not at all dry or overcooked. The grouper had been dusted with a bit of cajun seasonings. It was laid on a bed of cilantro and lime coleslaw. The slaw served to add a nice crunch as well as some acid, a nice balance to the creaminess of the grouper. To add to this creaminess, there was also a slice of avocado. Yumm. The grouper was topped with a slightly acidic sauce--I'm not sure what the flavors were, perhaps a bit of red pepper, but it sure was good. As a whole, all of the flavors worked together very well. These were among the best fish tacos I'd ever had, without a doubt.

Our first meal on our weekend in Fort Lauderdale was a huge success. We left very full and totally satisfied, and we didnt' break the bank to eat here, either. Our total bill which included an iced tea and two bottles of beer was about $40. It was a fair price for a very good meal!