Broward Dining: Bluefin Parkland

Bluefin Sushi & Thai Grill
6694 Parkside Drive, Parkland, FL 33067
(954) 755-0120

Web Site: http://www.bluefinparkland.com

Note: Bluefin Parkland is now running an extremely aggressive “crowdsourced” gift card deal that frankly is one of the best fine dining bargains in the greater Broward and Palm Beach County area right now. For $100, you get a gift card worth $180. For $500, you get $1000, which you can split up into multiple gift cards if you like. If you’re a sushi fanatic like I am, you’d be crazy not to take advantage of this. The cards are good for up to one year at the Parkland location.

One of the first priorities for us after moving to South Florida was finding our “local” sushi place. Sushi is one of our favorite cuisines, and when you live in a warm climate it also is one of the most refreshing after a long and hot day.

But high-quality, authentic Japanese-style sushi can be extremely difficult to find in South Florida. Heck, it was difficult enough to find in suburban New Jersey where we used to live, and it’s still something of a challenge in New York City unless you go to the most expensive and well-known places.

We are lucky enough to live less than 10 minutes away from one of the best sushi restaurants in Broward County, if not all of South Florida, the Parkland location of Bluefin Sushi.

Chef Yozo Natsui, Proprietor of Bluefin Parkland.

Broward Dining: Saxsay Cafe

Saxsay Cafe
8425 W. Commercial Blvd. , Tamarac FL
Web Site: https://www.facebook.com/Saxsay.Peruvian.Cusine

Since moving to South Florida, I’ve been exposed to a number of Latin American cuisines that I did not readily have access to when living in the Northeast. One of those cuisines, Peruvian, has quickly become one of my favorites.

The cuisine of Peru is one of the most interesting in South America, as it merges traditions and ingredients of the indigenous peoples as well as immigrants from China and other places like Japan, Germany and Italy.

While there are a number of good Peruvian restaurants in Broward County, there are none which I would consider examples of the finer or more upscale-dining restaurants that Cuban or Colombian cuisine have in this area, for example.

The newly re-opened Saxsay, in Tamarac (Formerly Sunrise) plans to change that.

Peruvian food can be sophisticated, as Saxsay in Tamarac shows. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Broward Dining: How Do You Roll?

How Do You Roll @ Sawgrass Landing
13775 W. Sunrise Blvd.
Sunrise, Florida 33323

Web Site: http://www.howdoyouroll.com

Twitter: @how_do_you_roll

Quick Serve Restaurants, or QSR’s, are all the rage right now in casual dining. The trend of serving “faster, but higher quality” food items than what is served fast food establishments can largely be attributed to Chipotle, which is now a huge success story in the food and restaurant industry.

Since Chipotle made it big, others are trying to figure out what the next big QSR concept is. A lot of stuff since has been various re-spins on the burger concept. Asian cuisine, particularly sushi, is not something QSR as a whole has attempted to tackle yet, due to much higher sanitary standards as well as issues of keeping fish fresh.

How Do You Roll, a QSR chain that originated in Texas (and was profiled on the TV show “Shark Tank“)  is attempting to recreate Chipotle’s “Roll your own” model and success but with sushi and other Asian items. There are currently two locations in Florida, one in Sunrise and the other in Gainesville.

Rachel and I had the opportunity to visit the Sunrise HDYR location on a torrentially rainy saturday night with a group of sushi fans from Meetup.com when business was slow, so we got a chance to observe the franchise under optimal conditions for photography but not necessarily to see how service would perform under busy conditions.

As I mentioned, HDYR is a “Roll your own”, QSR restaurant where you pick from a list of ingredients and the sushi chefs put together your custom sushi roll, rice bowl or ramen soup.

HDYR is most definitely a “beginners” sushi place because there are only 3 raw fish types you can choose from, Tuna (Maguro), Salmon, Escolar (a bland white fish, sometimes referred to as “White Tuna”), and “Spicy” variants of the same. Additional proteins that can be rolled are cooked Beef, Chicken, Crawfish Tails, Surimi (“Krab Sticks”), Shrimp, Eel and Tofu.

There is also a nice variety of fruits, vegetables and a number of different sauces and toppings/condiments which allows for a good combination of things for the diner to create. Pre-designed roll combinations range from $3 to $7, so you’re looking at about half of what a mid-range sushi restaurant charges for similar items.

Like at a Chipotle, or a sub shop chain, you order at the counter and they give you a number and you sit down. When your number is called you either go up to get your order, or depending how busy the place is, they bring it to you. The place was so completely dead that evening due to the weather that we got first class table service.

Is How Do You Roll a fresh or a dead fish? Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Broward Dining: Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlour

Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlour
128 S Federal Hwy, Dania Beach, FL 33305

Web Site: http://www.jaxsonsicecream.com

I just want to note that despite recent appearances on this blog, I do not eat hamburgers and massive ice cream sundaes every day of the week, OK? Okay.

So, a few weeks ago I found out that legendary Los Angeles foodie Chris Cognac was going to be visiting South Florida for a day prior to heading on a vacation cruise and then heading off to Orlando to engage in mouse-related stuff.

Chris and I have known each other for over 10 years, as he was one of the very first folks to register on eGullet.com. But in that time, we never had a chance to meet each other in person.

Given the hastiness of the information, we didn’t have a lot of time to plan an ideal get-together. It was further complicated by the fact there were wife and kids also in tow and we wanted a place pretty close to where they were staying. As it happened, their hotel near Fort Lauderdale International Airport was only minutes away from Jaxson’s in Dania Beach.

Now, Jaxson’s is not necessarily a foodie outlet. In fact, I’d call it anything but that. Specifically, the place is known for ice cream. Massive, massive amounts of ice cream served in gigantic portions designed to give seven year olds nightmares and tummy aches.

It’s the kind of place you go to when you are visiting your grandparents in Florida and they want to take you out — for ice cream. In fact, virtually all of the visits to Jaxson’s in my entire life span were with Jack and Sylvia Perlow, when I came to visit them during the 1970s and early 1980s when they were snowbirding in Hallandale.

Dinners were usually early birds at Pumpernick’s, Morrison’s or some other South Florida institution catering to seniors that has long been history. And yet Jaxson’s remains — because it appeals to everyone.

Despite the ice cream focus, Jaxson’s still serves a full menu, mostly dominated by sandwiches, burgers and comfort food types of things that you would see in a classic luncheonette. Except that everything is Jurassic Park sized.

The place is also frequently a mob scene unless you get there right before the big lunch and dinner rushes. Literally there is a line a hundred or so people long right in front, and there’s no way you’re gonna wait any less than an hour to get in to get your ice cream unless you specifically use the take-out window outside. The photo below was taken right before noon on a saturday. By the time we had left, it was extremely busy and there was a wait to get in.

Jaxson’s is the place to be in South Florida for massive ice cream creations. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Florida Dining: Jersey Dawg

Jersey Dawg Food Truck
(305) 582-8849

Web Site: http://www.jerseydawg.com

Twitter: @jerseydawg201

Jersey Dawg Food Truck, parked in the Shell Station on the corner of Cypress Creek Road and Powerline in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

I’m frequently asked, “Is there life after Jersey?”

It was almost one year ago that Rachel and I packed up what remained of our belongings and set forth in a Volkswagen to South Florida. We got on the New Jersey Turnpike, and drove until it became I-95.

A week later, we found ourselves in the Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach area. Which we now call home.

I’ve made my choice and I’m very happy with it. The weather is fantastic, I have a lovely home. The food down here is great. I have no complaints.

Well, maybe one or two.

There are certain types of food items that are either difficult or impossible to find in South Florida. You either have to go to great lengths to get them, or they just plain do not exist. And there’s certain things I fully accepted I would never have again, unless I returned home.

Like New Jersey-style hot dogs and sliders.

I mean, you don’t even think such a thing would exist here, so you don’t go looking for it. Sure, we have some really good burger and dog places. We even have a food blogger down here that specializes in it. He’s practically a celeb.

But these are substitutes and not full-blown replacements. The only way you can replicate this kind of food is to have the exact ingredients and to prepare it exactly the same way. By someone who is intimately familiar with such things.

So when I heard about Jersey Dawg, a new food truck that recently started doing Jersey-style hot dogs and sliders, I couldn’t wait. I hadn’t had either one in a year.

Yes, fairy tales can come true. It can happen to you. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more. 

Florida Dining: Announcing the Off The Broiler Meetup Group

If you’re a foodie based in South Florida, don’t miss out on our new Meetup group, Off The Broiler Dining Adventures. My plans for this new group are ambitious — I intend to have group dinners and special food events at least once per month, at restaurants and venues selected by yours truly.

Joining our Meetup group is free. As we did with previous dining events in the NY Metro Area, we’ll be planning dinners in Broward, Palm Beach and Dade County/Miami with set (as well as a la carte) menus and will need to secure reservations, so please be sure to notify the event organizers at least a day before if you need to cancel.

You must participate in this group to be notified of upcoming events and to reserve your places at these dinners, as we have no other way of tracking attendance.

Broward County Dining: Bagels & Whole Lot More

Bagels & Whole Lot More
10281 West Sample Road, Coral Springs FL 33065
(954)575-8130

Web Site:  http://www.bagelsandawholelotmore.com

If you’ve been watching my Twitter feed, you probably know by now that Rachel and I have arrived in the Sunshine State.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks — not just because we decided to move to our new home during the brutal South Florida summer heat and humidity, but also because a number of logistical issues have prevented us from unpacking most of our belongings. We’ve been sleeping on a mattress on a floor in our family room and our bedrooms are currently being tiled. And all our new bedroom furniture is on order.

I have only one of my computers working, which is propped up precariously on a folding table in the living room. And my Mac with my photo editing suite isn’t unpacked yet, so I’ve been doing all my food photography with Instagram on my Android phone.

This and a pending swimming pool construction project is enough to drive you completely crazy. We’re roughing it, and we’re doing the best we can. At least I have my new Weber Genesis S-330 LP gas grill set up and running on the patio and we have cable TV and Internet.

And oh yeah, the air conditioning is working flawlessly.

Priorities, you know.

Speaking of priorities, I have already begun the task of seeking out the things that are essential to the survival of a native New York/New Jersey expatriate: Decent Asian food, Pizza… and Bagels.

Now, there’s no lack of bagels in South Florida. In fact, there’s probably a bagel store a five minute drive (or less) from everywhere in the town where we’ve settled, Coral Springs.

Coral Springs is a huge sprawling town of over 120,000 people. If I were to compare it to a town in New Jersey, I’d say it was demographically similar to Paramus, but it’s laid out in a grid form, with six times the population, with all of the commercial and residential zoning laid out in distinct squares, and none of the two mix.

It’s like someone who was a fan of the original SimCity computer game decided to apply its simplistic urban planning methodology to reality, and stuff it full of strip malls and gated communities and landscape it with palm trees and lush tropical plants.

I’m not complaining, I love my new environs. But clearly Toto, we’re not in Jersey anymore.

Anyway, back to the bagels. There’s lots of bagels to be found, but none of them are legit. The problem with South Florida bagels is that because of the huge elderly and retiree population, they’ve been adapted to local tastes. That means making them softer in consistency. To do that, virtually every bagel store steams rather than boils the bagels before baking them. This makes the resulting product more like a roll than a bagel.

Others have attributed the problem to the quality and mineral content of NYC water versus Florida water. I say horseshit. It’s all in the boiling and traditional preparation methods, especially once you put in a good water filter system. The difference in mineral content is going to slightly change the “terroir” of the bagel, but it will still end up a legit bagel.

After doing a bit of research, I have found a legit bagel bakery in Coral Springs. It’s called Bagels & Whole Lot More, and it’s only a few months old. The owner is from New York, has imported his bagel making equipment from Long Island and filters his water with a reverse osmosis system. And he’s doing everything the right way.

Bagels & Whole Lot More in Coral Springs, FL. 

Ready for real New York-style bagels in South Florida? Click on the “Read the rest of this entry link below” for more.