Too Bizarre ... Too disappointing - Jupiter, Florida

                                      

                                                          

Too Bizarre

287 E. Indiantown Rd.

Jupiter, Florida 33477

561-745-6262

Lunch and dinner

Monday : 11:30 a.m. 12 a.m.

Tuesday-Thursday: 11:30-12 a.m.

Friday and Saturday: open until 1 a.m.

Sunday: 5 p.m.-11 p.m.

www.toobizarre.com

By Jane Feehan

Busy and noisy, expensive and trendy – that’s Too Bizarre. Overstuffed sofas and chairs, decorated interior balconies, ornate chandeliers, and stained glass lamps creatively thrown together provide a unique setting for drinking and dining.  With a name that reflects its décor more than anything else, Too Bizarre is a gathering spot for the 20 and 30 somethings of north Palm Beach County.

The food is not as enchanting as the setting.

The menu, touted as Thai, is not authentic with its overly sweet and less-than-spicy dishes. What they list as tapas run about twice as much as tapas in other places I’ve dined at from Washington D.C to Miami.  I sampled Thai Dumplings for $13 from the tapas menu; they were tasty but small. Fellow diner chose another tapas item – stuffed mushrooms for $16. The mushrooms topped with crabmeat were watery, tough and poorly prepared with the “gills” or membranes still intact. My main course was an Asian Crepe for $20. Rather than a paper thin soft pancake, the meal came in a crispy, fried, thickish casing with a bizarrely sweet interior concoction.  Companion ordered a Thai pizza for one - $14. With a random piece of chicken and some raw broccoli, this dish also proved to be a disappointment. The bill, which included three glasses of wine and a tip came to $108. I don’t mind paying for good food, but it wasn’t good here for any amount of money.

Another thing – Too Bizarre is too dark inside. Bring a flashlight to read the menu. This establishment doesn’t have much competition among the youngish set; that may account for its popularity. Service: good. ©2010 Jane Feehan. All rights reserved. Jupiter restaurants, Palm Beach County, Florida

Bring on the smiles at Cathy's Beach Connection - Juno Beach, Florida

                                            

Cathy’s Beach Connection

Beach Plaza

12850 US Highway 1

Juno Beach, Florida 33408

561-626-2262

Breakfast – Monday-Saturday: 8-11 a.m.; Sunday:  8-11:30 a.m.

Lunch and dinner – Monday-Saturday: 11 a.m. 9 p.m.; Sunday: 11:30-4 p.m.

By Jane Feehan

A visit to Cathy’s Beach Connection is like finding a beautiful little seashell encrusted in sand while taking a walk along the gentle surf. It’s a small, unassuming little place but step up to its misted deck with ample outdoor seating or into the café and the mood is set for smiling.

Color abounds and care is taken to craft a beachside atmosphere. This is a very casual eatery but they take more than a casual approach to the food they serve.  I dined on a mozzarella, tomato and lettuce  drizzled in balsamic vinaigrette and encased in a perfectly toasted roll. The fresh, crispy romaine lettuce and juicy tomato provided a perfect counter to tasty slabs of cheese. The meal came with a choice of sides for $10.95. Companion diner sampled a Juno Wrap - about $10 – of blackened grouper and was similarly impressed.

Come in shorts, bathing suit – anything casual - and expect to be pleased with both food and atmosphere. Cathy’s is close to the beautiful Juno Beach Pier.  Beer, including tap for a buck, and wine served.  Service: excellent.  ©2010 Jane Feehan. All rights reserved.

Sailfish Marina Resort: Dock the boat but diner beware

       

Sailfish Marina Resort

98 Lake Drive

Palm Beach Shores, Florida 33404

561-844-1724

Dining: open daily 7 a.m.-10 p.m.

Breakfast Buffet:  Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m.-1 p.m.

www.sailfishmarina.com

By Jane Feehan

Even in summer, the Sailfish Marina and Resort in beautiful Palm Beach Shores hums. Lots of people flock here to visit the Ship Store, charter boats for fishing or dock their boats on an annual or daily basis. There’s also a popular restaurant.

Waterfront dining nearly anywhere is popular but it’s not always good. It wasn’t the Sunday we stopped in the marina for lunch. I ordered a veggie wrap which tasted more like a cherry bomb. That is, besides the lettuce and a random pine nut or two and a teeny weenie bitsy drop of goat cheese, the sandwich was overloaded with dried cherries. I pulled out nearly half a cup of them and it was still overpoweringly sweet. It came with stale banana chips. Companion diner ordered a chicken salad sandwich on toast and it was delivered cold as if it were a rejected meal stored in the fridge. With two iced teas the meal came to nearly $26 – not a bargain, especially since the food was nearly inedible. Perhaps we would have had better luck with the buffet. Next time.

And there will be a next time because the marina is a pleasant spot. The water at high tide is a beautiful aqua and there is plenty of activity and places to sit to enjoy the view, which includes Peanut Island, a park across from Sailfish. A local told us the marina property was sold awhile back and when the real estate market improves, a condo development will go up. This is a familiar story about waterfront property in South Florida.

In the meantime, we’ll enjoy it while we can but it may not include dining. Service: good..©2010 Jane Feehan

Tags: Palm Beach, Palm Beach Shores, marina, dockage, docks, South Florida, Singer Island

Juno Beach Fish House a Florida seafood treat

Juno Beach Fish House

13980 US 1

Juno Beach, Florida 33408

Lunch: Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m. – 2:30

Dinner:  5 P.M.

Sunset Menu:  5-6 p.m.

561-626-2636

www.junobeachfishhouse.com

By Jane Feehan

After dining for more than a year in New Orleans and along the Mississippi Coast where seafood reigns supreme, I entered the Juno Beach Fish House in South Florida a bit of a skeptic about its quality, creativity and taste.

That skepticism unraveled plate by plate.

House made bread served with seasoned olive oil proved to be a great intro to what was to come. A Juno Fish house salad adorned with fresh chopped tomatoes and cucumber and topped with blue cheese and white vinegrette was excellent. And then the main course: Grouper Piccata (about $20) set atop bow tie pasta dressed with lemon and capers.  The fish was fresh, the portion oversized and it was sautéed perfectly. Maryland Crab Cakes (about $18.00) ordered by a fellow diner were not the star my meal was; they were on the gummy side. But the two sides, whipped sweet potatoes and a fresh (not frozen) vegetable medley were outstanding. To end the meal, we split a crème brulee prepared just right - a browned sugar topping over a room temperature custard.

Hats off to Chef/Owner Glenn Cockburn, once a student at the Culinary Institute at Hyde Park. He takes pride in his menu that includes lobster (half pound for about $20), salads, fresh catch of the day and an array of items for meat eaters.  Juno Beach Fish House, located at the site of a former Denny’s and Howard Johnson’s restaurant, is uncommonly good – and relatively inexpensive. ©2010 Jane Feehan. All rights reserved.

Waterway Cafe - It's all about Florida living

Waterway Café

2300 PGA Blvd.

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33410

www.waterwaycafe.com

561-694-1700

 Lunch: 11:30am-4pm Mon-Sat
             11:00am-4pm Sun
  Dinner:4pm-10pm Mon-Thu  
                  4pm-11pm Fri-Sun
  Happy Hour: 
             4pm-6:30pm Mon-Thu
             3pm-6:30pm on Fri
  Light Menu Served in the Bar:
             until 10:45pm Mon-Thu 
                    11:45pm Fri-Sun
  Bar:     Until 11:00 pm Mon-Thu 
                    1:00am on Fri-Sat
                    midnight on Sun

By Jane Feehan

A meal along the Intracoastal Waterway is requisite to a visit to South Florida. At least it used to be. While the number of good waterside places to dine has dwindled in Broward County over the years, there are a few in Palm Beach County still worth the visit. Waterway Café in Palm Beach Gardens is one of them. 

Waterway has plenty of indoor and outdoor seating to accommodate weather – or preference. It’s also boat friendly.

Waterway’s food, though standard tourist fare, is varied and solidly good. A Chicken Caesar salad (about $10) was decked out with fresh Romaine lettuce and generous slices of juicy meat topped off with a well-seasoned (read: garlic – as it should be but seldom is anymore) dressing. The grilled Dolphin sandwich (about $12.00), served with a tasty tarter sauce and wedge fries earned good marks.  Daily specials included a meatball sandwich the day we were there and seemed a popular choice among diners.  

A note about the service: Our waiter was terrific but two staffers seating customers seemed grumpy and put out that we asked to be seated on the outdoor deck. First impressions were redeemed by the server. Thanks, Jason. © 2010. Jane Feehan. All rights reserved. To see additional waterfront restaurants in Palm Beach Gardens, Search this blog for "waterfront dining in Palm Beach Gardens"

More to fill than the gas tank at Fayard’s BP

Fayard’s BP

Delores and Marie’s Grocery, Meat Market and Deli

1757 Popps Ferry Rd.

Biloxi, MS 39532

228-388-1021

Open for breakfast and lunch six days with dinner five days
Monday -Friday - 6 a.m - 7 p.m
Saturday 6 a.m.- 3 p.m

  

I thought I’d sup on my last shrimp po-boy before heading back to South Florida after a 14-month absence and couldn’t think of a more suitably ironic place than a local BP gas station.  At Fayard’s BP, Delores and Marie’s has a much better rep for food than does BP for oil producing at the moment, so it wasn’t a difficult choice.

Nor would buying a tank of gas here or at any BP franchise be a difficult choice. BP franchisees have suffered during this oil spill crisis. Boycotting franchised gas stations serves little purpose; it only throws more victims on the pyre of demolished dreams along the Gulf Coast.

Keith and Delores Fayard own their station on Popps Ferry Rd. They also own the attached grocery, meat market and deli, Delores and Marie’s. Bobby Pitalo serves as cook. He’s a retired high school basketball coach -  and restaurateur until that other mother of disasters, Hurricane Katrina, washed his place, Big Mike’s, away.  Real people, these - not oil magnates.

And they serve up some authentic Gulf Coast food.

The shrimp po-boy – dressed and pressed (about $7) did not disappoint … lots of fresh shrimp and juicy tomatoes. They sell the best (house made) cole slaw I’ve had in Mississippi.  The menu headliner is their seafood gumbo - a savory delight.  

“Keith and I worked several months to refine a recipe that was in my family since way back,” Pitalo said. “It was from the early 1900s – the teens.”

They sell plenty of it – by the cup ($3.95), bowl ($5.99), quart ($15.99) and gallon ($52.99). It’s made with local shrimp, which are safe to eat – for now. They worry about what will happen if shrimping is halted because of the spill, which has not yet reached the Mississippi Sound.

“We worry about where we’ll get shrimp, what price it will be,” Pitalo said about a possible local ban. “But there’s something else – we worry about the taste of the gumbo changing without Gulf shrimp.”

For now, there's a steady stream of customers for that delicious gumbo. Something tells me they'll come up with a winning recipe whatever the source of shrimp, especially the way they cook it up at Delores and Marie’s at Fayard’s BP. ©Jane Feehan. All rights reserved.

Next stop: South Florida 


British Petroleum: www.bp.com

Aerial view of Biloxi + great food = Thirty-Two

By Jane Feehan

IP Casino Resort

850 Bayview Ave.

Biloxi Mississippi  39530

888-WIN at IP

Sunday-Thursday: 5 - 10 p.m.

Friday and Saturday: 5 – 11 p.m.

Up, up and away … that’s “thirty-two”, the upscale restaurant on the 32nd floor of the IP Casino and Resort, tallest building in town. With a great view of Biloxi’s Back Bay from the lounge and a view of the Gulf from the dining area, thirty-two offers a top-notch dining experience.

I started my meal with their signature thirty-two salad: arugula, mesclun greens, grapefruit, bleu cheese and walnut bits, dressed in champagne vinaigrette. Excellent. The main course of red snapper was salt water fresh and the accompanying butter lemon sauce was served appropriately on the side. No covering up these goods with sauce, as if it were a dare to find fault with the fish, which I couldn’t. Most everything is a la carte. I ordered creamed spinach, which was very light (I could actually taste spinach) instead of the usual tasteless quasi-cement mixture presented by many other dining establishments. A variety of breads was served with both baked garlic and butter. Since everything was so good – and relatively light in calories – I decided to try dessert. Their Southern Fried Fruit Pie served with sour cream ice cream was a winner; it wasn’t too heavy or too sweet, a perfect ending to a memorable meal.

Thirty-two offers Allen Brothers steaks for beef lovers. They also serve a fairly good collection of single malt scotches as well as good wines from an extensive list. This place is expensive – about $150-200 for two with just two glasses of wine each. It’s worth it in so many ways. If you seek the experience without the big tab, eat in the lounge from the appetizer menu while listening to live music. Try it either way; you’ll love it. Service: excellent.

© 2010 Jane Feehan. All rights reserved.
Mississippi Gulf Coast Official website
Tags: Mississippi Coast restaurant reviews, Biloxi restaurants

Lower the sails for breakfast at Ole Biloxi Schooner

Ole Biloxi Schooner Seafood Restaurant

871 Howard Ave. (Across the street from the cathedral, Nativity B.V.M.)

Biloxi, MS 39530

228-435-8071

Monday-Friday: 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. 

Breakfast 7-10 a.m Mon-Sat

Friday and Saturday: 7 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Closed Sunday

http://schooner.biloxi.tk

Having enjoyed lunch at Ole Biloxi Schooner, I recently stopped by for breakfast on a Saturday morning. The popular eatery does better with the afternoon and evening fare (see prior review).

The menu is basic: eggs and bacon, pancakes, cereal - quite ordinary, which isn't a bad thing. I ordered eggs and potatoes with a biscuit. A large portion of pan fried potatoes was more than I could finish.  The over sized biscuit was impressive but it was brought down a few notches by serving a "spread," a.k.a margarine - a turnoff for this butter lover.

Their lineup of house-made cakes looked intriguing: German chocolate and a few cheesecakes.   I'll be back for a slice of one of them next time with a cup of coffee instead of another typical breakfast choice.

Ole Biloxi Schooner, located near city government, draws the court house crowd during the week. An early start to the day mingling with the city's movers and shakers may deem the morning meal here a power breakfast, if not a culinary experience. Lunch and diner  - a better bet. Service: good  .©2010 Jane Feehan. All rights reserved.