5 Cuisines to Try in 2014

We moved to West Boca two and a half years ago, and we love to eat out. One of our biggest gripes so far is that we haven’t found a really good Chinese restaurant in South Florida. But we have found some different cuisines in or near West Boca that we’re glad we tried. Here are five of them:
5. Korean

Most people are familiar with Japanese, Chinese or Thai restaurants. But Korean food is still not well known in most of the US. There’s only one place we know of in West Boca, Sushi Yoshee, and it’s pretty good.
Anyone who likes other Asian cuisines will probably like Korean, especially the barbecue dishes. Bul go gi is a beef dish marinated in a sweet sauce and then grilled. There is a spicy pork version and a chicken dish too. Bibimbap is a very common and popular dish as well, with a variety of ingredients on top of rice.
If you want to try other places, we’ve heard good things about Manna and Gabose in Lauderhill. In some Korean places we’ve been to elsewhere, they have special tables with grills in them and – if you want – you can have the bul go gi and other grilled dishes served to you raw. You grill them yourself. We’ve read that Gabose has that option but we haven’t made it there yet.
4. Indian

Indian cuisine can be a little like Thai, with a variety of flavorful curries, but there are also substantial differences. Indian restaurants serve Naan, which is something like pita bread, condiments like Raita (a yogurt sauce) and chutneys. Many dishes can be spicy so you have to be careful if that bothers you. One non-spicy dish popular with many Americans is Chicken Tikka Masala, pictured above.
Unfortunately we haven’t found an Indian restaurant in West Boca. There are a few places that aren’t too far away. Last year we wrote about Khana Kh’zana in Coral Springs. Since then we discovered Chutney & Pickle, which is roomier, but we haven’t done a review yet. The two are nearly across the street from each other on Sample Road.
There are also two places in East Boca. Bombay Cafe is in a plaza on the south side of Glades Road near FAU and Boca Regional Hospital. Further east, on the west side of Federal Highway near 20th St, is Punjab. It’s in the Boca Inn. Of the four, our favorite is Chutney & Pickle with Punjab a close second. Khana Kh’zana is particularly good if you are vegetarian. Bombay Cafe seems more geared for takeout.
Indian restaurants often do lunch buffets (both Punjab and Chutney do – we’re not sure about the others), and that’s a good way to try various items.
3. Brazilian
There are many Latino communities in South Florida. Cubans are the best known and Padrino’s is a fine example in Mission Bay. While the Cuban community tends to be concentrated in Miami-Dade, we’ve noticed a lot of Brazilians in West Boca. Along with that we’ve found at least a couple Brazilian restaurants.
Perhaps the best known is Picanha Brazil in Northwest Sandalfoot Plaza (by the Cumberland Farms gas station). The food is served buffet style and you pay by the pound. They have a “churrasco” area with grilled meats. In the same building is Casa do Pao, a Brazilian bakery that also is an informal restaurant.
There’s Restaurante Brasil in Sandalfoot Square (near the car wash). There was a fancier place in downtown Delray Beach but it appears to have closed. There’s also Oba Oba on SW 18th just east of Powerline (same plaza as Carrabba’s). We haven’t been to Oba Oba but get the impression it might be the best of the ones nearby.
In our experience the Brazilian places do not go out of their way to make it easy for us gringos to figure out how things work. And the staff may not speak English very well. But the food is good and interesting, and it’s usually not too expensive.
2. Colombian

Somewhat similar to the Brazilian places are the Colombian restaurants. Our favorite is Rancheritos de Boca
in Somerset Shoppes. It’s not fancy but the food is good and prices are low. They have empanadas for a dollar each and arepa for $2.50. Arepa is a cornbread appetizer that’s just delicious.
Another Colombian place we like is Sergio’s Americas Bakery in Northwest Sandalfoot. We’ve been there for breakfast a few times and you get a great meal for not much money.
A third option, kitty corner to the Cumberland Farms, is La Balcone de las Americas. We reviewed it a couple years ago when it was called Donde Martica, but haven’t made it back there since the name changed.
Like the Brazilian places, their English may not be so good. Rancherito’s does better on that score. We like the Colombian places better than the Brazilians, but that may be more personal preference than a reflection of quality. Both are worth trying.
1. Kosher

While I’m Jewish, I grew up in a place where there were no Kosher restaurants. Bacon and cheese sandwiches were staples of my diet. I had almost no exposure to Kosher food until we moved to West Boca, and I was a little hesitant to try it. I was wrong.
There are some great Kosher restaurants here and it isn’t anything like what we expected. Our favorite at the moment is Mozart Cafe, which has the best sushi we’ve had in South Florida. Yes – Kosher sushi. We didn’t see that coming. We’ve been to Mozart Cafe a few times and never had a bad dish. It’s south of Palmetto on the west side of Powerline.
Other high-end options include Grill Time on Glades near Boca Rio, and Euro Fusion near Carrabba’s.
We just reviewed Pita N Go in Northwest Sandalfoot, which is less fancy but still good food. Another interesting variation is Marcus Kosher Chinese in Loggers Run, one more example of how Kosher food can deliver the unexpected. On the more obvious side is Boca Kosher Bagel, but we haven’t eaten there yet. Some of the Kosher places might be a bit more expensive than comparable non-Kosher restaurants, with Marcus being the most reasonably priced.
Last but not least, we give an honorable mention to Efe’s Turkish Bistro in Somerset Shoppes. We’ve been there a few times but haven’t gotten around to a review yet.