Category: Restaurants

Our plan to eat lunch at the Morikami failing, we went to the nearby Cucina Mio. The interior is cute with the faux Italian village wall.

We each ordered from the $9.95 lunch pasta special menu. One of us had Lentil Soup.

The other had pasta fagioli.

Both soups were very good. They were accompanied by a bread basket with slices and some exceptional bread sticks.
We also differed on the main course. One of us had lasagna. It came out scorching hot! Be careful.

It was also large for a lunch portion and delicious for any meal. Thinner than some I’ve seen, it was composed of traditional ingredients unlike some places that get too creative.
Our other entree was spaghetti and meatball.

Also served traditional style, this is a solid dish. Nothing spectacular but just what you want when you order it.
The lasagna was the clear winner, prompting multiple thefts from the other side of the table.
A good lunch at a good price. And conveniently located near the Morikami, which you will hopefully not visit on a Monday.

We ate tonight at the category defying Wicked Awesome Snackbar. Part of the Slow Food Movement, they are proud that it takes 15-20 minutes to serve the typical order. if you’re in a hurry this is probably not the best choice. But maybe you can call in your order.
The inside is open despite being in a small space. They still seem one or two tables short.

The menu is unusual, with salads, sandwiches and tapas (small plates). There are a few meatball dishes, including ones with chicken, or bacon. Several dishes have beer sauces. They also have a huge selection of craft beers. Tonight they had a Chimay Ale, which I haven’t seen in a long time.

Servers are pleasant. I brought a kid in with a Happy Meal and they were understanding.
One small plate we shared was a cheesy mashed potato. We liked it.

The drunken noodles is baked in a beer cheese sauce as a sort of Mac and Cheese. It was pretty good but the weakest of the three.

Last and definitely not least, we had the Kneeland ribs, baby back in a Chinese sauce.
Best … Ribs … Ever.
It made me wish for a big plate. The meat melts in your mouth and the sauce was just right. If I were to name a flaw maybe the sauce is too strong. But it’s not.

It’s also interesting that there’s no kid menu, service is deliberately slow, but the place got packed with young families.

We had an unplanned dinner at Nana Sushi Thai in the Coral Creek shipping center (in Coconut Creek on the east side of 441 between Johnson/Holmberg and Regency Lakes).
Fairly nice interior mixing tile floor with brick walls, wood paneling and architectural roofing tiles on top of the booths. Okay maybe that’s a little busy but it works.
Kids menu is about $7. Entrees range from roughly $12-20.
The kid had miso soup and kids fried rice. I had the Tom Kha Gai chicken soup with coconut milk, and a spicy beef salad appetizer.
The miso soup was a little thin but okay.

Tom Kha Gai was deliciously creamy. By comparison to some other places it was a little less chicken and more mushroom – I liked it better this way but if you want the meat to overwhelm the soup it’s not for you.

I asked for it spicy and they delivered. I didn’t notice at first but then I crunched down on a sliver of pepper. Great kick.
The fried rice was nothing special, as expected. And thus enjoyed muchly by the child.

Last, my spicy beef salad (might be yum nuar) was pretty good. It was certainly spicy. The meat was good quality which is important because I often encounter lower quality beef in Thai restaurants.

Overall it was a pretty good meal. Keep in mind that we did not try any of the adult entrees nor the sushi. My gut says this place is more Thai than Japanese.

After a recent visit to Biergarten in East Boca, we came back to see what else is in the plaza. We found Table 42, an Italian joint. the interior is pleasant enough.

They have a $20 three course lunch menu, but we did not go that route. One of us had the chicken parm panini ($11) and the other the Shrimp Cobb salad ($17).
The panini came with a Caesar salad which had an unsubtle hint of lemon in the dressing. We both liked it.

The sandwich was also good, with exceptional bread. But it could have used more cheese – the parm in chicken parm.
The Cobb salad was spectacular with plenty of shrimp, bits of bacon, avocado, and Gorgonzola all coming together.

That’s one of the best salads I’ve ever had.
A very good meal. Highly recommended. But maybe skip the chicken parm panini. Or ask for extra cheese.