Restos in Boca Raton
Feb 18th, 2013, 08:22 AM
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Restos in Boca Raton
Hi All,
My Lady Wife and I recently visited Boca.
Here is a review of the restaurants we visited.
Ocala
Sky Asian Fusion – Holiday Inn Conference Ctr, Ocal, FL
A very nice, Asian-inspired room atop the Holiday Inn. Pleasant, friendly service, interesting Sake, good, imaginative cooking. We visit here both on the way down to Florida and coming back.
This trip we shared: spring roll, warm seafood salad (mostly shrimp), crab fried rice, Pad Thai noodle, cashew crusted sea bass. All of it, and there was a lot of it, very good.
Dinner for two, with drinks and wine, about $100 + tip.
Boca Raton
Efes Bistro 8903 Gladdes Road
In a shopping center next to TJ Maxx. You don’t come here for the scenery.
Efes is a pleasant, comfortable room decorated with various Turkish artifacts. The friendly, pleasant service is unrushed. The cooking is excellent. The Turkish wines (red and white) are better than you might expect.
The meze platter held six portions of different appetizers, cucumbers and tomatoes – all nicely seasoned and finished with a fruity olive oil.
The spinach pie platter (Ipaneka) held tabouli, hummus and a tomato salad. The St Peter’s fish was beautifully grilled.
Most important: The house-made peda bread – yeasty, shiny, crunch crust, soft warm interior
Too full for dessert.
Dinner for two, with drinks and wine - $90 + tip
Recommended
Josef’s Table 5030 Champion Blvd
In a shopping center with several other restos. You don’t come here for the scenery.
A very nice, well-appointed room, set off by draperies and two paintings by Klimt. Excellent service. First-class cooking. A wine list that is superior to most in the area. Very reasonable prices.
$41.95 for a 3-course, prix fixe menu.
My Lady Wife had the lobster bisque (better than on the MS Prinsendam), the whole lobster and the gelato dessert (one serving of dark chocolate, one of pistachio and one of lobster sorbet). \
I had the house-made paté, corvina topped with shrimp and crab with a beurre blanc, and the apfel strudel. The latter being a deconstructed work that was better than what Grandma used to make.
A glass of Gruner Veltner to go with the bisque and one of Rosso de Montepulciano with the pate and an Aligoté to accompany the mains were all very good.
Very highly recommended.
(PS, I was kidding about the lobster sorbet)
Maggiano’s Town Center
We always have at least one meal here, in the bar area, whenever we visit Boca.
The Margherita flatbread accompanied by a “real drink” (we like Manhattans) is a good way to get your juices flowing and put you in the mood for properly done Italian-American cooking. Sinatra, the Rat Pack, and other contemporaries accompany you over the sound system.
My Lady wife is partial to the crab cake. I very much enjoyed the crab tropheo: hand rolled pasta quills in a crab/olive oil sauce. Needless to say, the pasta was perfect.
Dinner for two, with drinks and wine about $115 + tip
Recommended
Ovenella 499 South Federal Highway
Just opposite the Mizner Center. Nice terrace. Interesting Italian-American food. Good service. Not unpleasant house wine.
My Lady wife had a very generous serving of spaghetti and meatballs: the pasta was perfectly “al dente” and dressed with, instead of inundated by, a very nice red sauce, however, the “polpiette”, about the size of tennis balls, could have used some bread crumbs for tenderness.
I had the “fruti de mare” over black linguini. Although the pasta was a tad too toothy for my taste. The seafood – mussels, clams, crab, shrimp, squid - was cooked just right, in a very good, complex sauce.
Dessert was the “almond basket”, a crispy tuile crepe with little balls of ice cream and a pleasant, fruity sauce – quite good.
A very, very good evening.
Dinner for two, with drinks and wine - $106 + tip
Highly recommended
Bistro Provence 2399 N Federal Hwy
I come here for the perfectly braised lamb shanks.
My Lady Wife is more eclectic.
We also like it because the atmosphere is French.
We had dinner here instead of watching the Super Bowl.
Excellent choice.
2 fixed-price menus with wine, aperitifs and coffee - under $100.
Recommended
My Lady Wife and I recently visited Boca.
Here is a review of the restaurants we visited.
Ocala
Sky Asian Fusion – Holiday Inn Conference Ctr, Ocal, FL
A very nice, Asian-inspired room atop the Holiday Inn. Pleasant, friendly service, interesting Sake, good, imaginative cooking. We visit here both on the way down to Florida and coming back.
This trip we shared: spring roll, warm seafood salad (mostly shrimp), crab fried rice, Pad Thai noodle, cashew crusted sea bass. All of it, and there was a lot of it, very good.
Dinner for two, with drinks and wine, about $100 + tip.
Boca Raton
In a shopping center next to TJ Maxx. You don’t come here for the scenery.
Efes is a pleasant, comfortable room decorated with various Turkish artifacts. The friendly, pleasant service is unrushed. The cooking is excellent. The Turkish wines (red and white) are better than you might expect.
The meze platter held six portions of different appetizers, cucumbers and tomatoes – all nicely seasoned and finished with a fruity olive oil.
The spinach pie platter (Ipaneka) held tabouli, hummus and a tomato salad. The St Peter’s fish was beautifully grilled.
Most important: The house-made peda bread – yeasty, shiny, crunch crust, soft warm interior
Too full for dessert.
Dinner for two, with drinks and wine - $90 + tip
Recommended
In a shopping center with several other restos. You don’t come here for the scenery.
A very nice, well-appointed room, set off by draperies and two paintings by Klimt. Excellent service. First-class cooking. A wine list that is superior to most in the area. Very reasonable prices.
$41.95 for a 3-course, prix fixe menu.
My Lady Wife had the lobster bisque (better than on the MS Prinsendam), the whole lobster and the gelato dessert (one serving of dark chocolate, one of pistachio and one of lobster sorbet). \
I had the house-made paté, corvina topped with shrimp and crab with a beurre blanc, and the apfel strudel. The latter being a deconstructed work that was better than what Grandma used to make.
A glass of Gruner Veltner to go with the bisque and one of Rosso de Montepulciano with the pate and an Aligoté to accompany the mains were all very good.
Very highly recommended.
(PS, I was kidding about the lobster sorbet)
We always have at least one meal here, in the bar area, whenever we visit Boca.
The Margherita flatbread accompanied by a “real drink” (we like Manhattans) is a good way to get your juices flowing and put you in the mood for properly done Italian-American cooking. Sinatra, the Rat Pack, and other contemporaries accompany you over the sound system.
My Lady wife is partial to the crab cake. I very much enjoyed the crab tropheo: hand rolled pasta quills in a crab/olive oil sauce. Needless to say, the pasta was perfect.
Dinner for two, with drinks and wine about $115 + tip
Recommended
Just opposite the Mizner Center. Nice terrace. Interesting Italian-American food. Good service. Not unpleasant house wine.
My Lady wife had a very generous serving of spaghetti and meatballs: the pasta was perfectly “al dente” and dressed with, instead of inundated by, a very nice red sauce, however, the “polpiette”, about the size of tennis balls, could have used some bread crumbs for tenderness.
I had the “fruti de mare” over black linguini. Although the pasta was a tad too toothy for my taste. The seafood – mussels, clams, crab, shrimp, squid - was cooked just right, in a very good, complex sauce.
Dessert was the “almond basket”, a crispy tuile crepe with little balls of ice cream and a pleasant, fruity sauce – quite good.
A very, very good evening.
Dinner for two, with drinks and wine - $106 + tip
Highly recommended
I come here for the perfectly braised lamb shanks.
My Lady Wife is more eclectic.
We also like it because the atmosphere is French.
We had dinner here instead of watching the Super Bowl.
Excellent choice.
2 fixed-price menus with wine, aperitifs and coffee - under $100.
Recommended
Feb 18th, 2013, 11:08 AM
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Thanks Ira! We love Magianno's too. It's a small chain based in Chicago.
Another good place in Boca is TooJay's Deli, just outside the Town Center mall. We crave deli, as it's not very good here in Ohio. They serve a great corned beef sandwich and we always hit it at least once in Boca and once in another location. They have several scattered throughout the state.
http://www.toojays.com/locations-hours/south-florida/
Another good place in Boca is TooJay's Deli, just outside the Town Center mall. We crave deli, as it's not very good here in Ohio. They serve a great corned beef sandwich and we always hit it at least once in Boca and once in another location. They have several scattered throughout the state.
http://www.toojays.com/locations-hours/south-florida/
May 19th, 2013, 05:51 PM
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I have lived in Boca for the past 19m years and except for Maggianos (which I go to every 5 years) i have not and would not go to anjy of those restaurants. There are so many excellent restauarantts and no one I knw goes to any of the ones you have listed. But, if you enjoyed them that is what counts.
