Random Taste for Thursday 5/18/17

And so it continues ... a brand new set of tastes for 2017 ...

 here's the NINETEENTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

(coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!

Establishment:  Dolce Salato Pizza & Gelato
Location:  Wilton Manors
Meal:  (late) Lunch
Drink:  (Fountain) Coca-Cola
Appetizer 1:  Le Polpette (Italian Meatballs)
(3 tasty meatballs made in house and baked in the pizza oven with their special sauce served with Ricotta cheese and Italian toasted bread)
Appetizer 2:  Rosemary Garlic Cheese Bread
(served with special marinara sauce)
Appetizer 3:  Slice of Meat Lovers Stuffed Pie 
(italian sausage, pepperoni, ham, meatballs, mozzarella and provolone cheese)
Main:  Parma Panini
(prosciutto, fresh oviline cheese, italian basil, salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil)
Side(s):  Dolce Salata (club special) with homemade blue cheese dressing
(mixed romaine hearts & spinach, ham, turkey, tomatoes, red onions & mozzarella sprinkles)
Dessert:  n/a
Server:   Silvia (as in the owner Silvia)
Website:  http://www.dolce-salato.net/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/dolcesalatofla/

If you are a regular reader of this series, then you know there's something that happens when we set foot inside an establishment serving Italian cuisine -- we tend to feast out a little.  The only thing that kept us from filling up the table this particular time was the time of day we stopped in -- for a late late lunch.  (Quick disclaimer:  due to a delay with the publication of this blog, this review is being retroactively slotted in May 2017 but posted in May 2018 for a meal that was actually eaten and photographed in July 2017 [if you can follow that]).  As a relatively new(er) addition on the northern end of the entertainment district known as "The Drive", the authenticity all around went a long way toward earning this establishment its spot in the A list:

AMBIANCE:   8/10 (small -- as in I think I counted only six tables -- but cozy, with extra outdoor seating available, this family owned business all but makes you feel as if you may be invited to join them as an honorary long lost cousin regardless of your ethnic background has authentic smells with all the good food being prepared and authentic sounds with Italian music playing in the background ... there's a point deduction only because it is a little bright and I feel it could be transformed with a little mood lighting and a second point comes off since it was rather warm the afternoon we ate -- either because we sat too close to the ovens or because the AC wasn't working at full capacity)

FOOD:           9/10 (at a place like this, the rule is that you shall know the quality of that which you are about to eat by the sauce -- and this sauce was obviously freshly made [obvious because of the bright red color of it] ... plus the meatballs were light and airy, the stuffed pizza slice was full of goodies and had a crispy crust that called for a knife to cut through it and that garlic bread was taken up a notch with the addition of the cheese AND the rosemary for an extra punch of flavor ... that panini was toasted all the way through, yet somehow was refreshingly cool -- and of course every ingredient on it was fresh ... the one and only mis-step [representing the point deduction] were tomatoes on the salad that weren't quite ripe and should not have been included and wouldn't have been missed if quality control had removed them)

SERVICE:      10/10 (when the owner herself is waiting on you, it's no surprise that she's invested in making sure that you feel welcome as soon as you set foot in the place ... but the pleasant surprise was how she went out of her way to be accommodating in letting us order just a few pieces of the special rosemary garlic cheese bread instead of a whole pie and how she properly set expectations that the single slice of meat lovers stuffed pie could take up to ten minutes to prepare -- which is, in my opinion, the proper way to handle a transaction from the perspective of your customers ...  brava, Silvia, brava!)

BACON:         9/10 (like any non-Italian, I confuse prosciutto with pancetta when it comes to thinking about the Italian version of bacon ... but prosciutto is hammy enough and scattered enough throughout their menu to earn some points in this category ... PLUS actual bacon IS on the menu as an extra topping that can be added to the pizza ... the point lost is because although bacon is on the menu, it wasn't included as an ingredient in our meat lovers slice)

BONUS:         10/10 (+3 for that seemingly tiny bowl of salad that ended up like one of those Chinese food boxes that somehow has an endless supply, +3 for the authentic accents that all but assured you that the food would be authentic, +3 for a homemade dressing that should be bottled and sold on the side if it isn't already, and +1 for being a place to which we will most definitely return because we didn't even try the gelato!)

TroyScore:  46 out of 50 -- aka 92, an A

Random Taste for Thursday 4/20/17

And so it continues ... a brand new set of tastes for 2017 ...

 here's the FIFTEENTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

(coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!

Establishment:  Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza 
Location:  Ft. Lauderdale
Meal:  Late Lunch
Drink:  bottle of CocaCola
Appetizer:  Meatballs with Ricotta Cheese, small order (2)
(large meatballs slowly cooked in our tomato sauce)
Main:  Philly Cheesesteak Pizza
(thinly sliced top round, marinated & served with our caramelized onions)
Side(s):  n/a
Dessert:  n/a
Server:   Carrie
Website:  https://acfp.com/location/fort-lauderdale/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anthonyscoalfiredpizza/

It only took five tries, but we finally found an Italian place that makes it into the A category -- although there's slight trickery involved.  We're a little behind this year, so this visit happened on April 27 and it's being slotted into the April 20 post but the score jumped ten points based on something it decided to do in June which I discovered when I wrote the post in early July.  If that's confusing to you -- no worries.  Just know that you the people are warned upon entry that the crust is only well done ('cause coal fired oven) and that all the details of how the original AND revised Troy-scores are calculated below:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (our meal took place at an odd time -- in between the normal lunch rush and prior to the senior citizen supper hour, so the overall effect was that we were the only customers at one point ... that being said, it seemed like a place that could handle a bustling crowd, what with its outside patio seating, its open dining room full of tables and large open windows all around and its bar along the back wall for a slightly different experience ... plus the location is in a relatively recently built strip mall so everything still looks shiny and new ... just a point deduction because the layout allows for a take out order line where people waiting to get food to take home and eat pass the time watching YOU eat YOUR food)

FOOD:           8/10 (when you got a good thing, you got a good thing ... and Anthony has got himself at least two really good things -- MEATBALLS that are light and airy but dialed back in flavor a touch to let the SAUCE have the spotlight with its just right kick of spices that do not overwhelm and that make it almost downright drinkable ... I made sure that any extra was promptly placed on that pizza ... which could have used a more measured hand with the onion component [a point off] and which had the tasty crunchy base that was promised, making it more disappointing that the bread that came with the meatballs was a bit limp [the second point off])

SERVICE:      8/10 (our server was friendly and efficient and did exactly what you would want a server to do ... smile, take your order, check in after it's been delivered, provide take out boxes for anything you can't finish and take care of your payment ... that's exactly what happened ... just a one point deduction because of an oddity in that the pizza was ready before the main salad dish ordered by my tablemate and for a slightly longer wait at the end when it came to taking care of the check)

BACON:         5/10* (could it be that the special ovens can't handle bacon, despite there being options for those delicious meatballs and tons of sausage as toppings for just about every menu item ... luckily, there is a choice for prosciutto, so we can award half the points in this category as a consolation ... but I do have to wonder why Anthony doesn't like bacon ... *NOTE:  since the visit, it turns out that Anthony's launched a Bacon and Bourbon happy hour every Wednesday for the summer, which means this score can be upgraded to a full 10!)

BONUS:         10/10 (+3 for having a good mix of music playing but having the last song we heard on our way out be a ditty by Frank himself [if you can't figure out the last name, then you needn't bother stopping by], +3 for quality authentic super-flavorful not-just-lunch-meat roast beef and the best shredded mozzarella on the side of that aforementioned salad [see pic below], +3 for teaching a little geography on the chalkboards above the kitchen area featuring its other national locations [including past home states of PA and IL], and +1 for being a place to which we will most definitely return, where I just might order sauce with a side of sauce!)

TroyScore:  45 out of 50 -- aka 90, an A

Random Taste for Thursday 3/2/17

And so it continues ... a brand new set of tastes for 2017 ...

 here's the EIGHTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

(coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!

Establishment:  Maggiano's Little Italy 
Location:  Boca Raton
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  Coca-Cola
Appetizer:  Warm Rolls (and half a plate of butter)
Main:  Steak and Ravioli
Beef medallions and mushroom ravioli al forno
Side(s):  Grilled Asparagus and Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Dessert:  n/a
Server:   Sarah
Website:  http://www.maggianos.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/MLIBoca/

The one who makes the rules is also the one who gets to break the rules (and don't worry ... this isn't a political post).  When this series kicked off at the beginning of 2016, the rules were "one NEW place (at which I've never before eaten) each week (each year)".  Moving here from Chicago as we did, it is true that there was at least one other time when we dined at a place named Maggiano's (in Skokie) ... and it's also true that we were very familiar with the Lettuce Entertain You culinary empire (as anyone who has eaten out in Chicago must be).  What we didn't appreciate was how far across the country they had expanded ... so when we were the lucky recipients of a gift card from someone with a Chicago connection and we went looking as to where we could use it down here, we were surprised to see an option for Maggiano's up in Boca.  Long story short ... we're going to get a "dispensation" from the rules and we're going to qualify it for this series and we're going to document how it earned the Troy-score below (and how it became the highest scoring Italian establishment so far in this series):

AMBIANCE:   8/10 (without a doubt, it's a great big beautiful space, with a stylish bar directly in the center and several well appointed spaces/rooms all around it -- and we got there at the beginning of the dinner rush, so by the time we left the place was packed with a good number of large sized groups [living up to the Italian family stereotype] ... the problem [and the reason for the docking of *double* the points] was the loud table of young ladies taking a break from working the streets [or so it seemed by their appearance] that was gathered two spaces behind us as seen in the background of the accompanying photo -- and although it's not the restaurant's job to control their rowdy customers [especially those with a cackling "look at me" hyena laugh], all signs pointed to those noise-violators as being family members of the staff OR staff members themselves because the servers were hanging there instead of serving)

FOOD:           9/10 (I always love me a dining experience that starts with an overflowing basket of warm bread and when it came to the main meal, everything was delicious that I ordered -- from the steak medallions with the crunchy onions on top to those creamy ravioli "baked in the oven" [aka al forno] ... the point lost is directly linked to the four pats of butter served with the rolls [and captured in that photo] as I was unaware of any butter ration and we had five people in our party to devour that pile of scrumptious warm bread so four little pats were definitely not sufficient)

SERVICE:      8/10 (I felt a little sorry for our server Sarah, because any friendly expertise she was exhibiting was overshadowed by two rude food deliverers, for whom dropping off the meals at our table of five was clearly a task in which they wished to no longer be involved, and by the table at which we were seated being without a pepper mill, for which we went on a mission to claim it from another spot)

BACON:         9/10 (just because the special I ordered didn't include bacon doesn't mean there weren't plenty of opportunities to have it featured in many different ways on the menu [and for those of you who get caught up in double negatives, that means bacon was everywhere] ... and it wasn't just any bacon but an "imported"-from-Wisconsin Nueske's bacon that could have been wrapped around shrimp or served on a bruschetta or added to the carbonara ... all that said, it was disappointing that the crispy pancetta "flakes" on a salad ordered by another person in our party were either too crispy or too tiny as we were all but convinced they were artificial, which explains the deduction of one point in this category)

BONUS:         10/10 (+3 for us arriving there and getting a parking spot just a few minutes before they closed down the lot for valet only parking, +3 for an interesting bogo concept where you could order two pasta dishes -- one to eat at the meal and a second complete one to take home for lunch the next day, +3 for using the asparagus as a dam to separate the steak sauce from the ravioli sauce on my plate, which warmed my heart as I don't always like things touching and +1 for being a place to which we will most definitely return so long as we are up in that area so that I can order more menu items that come with that bacon)

TroyScore:  44 out of 50 -- aka 88, a B

Random Taste for Thursday 1/19/17

And so it continues ... a brand new set of tastes for 2017 ...

 here's the SECOND of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

(coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!

ADMIN NOTE:  This location is now closed.

Establishment:  Mellow Mushroom
Location:  Ft Lauderdale
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  Coke
Appetizer 1:  Stuffed Portobello Mushroom
Portobello mushroom cap, basted with garlic butter, stuffed with artichoke hearts, feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and mozzarella. Baked and drizzled with a balsamic glaze. Served on a bed of spring mix tossed with an herb vinaigrette dressing
Appetizer 2:  Garlic Butter and Parmesan Pretzels
Signature Mellow dough twisted into pretzels With a side of Mellow red sauce and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cheese
Main:  Funky Q. Chicken Special Pizza Pie
BBQ chicken, mozzarella and cheddar, caramelized onions and applewood smoked bacon. Finished with a bbq sauce swirl
Extra Main: (half) Meatball Sub (on French)
Seasoned meatballs in a Mellow red sauce topped with melted mozzarella
Side(s):  n/a
Dessert:  Half Baked Brownie Supreme
The name says it all. Our decadent triple chocolate brownie served with all-natural vanilla bean ice cream, dark chocolate truffle sauce and house made fresh whipped cream, topped with an all-natural bing cherry
Server:   Mike?  Tom?  Bill?  Insert vaguely frat boy sounding first name here -- but not Biff.  I know it wasn't Biff.  I just forgot to capture it off of the receipt.
Website:  http://mellowmushroom.com/store/fort-lauderdale
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/mellowfortlauderdale

Let's get something out of the way right away -- I will admit that the pizza places/Italian restaurants that are a part of this series will always have a greater challenge because we tend to order a mini-feast when we visit an eating establishment in that category, which means there are more opportunities for something to go wrong because multiple items are sampled ... and indeed that was the case here at this newer entry in the locale of a chain that started in Atlanta long long ago (when I was just two years old aka 1974, according to the wiki).  To see how this franchise location performed on the Troy-scale, see below:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (it's got kind of a warehouse vibe, with a very tall ceiling and funky art work hanging from it [see the giant fish in the photo below] and psychadelic mood lighting that throws off a subtle kaleidoscope of light -- so much so that I ended up taking multiple food pics, because each push of the button on the camera would result in a different colored glow on the menu items ... there was an outdoor patio and a section of nice sized booths with an open kitchen design ... I felt like, especially with the name, they might have been going for millennial stoner chic -- so a point lost 'cause it made me feel old to not be a millennial)

FOOD:            7/10 (without a doubt, the strongest dishes of the night were definitely the specialty pizza and the homemade pretzels [oh those pretzels!], although the beer cheese didn't quite do it for me [the consistency faded fast] ... that mushroom appetizer was practically a meal unto itself [it came, correctly, with its own steak knife], although it could have used some more time on the grill ... and the meatball sub had tasty balls but a touch too much oregano ... the biggest disappointment was the brownie, which looked amazing but also tasted suspiciously like too much oregano -- and that's not a veiled reference to it being "baked" with anything extra special, but a direct commentary on the flavors it seemed to have absorbed from maybe being stored too close to the kitchen action ;.. all in all, the presentation and the concept of the dishes helped to balance out some of the disappointments, so I won't dock a point for each and every "infraction")

SERVICE:      8/10 (things were a little laid back and casual  [again with the stoner vibe] which resulted in a bit of delay on the food items [so a point lost], but it should be stressed that the server was knowledgeable about the menu and was definitely friendly and attentive when he stopped by ... we're pretty sure the manager also paid a visit to the table to apologize for the lack of a crowd, letting us know they were all across the street at what we think might be a sister property, and a second point is docked because he didn't introduce himself as such, so it was an awkward conversation to have)

BACON:         10/10 (there can't be any points lost here because they "honor" bacon by referring to it as a "specialty protein" on their menu AND they include it as a ingredient in the majority of their own special pizza pie creations)

BONUS:         6/10 (+3 for an indoor/outdoor bar connected at the service area so the bartender can service both from the same vantage point and +3 for having a pizza boy back in the open kitchen throwing dough who looked authentically [capital] I-talian [even if he seemed like he might be 12 years old])

TroyScore:  40 out of 50 -- aka 80, a low B

Random Taste for Thursday 9/15/16

[My ongoing series for 2016 continues ... with the THIRTY-SIXTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA (coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!]

HONORABLE MENTION BEST OF 2016 FOR APPETIZER

Establishment:  Primanti Bros.
Location:  Wilton Manors
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  (Bottomless) Coke
Appetizers:  Fried Half Moon Mozarella, Two Spicy Meatballs with Marinara Sauce and Fried Zucchini Planks
Main:  Chicken Parmesan
Primanti style breaded chicken breast baked with tomato sauce and cheese
Side(s):  Salad (with Balsamic Dressing), Butter Bread and Pasta with Sauce
Dessert:  n/a
Server:  Eric
Website:  https://www.primantibros.com/locations/wilton-manors/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Primanti-Brothers-Pizza-Grill-of-Wilton-Manors/113491555350976

For two weeks in a row, I'm taking advantage of a loophole of sorts to stay true to this concept.  Primanti Brothers, based in Pittsburgh but apparently being franchised all over the country (a concept that drew complaints from some of my PA based FB friends when I checked in on social media), also has a pizza stand here in the FTL at the beach ... and once, while on vacation (aka drinking), I'm pretty sure that I stopped by for a slice or two of pizza.  But I had never set foot inside one of their bigger restaurant locations until this particular taste, so this feast will be allowed to count for this series.  And to see how that feast scored, see what follows:  

AMBIANCE:   8/10 (it's a pizzeria ... that looks like a pizzeria -- so that's a good thing ... and this spot has a bar area, family tables AND booths so it's got a little bit of everything for everyone ... a few TVs help pull off the sports bar vibe ... and you can watch the food as it's being made [or just watch the guy working the pizza ovens all night long] ... it's a Pittsburgh based company, so the picture of QB Ben R on the wall makes sense, but a point has to be deducted for each of those sexual assault charges of his that are implicitly endorsed by featuring his photo)
FOOD:            7/10 (the more you feast, the more food you try, so the more likely you'll experience some variety in the quality ... starting at the high end of that continuum, there are the meatballs [so tasty and somehow so light and airy], the zucchini planks  [planks I say!] and the homemade bread ... more middling were the deep fried mozarella moons that were good enough, but about which I was expecting a gooey full half-a-cheese-ball instead of what arrived [so a point lost] and the chicken parmesan dinner, which seemed to contain chicken pieces about the same size as the chicken parm hoagie would have had [so another point lost as I expected *more* being a dinner portion ] -- plus a final point lost because the butter pads weren't spreadable [an established pet peeve of mine])
SERVICE:      8/10 (the server was friendly and kept very busy, making a point to stop by the table every time he passed, and the best part of the evening may have been when the other server dropped off some of the food and said, "you guys eat like I do" -- which I think meant that we ordered a LOT of food -- but there is a point lost for the timing of the delivery of all that food [I would have liked to have finished my salad before the apps arrived] and a second one lost due to the policy of charging $.75 for extra dressing [really?  are the customers *really* abusing requests for condiments and putting the business at risk?])
BACON:         8/10 (somehow none of the dishes on which we feasted included bacon, but it was listed on the menu a few times in a few ways [on salads, fries, sandwiches AND as a pizza topping], which means that there are points to be awarded in this category for sure)
BONUS:         10/10 (+3 for putting those zucchinis in planks [I've had sticks and circles and fries ... but never planks!], +3 for being the type of place where we almost expected to be referred to as 'you'uns', +3 for those meatballs [they *would* go out of business if they ever turned those into an all-you-can-eat special] and +1 for being a place to which we will definitely return [so as to taste the PA style hoagies if nothing else!])

TroyScore:  41 out of 50 -- aka 82, a low B

Random Taste for Thursday 4/28/16

[My ongoing series for 2016 continues ... with the SIXTEENTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA (coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!]

ADMIN NOTE:  This location is now closed, but the other one in Coral Springs is open.
Establishment:  Scarfone's Coal Fired Pizza
Location:  Wilton Manors (right on the Drive)
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  Coca-cola
Appetizer 1:  Naked Balls
Deep Fried meatballs with BBQ and Marinara Dipping Sauces
Appetizer 2:  Baked Portabello Mushroom
Topped with sauteed spinach, tomato & mozzarella
Appetizer 3:  Our Famous Scarfone's Pear and Ricotta Pasta "Purses"
Pear & ricotta filled purses with a hazelnut cream sauce
Main:  Grandma's Chicken
Boneless breast of chicken, roasted peppers, onions, sausage in a marinara sauce served over spaghetti
Side(s):  Fresh Garlic Ciabatta Bread
Dessert:  Zeppole
with powdered sugar and a drizzle of white chocolate
Server:  Michael A (according to the receipt)
Website:  http://www.scarfones.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Scarfones

Surprise ... it took sixteen entries in this series to get to the first Italian place (which is even more the surprise when one considers all of the eating establishments of that style in the tri county area).  And the surprise was on our party when we showed up at 7:30 ... and not a single soul was in the restaurant.  Somehow, we apparently found the sweet spot between seniors eating early and drunkies eating late.  Admittedly, it was odd at first, but that didn't stop us from ordering what the server called "a feast".  Here are the feast-y details:

AMBIANCE:   8/10 (the coal fire is prominently featured in an open kitchen set up, and things still feel relatively new and certainly very clean with a beautiful outside sidewalk seating area ... and a great mix of music that at first sounded like Frank Sinatra was going to be every other song, but quickly turned into a variety of top tunes from just about every genre ... a point lost for starting the meal with no other customers present [happily, two other tables came in before the meal was over so it didn't feel so unusual the whole meal] and a second point for awkward forks that felt as heavy as nutcrackers such that I couldn't twirl my pasta unless I used both hands)
FOOD:            8/10 (the famous pasta purses are rightfully famous [as they are listed on the menu], the garlic bread was crunchy yet shiny and wet [courtesy of the olive oil], and the naked balls had a crispy coating from the deep fry ... a point lost for the main dish being a touch too oily and another for the disappointing portabellos that were double the tomato so that you had to go searching for the 'shrooms)
SERVICE:      7/10 (attentive, sure ... but the server came across that  he might be new and or unpolished ... a point lost for awkwardly asking us our mother's day plans in an attempt at small talk and a second point deducted for placing the plates down without much excitement as to what was being served and a third point subtracted for never introducing himself)
BACON:         4/10 (there's only a single reference to bacon on the menu [on the BLT wedge salad -- hence the B] and nary even a prosciutto as an ingredient in anything ... so maybe Sicilians aren't as fond of the pig as I am, but with that analysis of the menu, I can't award too many points in this category)
BONUS:         9/10 (+3 for the clever way to hand you the bill [see below], +3 for the scrumptious dessert and +3 for that nutella cream sauce with the pasta purses that they should bottle and sell on the way out the door)

TroyScore:  36 out of 50 -- aka 72, a low C