Random Taste for Thursday 2/22/18

Here we go again for the 3rd year ... a brand new set of tastes for 2018 ...

 here's the SEVENTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

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

Establishment:  Ethos Greek Bistro
Location:  Wilton Manors
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  Mykonos Mule
Appetizer 1:  Pork Belly
hickory smoked grilled strips
Appetizer 2:  Zucchini Croquettes
shredded carrots manouri, dill & mint fried to golden brown
Appetizer 3:  Grilled Octopus
sashimi grade Mediterranean octopus, char-grilled
Appetizer 4:  Bread Plate
with oil
Main:  Faroe Islands Salmon
a “boutique” style salmon, grilled & finished with a lemon caper sauce
Side(s):  "greens" (kale?  spinach?) and (flavored?) rice
Dessert:  n/a
Server:   I thought he was JB but maybe he was JP 'cause the receipt said johnpier
Website:  https://www.ethosbistro.com/wilton-manors/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ethosgreekbistroWM/

Here we are, three years into this series and there are still some "firsts" resulting in an expansion of the category list on the right hand side of the blog.  Specifically, last week was the first Hungarian eating establishment ... and this week is the first Greek one!  What we still haven't seen yet is the first A of this third year ... although this place came close, it didn't quite get there BUT it is actually the highest score of 2018 to date.  To see what number that is as a Troy-score, keep on reading:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (not only is it right "on the drive" [code for "great for people watching"], but the layout is very open, so if you're not lucky enough to get on the patio right next to the sidewalk, the "inside seating" is still set up in a way that it feels like an extension of that outdoor area ... I know this to be true despite taking a seat at the table that was facing toward the bar and kitchen ... I will say that we were lucky being a party of three at a fourtop table, because there was so much good food to order with the small plate concept and only a limited amount of space to place it on the table -- were we a group of four, it would have been too small [which is the reason for the point deduction]).

FOOD:           9/10 (coming from Chicago, I expected to see some flaming cheese ... but my disappointment in not having any of that delicacy in this Greek bistro was swept away once I got my hands on those shared small plates -- healthy tasting zucchini croquettes [on a pile of classic Greek creamy goodness of a dip], perfectly textured charred octopus, and oh-my-that-pork-belly [see the bacon category below] ... followed by a hot [temperature hot] and flaky hunk of salmon in a delicious salty [but not too salty] mildly lemon-y sauce ... although my Mykonos Mule was meh, that was more because I rushed my drink decision at the beginning of the night ... the single point lost in this category is for the sides that accompanied my salmon, which simply [and oxymoronically] "stood out" for not being memorable) 

SERVICE:      8/10 (here's what I liked -- at this meal, we were reconnecting with a friend who finally made the big move from Chicago to the FTL [as *we* did four years ago], and so we were in no hurry to order, which wasn't a problem for our server despite how busy the place was, and the interactions with him were friendly and efficient all night long ... here's what I *didn't* like -- because we were ordering in stages [drinks then small plates a bit later followed by big plates], we held on to the menus, and had to argue with another server who was flying past and tried to reclaim them [a point deduction] ... also our server cleared the table at the end of the evening which included a tablemate's mostly untouched bronzini dish [seen as served below -- along with the orzo paella eaten by another] -- it was untouched because he found pin bones in it -- and there was no conversation inquiring as to why said server was clearing a mostly full plate of food [hence the second point deduction])

BACON:         10/10 (had I been dining by myself instead of in a group setting, there's every chance that I would have ordered a small plate of pork belly, followed by a second small plate of pork belly, followed by a conversation with the management as to whether I could order my main course on a big plate with nothing but pork belly ... in other words, pork belly for the win -- and for all the points in this category)

BONUS:         7/10 (+3 for the server casually upselling the drink orders to be doubles ['cause alcohol makes everything better], +3 for that same server offering up the bread plate once he saw that we were the "eatin' type", and +1 for being a place to which we will return -- maybe even to their original Coconut Creek location next time)

TroyScore:  43 out of 50 -- aka 86, a B

Random Taste for Thursday 2/15/18

Here we go again for the 3rd year ... a brand new set of tastes for 2018 ...

 here's the SIXTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

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

Establishment:  Uncle Lui's Restaurant
Location:  Sunrise
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  Not a Coke (Maybe a Root Beer?)
Appetizer 1:  Chicken Livers
sautéed with onions. tomato and green peppers
Appetizer 2:  Corn Chowder
Appetizer 3:  Bread Basket
Appetizer 4:  Potato Pancakes
served with butter, sour cream, and applesauce
Main:  Hunter Schnitzel
veal cutlet sautéed with mushrooms in a sour cream-paprika sauce
Side(s):  Spetzle PLUS Red Cabbage and Cream Spinach (the last two served family style)
Dessert:  Home Made Apple Strudel
with whipped cream
Server:   the Bodnar family's son (I'm guessing)
Website:  http://uncleluisrestaurant.com/?home
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Uncle-Luis-Restaurant-118161088199185/

Ever since one of the first tastes in this series from when it started back in 2016 resulted in a disappointing German meal (I won't put them on blast again here, but you'll find it easily on the blog using the helpful hyperlinks on the right side) ... and ever since we've been mentioning that experience to our frequent tablemates JL/AL ... THIS restaurant has been offered up as THE place for the most authentic food of its kind in the area.  Admittedly, it's authentic Hungarian food as opposed to German, but the similarities in cuisine are clearly evident -- although, what with me having Prussian ancestors on my father's side, I want to make sure to not stir up any ill will from centuries ago.  To that point, here's where this family business ended up with their Troy-score:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (oh Florida and its strip malls so full of restaurants ... where one never knows what one will find when one walks inside, and, in this case, one will find a brightly lit square of a room with a classic European style woodwork and pics from the home country blown up large on the walls [as seen in the accompanying photos] ... not pictured are the half a dozen wooden china cupboards filled with figurines and Herend Porcelain [which I now know is a Hungarian source of pride] ... if anything, it just might be a little TOO bright [a point deduction] and some mood lighting might go a long way)

FOOD:           9/10 (not since we did our last thing in an Italian restaurant [and by "thing", I mean order enough to feed everyone on the family tree all at once] have we seen so much food on the table ... and rare is the time that I can't clean my plate, but I took almost half of my main meal home with me 'cause I was already so full of potato pancakes, rolls, soup, livers, etc., etc. ... of course, no matter how good everything was [and it was!], in my opinion, no place will be able to score perfectly in this category without carrying CocaCola products [hence the point deduction]) 

SERVICE:      9/10 (we're pretty sure that it was the son of the family that took our order ... and we're just as sure that it was the momma who brought the dishes from out of the kitchen as soon as they were ready [everything was served piping hot that was supposed to be] ... and things were fine until the end of the night, when we awkwardly found out that they closed at 8 and NOT 9 when they started to turn the lights out, and so the half hour we stayed in conversation with those in our party was actually long after they were all ready to go home ... and so I have to deduct a point that they didn't *say* anything about our staying past closing time -- which I would have thought would have been the proper course of action prior to turning off the lights)

BACON:         9/10 (seeing as how it wasn't disclosed exactly how the momma made everything taste so delicious, I'm figuring that there's more than a good chance that she was using some szalonna (Hungarian fatback bacon) in some of the sauces ... had anyone in our party ordered the calf's liver, we would have seen the one dish on the menu that included bacon ... but no one did [note that the garlic chicken and chicken paprikash that they *did* order are part of the photos below] ... all that said, I wouldn't have minded if the liver it had been with was that chicken liver appetizer [which explains the point deduction in this category])

BONUS:         6/10 (+3 for those portion sizes and all that authenticity [so much paprika!] and +3 for bundling dessert in with the meal)

TroyScore:  42 out of 50 -- aka 84, a B

Random Taste for Thursday 2/8/18

Here we go again for the 3rd year ... a brand new set of tastes for 2018 ...

 here's the FIFTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

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

Establishment:  Over Easy Cafe
Location:  Oakland Park (Wilton Manors)
Meal:  Brunch
Drink:  Orange Juice
Appetizer:  n/a
Main:  The Waffle Slam
1 Belgian Waffle, 2 Eggs (I chose scrambled), 2 Bacon, 2 Sausage
Side(s):  n/a
Dessert:  n/a
Server:   Michael
Website:  http://www.overeasy.me/home.html
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/The-Over-Easy-Cafe-76681947405/

How many times have I stepped foot inside the local UPS store to ship something somewhere?  Probably a dozen, since making the big move here back in 2014.  How many times did I notice that a few doors down in the same complex was a diner (and you *know* we love diners in this series)?  Zero.   But thanks to a google search on a Sunday when we woke up wanting brunch, 
we were able to find this place that's been around since 1995.  It advertises itself as being family owned and I have a sneaking suspicion that every single employee (from the greeter to the grill guy) might just be related.  Below is how this family fared in the Troy-score:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (sure it's small and cute and basic, with only a handful of booths and just over a dozen stools around a counter ... but that's exactly what you'd expect from a Florida strip mall eating establishment [*everything* down here is in a strip mall] ... they effectively use the old giant mirror trick to make it seem like it's bigger than it is ... and the sea decorations painted right on the wall were just the right amount of kitsch ... the problem comes in that it's so small, that the customers inadvertently get involved in the diner drama [see home-fries-gate below] or in the diner business [we got "trained" along with the new girl because we couldn't escape hearing that back and forth])

FOOD:           8/10 (I am happy to report that this diner had spreadable butter [frequent readers know that I have a pet peeve at breakfast/brunch when the butter pats are all but frozen] and that they trusted me with a whole bottle of syrup instead of a tiny carafe ... and while things didn't look all that amazing, they tasted just fine -- even those simple looking eggs -- although a point is still coming off the top because of the plain plain waffle that arrived [how's about a little dusting of powdered sugar or something? ... the first photo is how it landed on the table, and the second one is after I helped it be a little more camera-ready] ... a second point is also deducted because that plain plain waffle tasted like it might have sat in the iron a touch too long) 

SERVICE:      8/10 (the whole experience ended without issue, but it began a bit awkwardly due to home-fries-gate ... aka that time where we were told that they were out of home fries, and so we asked for alternatives, and then accidentally ordered home fries again, which was greeted with an exasperated sigh, an Anderson-Cooper-talks-to-Kelly-Anne-Conway style eye-roll and more attitude than was deserved for that "offense" -- only to find out later that they apparently were never out of home fries after all ... first impressions really really count -- so it's double the deduction)

BACON:         9/10 (if I only hadn't been in the mood for breakfast that day, then most surely I would have ordered the "inside out bacon" "cheddar burger" [quotes shown as printed in the menu], which was described thusly:  2/3 lb Burger Stuffed with Bacon & Cheddar and Topped with Bacon & Cheddar served on Toasted Challah Roll [caps shown as printed in the menu] ... that item alone shows a proper respect for the pig-candy and is almost worth all the points ... just one point is being deducted because that breakfast bacon could have been a little bigger/thicker/tastier)

BONUS:         7/10 (+3 for the menu option being bacon AND sausage instead of bacon OR sausage, +3 for what my tablemate ordered [picture below] of some southern style sausage gravy served over sausage and biscuits, and +1 for being a place to which we will return 'cause that "inside out bacon" "cheddar burger" is calling my name)

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

Random Taste for Thursday 1/25/18

Here we go again for the 3rd year ... a brand new set of tastes for 2018 ...

 here's the THIRD of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

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

Establishment:  Giardino Gourmet Salads
Location:  (new to) Ft Lauderdale
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  Coca-Cola in a can
Appetizer:  Boccata Sandwiches
one Curry Turkey and one Wild Alaskan Salmon Capperi
Main:  My Way Salad
romaine base with broccoli, cucumber, shredded parm (?), double dose of bacon with a scoop of roasted chicken topped with country garlic dressing and herb parmesan croutons
Side(s):  n/a
Dessert:  n/a
Server:   Victor and the guys
Website: http://www.giardinosalads.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/giardinonorthftl/

Eating healthier is always a good thing -- and sometimes one gets a hankering for a salad on a hot day here in the FTL.  Funny thing -- before the big move down here when we were just vacationing in town, we actually went looking for a grocery store salad bar one afternoon and couldn't find one (and we didn't know the area well enough to find the Sweet Tomatoes on the outskirts of town).  Since then, Whole Foods expanded to include a section -- but now with a brand new location of an existing (mostly FL) chain, the area just got an even better option.  And when I say "brand new", I mean the official grand opening is still a week or two away!  For an accounting of the Troy-score, see below:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (clean ... bright ... gigantic food-porn style photos of everything on the menu ... a little bit of soft jazz playing on the sound system -- plus absolutely everything looked brand new -- and that's 'cause it literally was! [as referenced above] ... I have a hunch that a mathematician created the menu, because the amount of permutations of potential options is mind-blowing considering there are 10 bases with 42 toppings from which to choose and 16 possible addable scoops to be dressed 21 different ways with 7 flavors of croutons that could be put on top for extra crunch ... which leads me to my single point deduction 'cause all of those possible paths toward a gourmet salad made my brain hurt)

FOOD:           8/10 (you know how sometimes you just have to marvel at how those little Chinese take out boxes seem to be bottomless pits of never ending food? ... somehow these bowls of gourmet salads perform the same way ... the ones pictured are actually the piccolo size [a bit smaller than the basta] and halfway through the meal, it looked like the same amount was still there ... [by the way, the additional salad that is shown here is the country cobb] ... we did observe that different employees took different approaches to the portioning [one did level scoops of everything and one did overflowing scoops] so a point is lost for the inconsistency there and a second point comes off the total because the homemade croutons, while delicious, are simply too big to get on the fork WITH anything else)

SERVICE:      8/10 (it was a nice touch to offer a sample of the soup while the customer is deciding what to order and every subsequent interaction -- including carrying your tray out to your table for you -- came off as authentic and was executed with a smile ... the deductions come from having ordered shredded parm for my salad cheese of choice but being given cheddar instead and for the fact that clearly everyone is told to greet the customer as soon as they walk in the door ... the only problem with that is there were at least five folks working that night, and the greetings got a little jumbled and felt a little bit aggressive [hence the point deduction] ... maybe there can be just one designated greeter moving forward?)

BACON:         10/10 (here's how you get a perfect score on the bacon section ... you provide real pieces of bacon as a choice instead of processed bacon bits ... you let your customers pick bacon TWICE when listing the ingredients they want in the salad ... you let your customers even add a scoop of bacon as a SOUP topping [yes I said SOUP!] ... and you hire employees who are overheard saying "I loooove bacon" as they build the product ... and you do all of that under the auspices of a healthy eating place)

BONUS:         7/10 (+3 for those special bite size sandwiches on potato rolls -- which you should consider the next time you need any catering [something the place offers], +3 for some delicious salad dressing choices [creamy cheese dressing and guacamole dressing are both on the list of things to try next time] and, to that point, +1 for being a place to which we will return [but NOT on a Sunday, since that is the one day a week that they are closed])

TroyScore:  42 out of 50 -- aka 84, a B

Random Taste for Thursday 5/25/17

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

 here's the TWENTIETH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

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

Establishment:  Aruba Beach Cafe
Location:  Lauderdale By The Sea
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  coke?  water?  beer?  (oops -- I forgot to record)
Appetizer 1:  Lobster Bisque (soup of the day)
Appetizer 2:  Baked Escargot (for the table)
(tomato, garlic and pernod, served with crusty French bread)
Appetizer 3:  Seafood Quesadilla 
(flour tortilla stuffed with fish, shrimp, scallops, jack & cheddar cheese, served with guacamole)
Main:  Grilled Swordfish (special of the day)
Side(s):  House Rice AND a whole loaf of freshly baked Bimini Bread with Honey Aruba Glaze
Dessert:  Key Lime Pie
(Key West lime citrus custard pie with whipped cream. kiwi and raspberry drizzle)
Server:   receipt said Matt B (although I don't think there ever was an introduction)
Website:  http://arubabeachcafe.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/arubabeachcafe/

If you take nothing else away from this post, you should understand the call to action to hie thee hither to this establishment at your earliest convenience to score some of their homemade freshly baked Bimini Bread with Honey Aruba Glaze.  Their social media says they sometimes run out, so hie thee hither early in the day.  You can thank me later.  Also -- a quick disclaimer about this post:  due to a delay with the publication of this blog, this review is being retroactively slotted in May 2017 but posted in June 2018 for a meal that was actually eaten and photographed in July 2017 [hope you can follow that!]).  Also also -- keep on reading to see how this particular local treasure fared on the Troy-score:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (a wall of windows looks right out into the ocean -- which I'm sure is amazing during the day and maybe even special at night ... and a good sized veranda wraps around on the outside and is next to the beach and the main thoroughfare to it -- which I'm sure is good for people watching ... but as explained below, I opted for moving our group to a corner against the wall so that we could focus on the conversation and the people across the table from us, which is how I came to realize that there was a bit of an 80's hotel feel about the decor, which is why there is a point deduction)

FOOD:           8/10 (truth be told, there's a real good chance that I would have been happy making a meal just out of that homemade bread [see bonus below] ... but I was also very pleased having chosen the swordfish special, because I like me a fish that is more steak-y than flaky, as that one was, and the meal felt healthy [as opposed to some of my choices in this series] ... plus the quesadilla was packed full of goodies as you want a quesadilla to be ...  the points lost are because just about everything else felt like it was so so close to being delicious but just a touch off -- the bisque was a touch too sweet, the sides were a touch too forgettable, and even the key lime pie was a touch too tart -- a persistent enough problem that is worth the rare double point deduction for the same issue) 

SERVICE:      8/10 (we put the service to the test immediately ... as in *before* we sat down ... as in I didn't like the first table offered and wanted to pick something in the corner instead so that we weren't immediately on top of other guests as our party had lots of conversation and catching up to do -- and I'm happy to say that they gladly re-seated us quickly ... the points lost are because there wasn't much interaction during the meal and because there was definitely no urgency at the end of the evening when we were pressed to leave since the meter was running out even though we explained that fact to the staff)

BACON:         6/10 (that's one point for every time I saw it on the menu ... and that was in all the usual places [wrapped around a scallop, as a salad topping, defining a burger, as a side meat for brunch] ... but that was all rather expected and nothing all that special, which, for me [and the overall score], was disappointing) 

BONUS:         10/10 (+3 for those special fishy light fixtures [see accompanying photo], +3 for that amazing glazed loaf of bread (I just can't say it enough), +3 for providing live music to amp up the atmosphere and +1 for being a place to which we will return on a night when we can maybe focus on those breathtaking views a little more)

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

Random Taste for Thursday 5/11/17

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

 here's the EIGHTEENTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

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

Establishment:  The Revenant Coffee and Eatery
Location:  Ft Lauderdale
Meal:  Brunch
Drink:  Herbal (Iced) Tea
Fresh Ginger, Rosemary, Lemon and Mint
Appetizer:  n/a
Main:  1/2 a BLT ... and 1/2 a Breakfast Chapa
(BLT:  Bacon, Lettuce, & Tomato, Mayonnaise onHomemade Chapa Bread)
(Breakfast Chapa:  Fried Eggs, Cheddar Cheese, Ham, Bacon, Avocado, Arugula, Tomato on Homemade Chappa Bread)
Side(s):  n/a
Dessert:  n/a
Server:   Order Taker (counter service)
Website:  http://revenantcoffee.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/therevenantcoffee/

In the 2016 version of this series, we tasted a coffee shop (plus) called The Alchemist (and they won two categories in the end of year awards last December).  It turns out today's taste is a distant relative ... as in a place newly opened by an original co-founder of The Alchemist who eventually (allegedly?) left in a business dispute (oh the drama in the industry) and started up a new coffee shop (plus) not too far away.  (Disclaimer:  due to a delay with the publication on this blog, this review is being slotted in May but posted in October for a meal that was actually eaten and photographed in June [I also had drama this year]).  In light of that, and not to stoke any competitor fires, you can see how this place scored higher than the original in the Troy-score detailed below (spoiler alert:  bacon had a lot to do with it!):

AMBIANCE:   8/10 ("it's a coffee shop in a furniture store" was what we were told going in ... and, sure enough, it was indeed one dedicated space out of three-four rooms of a separate business [Cargo Furniture] ... but somebody forgot to mention that there was a separate rustic outdoor wooden seating area with views of the New River to address the fact that the coffee shop room itself is a little tiny [point lost] with only a portable air conditioner to keep the crowds comfortable [the other point lost])

FOOD:           9/10 (that chappa bread?  ... it's made on site [you can see the oven on the side of the outdoor shot below] and is deliciously toasted and tasty ... that breakfast chappa?  ... somehow it's light yet filling and super fresh with an excellent combination of bright ingredients ... the only thing keeping this from being a perfect 10 is two instances of a little too much excess -- what seemed like a whole head of lettuce on the BLT [or should  that be a bLLLLt] and a whole lot of overpowering mint in the tea)

SERVICE:      9/10 (a counter service location automatically equals limited staff interaction, but the order taker [whose name we failed to get] was friendly and efficient on a busy day with a non stop line ... the point deduction in this category comes because the tea was ordered as an iced one but was served hot instead [and that mistake *was* fixed as soon as it was mentioned] ... the location uses those old fashioned pagers, because food is made fresh to order, and the wait was lengthy -- to the point where I was about to report that mine was broken when it finally started buzzing -- but the food was worth it [and as mentioned, it was busy], so there will be no point lost)

BACON:         10/10 (being a small place focused on the drinks, they do make the most of a limited menu -- and they don't skimp on the bacon one bit -- with FOUR big pieces on that BLT and TWO more topping the other breakfast sandwich ... btw, those pieces were perfectly made and they were clearly the stars of those menu items [imho])

BONUS:         7/10 (+3 for having a resident "house" puppy dog to up the cool factor [just take a look at that face!], +3 for a direct view of a clothing optional resort on the other side of the water for some added  pleasure and +1 for being a place to which we will most definitely return [I can already hear the bacon calling me ...])

TroyScore:  43 out of 50 -- aka 86, a B

Random Taste for Thursday 5/4/17

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

 here's the SEVENTEENTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

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

Establishment:  El Guanaco
Location:  Oakland Park
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  Sangria (red)
Pre-Appetizer:  Warm chips and salsa
Appetizer:  Salvadoran Combination #1
(chicken tamale, sweet corn tamale, pupusa, fried yuca, salvadoran cream and cheese, pickled cabbage, red sauce and spicy salsa verde on the side)
Main:  Grilled Salvadoran Steak/Carne Asada
(served with pico de gallo)
Side(s):  Rice, black beans and sweet plantains
Side (that was supposed to be an appetizer):  Chicken Soup/ Sopa de Pollo 
Dessert:  n/a
Server:   Gabriella
Website:  http://www.elguanacooaklandpark.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/www.elguanacorest.net/

Not for nothing, but eating here was a year in the making.  El Guanaco was on the list of places to try in the first set of 50 tastes based on an episode of 'Check Please' here in SoFlo on the PBS, and we even had dinner plans in May of 2016 that were changed at the last minute because they were on a Wednesday ... and this place is closed every Wednesday.  Luckily, though, it was not forgotten when it came time to find a latin inspired eatery for a Cinco de Mayo celebration for the second set of 50 tastes.  This place prides itself on both its Mexican AND Salvadoran food preparations and so despite the "holiday", we went mostly Salvadoran in our choices, and that led to the Troy-score detailed below:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (there's no getting around it ... this place is on the small side -- but cute all the same ... and although it's not exactly a communal set up [see photo], your table is almost always going to hear the conversation at the tables nearby during the meal [on our night, that meant listening to a discussion on superhero movies amongst what I assumed to be a group of fleet-week boys], so a point lost because that can be a bit of a "luck of the draw" scenario when it comes to "shared ambiance")

FOOD:           9/10 (there was an overabundance of deliciousness as the size of the main dish plus the appetizers quickly upgraded this to a feast ... warm chips at the start with a dark and spicy salsa to set the mood and that extra flavorful steak with tasty rice that wasn't too sticky were the highlights ... the feeling of authenticity came from that appetizer plate which featured the traditional Salvadoran papusa ... and that chicken noodle soup that arrived late [see below] was uniquely unexpected in its size, in its preparation with a huge chunk of bone-in chicken and a mini corn on the cob smack dab in the middle of it and in its inclusion of chayote ... just half a point deduction for the fact that I wanted my papusa filling to be a little wetter or sauced or something not so dry and a second half a point deduction for the fact that the beans were 'meh'-flavored)

SERVICE:      8/10 (we were lucky to get the last table at the time we arrived which was by the front door ... sadly, our attempts to switch to a booth along the wall once one opened up and before the food had arrived were denied by our server [one point off] and there was a rather long wait for the apps [a second point off] -- so long in fact that the chicken noodle soup that should have been served early on in the meal didn't even arrive until after the main plate [the final point deduction] ... a few smiles and a bit of friendliness at the *end* of the meal earned a point back)

BACON:         7/10 (being such a fan of bacon as I am -- so much so that it gets its own category in the score calculation such that a place can go from a 100 to an 80 just by not offering it anywhere on the menu, I have grown to be sensitive to cultures that might not feature any bacony goodness ... especially if they are being authentic to the dishes from their countries ... as I don't doubt the authenticity of these Mexican and Salvadoran culinary creations, I have to award half the points just out of respect to their culture ... and then two more -- one because the papusa we chose had pork filling [the closest to bacon I had that night] and one because those beans likely had some pork product flavor influencers)

BONUS:         10/10 (+3 for that sweet sweet sangria though, +3 for the quantity and quality of the food in the feast far outpacing the cost, +3 for that unexpected chicken noodle soup and +1 for being a place to which we will return if only because I talked myself out of getting the beef tongue steak and now I feel like I might have missed out on something)

TroyScore:  43 out of 50 -- aka 86, a B

Random Taste for Thursday 4/27/17

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

 here's the SIXTEENTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

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

Establishment:  Dairy Belle 
Location:  Dania Beach
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  can of CocaCola
Appetizer:  n/a
Main:  Hamburger Steak
(with gravy, grilled onions and fries)
Side(s):  Poutine (and coleslaw)
(REAL WHITE Curd Cheese and REAL brown poutine gravy from Quebec)
Dessert:  Banana Split
(vanilla ice cream, topped with hot fudge, strawberry and pineapple [with] whipped cream, peanuts and three cherries)
Server:   Counter Service (so order taker's name not gotten)
Website:  http://dairybelleicecream.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dairy-Belle-Ice-Cream-143611982333390/

The first time I had Gazebo Room dressing (a Greek style condiment homemade in central PA), I was so enamored, that I drank it from the bottom of my salad and had to be stopped from taking a swig right out the bottle ... to see why that's relevant for this particular eatery "as seen locally on 'Check Please'" (so you just know it HAS to be good) and to see how that might have been a factor in the overall calculation of the Troy-score, read below:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (somehow I didn't capture any pictures of the area, but luckily you can see some on their own website ... to be clear, it is exactly as it appears -- an eating establishment that catches your eye as you drive past that might remind you of an old fashioned drive in/drive up place where you'd take the family for ice cream at the end of a hot summer day ... and then the Canadian flags come into view, and you start to wonder what Canadian ice cream might taste like ... it's all picnic tables around the counter, but with a special covered patio area in the back for those tricky afternoon thunderstorms ... what was going to be a point deduction because we had to clean off our own table gets wiped out because there WAS a lady out cleaning up who was working in the back and we were eating around the side so she just didn't get to us in time ... BUT then there's another point being deducted because they had Delilah playing on the radio ... and although it's a story for another time and another place, "she" and I don't get along any more)

FOOD:           9/10 (was I happy that my little can of coke cost $1.75? -- no ... was the main dish's hamburger a little salisbury-steak-esque? -- yes ... could there have been fewer onions mixed in? -- sure ... did I care though once I got a taste of that rich brown gravy that covered everything [including the fries and the perfectly textured cheese curds] which served an additional purpose of keeping everything piping hot until the last bite? -- absolutely NOT ... let me put it this way -- I was finished with my meal and I wanted to take the container home because I didn't want to miss a single drop of that gravy ... and since I couldn't do that, I checked to make sure that no one was looking and I picked up the bowl and drank every single bit of that deliciousness ... heck, I might have even taken a scoop of that gravy instead of the strawberry topping on the old fashioned full size banana split ... so why the point deduction? -- because my tablemate got what was purported to be a Chicago dog, and as former Chicagoans, the lack of bright green relish was a slap in our faces)

SERVICE:      9/10 (it's a counter service type of place, where you order and they call your ticket number to go claim your food so there's not too much interaction with employees ... but the order taker was efficient and the aforementioned lady-of-the-tables stepped in when I approached a condiment station with a worried look on my face because I didn't know how to use the plastic utensil dispenser ... just a point lost because no one directed me around the corner to that area [although it could be that they have so many regulars that they just assumed everyone is already "in the know" about the layout])

BACON:         7/10 (for a dollar, the menu lets you add bacon to anything ... but with only one dish for which it was the main thing [a BLT, naturally], it's just not right to give too high a score in this particular category ... although if they find a way to "bacon up" those poutine choices [bacon gravy anyone?], then I am more than willing to retroactively raise the score in this category)

BONUS:         10/10 (+3 for hearing the accents on the customers that serve as an endorsement of the authenticity of the dishes, +3 for having Galvaude and Guidelle on the menu [not that I knew what they were, but all signs point to them being very authentic Quebecian dishes], +3 for us having the perfect timing to arrive when there weren't any long lines and to get in to order the banana split after the meal before a family of a dozen got out of their cars and +1 for being a place to which we will most definitely return, with visitors in tow, because EVERYONE should have a taste of that gravy)

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