Restaurants near Fort Lauderdale airport, or north of there

[Southern Belle]

I am looking for something nice -- not necessarily fancy but could be -- near the airport or north. I saw something called Thai Taste in sunrise. Is that still open, and is it good? Also, any new restaurants in the Boca / West Palm areas?

[Southern Belle]

Thanks for all the responses. Pagoda is sounding good. We usually dine in Boca as its just south of my inlaws, but my husband is flying into Ft. Lauderdale so we thought we would take advantage of the drive further south. Also happens to be my husband's birthday!!!

Any standouts in Hollywood? Otherwise, its sounding like Pagoda is a winner.

THanks to all who replied

[jondb]

Southern Belle,

I highly recommend , especially for your husband's birthday, that you go to Cafe Emunah. 3558 north ocean boulevard, fort lauderdale, florida 33308
Phone#: [phone] http://www.myemunah.com/

Despite the "cafe" in the name, and the silly marketing bit on the website about it being a "kabbalistic cafe and teabar", Emunah is one of the finest kosher restaurants in the US - not like anything else we have seen or tasted here in terms of presentation, ambiance, quality of ingredients and execution. It is a shame there are not more kosher restaurants like this one (and a mystery why there's not even one like it in New York).

[sig]

Just got back from Ft. Lauderdale, my reviews.

Pagoda-Sushi was great, my steak was overcook and I ordered it MedRare, waiter was slow and seemed overwhelmed by the number of tables he was attending to. 3/5 stars

Grill Time- Really Good Food, our sides were cold and boring.4/5 stars

Sams Deli-Had a good burger and sweet potato fries. 4/5stars

Lofty Latte-Good Ice Cream and Crepes. 4/5stars

New Deli in Palm Beach-Took a warm Pastrami Sandwich for Take out-It was amazing! 5/5stars

Webers-Had the Salad Nicoise with grilled tuna, it was nice 4/5stars.

Next visit would like to try Prime Sushi and Harbor Grill-Please let me know if you have been here.

By the way Sarahs tent grocery store has really gone downhill, I don't recommend it. Go to Kosher Kingdom instead.

[cheesecake17]

Sarah's Tent has switched owners, so that's probably why it has gone downhill.

[at9001]

mamale is definitely closed, iwas down there end of 12/08, its boarded up. Try in Hollywood, there's tons of kosher places in 1 minimall on stirling road. and cafe emunah is great.

[mrotmd]

The original post is now almost 10 days old. I don't know if it still is helpful. Both Thai taste and Mamale are long gone. North of the airport you have to go west to either university drive and sunset (sunset pita) or Sunrise and Pine Island (Falafel buffet) nice places and the name is self explanatory. To the south, east of 441 and Sterling you have Joel's steakhouse (decent), Sarah's Pizza (long timer) and further west Jerusalem Bistro and a couple of other in the same shopping strip. I might be missing a couple along the way. Further south you have to reach Aventura... China Bistro and Prime Grill in Waterways, plus a milchik restaurant. Burger Bar in west dixie and around 197...

[tomby]

West palm has that new deli-I want to say David's but it's been mentioned here. Emounah is close to FLL--dairy and I loved it. Most of the restaurants are not far--look in shamsh.org under Ft Lauderdale.

[DeisCane]

Mamale on/near Oakland Park is probably your best bet. It's gotten good reviews on this board and it's only roughly 15 minutes north of the airport. Also, Levy's, which is 5 minutes south of the airport, is good for shawarma/fries.

[Janette]

Mamale closed a long time ago. Levy's is good but needs some cleaning.

I would suggest Pita Plus 2145 Stirling Road Fort Lauderdale (Just West of I-95). It's a non-pretentious Israeli restaurant with excellent shwama and salads.

Grill Time in Boca Raton is more upmarket but a really good Kosher steak restaurant. It's at 8177 Glades Rd by the exit of the Turnpike.

Hope this helps Southern Belle!

[DeisCane]

So if Mamale closed, what's the place on or near Oakland Park? I was there in May.

[Janette]

The owner wrote to me around Pesach time last year to say he had closed it. I drove past in November and it was definately gone. Shame because it was a lovely restaurant with a great atmosphere!

[DeisCane]

Hmm, maybe I'm getting my visits confused. Yes, too bad, though I always felt it was an odd location.

[cheesecake17]

I just got home from Ft Lauderdale this morning. We ate in Pagoda, which is on Collins and 179th (almost positive). It's a very upscale place- my husband and I had Chinese- and his grandparents ordered from the grill menu.

Pita Plus was excellent- clean place, fresh food, always busy. It's a counter service place. We got takeout from there and ended up eating it about an hour later and it was still delicious.

I've never been to the Grill Time in Boca but I was at the one in Ft Lauderdale/Miami. I'm not sure exactly where it is, but I think it's on Biscayne. The food was great, but we went on a very busy Sunday night so the servivce was spotty.

[momrn]

How was Pagoda?We just back from Miami last night. I wanted to get there,but we were not able to. t We ate at Mr Chopstix off 41 st instead ,which was ok ,but not great. We ate at Grill Time on 161 and Biscayne on Wednesday. You need reservations when it is busy. We found the service to be good,and enjoyed the food. We ate at the Grill Time in Boca last year on the way to Disney and enjoyed it as well.

[cheesecake17]

We all loved Pagoda. My husband got beef kung po- super spicy with beef, vegetables, and chili peppers. I had the beef and bok choy in garlic sauce- I loved it and would order it again. They have three menus- Chinese/Japanese, sushi, and the 'grill.' My husband's grandparents both ordered from the grill menu- one had a hamburger and the other schnitzel. Both came with steamed broccoli and asparagus and french fries or mashed potatoes. The waiter was really understanding and helpful when my husband's grandparents explained that they were on a low sodium diet.

The people next to us ordered steaks- they looked AWESOME! I don't remember the exact prices of the steaks but they were about the same or less as Prime Grill in NYC.

BTW- if the whole table is ordered from the Asian style menu, they serve the food family style unless you ask otherwise. My aunt went with her family and they really liked the family style concept because everyone could taste all the dishes without any arguments between the kids or clumsy passing of dishes.