After a long hiatus, I'm back! After our trip through Asia, Carl and I packed up and drove halfway across the country to our new home in South Florida. While the weather and the sunshine are absolutely fabulous, finding great food is sometimes a challenge. South Florida (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm, and all other small cities in the area) is an interesting makeup of residents. Flying into Miami International Airport is like flying into a different country. Spanish is one of the most prominent languages, with English seemingly taking a back seat. Cubans, Puerto Ricans, other Latin Americans, and Haitains have all taken up residence in Miami creating an interesting melting pot of languages, cultures, music, and of course food. Another group of people that flock to Miami and South Florida are retired northeasterners and seasonal northeasterners escaping the brutal winters of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and any other cold city along the northeastern seaboard. A large majority of these folks from the northeast are Jewish which makes South Florida the first place that I have ever lived where Jews are quite literally everywhere! With so many Jews present in South Florida, I finally get to embrace the Jewish delis that I've always loved! Bagels, pastrami sandwiches, whitefish salad, matzah ball soup and latkes are easy to find! Kosher restaurants and supermarkets are commonplace here, and seeing menorahs decorate public spaces during the holidays is almost as gratifying as spending the holiday season in Israel! Although, I've not yet found an abundance of sufganyot or ruggalach at any of the local bakeries, but then again I haven't looked that hard!
I've always found that in large cities that house significant Jewish populations also tend to be home to large Italian populations. South Florida seems to follow along that same equation. I've run into more Italians here than I ever encountered in Texas, and there is most definitely no shortage of Italian restaurants. As a matter of fact, Italian restaurants dot every shopping center and line nearly every street in my current home city of Ft. Lauderdale. This is wonderful for me, as I love everything about Italian food and Italian culture!
Unfortunately for me, I've found a severe lack in any decent ethnic foods down here in South Florida. Thai food, Vietnamese food, Indian food, and even decent sushi has been hard to come by. One of my biggest foodie pet peeves is the sudden need to fuse Thai food and sushi into one. Nearly every restaurant that claims to be a "Thai" restaurant also boasts a sushi menu. The last time I checked, Thailand and Japan were not the same country, nor were they even near one another. Yes, they're both in Asia, but then again Texas and Hawaii are both in the United States but you don't see too many Barbeque restaurants in Texas boasting an additional Hawaiian fusion fish menu. So why the need to incorporate sushi into every Thai menu? If your Thai or Vietnamese food isn't good on it's own, you should reconsider owning a restaurant instead of simply throwing in a trendy sushi menu to draw in a larger clientele. And if the consumer really needs to have sushi on the same menu as Thai food, there's always P F Changs and Pei Wei which offer consumers a full tour of Asia through their menus.
Another foodie roadbump I've encountered down here is the focus on trendiness over quality. Many of the "hip" restaurants in South Florida are so focused on the scene that their food is significantly lacking. There have already been several occasions where Carl and I have walked into a restaurant filled with gorgeous people and a gorgeous interior but the service and the food simply didn't compare to the final cost on the bill. If we're paying over $25 per person, the ingredients shouldn't only speak for themselves, but the service should be impeccable. Yes, a restaurant's interior has a certain allure to consumers, but at the end of the day we are going to a restaurant for a culinary experience. As a restauranteur, shouldn't the ultimate goal be to satisfying your patrons with a delicious meal and fabulous service? If that's lacking, no patron ever wants to return for a second time to experience mediocre food. Seeing the trendy interior once is enough! Luckily for me, I love good food enough that I'm willing to search high and low for it! I know that after enough botched Pad Thai and fish and chicken curry dishes that I'll eventually find that one Thai restaurant that will be my go-to. We've sampled enough Vietnamese Pho to know which restaurants to avoid at all costs, and which restaurants offer a decent bowl of steaming soup. As a die hard Texan, I've already sampled several steak houses in an attempt to find one that can come close to any given steak house in Texas! I'm willing to keep seeking out the most remote areas to find the most delicious food!
On the bright side, I know I will grow to be spoiled by is the abundance of fresh delicious fish options. I have eaten more Grouper and Snapper since moving to Florida than I have in my entire life. If all else fails in my foodie experimentation in Florida, I know that I'll always be able to walk into any given restaurant and walk out a happy eater after a delicious fresh fish meal!
I've always found that in large cities that house significant Jewish populations also tend to be home to large Italian populations. South Florida seems to follow along that same equation. I've run into more Italians here than I ever encountered in Texas, and there is most definitely no shortage of Italian restaurants. As a matter of fact, Italian restaurants dot every shopping center and line nearly every street in my current home city of Ft. Lauderdale. This is wonderful for me, as I love everything about Italian food and Italian culture!
Unfortunately for me, I've found a severe lack in any decent ethnic foods down here in South Florida. Thai food, Vietnamese food, Indian food, and even decent sushi has been hard to come by. One of my biggest foodie pet peeves is the sudden need to fuse Thai food and sushi into one. Nearly every restaurant that claims to be a "Thai" restaurant also boasts a sushi menu. The last time I checked, Thailand and Japan were not the same country, nor were they even near one another. Yes, they're both in Asia, but then again Texas and Hawaii are both in the United States but you don't see too many Barbeque restaurants in Texas boasting an additional Hawaiian fusion fish menu. So why the need to incorporate sushi into every Thai menu? If your Thai or Vietnamese food isn't good on it's own, you should reconsider owning a restaurant instead of simply throwing in a trendy sushi menu to draw in a larger clientele. And if the consumer really needs to have sushi on the same menu as Thai food, there's always P F Changs and Pei Wei which offer consumers a full tour of Asia through their menus.
Another foodie roadbump I've encountered down here is the focus on trendiness over quality. Many of the "hip" restaurants in South Florida are so focused on the scene that their food is significantly lacking. There have already been several occasions where Carl and I have walked into a restaurant filled with gorgeous people and a gorgeous interior but the service and the food simply didn't compare to the final cost on the bill. If we're paying over $25 per person, the ingredients shouldn't only speak for themselves, but the service should be impeccable. Yes, a restaurant's interior has a certain allure to consumers, but at the end of the day we are going to a restaurant for a culinary experience. As a restauranteur, shouldn't the ultimate goal be to satisfying your patrons with a delicious meal and fabulous service? If that's lacking, no patron ever wants to return for a second time to experience mediocre food. Seeing the trendy interior once is enough! Luckily for me, I love good food enough that I'm willing to search high and low for it! I know that after enough botched Pad Thai and fish and chicken curry dishes that I'll eventually find that one Thai restaurant that will be my go-to. We've sampled enough Vietnamese Pho to know which restaurants to avoid at all costs, and which restaurants offer a decent bowl of steaming soup. As a die hard Texan, I've already sampled several steak houses in an attempt to find one that can come close to any given steak house in Texas! I'm willing to keep seeking out the most remote areas to find the most delicious food!
On the bright side, I know I will grow to be spoiled by is the abundance of fresh delicious fish options. I have eaten more Grouper and Snapper since moving to Florida than I have in my entire life. If all else fails in my foodie experimentation in Florida, I know that I'll always be able to walk into any given restaurant and walk out a happy eater after a delicious fresh fish meal!
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