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“In my neighborhood we ate fresh turnips with plump white roots, sweet mustards, boiled collards, stringed snap beans, and shelled peas cooked with the fat, knuckle, or muscle of a pig. We took tough cuts of beef and made them stew down and simmer long. We southern children knew that mother’s cooking was supposed to be best, but everybody else’s deserved at least to be sampled. We loved to eat; we even loved to talk about eating. But food meant more than daily sustenance.”
from Multicolored Memories of a Black Southern Girl by Kitty Oliver
Greater Fort Lauderdale is a culinary crossroads experience. South meets North; mainland meets island, and residents and visitors both become explorers on the dining journey. Hold on, though. It can be an adventurous one that takes you far away from the familiar comforts of home.
Some of my favorite finds in the area’s multicultural restaurants have featured a blend of the familiar, but with a twist - just different enough to spice things up.
For instance, Betty’s Soul Food Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale is known for the down-home southern fare I grew up with, including hefty servings of smothered liver and onions, mashed potatoes and gravy, cornbread and cabbage. But forget conventional fried chicken once you taste jerk chicken and pork at the Jerk Machine restaurants – there are three locations in the area. The tangy Jamaican marinade puts bottled hot sauce to shame.
Every community boasts a best in barbeque and Tom Jenkins Bar-B-Q in Fort Lauderdale certainly holds its own with anyone else’s hometown. And yes, there is a “special sauce” to keep you wondering, and coming back for more. On the other hand, Joy’s Roti Delight in Lauderhill makes no secret of the central ingredient in this traditional Trinidadian meat concoction - a thick rich sauce blended tart with curry and served inside a soft warm concoction of diced potatoes and dough.
Dishes that may look the same can be served up with surprising variation, a reminder of how cultures with African influence have borrowed and blended. Oxtails are as much of a staple on menus as beef, chicken, and fish, and rice more often than salads, but the spice may be cilantro, saffron, or fenugreek. At the Caspian Persian Grill, a new discovery of mine on Sunrise Boulevard on the way to Sawgrass Mills, the lunch buffet and dinners feature steak, chicken, and lamb and hearty vegetable stews. My first time there, I tried the gormeh sabzi, a dish of greens which looks just like the collards I grew up on, but they came laced with a surprise - turmeric and dried lime. I have learned to adjust, though. Fort Lauderdale offers such a cornucopia of old and new culinary encounters that the crossroads become a delicious place to be.
Dine Out Lauderdale, scheduled for Oct 1. – Nov. 15, is offering residents and visitors a chance to enjoy some of the bounty and revisit old favorites, or try something new. The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau is highlighting a range of casual chic dining throughout the area where participating restaurants create a special three-course dinner menu of mouthwatering delights for a special fixed price menus of $35 (tax and gratuity not included) Sundays through Thursdays. Included are such top-rated restaurants as Aizia at the Westin Diplomat, Blue Moon Fish Co., Cero at the St. Regis, Coco Restaurant, Council Oak, 15th Street Fisheries, Galanga Thai Kitchen, Grill Room at the Riverside Hotel, Le Bistro, Mark’s Las Olas, Michael’s Kitchen, Primavera, Shula’s, Sugar Reef, Tatiana Restaurant and Trina at the Atlantic, to name a few.
The Mai Kai is also on the list; in addition to dining, there is a Polynesian show where Asian-Pacific performers – and residents - trace the history and culture of the Pacific Islands that grandparents, parents, and children will enjoy. So is the Himmarshee Bar & Grille, located in downtown, a few yards from the railroad tracks where the blacks and whites began to build Fort Lauderdale. Across the street you’ll find Creolina’s with some of the best soulful reminders of New Orleans-style cuisine.
Kitty Oliver
from Multicolored Memories of a Black Southern Girl by Kitty Oliver
Greater Fort Lauderdale is a culinary crossroads experience. South meets North; mainland meets island, and residents and visitors both become explorers on the dining journey. Hold on, though. It can be an adventurous one that takes you far away from the familiar comforts of home.
Some of my favorite finds in the area’s multicultural restaurants have featured a blend of the familiar, but with a twist - just different enough to spice things up.
For instance, Betty’s Soul Food Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale is known for the down-home southern fare I grew up with, including hefty servings of smothered liver and onions, mashed potatoes and gravy, cornbread and cabbage. But forget conventional fried chicken once you taste jerk chicken and pork at the Jerk Machine restaurants – there are three locations in the area. The tangy Jamaican marinade puts bottled hot sauce to shame.
Every community boasts a best in barbeque and Tom Jenkins Bar-B-Q in Fort Lauderdale certainly holds its own with anyone else’s hometown. And yes, there is a “special sauce” to keep you wondering, and coming back for more. On the other hand, Joy’s Roti Delight in Lauderhill makes no secret of the central ingredient in this traditional Trinidadian meat concoction - a thick rich sauce blended tart with curry and served inside a soft warm concoction of diced potatoes and dough.
Dishes that may look the same can be served up with surprising variation, a reminder of how cultures with African influence have borrowed and blended. Oxtails are as much of a staple on menus as beef, chicken, and fish, and rice more often than salads, but the spice may be cilantro, saffron, or fenugreek. At the Caspian Persian Grill, a new discovery of mine on Sunrise Boulevard on the way to Sawgrass Mills, the lunch buffet and dinners feature steak, chicken, and lamb and hearty vegetable stews. My first time there, I tried the gormeh sabzi, a dish of greens which looks just like the collards I grew up on, but they came laced with a surprise - turmeric and dried lime. I have learned to adjust, though. Fort Lauderdale offers such a cornucopia of old and new culinary encounters that the crossroads become a delicious place to be.
Dine Out Lauderdale, scheduled for Oct 1. – Nov. 15, is offering residents and visitors a chance to enjoy some of the bounty and revisit old favorites, or try something new. The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau is highlighting a range of casual chic dining throughout the area where participating restaurants create a special three-course dinner menu of mouthwatering delights for a special fixed price menus of $35 (tax and gratuity not included) Sundays through Thursdays. Included are such top-rated restaurants as Aizia at the Westin Diplomat, Blue Moon Fish Co., Cero at the St. Regis, Coco Restaurant, Council Oak, 15th Street Fisheries, Galanga Thai Kitchen, Grill Room at the Riverside Hotel, Le Bistro, Mark’s Las Olas, Michael’s Kitchen, Primavera, Shula’s, Sugar Reef, Tatiana Restaurant and Trina at the Atlantic, to name a few.
The Mai Kai is also on the list; in addition to dining, there is a Polynesian show where Asian-Pacific performers – and residents - trace the history and culture of the Pacific Islands that grandparents, parents, and children will enjoy. So is the Himmarshee Bar & Grille, located in downtown, a few yards from the railroad tracks where the blacks and whites began to build Fort Lauderdale. Across the street you’ll find Creolina’s with some of the best soulful reminders of New Orleans-style cuisine.
Kitty Oliver
posted by GuestBlogger-GFL at 5:23 PM
I agree with this completely, thanks for the post.
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