After 15” of snow and a heck of a run with covid over the holidays I had to get the F’ outta dodge. I took the family and retreated to the beautiful shores of central east Flo-Rida.
I know Carmine’s from previous travels and Johnny Longboats (a nostalgic place my dad liked the grouper in a bag) but anyone else have some favorites in the area? @PHREDDY ?? My man, I know you spend time down here as do many other’s, hook a fellow funion up!!
Any advice is always appropriated! Stay well peeps!
Buccan, Palm Beach - really good
OMG I’M here too!
Farmers Table in North Palm Beach does a good job—just had lunch there yesterday.
I haven’t been, but I’m told Almond is excellent.
Dive bar but wonderful Texas BBQ at the Eagle Grill which is south of downtown. Two words: BEEF. RIB.
Take your lovely bride and kids up to the rooftop at The Ben in downtown West Palm Beach for a drin LJ at a hip spot!
Avocado Grill is an old favorite too.
Christopher’s had excellent veg/vegan food.
Mediterranean Market on 5th in downtown WPB is a favorite if you want to pick up or eat at their one outdoor table.
Coolinary Cafe (yes, the spelling kills me but it’s excellent) is an old favorite.
I’ve never been, but the Okeechobee Steakhouse has been here for decades…
I also love the grouper in a bag at Johnny Longboats!
More as I think of them…
Why I value asking in the NJ boards for help rather tha. The local ones. Out community is top notch
You folks Bette this some spots for me on NC shore area next year!
Hope you’ll report back! 
In Jupiter: it’s the Square Grouper if you’re tiki-ing:
As I left Singer ahead of that rain, I realized that I didn’t mention the smoothie place on Blue Heron! As you come off the island, it’s in the strip 2 blocks after Publix -before you get to the light. Don’t expect to run in and out, but they’re worth the wait! My cousin the runner loves going there after a run or workout. YMMV 
Also have to mention that my MD cousins rave about the crab cakes at the Eagle! Forgot because I can’t eat them so I always have BBQ there.
We went to Johnny Longboat tonight but no grouper in the bag! 
Going to look into a couple others!! Thank you.
Thats not right!!!
We’ve spent a lot fo time there. Search “Palm Beach” in my blog, John tanners bbq blog dot com. Favorites include Cod and Capers, U Tiki in Jupiter, and Captain Charles Reef Grill in Juno Beach. Havana is the best Cuban place around. There are a couple of real barbecue places around
If you get up to North Palm my buddy and his family have two places. Limoncello for Italian and Barcello for American bistro.
Both top notch.
But bring the good wallet.
Okay, @NotJrvedivici – I’m still here, and wondering if you went home starving or if you found any gems!
First day back to work, will catch up tomorrow and fill you in.
Ok my apologies for my delay thank you everyone for your suggestions. Obviously business and personal obligations during the trip took up some of my leisure time, but I did get in a lot of good meals.
First up: Carmines W. Palm Beach
Carmines Italian Restaurant | Carmines La Trattoria | Carmines
An Italian market and restaurant this was an old favorite of my parents so we had to go here. I had the veal parm chop, delicious as was their red sauce though I would have preferred it pounded a little thinner.
Next Up: Farmers Table (compliments of @CurlzN)
(web site not working?)
This was probably the biggest surprise dinner of the trip. (sorry culz I should never have doubted you) This was a great meal. From the “signature” pea soup to the short rib it was delicious. Some other pics: Son taco’s app (they were huge, and he only ate one) Daughter’s avocado and cucumber salad - poke bowl - Mahi Mahi fantastic (is it still farmers table if they have fish? Shouldn’t it be farmer & fisherman’s-table?) Anyhow my daughter ordered a mushroom pizza, this was friggin fantastic!!!
Next:
Gianni’s of Pompano
Contact & Reservations | Gianni’s Italian Restaurant | Pompano Beach, FL (giannisitalianrestaurant.com)
Wife’s
This might become my Carmine’s. I LOVED this place, reminded me of Jimmy’s in Asbury Park, NJ. Old pic’s on the walls of the owner with celebrities of the 60s - 70’s - 80’s…just an old school red sauce Italian restaurant.
I ordered the veal chop pizziola. I was hoping for it to be loaded with peppers and onions, but they were scant on the dish, it still didn’t take away from the flavor or quality of the chop. Even though I wasn’t thrilled with my meal, it didn’t make it bad by any means. From their house salad to the HUGE garlic knots and fresh homemade bread they serve, this place is old school Italian and we loved it.
Lastly: Okeechobee Steakhouse - Okeechobee Fla. (this won over Flagler Steakhouse, which was my pick, but the limited menu was shot down by the wife and daughter)
Okeechobee Steakhouse (okeesteakhouse.com)
Bread pudding for dessert
This is as it should be, pricy and excellent. Son and I split a porterhouse for 2 (prime) and the wife and daughter split a stuffed shrimp and we ordered a bunch of sides. (Dinner came with a wedge salad which I neglected to take a pic) The service was excellent and the pride in their workmanship was excellent. Truly a splendid experience, which is what you expect at this price point.
Notable mention:
Johnny Longboats - Singer Island Fla
OUR STORY | Johnny Longboats
This is literally closer to my resort than the men’s room to my office. The next building over is the strip mall that contains Johnny Longboats, and this too was a favorite for my parents. I didn’t get pics but everything was fine. It’s a family friendly restaurant serving good food at good prices. They were unfortunately out of their signature dish, grouper in a bag.
That’s the highlights of my post holiday’s covid and after 15 inches of snow get away work-cation for the family. (both my adult children remote work still so they didn’t take any time off working either from the resort or poolside as the opportunity presented itself. My wife and I both being self-employed told our staff, but no clients we were leaving. Essential calls forwarded to cell; emails returned. any appointments rescheduled for this week!!! Nothing to see here!!
Funny side note: I guess I’m getting to the age I’m now “old-school” and I’m “ok” with that. I never in a million years thought we were going on lockdown due to covid, and as self employed I made -0- preparation for it. Just never thought it could happen, but when it did, I gave my office manager a limited amount of time (1 week?) to come up with a remote work infrastructure and guess what?
2 years limited investment and we haven’t looked back. The lights in half the office remain off, desks still sit empty and my staff I haven’t seen face to face since. It’s worked fine!!!
By old school I meant I still believe(d) in personal meetings - face to face - shaking hands - explanations etc. etc. Never did I think it was right, or possible, that people would sign financial disclosures via email (secure obviously) and just send them back!!! lol
I use to drive all over the state 2- 3 nights a week to meet with clients - hand deliver certain documents and spend endless hours providing what I thought was “superior client service”. Now I personally meet with a 2-3 people per month and everything else is done vial email and clients can care less!!! LMAO
Life is good my friends…best wishes all.
I was surprised how good Johnny Longboat’s is - especially after a visit under different management some years ago. Their grouper is quite good. And I had a good carry out sandwich from Carmines and thought it was pretty good. We focus on seafood when we’re there, or the Cuban food at Havana. Favorite seafood places are Cod and Capers and Captain Charlie’s Reef Grill.
So glad you found some good eats down here! I find that the good places are GOOD, the others are… MEH. And there’s a ton of MEH.
Here’s the link to Farmer’s Table in North Palm Beach in case anyone else is looking for it. I had a Mahi wrap for lunch one day and it was delicious! Dinner menu is definitely larger and good to know about it, as I’ve only been there during the day.
I agree about Johnny Longboat’s; it’s consistently good for what it is. I actually had a decent burger from there when I was down here over Thanksgiving.
Didn’t want to start another Florida thread but I think we have a few snowbirds here. Any intel on a nice place in Ft. Myers area for my mom’s 80th birthday? There will be about a dozen of us.
You may luck out on here, but since Ft Myers is literally across the state from W Palm, you may have better luck on the FL board! HBD to Mom!
Thanks we are/were from Broward county so am a little familiar with the area. Just not the “nicer” places.
