Hey Gypsies! Sadly I'm back from an awesome vacation where I sailed the open seas, jumped into blue holes, and crazily enough drank from a coconut! I'll be back later to update you on my travel adventures, today I want to focus your attention to food!
While in South Florida, the hubs and I chowed down! We were unstoppable and forgave ourselves the calories every day (at least I did).
During our visit to Ft. Lauderdale we had the pleasure of visiting the below restaurants and they equally rocked the salt of my margaritas!
La Bonne Crepe Address: 815 E Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
http://www.labonnecrepe.com/
2009 in Paris, gazing at the Eiffel Tower, I stuffed my face with a delicate crepe pastry. Therefore, I was quite eager to re-eat old memories. We arrived around 11 and to our dismay, we had missed brunch, which was odd because I definitely wanted a mimosa with my crepe + bacon. Un-deterred we scoured the lunch menu while chewing on bread... ah the bread... ce était magnifique.My husband ordered: #23 Chicken, ratatouille and gruyere cheese (it was amazing no complaints! per my husband)I ordered #32 Nova, smoked salmon, asparagus, capers and béchamel (I loved it but I thought the salmon was over-kill.)Service: The staff was courteous but friendliness was missing, if you are expecting "southern hospitality." Catering no, efficient yes. However, they did find my wallet and held onto it while we traveled 30 minutes back into the city to retrieve it.
- ROK BRGR Address: 208 SW 2ND Street Ft Lauderdale FL 33312
https://rokbrgr.com/
I’m not sure if you do this, but my husband and I like to research the top 10 best places to get a certain meal, for brunch it was La Bonne Crepe, and for burgers it was Rok:brgr. Blame it on living in Seoul, South Korea for over a year, but I thought this was a Korean-American burger joint. Nope. Although I did not get a chance to sit inside and check out the décor, my research says, it is a 1920’s Prohibition feel, which is awesome. We sat outside and arrived in time for happy hour – cheap margaritas yes please, ginger ale + a bartender that goes heavy on the rum, I might need to move here!
But let’s talk burgers….
For an appetizer, we ordered the ROK: Shrimp, which is flash fried | tempura style. It was yum but I was digging the fried too much, less fritter and more shrimp please.
My Floridian friend Dai ordered the below burger and kept exclaiming these are definitely the best burgers I’ve ever had. TRUFFLE BURGER: baby Swiss | exotic mushrooms | caramelized onions truffle oil drizzle | truffle aioli
My husband ordered the below burger, he wasn’t a big fan of the cheese but that burger… yes that burger was amazing (per my husband, I was hoping Star wouldn’t finish hers!) FARMHOUSE: cave aged gruyere | caramelized onions | fried farm egg garlic aioli
Although my hubs tried to convince me that ordering 2 burgers would be alright, I eventually decided on the 2011 “Burger Battle Fan Favorite Champion” listed below with a fried egg on top. The meat was succulent, thick, and juicy. I tried to eat it with the bun, but the bun was too fluffy for me! I tossed that bread aside and dug in, ala steak style. The fries weren’t bad either! ROK:BRGR: aged Vermont cheddar | smoked pepper bacon bourbon bbq
Service: I’m not sure if our waiter was new or if we were asking to many questions. He was nice but couldn’t tell us much about our meals and his description regarding the pepper bacon still boggles my mind. I wanted to know if they had regular bacon, but I think he misinterpreted me, because he started saying the bacon was built into the sandwich. Clearly, the picture accompanying my burger shows it doesn’t, so again maybe he was new… but The server with brown curly hair who brought out our drinks and food was super nice and quite friendly.
I’m not sure if you do this, but my husband and I like to research the top 10 best places to get a certain meal, for brunch it was La Bonne Crepe, and for burgers it was Rok:brgr. Blame it on living in Seoul, South Korea for over a year, but I thought this was a Korean-American burger joint. Nope. Although I did not get a chance to sit inside and check out the décor, my research says, it is a 1920’s Prohibition feel, which is awesome. We sat outside and arrived in time for happy hour – cheap margaritas yes please, ginger ale + a bartender that goes heavy on the rum, I might need to move here!
But let’s talk burgers….
For an appetizer, we ordered the ROK: Shrimp, which is flash fried | tempura style. It was yum but I was digging the fried too much, less fritter and more shrimp please.
My Floridian friend Dai ordered the below burger and kept exclaiming these are definitely the best burgers I’ve ever had. TRUFFLE BURGER: baby Swiss | exotic mushrooms | caramelized onions truffle oil drizzle | truffle aioli
My husband ordered the below burger, he wasn’t a big fan of the cheese but that burger… yes that burger was amazing (per my husband, I was hoping Star wouldn’t finish hers!) FARMHOUSE: cave aged gruyere | caramelized onions | fried farm egg garlic aioli
Although my hubs tried to convince me that ordering 2 burgers would be alright, I eventually decided on the 2011 “Burger Battle Fan Favorite Champion” listed below with a fried egg on top. The meat was succulent, thick, and juicy. I tried to eat it with the bun, but the bun was too fluffy for me! I tossed that bread aside and dug in, ala steak style. The fries weren’t bad either! ROK:BRGR: aged Vermont cheddar | smoked pepper bacon bourbon bbq
Service: I’m not sure if our waiter was new or if we were asking to many questions. He was nice but couldn’t tell us much about our meals and his description regarding the pepper bacon still boggles my mind. I wanted to know if they had regular bacon, but I think he misinterpreted me, because he started saying the bacon was built into the sandwich. Clearly, the picture accompanying my burger shows it doesn’t, so again maybe he was new… but The server with brown curly hair who brought out our drinks and food was super nice and quite friendly.
- Joe's Crab Shack Address: Plaza Del Mar Shopping Center, 1451 N Federal Hwy, FtLauderdale, FL 33304
As you can tell from the subheading, we are a family that
travels the beaten path and that involved calling a Lyft, so my hubs could get
his long awaited Bucket of Crab! Unfortunately, we arrived after Happy Hour
ended, but we sat at Bar and enjoyed our cocktails and our bartender kept them
coming! This was our first time at Joe’s and we love seafood and like I mentioned
we didn’t drive, so this was a time we just kickbacked and relaxed.
My husband had beer
throughout the entire dinner. My beverages were more interesting…
Berry Red Sangria Cruzan Rum, cabernet
sauvignon, brandy and strawberry puree blended with blackberry and cranberry
juices.
Island Tee Time Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, Seagram’s Sweet Tea Vodka, and
Absolut Citron Vodka with cranberry juice and blackberries, then topped with
Sprite.
To start we had
calamari, for meals my husband actually went for the
Arctic Bay Steampot Queen crab, shrimp, a
whole lobster and smoked sausage all boiled in a garlic bath and topped with
Old Bay® Seasoning.
I on the other hand, went for the handbreaded platter
Go Shrimpin' Jumbo fried shrimp, coconut shrimp and crispy shrimp stuffed with
crab, cream cheese and jalapeños. Served with hushpuppies, fries and coleslaw.
Everything was good, we had zero complaints and before we left we
were able to catch the next happy hour special of $5 patron margaritas! I call
that happiness! J
Alright gypsies, I’ve actually been frying some chicken while
writing this blog post and dinner is ready! If you want more visuals of my good
eats while on vacation, check out my YouTube channel -- I recently posted a Food Vlog!
My husband had beer throughout the entire dinner. My beverages were more interesting…
Berry Red Sangria Cruzan Rum, cabernet sauvignon, brandy and strawberry puree blended with blackberry and cranberry juices.
Island Tee Time Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, Seagram’s Sweet Tea Vodka, and Absolut Citron Vodka with cranberry juice and blackberries, then topped with Sprite.
To start we had calamari, for meals my husband actually went for the
Arctic Bay Steampot Queen crab, shrimp, a whole lobster and smoked sausage all boiled in a garlic bath and topped with Old Bay® Seasoning.
I on the other hand, went for the handbreaded platter
Go Shrimpin' Jumbo fried shrimp, coconut shrimp and crispy shrimp stuffed with crab, cream cheese and jalapeños. Served with hushpuppies, fries and coleslaw.
Everything was good, we had zero complaints and before we left we were able to catch the next happy hour special of $5 patron margaritas! I call that happiness! J
Alright gypsies, I’ve actually been frying some chicken while writing this blog post and dinner is ready! If you want more visuals of my good eats while on vacation, check out my YouTube channel -- I recently posted a Food Vlog!
