Where Palm Beach and Boca Raton

Palm Beach Gardens
Off The Vine : PGA Blvd. Palm Beach Gardens. No reservations. Nice gourmet shop, buy your own wine. Reasonable, can then have opened for $15 corkage fee. Wine in shop better than wine list. Great food. Indoor or outdoor dining. The food is excellent and very fairly priced. The wine list is good, but the good news there is, you can browse their wine shop which has very fair prices and select a wine there for an additional $15 corkage fee to have with your meal. I found 1997 Hartford Court Zinfandel in the store and we had it with our meal.

Café Chardonnay: PGA Blvd. Reservations required. DO NOT sit upstairs. Hot. Cafe Chardonnay will right in front of you. It's our favorite place in Florida. Excellent food and wine list to match, though a little on the expensive side. Call in advance and reserve a downstairs table. Wear a jacket. Cafe Chardonnay is not really a cafe, but a gourmet restaurant. I've never been that thrilled by the place, I won't deny that it is one of the better places in Palm Beach County.

Palm Beach

Dress is Palm Beach casual: gray or khaki slacks, jacket, and no tie. And don't wear socks, or you'll be marked as a tourist!

South Palm Beach. One of top rated restaurants in the area. Great wine list. Dress nice. Especially in the Restaurant [thats what the main dining room is called, natch.] The GRILL There is a great Grill in there with HUGE steaks and chops.

Chez Jean Pierre: An amazing French bistro with a superb wine list as well. It just got the highest rating in Zagats, so call early for reservations. Chez Jean Pierre is on North County Road, just north of Royal Poinciana Way. It is a yellow non-descript building on the west side of the road. You have to get behind it to go into it, or you can try to find parking on North County and walk in from there. Definitely give it a try. The duck is excellent, and they have a frozen hazelnut soufflé that is a must as well (I guess I like soufflés, what can I say?)

Breakers : The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach has a very elegant restaurant, L’Escalier that has a prix-fix menu with an optional wine pairing. Went there the other night, Food, service, wine are the best around. Prices not too bad. Wine list is fantastic.

Ritz-Carlton: in South Palm beach Anyway, they have this outdoor patio where you can sit and view the ocean while you dine. When I was there, I had something called a Crab & Mango salad, perfect combination of citrus and spice and the crab meet was very sweet. One of the most memorable dishes I've had. Washed it down with a glass Riesling (it was lunchtime, so I passed on a bottle).

Testas: Must see and be seen. Great food, outdoor seating Palm Beach Classic. Try the steak for two. But don’t eat or drink. Service and food has failed a lot in the last two years.

Chuck And Harold’s: Another must see and be seen. All the rich and famous here. Owned by Muir chain. Good food. Great bar. Wine list so-so.

[bBici] Expensive. Noisy, but great food. Wine list expensive, and limited.

Renatos: Palm Beach. Via Mizner. Great restaurant with indoor and outdoor dining. Piano bar. Outside eat under the stars by nice fountains, and plants. Great Lamb. Nice list. On Worth Avenue and great EXPENSIVE shopping. Must try the lamb.

Cafe Europe: Good thing they take credit cards. Good service, good food, super expensive. Very dressy.

Boca Raton

La Vielle Maison: It is a wonderful old Mizner house, and serves excellent French food. A very extensive wine list. Ask for the private room overlooking the fish pond (you probably won't be able to get it, but it doesn't hurt to ask when you make a reservation). If you go there, make sure you walk around the restaurant and check out the special "wine room" they have for dinner parties. I recommend the big prix fix menu (7 courses, I think). They bring out a huge selection of cheeses for the cheese course (ah, memories!). And the lemon crepe soufflé is a must have dessert.

La Finestra- I would recomend reservations on a Fri-Sat night. The wine list is extensive and very Italy specific (brunellos for me all day-all the time;-) with a california cabs and chards for the bargain hunters. Very expensive like La Vielle but so worth it. The seafood risotto is out of this world.

Hollywood

Marthas: For a great place with a moderate wine list, go to Marthas there in Hollywood. It’s the last place north on A1A, before you go across the bridge to Dania. Downstairs has better atmosphere, and jackets suggested many evenings. Upstairs a lot more casual

WINE SHOPS
GRAND CRU CELLARS JUPITER FL <<< GOOD
GRAPEVINES WINE BAR/SHOP JUPITER FL
Off The Vine: Palm beach Gardens. Small Gourmet shop. Nice selection, good with dinner at the place.
CROWN WINE & SPIRITS NORTH PALM BEACH FL Staff bends over to help
HAMPTON LIQUORS PALM BEACH FL
HERBERTS LAFAYETTE MARKET PALM BEACH FL
THE WINE CASK N PALM BEACH FL <<< GOOD PLACE
GORDON'S FINE W & S BOCA RATON FL
GREAT TASTES BOCA RATON FL
POLO WINE AND LIQUORS BOCA RATON FL
THE WINE WAREHOUSE OF BOCA RAT BOCA RATON FL
WINE,SPIRITS & MORE BOCA RATON FL

Well, I didn't copyright them, but I recognize the words in the first two reviews. Must disagree wit La Vielle Maison. Although we there only once, none of the food was any good, but it was all overpriced as was the very poorly selected wine list.

Board-O

Took what was on the WS side, and moved over. Its three or four reviews all told..

Next time your in the 'hood, don't go to Testa's. Since the granfather died, its gone down hill. Food bad, lacks taste, portions smaller, prices higher. Service is like a I-hop. Now at least there are seats avaialble.
Local paper really panned this two weeks ago. It was so bad, the reviewer went back three times to verify. "Tasted twice, consistent notes"

OTV has Jazz Thursday and Friday evenings in the court yard.

PJ Changs has a new place in the Gardens Mall. Food good, wine list poor.

Edward

Do you mean PF Changs? If so, I agree that the food is great, especially for a chain.

Also, as far as chain chinese places go, their wine list is repsectable. But in the grand scheme of things, it is below average.