The beauty of Ft. Lauderdale is that it's close to Miami but not so close that you get to know it like a native. After two decades I can still go down and discover something that's been around for more than 20 years.
Last week it was Burger Bob's. I loved the name (amazing what you can do just by reversing the normal order of two words). My friend David suggested it as a change from our normal lunch place Books & Books. (Two more B's, though here the reversal doesn't work as well.)
David directed me to the Coral Gables Country Club and we parked next to the golf course. The restaurant was attached to the pro shop, and seemed to be made entirely of glass, like something Philip Johnson might have designed on, well, his lunch break. We walked past Formica tables with red-cushioned chairs and then waited for one on red-cushioned stools.
Once we were seated, the attractive waitress took my order. She knew David's: one fried egg, grits and English muffin. David told me that she had had her wedding in the restaurant, and that he had been one of the guests.
Halfway through my excellent Reuben a couple stopped by to say hello to David, whom they called Zippo. They had been good friends of his parents. Both were 90. After they had gone, David told me that the woman's second husband had been the owner of the old Everglades Hotel. (He'd spend his winters in Miami and his summers on the French Riviera). Her current beau was a retired admiral. You don't meet people like that at the Floridian.
Comment feed for this post