Southern in South Florida

601 NW 22nd Rd. Lauderdale Lakes

954-583-9121

Soul Food, Southern, Recommended, Best Of, Menu, Takeout-Home, Takeout-Cuisine, Takeout-Neighborhood

Few places offer a taste of Black Southern cuisine as complete and inexpensive as this place, tucked between Sistrunk Boulevard and 22nd Road. The menu boasts pig tails, catfish, fried chicken, and of course chitterlings. Try the oxtail with collard greens, pillow-soft cornbread, and candied yams.

15 articles

Hope's Restaurant

2806 J.A. Ely Blvd. Hollywood

954-920-6696

Caribbean, Soul Food, Southern, Best Of

Hope's is all about perseverance -- yours and the owner's. Chef Audrey Hope, who has created one of South Florida's best Caribbean/American spots (with a heavy accent on Bahamian cooking), serves all the best fried fish, fish stews, lobster tail, red beans and rice, and guava duff you could hope for. The entire Hope clan helps keep the restaurant hopping, as does the steady takeout business at the beer/wine/alcohol bar/counter. Stick with the tilapia stew or the fried snapper, and go with the red beans and rice as a side order. End your meal with guava duff, a Bahamian shortcake dessert covered with a sauce made from guava. Delicious eating and a unique dining experience. Let's hope the restaurant springs eternal.

2 articles

Lafayette's Music Room

550 S. Rosemary Ave Suite #236 West Palm Beach

561-420-8600

Southern

ocated in vibrant CityPlace in the heart of West Palm Beach, Lafayette’s Restaurant and Bar has an intimate charm and a casual feel that will draw you in for an evening of live music, libations, and southern food with an attitude. If you’re in the mood for something easy or romantic, we will feature live piano music or acoustical guitar every night during dinner and beyond.

Rock 'N' Roll Ribs

4651 State Road 7 Coconut Creek

954-345-7429

Barbecue, Southern, Recommended, Best Of, Menu, Slideshow

This Coral Springs rib joint from Iron Maiden drummer and South Florida resident Nicko McBrain feels just about as close to a backyard barbecue as you can get in a restaurant. The food isn't exactly Memphis-style barbecue; rather, it tastes like what you might whip up with some friends huddled around a Webber grill. Ribs are the fall-off-the-bone variety, wet and sweet with sticky barbecue sauce that will leave your fingers tacking to the sides of your beer bottle. Pork and beef brisket are each smoky and firmer in texture and taste amazing on a sandwich made with Texas toast and slathered with creamy coleslaw. Rock 'N' Roll Ribs' prices are cheap, service is friendly and pierced, and metal from the likes of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest streams constantly throughout the day.

8 articles

Smokey Bones BBQ & Grill

6500 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale Beaches

954-493-7779

Barbecue, Comfort Foods, Southern, Recommended, Menu

There are about 70 locations of this Orlando-based chain, and it has diners lickin' their fingers. Smokey Bones seems to be gunning for the Ale House demographic: men who want to hang out with buddies, have a few drinks, watch the game, and, most of all, eat meat. With the culture of BBQ being competitive and finicky, diners either love Smokey Bones or hate it. Some BBQ fanatics say that Bones isn't authentic, while others hail it for doing a decent job of bringing 'cue to the masses. Menu standouts include sweet potato stix, hand-pulled pork, and baby back ribs. It's clear the bar is a big part of the biz -- they promote cheap Guinness and Jäger shots, plus concoctions like the Long Island Light Fluid (with four kinds of liquor) and Smojito (a mojito with Sprite). Events -- like a trivia night -- are kind of unusual for a chain and help differentiate it from a Chili's or an Outback.

1 article

Smokey Bones BBQ & Sports Bar

809 S. University Dr., Plantation Davie/West Hollywood

954-474-3833

Barbecue, Comfort Foods, Southern, Recommended, Menu

Though it's just another chain restaurant with a rather cold corporate feel, Smokey Bones in Plantation remains remarkably successful. There's always someone young and perky at the front door; it feels family-friendly and festive inside; and they're quick 'n easy with the coupons and specials that make it cheap to eat and drink here. With all the down-home ambiance of an Applebee's, Smokey Bones only compensates if you like their 'cue, and that's such a subjective thing. For the most part, it's smoked just fine, but the sauce veers toward the sweet, almost candyish end of the spectrum. The sides are nothing compared to what you'd find at a ma-n-pa joint, but the pork and beef sandwiches are filling, and their ribs have made many a fan.

2 articles

Soul Food 2 Go

5102 S. State Road 7 Davie/West Hollywood

954-587-1616

Soul Food, Barbecue, Southern, Best Of

5 articles

Swank Southern Kitchen

4196 S. University Dr. Davie/West Hollywood

954-423-2220

New American, Southern, Critics' Pick, Slideshow

It's no secret: Southern food is hot right now -- and it has been for a while. But like much else in the food world, it took a while to find a home in Broward and Palm Beach. With a group of classically trained chefs from Miami on the stoves, at Swank Southern Kitchen you'll find modern takes on traditional dishes from the South in the country-western themed town of Davie. From chicken and waffles with homemade marshmallow sage sauce ($16) to 18-hour pulled pork sliders ($10) to low-country shrimp and grits ($14), everything served is lowbrow but with a haute twist -- and that's just the way we like it.

3 articles

Texas Hold 'Em BBQ

21 SW Seventh St. Fort Lauderdale

954-764-7427

Barbecue, Southern, Recommended, Menu

What a difference a move makes. When owner Jeremy Armstead decided to close his longtime Sunrise store and truck his barbecue downtown, it was a bit of a gamble. He packed up his collection of sports and music memorabilia that had for so long been a part of the place - like his antique Jack Johnson fight bell and his Miles Davis album covers - and hung them instead on the red and white walls of his new Seventh Street location. Then he got to smoking. Now, downtown denizens pack the joint daily, tapping their feet to the sounds of Coltrane wailing away in the background as they nosh on chopped pork dinners and Texas nachos smothered in melted cheese and pickled jalapenos. The spare ribs are meaty and tender, and the sauce is among the best around. And the place just seems to be getting better.

5 articles

Southern in South Florida

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