Boca Raton and Surrounding Areas

Heading to Florida tomorrow for a few days, staying in Boca. Need good restaurants (doesn’t have to be fancy). Also a wine shop or two in the Boca area would be great. Usually stop at Wine Watch on the way from the FLL airport but coming in too late and family won’t put up with a special trip the next day as this is a short stay. Need casual lunch and dinner in Miami for one day too.

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In Delray,
Wine Wave is a fun, if overpriced, shop.
The Wine Room is good for lunch and has over 200 selections by the glass.
What kind of food? Bamboo Fire has very good Caribbean food, but there are lots of decent places on the Avenue.
Sherri Shapiro can help you more with Boca

[winner.gif] For Miami…Michael’s Genuine in the Design District is good for either lunch (lunch in particular if you want to walk around the area…lots of high end clothing and watch stores) or dinner… nice wine list and you can bring wine for a $30 corkage fee. There is an excellent wine store (Abaco Wine) on the second floor where all of the watch stores are… no bargains but good selection (Cayuse, etc…)

Rocco’s Tacos in Boca for lunch or dinner. Cafe Luna Rosa on A1A in Delray Beach, we really liked it for breakfast but lunch/dinner is good.

Super casual lunch places : Brus Room in Delray, TooJays Deli in Boca, Laspadas subs in Boca.

El Camino for tacos!! Or better yet, shrimp fajitas, grilled octopus, fresh fish. They are the same owners as Cut 432, get the same fish.

The Grove is probably the best fine dining restaurant in Delray. Wine Bar and Grill, in addition to all the wine, has a cheese bar run by the famed Max McCalman and has reliably great local fish too. Same GM as the old 32 East.

Any specific part of Miami? How casual?

32 East was one of my favorite restaurants in all of Florida. I don’t get down to the area as much anymore but will have to check out Wine Bar and Grill when I do.

If anyone is in the Miami area I highly recommend Macchialina on the beach. Terrific new Italian place delivering food like Nona used to make. Always great to see the Chef/Owner in the kitchen as well.


A unique wine store in Boca with some pretty amazing but relatively small selection is inside an Italian men’s clothing store, Guys Wines in the Boca Center, usually has something on the corivan to try.
Plenty of good places to eat in Boca, one of my favorites is Trattoria Romana. If your up for a small drive, go north to boynton beach to Driftwood and be sure to try the calamari. Not a fancy decor but the food is really good and you can’t beat the $15 corkage. If you want to people watch Atlantic Avenue in Delray is the place to be, Cut 432 is a decent steak place.

Just spent a long weekend in Boca and a local friend turned us on to a little secret: Los Bocados, a taco counter inside a Chevron station in Parkland. Yes, inside a gas station. This place has great reviews. We all loved it.

+1 on Trattoria Romana. I have an annual reunion weekend with guys Ive been friends with for over 50 years. We have a standing Saturday night reservation for 6 there with Mario as our waiter. Look forward to it every year

Next time I fly in, I’ll have to try it. Thanks.

Thinking of tacos!

That meatball!

There are existing threads on this on other forums (travel, BYO, Epicurious) - I’m going to move it out of Wine Talk.
Mostly chain wine shops (ABC, Total), Costco, etc. except the little section of Guy LaFerrera’s clothing store (it’s in the same shopping center as Total).
What kind of food?
Lots of very good Italian places. For a group, my go-to is Matteo’s. I also really like Dorsia and La Villetta. Others have mentioned Trattoria - (they have a french sister restaurant next door called Nouvelle Maison, and a casual fish place up the street called Luff’s.
Sicilian Oven is great for lunch or a casual family dinner.
Kapow Noodle Bar in Mizner is really good and has a terrific happy hour.
For a casual burger, I go to Houston’s (corkage now $15), but there are other similar places like Burton’s, J. Alexander’s etc.
Speaking of happy hours, City Fish has a great one, and dinner is good too. They are owned by the same company that owns Chops Lobster bar, which also has a fantastic happy hour, but disappointed recently at dinner (after several good experiences).
NY Prime or Abe & Louie’s are both reliable and solid steakhouses.
Many more - just depends on what you are looking for?

A great casual lunch in Miami is KYU in Wynwood.