An Extraordinary Ordinary Restaurant

Our great waitress might have been in the sun too long.

We had a great meal tonight at a place that puts this part of Florida on the foodie map. The Whale's Rib in Deerfield Beach served me one of the best restaurant meals I have ever eaten. I ordered their specialty, which is baked dolphin--the fish, not the mammal. It was perfectly cooked, yummy, and not at all pretentious.

There was not a speck of maple-honey-soy glaze anywhere on the plate, just a slice of lemon. There were no reductions, and I doubt there was balsamic anything in the kitchen. Nothing was drizzled or stacked. There were no under-cooked baby vegetables, just a healthy portion of perfectly steamed broccoli and a perfect baked potato, a crisp salad, and a glass of affordable Merlot. Mitch had the grouper and he raved. He gave me a taste, and then I raved. Dessert was key lime pie with a dollop of whipped cream and it was perfect too, leading to simultaneous raving as we shared it.

Our waitress was a hoot and her name was something like Sea Dog, not sure but it sounded like that. I even liked the other customers. Go there if you are ever nearby. You'll have a considerable wait for a table if you arrive after 6 pm, but it's worth it. The place has been there for like 20 years, so it's clearly not just me that likes it.

Dinner for two including three glasses of wine came to $67 before the tip. Hard to beat these days.