This week on "Check Please" South Florida," a swanky Indian Brasserie in Fort Lauderdale Overall the food was just delicious.

[Michelle] ...a snug Mexican grill in Plantation Very delicious, that was excellent.

[Michelle] ...and an authentic deli house in Lake Worth.

The service, the food, the portions, all fantastic.

[Narrator] Cultural, culinary secrets and global flavors.

We have a passion for blending ingredients and seasonings from around the world.

[Announcer] Additional funding for "Check Please!

South Florida" is provided by George and Helen Weaver and the Friends of South Florida PBS.

You just wanted to savor every bit of that dessert.

It's delicious.

The best tiramisu I've ever had.

There's nothing else like that in South Florida that I know about.

You'll pull the cheese and it'll be all the way up to here.

Hello, I'm Michelle Bernstein and welcome to "Check Please!

South Florida," the show where regular people from all over South Florida recommend and review their favorite restaurants.

So this is how the show works.

Every week we have three guests.

Each recommends his or her favorite spot, and then the other two go to check them out and see what they think.

This week, roofing VP Jeffrey Blank, wants you to enjoy all of the comforting flavors of his pick.

He says, "You will feel at home in this modest spot "that serves up traditional deli dishes, "spiced up with creative specials "that your palate will enjoy."

Workforce analyst, Alex Hart, is recommending his pick for their authentic food and quality service.

He says that this hidden gem offers delicious food with a non-posh approach that your wallet will appreciate.

But first, retired nonprofit director, John Lazar, says that his pick is an exciting dining destination that offers outstanding flavors in a delightful and attentive atmosphere.

Boasting an exotic menu, he says you will fall in love with the relaxed yet sophisticated vibe.

It's located in Fort Lauderdale and it's called Moksha Indian Brasserie.

Hi, my name is Rish Karam, I'm the owner of Moksha Indian Brasserie.

Traveling throughout the United States, visiting cities like New York, Chicago, LA, the Indian dining scene in, you know, all of these wonderful cities is just amazing.

And I really felt that we were lacking that here in South Florida.

You know, I could go anywhere between Palm Beach, Broward County, Miami-Dade County, and I just didn't really find that true Indian dining experience.

So I really wanted to take my own stab at it.

And I came across this location and this space and I think this is a fantastic area and I felt that there was a need for it.

So that's how Moksha Indian Brasserie came about.

I was born and raised here in the US.

My family comes from Mumbai, all of them.

A lot of our staff here also originates, you know, from Mumbai as well.

And Mumbai is one of those cities where, you know, a lot of people from all over the country do flock to.

It is kind of like that city of dreams and opportunity back home in India.

And that's kind of what we also focus on here in the restaurant.

We don't just focus on solely North Indian cuisine where you're gonna get just butter chicken and your typical, you know, Indian dishes that you get at other restaurants.

But more so we focus on all the various regions of, you know, where you can get food.

When you walk through our doors, you want it to really welcome you in and really kind of be, you know, enveloped in our entire atmosphere.

Whether that's the chic lighting, the murals on the wall, the neon signs, all things of that nature.

So we just felt all that stuff kind of tied in, and just kind of contributed to the overall dining experience.

Moksha Indian Brasserie is sophisticated, yet approachable.

So tell me why Moksha is at the top of your list.

Oh, it's just wonderful Indian cuisine.

The service is very attentive and they have the patience of Job.

They'll describe every dish and they'll describe every ingredient.

They probably need to.

And it smells, it looks and it's delicious to eat.

And my husband who is a frequent traveler to India still says it's one of the best Indian restaurants anywhere.

Alex, tell me about it when you first walked in, what did you think about it and have you been there before?

I haven't been there before, but when I first walked in, it almost, there was a lot of house music going on, so it almost seemed like I was walking into a nightclub.

Okay.

Me and my friend, we were seated right away and the dining experience was amazing.

You live close by, right?

[Alex] Yeah, I live close by, so I've passed Tell me a little bit about that location.

I've passed by it a couple of times, but it was the first time ever I'm stepping in there.

I went in there for dinner and the staff was very friendly and the host seated us right away.

Overall I enjoyed it.

Jeffrey, this was a bit of a ways for you.

Was it worth it?

Well, you're right, it was kind of a schlep.

Had to drive around a little bit to find it and then we, when we found it, it was pretty straightforward, but it was, you know, a lovely place, very nice.

John, tell me a little bit about what you had this last time.

Oh, well I started off with this wonderful paneer flambe, so little chunks of cheese.

[Michelle] Did it come actually flambed at the table?

[John] Yes, it comes in a little dish and they come and ignite it for you.

So it's a show as well as a meal.

What else did you have?

I had the coconut chicken meatballs and I didn't know what to expect and it came with a very nice chili vinegarette and there was a sesame seed coating on each of the six or seven meatballs that came with the portion.

Absolutely delicious.

Alex, tell me about your experience.

So I started off with the samosas, it's basically like a fried dough with potatoes and peas in it.

[Michelle] I call it an Indian empanada.

Honestly, yeah, an Indian empanada, yeah, it was very delicious.

They served it with mint chutney and tamarind chutney.

The tamarind sauce went beautifully with it.

It was delicious.

And then we later on had the chicken tikka masala and I dipped it in with the olive cheese naan, we got that as well, it was so good.

They went beautifully together.

Overall the food was just delicious.

And then for dessert we had this, it's like a little cheese dessert, I forget the name.

[Michelle] It's like a cheese ball soaked in sweetened milk.

[Alex] Yeah, sweet condensed milk, yeah.

That sounds delicious.

Yeah, it was really good.

Everything was very delicious.

It sounds like it, Jeff?

I went with my wife, we started off with drinks.

I had a Taj Mahal, which I'm a beer drinker.

I really liked that.

And then I'm a big lamb shank guy, so that for me is a test.

So they had that on the menu.

I ordered the lamb shank.

[Michelle] How was the lamb shank?

[Jeffrey] The lamb shank was good.

How are the prices?

I thought they were reasonable.

I didn't really think I was getting gouged, you know, comparable to any other Indian restaurant, I guess.

Maybe a little bit higher, but not much.

Well John, Moshka Indian Brasserie was your pick.

Sum it up for us please.

Well if you want some delicious Indian cuisine, hurry over, very good service.

And there's so many items on the menu, I bet you'll be going back for several times.

Alex?

Definitely, it seems like a new hip Indian restaurant.

If you wanna listen to house music and bump your head while you're eating food, then definitely visit there.

Okay, Jeffrey?

Nice place.

You know, solid restaurant, you're, you know, you'll have a nice meal and a good time.

You can enjoy the authentic flavors and classy atmosphere of Moksha Indian Brasserie, located at 2823 East Oakland Park Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.

Open for dinner Tuesday to Friday, lunch and dinner on Saturdays and Sundays and happy hour Tuesday to Thursday.

Reservations are accepted while the average price for dinner without drinks is about $45.

Now, workforce analyst, Alex Hart, wants to invite you to his no frills, delicious food only family spot.

It's located in Plantation and it's called Chilangos Mexican Grill.

So this is a small, drive too fast and you miss it kind of a place, right Alex?

Is that what you said?

Yeah, it's on a busy street, it's on 441.

So if you're driving past it, you really have to do look out for it.

So they typically have like LED lights going on, like flashing like, hey, come here.

So See me, see me.

Exactly, yeah, see me, see me.

So it's in a very discreet shopping center, so exactly, if you drive past it, you're gonna miss it.

So you definitely have to keep your eye out for it.

But when you do keep your eye out for it and you get in, it's, you're gonna have a wonderful time.

It's worth every bite?

Yes, it's worth every bite.

Okay.

John, you went with some friends, what did everyone think?

I thought it was great.

I've been to many different places in Mexico, and it reminded me of one of those real neighborhood type of local resident restaurants.

And the food is very good.

The guacamole's homemade, really great.

The corn chips are really substantial.

They'll hold as much as you want to put on.

[Michelle] So they're a little thicker?

Yes, they are.

Interesting.

And real yellow corn So they're probably home made.

...look and flavor.

Mm, delicious.

Jeffrey, what'd you think when you walked in?

It's a cute little place.

Obviously this is like a family run deal.

The staff was just falling over themselves for you, which was very nice.

And it wasn't terribly busy.

I mean it looks like they have a bigger carry out business than they do dine-in 'cause they have like a front counter and then like a dining room in the back.

You know, and they're both obviously not very large, but that's kind of the setup.

So while we were eating dinner, we saw people constantly coming in and going and doing pickups for dinner carry out.

Was it easy parking?

No, it was kind of challenging.

There's a tiny little lot and if you didn't get a spot, you were hunting, right?

I mean that's fair to say.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But you know, we were lucky we got it.

The little strip center isn't that terribly busy in the evenings, it looked like it had some retail more than anything else.

How's the decor, Alex?

It's basically, if you walk into Mexico, honestly like there's like a bunch of like colorful flags at the top, there's Mexican music playing on the loud speakers.

They have the jugs of horchata, agua, tamarind, all in the front and yeah, it just feels like you're just walking into a little Mexican restaurant.

[Michelle] So what'd you have this last time you went?

So I started off with esquites, which is basically elote but in a skillet.

Corn off the cob.

Yes, corn off the cob.

And they serve it with the corn chips, the really thick ones, they're delicious, goes well with it.

I had to drink the horchata, which is honestly like the best horchata I've ever had.

Tell people what horchata is, a lot of people don't know.

So horchata's basically a blended rice water drink.

It's usually sweetened, it sometimes has cinnamon in it and other spices, but it's, oh Couldn't have said it better myself, good job.

What else did you have?

And then I also had some quesadilla tacos and some tacos al pastor.

[Michelle] Let's start with the quesadilla tacos.

The quesadilla tacos, it's basically if you had a quesadilla and a taco married together.

It had some cilantro onions in it and some shredded beef and they served it with a consomme and it was delicious.

What'd you have John?

I had the steak fajitas and it comes out sizzling on a platter with onions and peppers.

And then of course they have all the sides, the rice, the refried beans, the salsa, more guacamole and sour cream.

But the desserts are phenomenal.

I started off with churros, they came out hot with sugar over them and stuffed with caramel sauce and they also brought a chocolate dipping sauce.

And also someone else had the arroz con leche, which was very good with a little cinnamon on it.

[Michelle] Rice pudding, yeah, delicious.

[Alex] That one's my go-to, I always [Michelle] Is the arroz con leche your go to?

[Alex] Yes, arroz con leche, I always get that one whenever I go.

[Michelle] Oh, it's with three milk.

Yeah, it's with three milks.

It's so good.

They didn't have it, they ran out by the time I got there.

[Michelle] That's because John had it for you.

Yeah, he stole it from me.

Jeffrey, tell me about your food.

My go-to again, I have my go-to dishes.

My go-to Mexican dish is the chili rellenos, that's the litmus test for me on a Mexican restaurant.

So of course I ordered that and we started off with guacamole and the chips were kind of unique, you know, you could tell they were homemade and it looked very You didn't tell me about your chili rellenos.

[Jeffrey] It was stuffed with cheese and No rice?

It came with, no, no rice inside the pepper.

Okay.

[Jeffrey] So it came with refried beans and rice and it was very good.

Not an enormous portion, but it was reasonably [Michelle] You could have ordered two.

Could have ordered two, but then I would've gotten yelled at by my wife, so you know, there's a hazard here that we have to identify.

So it was good, it was solid.

Again, local place, family run.

If you're in the neighborhood it would be a go-to place.

What about your platanos fritos, your dessert?

Ah, we had the plant, what did you call it?

Platanos, which is plantain, fritos, which is fried.

[Jeffrey] That was really cool.

That was like a deep-fried plantain.

They put jam on it like strawberry jelly and chocolate syrup I've never seen that before.

And that survived the ride home, which my adult daughter inhaled when we got home after that, 'cause it was really pretty cool.

Very delicious, that was excellent.

John, let's talk a little bit about the affordability.

Tell me about the prices, what you thought of them.

They were extremely reasonable and low.

I couldn't get over it.

It was a quite a surprise and I could see why the locals really liked it and it seemed to attract locals as well as a diversified clientele.

Okay, well Alex, Chilangos was your pick.

Sum it up for us please.

So if you want delicious Mexican food at an affordable rate, definitely head over there.

John?

Great Mexican food and it gives you a good flavor of a Mexican ambiance.

Jeffrey?

Cute place, great for the locals.

Nice, nice, nice food for the money.

If you're in the neighborhood, stop in and pick up something to go.

For all the chips and guac you can eat, head over to Chilangos Mexican Grill located at 339 South State Road 7 in Plantation, open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Reservations are not accepted where the average price for dinner without drinks is about $25.

Who doesn't love a good steak fajita?

But at home you can't really bring anything sizzling up to the table with the kids and everything.

So I decided to make a steak quesadilla, which I happen to like even more.

So the first thing I'm doing is sauteing or cooking some onions and peppers.

I haven't seasoned it yet because I've decided to now add the steak, and what steak am I adding?

One of my favorites, skirt steak or churrasco.

We've cut this up nice and thin to kind of match the cut of the onion and the pepper.

Let's add those in here.

Now I'm gonna season it with a good amount of salt 'cause it's gonna need it.

And you can either use cayenne.

Today I'm actually using a chili pepper called Aleppo, which is a beautiful dried chili.

Just delicious.

All right, so to me that's enough.

That is just about to hit medium rare.

I'm gonna go ahead and put this aside for a few minutes.

Go ahead and spray a little bit of your favorite cooking oil spray onto the pan and add one tortilla.

Nice soft flour tortilla unless you like them corn, also delicious.

And then your favorite meltable cheese.

Any type of a good Mexican shredded cheese will do, or just your favorite cheese, whatever melts.

On top of that, I'm gonna start adding a bit of the meat and the peppers and onions, as well as some of its juices.

Place your other tortilla right on top and push it all down into the pan.

Make sure you're not sticking.

Get in there and grab your beautiful quesadilla.

Now I'm not serving this with anything today because I think it has everything in it that it needs.

But if you wanna use a little guacamole, sour cream, throw some chilies around, really up to you.

And look how beautiful this is.

This is great for the whole family.

Who doesn't love a good quesadilla?

All right, there you have it.

Steak quesadillas are ready, come and get it.

And finally, roofing VP Jeffrey Blank wants you to go to the spot where he has become a weekly regular and everyone knows his name.

It's located in Lake Worth and it's called Gourmet Deli House.

Hi, my name is Natalia Hines.

I'm the General Manager of Gourmet Deli House at Lake Worth.

Gourmet Deli House existed since the construction of this plaza in 1974 and yes, next year we will be 50 years old.

Hi, my name is Chef Rudy.

I have been the chef over here and proud to be for the last 23 years.

The menu is complete that I promise you will satisfy anyone.

We serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, from French toast, waffles, pancakes, going through our amazing deli sandwich and we have 20 items from the dinner to choose.

[Natalia] Since we've been open for almost 50 years, we have really loyal clientele who've been coming here for many, many years.

So 72% of our clienteles, it's the loyal customers and also our doors is always open for the new customers.

[Chef Rudy] We have a very comfortable and friendly environment to enjoy.

When the customers finish with their meal, I really would like to hear from them that they felt welcome and felt like at home.

Gourmet Deli House is the place for delicious and homemade meals.

I mean, you consider this your "Cheers."

Yes, I do.

Well, I'm there at least once a week.

It's our regular, we play golf every Saturday morning and after golf we all go the group, I have a group of fellas and we all go there for lunch afterwards.

And we've been doing this for probably 12 years now.

And That is a long time.

It is a long time.

They better know your name.

Yeah, they do know my name.

Okay.

But it's just not that kind of place for me.

I mean I've had family events there, I've had, we've, you know, my, when my daughter graduated high school 10 years ago, we went there for lunch after the thing.

We've been, I've, we've gone to there for Passover dinners as part of their menus and you know, and birthdays.

So it's your extended family at this point?

This is my "Cheers."

I mean I'm, I guess I'm the Norm Peterson of the place.

So it's a lot of fun and you know, and it's comfortable.

What stood out for you, Alex?

The seating area, like it was large, like you could, you would not have any issue finding a seat.

The options, the menu is very expansive, so whatever you're feeling, you can definitely find it there.

It's definitely clean, the staff is very nice and yeah, overall it's very, I enjoyed it very much.

And you said, John, that it reminds you of Brooklyn, your hometown.

It sure does.

It whisked me back to Flatbush.

It was wonderful, just great.

You walk in, you have a choice of booths, of tables, you walk in first and there's the actual deli portion and it was hard to get past the display counter after looking at all those goodies.

But then the hostess station was right there.

They sat us quickly and the service, the food, the portions, all fantastic.

So tell me what you had this last time.

The last time I was there I had like they, what they call the lunch special was a seafood melt.

[Michelle] I think it was a lobster melt.

It's basically a tuna melt, instead of tuna, they use the, like a seafood salad and then put a big chunk of Munster cheese on it, and threw it in the oven.

I mean it was phenomenal.

[Michelle] Did it come with any sides?

I get preferential treatment here, so I get, I get French fries and I get brown gravy on the French fries.

Alex, what did you have?

So I had the grilled Rachel sandwich.

[Michelle] Oh, I love a Rachel.

Tell everybody what a Rachel is.

So it's basically a hot pastrami sandwich with sauerkraut, cheese and it had a special Russian dressing on it.

It's just Russian dressing.

It's just Russian dressing.

[Michelle] It's not special, but it is delicious.

They say it's special, but.

Is that what you're saying?

No, it's just Russian is Russian.

It's ketchup and mayonnaise, but I do love it.

Yep, I do too 'cause it was delicious and it came with fries and I just had a coke.

And then for dessert I had the carrot cake.

How was that?

Oh, it was delicious.

Was it tall?

Yeah, it was.

It was really, really, really good.

It's like some of the best carrot I've ever had.

Oh goodness.

So.

[Michelle] Okay.

I love carrot cake.

It's my weakness.

Me too.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's my favorite.

John, tell me what you had.

[John] Well, I started with the Matzah ball soup and boy was that delicious.

[Michelle] So did they sink or did they float?

In your tummy.

Oh, they floated.

Okay.

They were wonderful.

Just wonderful.

Nice dense Matzah ball.

Plenty of chicken chunks and celery.

That you don't usually see.

No.

[Michelle] Pieces of chicken in Matzah ball soup.

[John] No, no, but it was wonderful.

Oh, good.

And then I went back to my Polish-American roots and I had the stuffed cabbage and was that great.

Two humongous portions, one of which came home with me.

But really Do you guys do the kind of sweet sour?

Yes, because there were raisins in it along with the meat and the rice.

And then the one thing I had with it was kasha, which is very, very nice.

The oats, groats and little bow tie pasta and something my Polish-American mother would never include with it.

I had sweet potato fries, which were wonderful.

Yeah, not usually a side that you would eat with stuffed cabbage.

No, you wouldn't.

But sweet potato fries are delicious.

And the dessert, I had rugula and they have a variety of seven and you get to choose three.

Seven rugula?

Yeah, different types.

That's a lot.

Flavors.

So I had the nut, the chocolate, and the raspberry.

All great, I was back in Brooklyn.

How were prices?

Prices, the sandwich was around like $20, but the portion was huge, so it justified it.

It was worth it.

Yeah.

All right, Jeffrey, Gourmet Deli was your choice.

Sum it up for me.

Traditional fair is great.

Their baked goods are terrific and the service for me is great 'cause I'm Norm Peterson.

Alex?

If you want an amazing sandwich, large portions, friendly staff and some of the best carrot cake you've ever had, definitely head over there.

Go for it, John.

And if you want a real authentic Brooklyn experience of deli, rush there and bring a doggy bag.

For a warm welcome and a home cooked meal, you can head on over to Gourmet Deli House, located 7117 Lake Worth Road in Lake Worth.

Open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Reservations are accepted where the average price of dinner without drinks is about $35.

We've had a wonderful time.

I wanna thank my guests, John Lazar, Jeffrey Blank, and Alex Hart.

For more about the restaurants and recipes featured in the show, if you'd like to apply to be a guest reviewer, visit us at checkpleasefl.com.

And as always, you can find us on Facebook and Instagram.

Join us next time for three new guests, recommending three of their favorite restaurants right here on "Check Please!

South Florida."

I'm Michelle Bernstein, salut everyone, and I will see you then.

Gracias, thank you, thank you.

L'chaim.

[Narrator] Cultural, culinary secrets and global flavors.

We have a passion for blending ingredients and seasonings from around the world.