This week on Check, Please!

South Florida, Caribbean fusion paired with a bottle of wine in Coconut Creek.

They just work miracles with their wine list and their food.

A cozy spot serving an Italian mother's recipes in Delray.

This was the best, I can't wait to go back and have it again.

And the date night spot for Indian cuisine in Fort Lauderdale.

The presentation is amazing, and then it tastes better than that.

[narrator] Cultural culinary secrets and global flavors.

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

[narrator] Additional funding for Check, Please!

South Florida, is provided by George and Helen Weaver and the friends of South Florida PBS.

You will look at food differently when you leave.

One didn't really help the other.

I just know it was the best.

It was just a perfect dish.

Prepared to perfection.

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, private investigator Marianne Lentini, has the evidence for what she calls the perfect spot for unique and authentic Italian in Delray Beach.

And executive campus director Mikkel Dixon, advises that you visit Los Olas for his Indian cuisine pick.

He says their food is top notch and the taste will create a party in your mouth.

But first, chief people officer Donna DeChant, is bringing us all together to try a hidden gem that serves up Caribbean dishes with a modern twist.

She says it's the perfect spot for a date night, and she knows she can always count on having a fun time.

It's in Coconut Creek and it's called Swirl Wine Bistro.

Hi, my name is Mike Abel, and I'm the owner of Swirl Wine Bistro.

And my wife also is executive chef, Judith Abel.

Swirl Wine Bistro was a concept that my wife and I thought up because we wanted something like this.

We're from New York and there's a lot of environments that are small, quaint restaurants and little wine bars like this in New York.

And we were down here and didn't find many.

So we said, well, you know what?

We like wine, we really do love food.

So, we said, okay, this is something we can do.

The food is very, it's what's we call global eclectic cuisine.

So it ranges the gambit of things that we have always appreciated and liked.

So there is a bit of a Caribbean twist on a few of, many of the dishes, just because my wife is Jamaican and I am a Jamaican and descent.

So there's a lot of seasoning profiles in there that help enhance the dish that much more and make it different from pretty much anybody else's.

Our atmosphere is very cozy, chic, and chill.

We don't really like to rush people out.

We have couches here, nice lighting, we always have artwork on the wall.

We showcase a lot of local artists, every 120 days.

We transitioned the artwork out and give somebody something else to look at, in addition to helping artists who don't have access to either promoters or managers to try and sell a work and keep themselves going forward.

Swirl Wine Bistro is all about impeccable food, wonderful wine, and a very comfortable, relaxed atmosphere.

You come in, you enjoy it.

You come back again and enjoy it again.

So Donna, tell me about it.

It's, it's a mom and pop, right?

It's a tiny little spot, Michelle.

It's a great date night.

The food is fantastic.

We have a husband in the front of the house, and the wife in the kitchen, chef Judith, and they just work miracles with their wine list and their food.

Everything from start to finish is delicious.

It's interesting because I find the food to be extremely European in style, yet it has so many Caribbean touches.

I would love to talk a little bit about a couple of the dishes and get into them somewhat.

Tell me about the mushroom tart.

So the mushroom tart is worth fighting over.

We try to draw a straight line so we can split it but usually somebody is trying to get a little more.

It's a flaky pastry crust with goat cheese and a variety of different mushrooms, garlic, really well seasoned.

It's a great pairing with the pinot noir that Michael usually pours us.

It's delicious.

And speaking of pinot noir, they have a really great wine bar, right?

They do, and Michael understands the flavor profile that his wife is putting out of the kitchen, and he works really hard to curate a wine list that is very closely paired to the food.

Oh, lovely, lovely.

All right, so let's move to Marianne.

Marianne, what did you have that evening?

That evening, we started with the fresh bruschetta which came a little different.

It had a grill marks on it, on the beautiful Italian bread, and then had fresh cherry tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzarella.

It was fabulous.

I would love to hear a little bit about the snapper.

I think it's, it was escabeche.

Yes, it would have been a great shareable plate, but it was the way that Judith plated it, it's got these cassava patties and then the seared snapper over that, and then there was like pickled vegetables with like a mango drizzle.

I mean, the taste, explosion in your mouth.

It was fabulous.

And I, I think that your husband and Mikkel both had the oxtail ravioli.

Mikkel, do you want to talk about the oxtail ravioli a little bit?

Yeah, the oxtail ravioli was fantastic.

I've never had oxtail ravioli.

I've had oxtail before, not necessarily a huge fan of oxtail, but this oxtail ravioli was to die for.

It was amazing.

It wasn't too salty.

It was perfectly put together.

Very, very delicious meal.

Yeah, and you also had a couple of interesting dishes.

They went from a snapper fish tacos, right, to lamb chili.

You want to talk a little bit about the lamb chili?

Yeah, the lamb chili.

I haven't had a lamb chili before and this one was really, really good.

It was very rich with flavors, lots of lamb in there, obviously.

And then they gave you a really nice piece of bread to dip in there.

Very delicious.

The fish taco, the snapper tacos, by the way, melted in your mouth.

It was slightly crispy and very soft on the inside.

It was excellent, well put together, I loved it.

All right, I would love to hear a little bit about dessert.

I've heard about their bread pudding.

Does anybody want to jump in?

I know Mikkel, I think you had the bread pudding that evening, correct?

Yeah, so I'm a big fan of bread pudding, period, right.

So I've tried bread pudding in a lot of places.

This by far was the best bread pudding I've ever had.

It was absolutely delicious.

I loved every bite of it.

So does anybody want to talk prices, Marianne, let's hear from you.

What did you think about the pricing on the menu and for the wines as well?

I thought it was a very fair pricing.

I mean, it's not inexpensive, but for what you get, you're talking exceptional, unique dishes that you wouldn't find, I've never seen anywhere else.

Well done.

As Swirl Wine Bistro was your pick, sum it up for us.

It's really a great date night, a great place to take your friends.

And it's a way to support local mom and pop business.

Mikkel, can you give us a quick summary?

Yeah, unique, delicious, creative, exquisite, Caribbean food.

Lovely, Marianne?

Yes, exceptional Mediterranean Caribbean flared recipes that I've never seen or heard of before, prepared by a husband and wife team.

You really do feel like you've just had dinner in someone's home and that they've taken such care of you.

Can't wait to go back.

For unique dishes and an exceptional wine list, visit Swirl Wine Bistro, located at 1435 Lyons Road in Coconut Creek.

Open for lunch Tuesday through Friday, and dinner Tuesday through Saturday.

Reservations are accepted.

The average price for dinner without drinks is about $40.

Now, private investigator, Maryann Lentini, is giving us the scoop on her choice for authentic Italian.

She says it reminds her of being back in Italy and she can definitely tell the food is made with pride.

It's in Delray Beach and it's called Rose's Daughter American Trattoria.

My name is Suzanne Perrotto, I'm the chef and owner of Rose's Daughter in Delray Beach.

Rose's Daughter is an American Trattoria.

Linda Rose is my mother, and she is my original mentor.

And she taught our family about tradition, and food, and basically was the chef of our restaurant in New York, many years ago when I was a kid.

So we decided, as my second restaurant, to do a homage to her, to Linda Rose.

And it is all authentic product, cuisine, recipes.

Signature dishes are the pasta, which is made from scratch.

The ice cream, we make our own gelato.

We make our own cheese, the burrata is amazing, we use a Lioni curd, from the Lioni family in New Jersey.

We also use their ricotta, at times we make our own ricotta, depending on what we're making, what we're filling.

The most, one of the most popular dishes is the pappardelle.

Pappardelle is one of my favorite pastas, a beautiful flat noodle.

And then the short rib is slow braised, we shred it, and then we combine it with the pasta.

We take some summer truffles and we make a paste that we freeze, and then we fold those in to the pasta, and present it with some English peas.

It is so good.

Rose's Daughter is about celebration.

It's about people getting together and enjoying food.

When you walk in, you just see the open kitchen, you see the, the brick oven, and you basically are experiencing the smells and the sound coming from the kitchen.

Not too intrusive, but enough where you feel like you're in your mother's kitchen.

There's always something going on, there's so much to look at.

There's a drinks being made, craft cocktails, there's fresh herbs all over, there's pasta being made, sometimes in the middle of service.

Fresh mozzarella being pulled.

I mean, it really is a show.

That's what people like, I hope.

Marianne, what makes this spot stick out from other Italian restaurants?

Michelle, I think what sticks out most for us is it's fresh Italian food.

My husband and I are both of Italian ethnicity.

We don't go out for Italian food, not to typical Italian restaurants, not for troughs of pasta, and ziti, and lasagna.

That's just not our scene, and we grew up with all of that, and we could make it ourselves at home.

But when there's fine Italian that makes you feel like you're in Italy, you found a family that wants to cook for you.

That's what it felt like when we first went into Rose's Daughter.

What did you have this last time you went?

So this last time, we started off with the lamb meatballs, which are presented so beautifully in this little miniature cast iron skillet.

It's adorable.

And it's covered in fresh marinara sauce.

There's two lamb meatballs accompanied by wood charred homemade bread, which was over the top fabulous for dipping up the fresh Marzano tomatoes.

From there, we went on, and every restaurant we go to, and in these cases, we always take the recommendations of the wait staff or the chefs, and we're not disappointed.

This time, we asked, and I said I prefer seafood.

So he had suggested the branzino, which I always loved branzino, but this was the best.

I can't wait to go back and have it again.

Beautifully seared, tender branzino atop pea risotto that was perfectly al dente.

And they had drizzled an arugula cream sauce over it.

Yum.

Donna, talk to me, I know you started with a pizza, right?

Oh, so my husband and I just devoured that menu when we sat down, we wanted everything.

And we were trying to, you know, be good and eat healthy, but also get to sample all of these great flavors.

It was a beautiful menu.

So we decided on one pizza, we had the sausage pizza because it's homemade sausage and it was so worth it.

And then we were torn between a couple different pastas.

We decided that he would pick a pasta and I would pick a main course.

And we ended up with the Bolognese, and then we had the chicken Milanese.

The portions were good because they weren't too big.

You know, like Marianne said, there was no trough of Italian food here.

It was beautifully plated, very fresh, the flavors were great.

Oh, how delicious.

Mikkel, how was your experience, my dear?

Yeah, it was fantastic, I tried several dishes.

We tried some of their dishes.

The branzino was the best dish by far.

I too have tried branzino many places, and the branzino was exquisite.

The short rib was good too.

There were a couple of, couple of things, you know, that wasn't perfect about it, but I really enjoyed the short rib pasta as well.

But the branzino, that was, a lot of places do branzino and I don't think there's any place that could do better than them.

Their service though, customer service, was top-notch, their service is just amazing.

It makes you feel like, you know, kind of like cheers, you know, where everyone knows your name kind of place.

It was just a really welcoming feeling being in there.

So, Donna, you had, you had like a cookie and cream dessert.

Tell me about that.

I haven't stopped dreaming about that dessert.

It was served with a homemade gelato.

So these were tiny little chocolate walnut homemade cookies, more crunchy than soft.

And you just dip them into that gelato on the plate.

I told my husband, Jim, when it arrived, I'm only going to take a couple bites, and then I fought him for the second cookie.

They were delicious, not very sweet, but really high quality.

They were so good.

I would go back in a minute for those cookies.

Marianne, Rose's Daughter was your pick, please sum it up for us.

Fresh, authentic, unique Italian restaurant prepared by a seasoned chef right in front of your eyes.

Freshly made pastas, everything's delicious, in a very cozy and comfortable Trattoria style restaurant.

Very reminiscent of Italy.

Beautiful.

Mikkel, can you sum up Rose's for us?

Place where you feel comfortable, cozy, amazing service, unique Italian dishes, a must go.

Donna, please give us a summary of Rose's Daughter.

Rose's Daughter is off the beaten path in Delray down a quiet street, great service, beautiful menu.

Everything was delicious.

Well-seasoned and plated.

We really enjoyed the experience.

Okay.

Well for homemade Italian food with a comfy cozy vibe, visit Rose's Daughter American Trattoria located at 169 NE 2nd Avenue in Delray Beach.

Open for dinner Wednesday through Sunday, and the average price for dinner without drinks is about $50.

So today I'm so excited, we are making a delicious fish.

We are making branzini or branzino.

You can call it either one.

So to make this simple oven roasted branzino, I'm going to put some sliced lemons down on a little cookie sheet or roasting pan.

And then I'm going to just go ahead and place the fish right on top of the lemon, we're going to open the fish up.

We're going to take some slices of garlic and then just place them down on one of the fish.

We're going to add some sea salt and black pepper, and then some whole herbs that you'll take out later.

I've got some fresh thyme in rosemary.

And then if you want, you can add more lemon.

It's really up to you, if you want to add some lemon slices into the center.

And then I'm just going to drizzle some oil and then close it up, like a sandwich, just like so.

And then we're going to tie it together because sometimes, as you know, if you have skin on a fish, it can curl.

So just to prevent that, let's go ahead and take some string and you just basically make a simple bow tie.

So then again, we are going to add just all the same stuff over the top.

We're going add a little bit more oil, and some more salt, black pepper.

And then I'm just going to top it with some whole herbs, like this rosemary and thyme, just like I did in the center.

And then we go into the oven.

A nice hot 420 degree oven.

And this gorgeous thing is ready.

This is what it looks like.

So pretty.

So I'm just going to take the herbs off that were on top and just like a bow, you can untie it, very simply.

And using the paper as leverage, I'm just going to kind of scoop underneath it and gather it all up.

And it smells so heavenly.

Drizzle it with again, a little bit more oil, a little sea salt, right over the top.

And voila, you have a gorgeous, gorgeous branzino ready for the family.

Discover how to cook the absolutely perfect branzino at checkpleasefl.com.

Finally, executive campus director, Mikkel Dixon, says this next place is a must go.

Regardless, if you love Indian food or not.

If you want great presentation, delicious food, and exceptional service, he says this is the spot for you.

It's in Fort Lauderdale and it's called Bombay Darbar.

Welcome to Bombay Darbar.

My name is Derek, I'm the general manager of both locations, Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

We are right now at Fort Lauderdale location on 1521 East Las Olas Boulevard.

We are North Indian cuisine, always try to stay with traditional recipes.

We put all our dishes with different spice levels.

So we give them a different experience so if they want to start with mild, they want to go with super hot, whoever can handle the super hot.

So we have a lot of people who are experiencing multiple, multiple tastes.

Our signature dish is, of course, is number one dish is a chicken tikka masala.

Another dish which is the most popular seller is a garlic naan.

Our tandoori lamb chops are off the hook, that's my personal favorite dish.

So this is our most popular signature dishes what we can offer.

What we try to deliver to our customers, you know, we try to deliver fun, upscale, popping place.

But we wanted the people to come to like almost a party in Bombay.

Turban, dress nice.

And we have multiple locations regarding to customers, dress up with the saris and traditional Indian dress codes to celebrate their birthdays and other occasions.

Bombay Darbar is all about great food, great ambiance, and just a happy meal.

No, we here to deliver a fantastic experience, fantastic customer service, and of course top-notch food.

So, what stands out with you, Mikkel, about Bombay?

Such an interesting place.

The lamb.

The lamb is amazing.

[michelle] It's all about the lamb.

Let me tell you something.

So they have this lamb that they have their special secret ingredients and it comes out steaming.

Like, you hear it sizzling loud, and the presentation is amazing, and it tastes better than that.

So Mikkel, I have to say, thank you.

You caused me to visit an Indian restaurant for the first time in my entire life.

Oh wow.

My husband and I had never been to an Indian restaurant.

And, and I'll tell you, one of the reasons is because I'm not sure what I'm supposed to eat.

And, and I would, but we had a server, Ashita, was beautiful and amazing.

And I think she knew that we didn't know what we were doing.

So she kind of helped us.

And she recommended that we should have the samosa chaat.

She said it's her favorite appetizer.

There were chickpeas, and a very flavorful sauce, and something crunchy on the top.

And it was delicious.

It was absolutely, it smelled fantastic, it was delicious.

That's great.

And then, okay, let's go to Marianne real quick, I haven't heard from you, Marianne, at all.

Oh wow, this is another fantastic experience.

I have to say, we ran in there in the middle of a torrential downpour, expecting to sit outside but went in and we were so glad we did, what a beautiful, beautiful atmosphere, just lavish Indian decor.

But we had the same with Ashita.

We had her as a waitress, we were asking her opinion.

And she said also on the right path, we too had the samosa chaat.

And then my husband had the lamb, which was out of this world.

I thought for a minute that Mikkel was talking about the same lamb, but this was, let me check on my notes here.

[michelle] No, this is Rogan Josh.

Yeah, Rogan Josh, oh my God, that lamb.

And it was melt in your mouth, with a tomato cream, covered with Indian spices.

It was so good.

One question I have for Mikkel, nobody talked too much about naan.

I'm sure that they make naan there, right?

Oh, yes.

The garlic naan.

It is absolutely delicious, and yeah, it's fresh.

And because of the unique sauce that they have with the meals, the naan, you have to get the naan because then you take pieces of naan, sop up all the goodness that comes with whatever dish you have.

You could use the naan to sop up some of the goodness there.

So it's absolutely delicious, yes.

And I see that a lot of you had cocktails.

Marianne, you had the Shiva the Destroyer.

Awesome.

Awesome, tequila because I love spicy tequila drinks with a spicy mix with pepper flakes on top, tequila.

If you don't like spice, you're not going to like it.

If you like a spicy tequila drink, it's fabulous.

It was a great name, Shiva the Destroyer.

I like that.

And Donna, you, you had my choice for Indian food.

You had a beer, correct?

I did, yes.

And, and that was the beginning of the beautiful relationship we had with our server.

I just kind of looked at her and said what's an Indian beer like?

And she said, you're going to love it.

And so we ordered both of the Indian beers they had on the menu and she came by at some point and she said, it tastes just like a beer, doesn't it?

You know, and, and we loved it.

It was good.

Well, Mikkel, Bombay Darbar was your pick, give me a little summary, please.

Exquisite service, amazing food, will have your taste buds, you'll have a party in your mouth.

You gotta go there, go there more than once, go there every week.

But absolutely love, love, love that place.

Amazing.

Marianne, give me a little summary, please.

Gorgeous, gorgeous atmosphere and impeccable service.

Fantastic place, again, can't wait to go back.

Donna?

The food was delicious.

Everything we had was good and our server did such a nice job making sure that we ordered things that went well together and complemented each other.

Really, really great experience.

Well, get your fix of herbs and spices at Bombay Darbar.

Located at 1521 East Los Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, with an additional location in Miami.

They are open for lunch Friday through Sunday and dinner daily.

Reservations are accepted.

The average price for dinner without drinks is about $30.

We've had a wonderful time.

I want to thank my guests, Donna DeChant, Marianne Lentini, and Mikkel Dixon.

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

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

South Florida.

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

Cheers everybody.

[narrator] Cultural culinary secrets and global flavors.

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