This week on "Check, Please!

South Florida," modern Mexican cuisine serving up delicious salsas in Wellington.

It was one of the best I've ever had.

[michelle] A trendy spot to try all kinds of Asian dishes in Plantation.

The seasonings were just spot on.

[michelle] And travel to the Roaring Twenties for dinner and a show in Fort Lauderdale.

The entertainment is fantastic.

[announcer] Cultural culinary secrets and global flavors.

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

[commentator] 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 Field Supervisor Mark Fisk is directing us to his favorite place for edamame, Boba tea, and Japanese beer.

He says the atmosphere and prices are great, but the taste of the food is even better.

And retiree Nancy Kelly is taking us back in time to her 1920s themed restaurant.

And she says, it's got it all, good food and drinks, excellent service, and to top it all off, some great entertainment.

But first, jazz vocalist Yvette Norwood-Tiger is singing her way to Mexican cuisine at her pick.

She says, you'll find a variety of delicious salsas and the basket of chips to go with them is never ending.

Plus the portions are hardy, so you'll always leave feeling satisfied.

It's located in Wellington and it's called "Mole Cantina Mexicana."

My name is Nick Cervera and I am part owner of "Mole Cantina Mexicana."

We opened our first mole in New York in '91.

So we've been doing this for a long time.

My wife is Mexican.

She's from Mexico City.

So it brings the authenticity of the food.

I've always been a front of the house guy.

She's a back of the house.

Traditional Mexican recipes.

The mole sauce is in fact made by her mom in Mexico and shipped up to us in a paste form.

And then we reconstitute it and make it into the mole sauce, which we're known for.

We're trying to bring Mexican food to a better level.

And I think it deserves it.

It's fresh.

It's inviting.

It's flavorful.

I mean our fajitas is one of our top sellers.

We have beautiful sizzling fajitas, freshly made freshly cut vegetables.

People are always impressed by that.

Always taking home leftovers.

Our fish tacos are fried fish tacos.

We're renowned for Baja style with shredded lettuce, cabbage, Pico de Gallo, and sliced avocado on top and two kinds of dipping sauces.

And of course the mole sauce is, I mean name's on the door of the restaurant.

When you come in, we wanted you to feel like you're transported out of every day the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

You come in here, it's colorful festival atmosphere the Talavera tile on the wall and on the bar and on the entrance to the kitchen.

We have a beautiful archway.

When you come in here, I don't want you to think about the outside world anymore.

Now you're in Mole.

So Yvette tell us about Mole and do you go there often?

Yes actually.

It's not too far from my home, which is very convenient.

It's right outside the Wellington mall.

It's a really nice light and airy spot, indoor outdoor seating.

Perfect place to get some Mexican, upscale Mexican food.

Delicious.

Everybody needs a Mexican restaurant right near where they live .

Exactly I know I want one.

Yeah, so what did you have this last time that you went?

Well when I went the last time I had the quesadilla, the cheese quesadilla.

My husband ordered a dish that had shrimp.

So I took some of his shrimp and put it with my quesadilla.

But it was a wonderful meal.

For appetizer we had the five salsa sampler, which was really good in different tastes of salsas.

It was great.

And for dessert, we had flan, which was very good.

It's always a good ending.

Nancy, tell me about your experience at Mole.

I thought it was terrific.

A beautiful restaurant.

Atmosphere was terrific.

I had a margarita that was so fresh, delicious.

We ordered a cheese, a melted cheese appetizer and shared that.

So Nancy, you had what is called a queso fundido, which is melted cheese and just that.

And I think they topped it with a little bit of chorizo.

Is that correct?

That's correct.

It was delicious.

And my husband asked what the special was of the day and it a snapper dish.

It was delicious, very light, very delicious.

I don't mean to interrupt, but I think he had a snapper a la Veracruzana, which is a beautiful way of cooking the fish with a lot of tomato.

And it's very light and delicate sometimes a little caper and garlic.

Yeah, it was delicious.

It was light.

It was very good.

And I had a shrimp and chicken fajita, which came to the table sizzling and it was delicious.

And we shared some flan for dessert.

Mark, what did you think?

Oh, so we had the chips and salsa as well.

And the salsa was really good.

I mean, there was four different styles of salsa.

They were all excellent.

And we also had the queso fundido, which was tops.

It was one of the best I've ever had.

And we also had a couple Americano tacos, which were very good as well.

And then-- What does that mean?

What's an Americano taco?

So they were crunchy shell tacos.

Yeah, not a soft shell taco.

Gotcha now I understand.

So that's why they were called, Tacos Americanos.

So they were excellent.

We're the only ones that eat tacos that are crunchy.

So yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah, that's what it is, yeah.

And Yvette, it's a pretty contemporary restaurant considering it's somewhat classic Mexican, correct?

Yes, it is.

Has a beautiful light and airy atmosphere to it.

The tall high ceilings and I think the color in there is like a orangy yellow color in there, a wall of windows.

So it's a nice light and airy restaurant.

Contemporary design to it.

Well Yvette, Mole was your pick.

Why don't you sum it up for us?

I would sum it up as a wonderful light and airy restaurant.

Great food, great service.

Lovely.

Nancy?

The food is delicious.

The service was terrific.

And you get what you pay for.

It's upscale and everything was great.

Mark?

Oh yes.

I really enjoyed the restaurant.

I was surprised at the quality of the food and definitely get the queso fundido.

Well you can get your Mexican cuisine fix when you visit Mole Cantina Mexicana located at 2557 South State Road Seven in Wellington.

Open for dinner Monday through Friday and brunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday.

Reservations are accepted and the average price for dinner without drinks is about $35.

Now Field Supervisor, Mark Fisk, is in charge of this week's Pan Asian cuisine pick.

From the spicy Korean ramen to their Thai donuts he says the place never disappoints.

And don't let the mall deter you from going.

The hip atmosphere and great flavors are priceless.

It's located in Plantation and it's called 107 Taste.

My name is Yu Bi.

I'm the owner and also the general manager of the restaurant 107 Taste.

I was born in China and I was raised by my grandparents.

My grandmom, she's a chef.

So when I was a kid, I started to learn how to cook from my grandmother.

That's why, like I have a dream.

When I was a kid, I wanted to have my own restaurant.

The menu here is like Asian fusion.

So we have different like type of Asian food like Japanese food, Korean food, and Thai food.

Ramen noodles is very popular.

Beside Ramen noodles, a lot of people they like our dry noodles.

We have different options of the dry noodle like Pad Thai noodle, stir fry noodles, and we have some unique appetizers as well, like a Porky Bun.

The Porky Bun is like a steamed.

The bun, which is like very soft.

Inside the bun is like the homemade, like pork belly.

It's like very soft, very juicy, and also have the cucumber and the cilantro.

We want the customer to feel like welcome and will want them to feel like it's at home because of our food is like a comfort food.

It's not like a very fancy like food, but it's like homemade.

That's why I say we want the customer feel like it's mama's cooking, grandmother's cooking.

So it's very like delicious, but very affordable and very fresh.

107 Taste is a place you can have a bite of Asia.

We want customers, they can taste the different Asian flavor from different Asian countries.

So Mark, tell us about 107 Taste and what kind of dishes that you find on their menu?

My favorite dish is the Ramen, the Korean spicy ramen.

Can't go wrong with that.

And also one of my tops is the Pineapple Fried Rice.

Everybody knows that's the best.

That's one of my favorite dishes.

I love Pineapple Fried Rice.

Yeah.

They do it really well there Why don't you tell people?

A lot of people don't know about Thai Pineapple Fried Rice.

Why don't you describe it a little bit?

Take your basic fried rice, but elevate it with some grilled pineapple and the sweetness from the pineapple.

So you get that sweet and savory all in one dish, perfectly together.

Nancy, do you want to tell me about your experience?

Yes, my husband and I really enjoyed it.

We were greeted right away by Heidi and she sat us down.

We ordered a couple of very delicious appetizers, the Porky Bun and the fried dumplings.

They were great.

Tell me a little bit about the Porky Bun.

Oh, they were so cute.

It was three and it was a little squishy bun folded upwards, like a taco stuffed with all different types of herbs and of course pork.

And it was delicious, very tasty.

And I think you had a Pad Thai with beef didn't you?

I did have the Pad Thai with beef.

It was delicious.

One of the best I've ever had.

Oh lovely.

And Yvette, you loved the Pad Thai too, didn't you?

Yes I had it with the shrimp and it was really good.

Very tasty.

You had told me earlier that I think, is this correct?

That was probably the best Pad Thai you'd ever had.

Yes, yes it was.

It was very, the taste, it wasn't too salty or not salty enough, the seasonings were just spot on and it had peanuts in it, which was very good.

[michelle] That's right.

The sauce, maybe you can explain what the sauce is.

It's like a brown sauce.

Well if you notice, it is, but it's almost sweet sour spicy.

It kind of covers all the bases in the mouth with a little bit of tartness.

And then usually you squeeze a little lime into it.

They usually have bean sprouts in it.

Of course I don't know how they did it.

Sometimes you'll see scallions.

You'll feel maybe a little ginger, but what I love about Pad Thai is that all of the different elements and textures that come as you're eating it.

Something might be creamy.

Something might be crunchy.

Something might kind of stick out a little bit and then you'll taste all the different flavors.

It's a beautiful thing.

It is.

It can be rather complicated when it's at its best.

So that's wonderful.

I'm glad you liked it.

And then you had dessert too right?

Yes I had two desserts.

Well, I shared them with my husband .

Okay, tell us about them.

I had the Thai doughnuts, which has the powdered sugar on it and it comes with a nice cream to dip in.

That was really good.

And I had what they call the zombie plant.

And that looks like a potted plant with a beautiful leaf sticking out of it.

What the dirt is, is really Oreo cookie.

You know the chocolate part of the Oreo cookie and in the middle of it is ice cream and fruit.

It was very, a very interesting dessert and it was delicious.

Nice.

Nancy, tell us about your dessert.

It's probably one of my favorites to make.

It was delicious.

It was Nutella crepe cake.

It was a very nice slice and many, many, many layers.

And it was served with a little bit of ice cream.

We were stuffed, so we actually had it to go and we brought it home and we enjoyed it at home.

It was delicious.

I would go back for that and a Pad Thai.

And the prices are very affordable for the food that you're getting.

Everything there I've had is tasted excellent, very well seasoned, cooked perfectly.

And it's just perfect.

Is it true, is this place in a mall?

Yes it is.

It's in a mall, but it's in the food court.

Although it's in a food court, it's in a separate standalone restaurant, which is really nice.

And it's not hard to find once you know that it's in the mall .

Once you get there, it's pretty easy to find.

Okay, great.

So Mark, 107 Taste was your pick.

Sum it up for us.

You can't go wrong with the prices, the quality, and the quantity of food.

Yvette?

A wonderful culinary tour of Asia.

Nancy?

I think Yvette said it best.

It is a tour of Asia.

Find a mix of traditional Asian flavors when you head on over to 107 Taste located at 8000 West Broward Boulevard in Plantation.

They're open daily for lunch and dinner.

Reservations are accepted and the average price for dinner without drinks is about $25.

I'm so excited to be teaching you Pineapple Fried Rice.

So there are so many different styles of this recipe.

I just kind of took it upon myself to come up with one.

We'll see, it sounds delicious.

I'm very excited.

I picked a bunch of my favorite ingredients and we're gonna throw them together in a wok.

This is a wok.

It's big, it's hot, and it's ready to go.

I have a little bit of peanut oil to cook everything in.

All right the first thing we're gonna cook are the onions.

Next ingredient will be the red bell pepper.

And I really just want that to soften a little bit.

Next I'm gonna be adding a little bit of minced garlic.

This is just a little bit of ginger that was peeled and we grated on a microplane.

The next thing I'll be adding is the rice.

Now the great thing about fried rice, which by the way I make at least twice a week for my son in the morning is that you use rice that you've already cooked days before.

Take either Jasmine, I mean Jasmine is really my favorite.

You can always use some sushi rice, sticky rice.

It's truly up to you.

And you want that to almost start to just stick because that's where you'll get your texture.

This is starting to turn a nice golden color.

I'm going to now add a little bit of that pineapple making it of course Pineapple Fried Rice.

It's namesake.

I've got some scallions sliced thin, some cashews that are roasted and salted.

They give it crunch and texture and flavor.

And finally, speaking of flavor, I have garlic chili paste that you can purchase in any Asian market.

And to bring all this together, we're gonna go ahead and add a scrambled egg that will just kind of marry all of these ingredients.

I'm gonna shut the heat off.

I'm gonna add a little bit of soy sauce.

I haven't added salt yet.

So soy is the only sodium and just some very roughly chopped cilantro.

I like it a little bit bigger for this recipe.

Not so finely chopped and just quickly mix it in and serve.

So we have crunchy bits, creamy bits.

We have a little bit of the fruitiness from the pineapple, the crunch and saltiness from the cashews.

It's really a beautiful marriage of textures and flavors.

You can find this beautiful recipe of Pineapple Fried Rice at CheckPleaseFL.com.

And finally retiree Nancy Kelly has us experiencing the Roaring Twenties at her pick.

She's calling it the place to be if you want a delicious dinner, drinks, and a fun and engaging show.

And from the dark lighting to the cozy bar, she says the atmosphere is perfect for a romantic night out.

It's located in Fort Lauderdale and it's called Gatsby's Joint.

My name is Steve Shtivelman.

I'm the owner of Gatsby's Joint.

We started the restaurant with my ex partner Elaine Krieger in May of 2018.

This is like a Speakeasy supper club, full restaurant, full bar.

People mostly come in and just enjoy the live music.

Most people come and stay for two or three hours.

We don't have a lot of like rotation of people generally.

I used to cook here personally.

So the menu really is kind of like what I like to eat.

I'm originally from Odessa, Ukraine.

So we have a couple of Ukrainian dishes on the menu.

The rest of the menu is more continental.

There's steak and seafood on the menu as well as desserts.

So the most popular things have been the Korean barbecue ribs is basically slow cooked, pork ribs.

Anything slow cooked to me tastes really good.

Then Korean barbecue sauce served with sesame seeds.

Perogies also that's my authentic Ukrainian dish with potato and cheese.

Ours are boiled and then seared and then served with our signature Gatsby sauce.

So our slogan is eat, drink, play.

Generally we just want people to feel relaxed.

It's a relaxed atmosphere where they can listen to live music or watch the show.

We just want people to basically relax, enjoy the food, and enjoy the music.

So Nancy, tell us about the vibe at Gatsby's and what stands out most to you?

Well, it's a dark little swanky joint and the entertainment is fantastic.

Whatever night you go on, it's jazz, bluesy, there's a little bit of country on Tuesday nights, and comedy on Wednesday.

The entertainment is fantastic and the food is wonderful.

We really enjoy the appetizers and the bartender Mateo makes the best Cosmo.

What did you have this last time to eat?

The last time that you went in?

I was there with my husband and a friend and first we ordered four different appetizers.

There was a Korean rib, which was delicious, some perogies, some dates that were stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon.

One of my favorites.

Tell us about the Sloppy Big hamburger.

It's loaded with two types of cheese and about three strips of bacon and I think a special sauce and a nice bun and it came with French fries.

So it was the Big Sloppy.

Wow.

Yvette, tell us about your experience.

Well, one of the mistakes I made was not making reservations because they get filled, the capacity gets filled quickly.

So although the hostess she was really nice.

She sat us immediately when we got there.

The food was very good.

I have to say, I have a little history with Gatsby's.

When it first opened, I think it was 2018, I was one of the entertainers there.

I'm a jazz vocalist.

So I sang there with a band.

Yes, sang there with a band called "Eric and the Jazzers," which was really nice.

And I've been wanting to go back to see how they were doing.

We got there.

We ordered an appetizer.

I had the spinach and artichoke dip with their homemade chips, which is interesting because the chips are fluffy, warm, and the dip, everything was just tasty What a coincidence though.

That's crazy that you ended up going there for the show.

Mark, tell us about your experience please.

So we went on Wednesday night, which was comedy night, which turned out to be really good.

There must've been at least 10 different comedians up there with short kind of skits, maybe five, seven minutes each.

We started off with the escargot, which were perfectly cooked.

The garlic butter was excellent.

Really loved that.

And then we had the grilled lamb chops.

They were great.

They were really good size, meaty, grilled perfectly, medium rare, and came with the side of a chimichurri sauce.

And for dessert?

The bread pudding.

It was very good.

Came out warm with some whipped cream and some caramel sauce.

Really enjoyed that as well.

And also had a couple of Moscow mules.

They were made perfectly too.

The bartender was really good.

Were they?

Oh great, great.

Oh, how exciting.

Well Nancy, Gatsby's Joint was your pick.

Sum it up for us.

It's a swanky little dark joint that has great food, great appetizers, great drinks, and fabulous entertainment any night of the week.

Lovely.

Mark?

It's a cozy place.

So you're up close to the entertainers.

Like you could talk to them right there from your seat.

The food is excellent and the atmosphere again was electric.

Yvette?

Wonderful Speakeasy joint with great food.

You can travel back in time to the 1920s when you visit Gatsby's Joint, located at 2460 East Commercial Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.

They're open Tuesday through Sunday for dinner only.

Reservations are accepted and the average price for dinner without drinks is about $40.

I had such a wonderful time with you all.

I want to thank my guests Yvette Norwood-Tiger, Mark Fisk, and Nancy Kelly.

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

everybody.

[announcer] Cultural culinary secrets and global flavors.

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