So came the usual debate at supper time. Where? All the places we know are local to the Coral Springs area, more or less. I told Napalm we should check out what's around here for a change. Maybe we'll finally find all the conveniences that we grew so used to at Condo Napalm.
There are some neighborhoods around here that are, let's face it, pretentious. We have no desire to eat in these places where the food's okay but overpriced, and people look at us funny.
I pointed out that if we are going to find some honest eats, we'd probably better head west, out to State Road 7, towards the Sandalfoot community.
Sure enough, at the corner of Marina and 7 we found this nice sized shopping center that had all kind of stuff. Napalm was a bit skeeved that we found a Winn-Dixie, far from his favorite chain, but a bit later I pointed out a Publix across the road, and that made all the difference. Other stuff in this same plaza (the Winn-Dixie one) were Taco Bell, McDonald's, Subway, a Thai place, a Chinese place, a vet, a comics and gaming store, and a martial arts dojo, among a whole lot of other stuff we were not interested in.
Across the way, in the plaza where the Publix was, we found another sub shop, a 99¢ store, a pawn shop (yes! my kind of neighborhood, hee hee) and a couple more restaurants. For some reason, The Gallery Grill caught my eye, and I said let's eat there.
After we parked, we walked up on this place that was disgorging an astounding supply of geriatric customers, while still somehow remaining completely full. We were already beginning to think it probably too crowded for our taste, but we went in anyway. The maitre d' eyeballed us with a growing smirk.
Napalm, with obvious disbelief at the crowdedness of the place, nevertheless asked, hopefully, "Two?" The other guy could have been polite. He could have cited the seating time. He could have mentioned it was the dinner rush. He could have said any of a dozen things, but what he did was smirk even larger, staring at us up and down, and say, "Nah, we got nothin' like that here."
I shot him a look that he hadn't gotten away with anything, smiled big, and said, "I guess not."
We took our business to Carlucci's, in the same plaza. We ate large, and tipped big. Stick that in yer eye, Gallery Grill.
Carlucci's was really good. I had reservations (not the planner kind, the misgivings kind) when I saw the inside, which was also small and crowded. But the greeter was nicer, and the food was excellent. I had the veal scallopine francaise. The sauce was a dream, with plenty of mushrooms, and enough of a lemon tang to do something interesting with the mildness of the veal. The garlic rolls were absolutely decadent.
I actually finished every bite of my dinner. That's pretty unusual. Napalm seemed very pleased with his pasta dish.
The atmosphere was inviting, and I saw several families around about. I say next time you are in the area, take your family to Carlucci's, and forget about The Gallery Grill.
